Arts integration differs from traditional education by its inclusion of both the arts discipline and a traditional subject as part of learning (e.g. using improvisational drama skills to learn about conflict in writing.) The goal of arts integration is to increase knowledge of a general subject area while concurrently fostering a greater understanding and appreciation of the fine and performing arts. The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts defines arts integration as "an approach to teaching in which students construct and demonstrate understanding through an art form. Students engage in a creative process which connects an art form and another subject and meets evolving objectives in both."
History of arts education and arts integration Arts integration is related to arts education in schools. Arts education, while existing in different forms during the 19th century, gained popularity as part of John Dewey's Progressive Education Theory. The first publication that describes a seamless interplay between the arts and other subjects (arts integration) taught in American schools was Leon Winslow's The Integrated School Art Program (1939). For the remainder of the 20th century, arts education's role in public schools ebbed and flowed with the country's political leanings and financial well-being.
According to Liora Bresler, during the 1970s and 1980s, two advocates for arts integration emerged: Harry Broudy and Elliot Eisner. Broudy advocated for the arts on the basis of strengthening the imagination. Broudy viewed imagination as an essential component of learning that should be cultivated in schools, and he advocated for the integration of aesthetic education into all subject matters in his work, Enlightened Cherishing. Eisner followed Broudy, citing that the arts were important to varying types of cognition. He believed that arts brought about a deeper understanding of the world due to their interactivity—the arts move learning beyond what is written or read.
Cassandra B. Whyte emphasized the importance of artistic experiences for students to encourage creative and independent thought processes that would be important throughout an individual's lifetime. The arts helped students with problem solving and decision making and those processing experiences could be adapted in general life situations.Whyte, Bolyard Cassandra. (1973). Creativity: An Integral Part of the Secondary School Curriculum.Education.Nov.-Dec.190-191. Whyte advocated including aspects of art education with locus of control identification counseling experiences to help higher education students develop confidence in their unique problem solving abilities in the classroom and in life.Whyte, Cassandra B. (1978). Effective Counseling Methods for High-Risk College Freshmen.Measurement and Evaluation in Guidance.6. (4). January, 198-200.
Formerly, No Child Left Behind legislation describes arts education as "essential to every child's education," and include it as one of the Core Subjects.The Importance of Arts Education No Child Left Behind legislation also emphasizes accountability through assessment (often taking the form of the standardized test.) While no standardized assessment has been mandated in any of the arts, the need for academic accountability in the arts, as well as in other academic subject areas, has led to increased research on and advocacy of arts integration and its impact on student learning.Please see Renaissance in the Classroom's sub-chapter entitled "The Arts in American Public Education: A Brief History" for a more comprehensive reading with additional references
Currently, Common Core and close adaptions of it are changing the way schools approach learning. Common Core's approach to art integration is that it enhances education by making learning interesting and fun. With Common Core becoming the norm for many school districts through the United States, teachers are integrating art into the classroom now more than ever. The rise of popularity in art integration has increased the amount of resources available to include the classroom, making it easier than ever to use art integration in the classroom.
Arts integration research and advocacy Arts advocacy discourse currently presents two main opposing views in support of arts in education. The first points to economic grounds that art teaches "21st-century skills" like collaboration and innovation, which are necessary only as a means to breed productivity for the growth of the market. The second, alternative approach focuses instead on the philosophical value of creative inquiry that art instills in students, arguing lifelong development with no end in mind as a necessary habit borne out of an arts education. Tension between the utilitarian, workplace-focused view and the educational, growth-centered framework on advocacy continues to shape and reshape the arts education universe as revisions to the National Core Arts Standards reflect fluctuations in advocacy rhetoric.
Key players The impetus for the arts integration is a growing body of research that demonstrates how learners experience success when taught why and how to use music, visual art, drama/dance, theatre and the literary arts to both express and understand ideas, thoughts and feelings. Critical Links,Deasy, Richard, et al. Critical Links : Learning in the Arts and Student Academic and Social Development. Washington, DC: Arts Education Partnership, 2002. a compendium published by the Arts Education Partnership (AEP), includes 62 studies which examine the relationship between arts learning, academic achievement, and social development of students.Arts Education Partnership : : Publication Toolkits : : Critical Links Highlights include studies which explore the use of drama to increase students' reading comprehension and studies which examine the relationship between music and math concepts. The Arts Education Partnership has also published The Third Space,Stevenson, L. M., R. Deasy, and A. E. Partnership. Third Space: When Learning Matters. Arts Education Partnership, 2005. which profiles ten arts-integrated schools across the United States.
Another American organization conducting research in arts integration is the Chicago Arts Partnerships in Education. It has published, through Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Renaissance in the Classroom: Arts Integration and Meaningful Learning.Renaissance in the Classroom : Arts Integration and Meaningful Learning. Mahwah, N.J.: L. Erlbaum Associates, 2001. The book, edited by Gail Burnaford, Ph.D, former professor at Northwestern University and current professor at Florida Atlantic University; Cynthia Weiss, teaching artist and former CAPE associate (2000 to 2002); and Arnold Aprill, CAPE's Founding & Creative Director, combines the contributions of two-hundred seventy-two participants in CAPE's arts integration partnerships. James Catterall, arts education researcher and professor at University of California, Los Angeles's Graduate School of Education and Information Studies, has collaborated with CAPE on publications.
Harvard University's Graduate School of Education supports Project Zero, an educational research group founded in 1967 by Nelson Goodman, which investigates learning in the arts. Former directors of Project Zero include David Perkins and Howard Gardner. Currently, it is directed by Steve Seidel, and has expanded its research in arts learning to include other branches of education.History of Project Zero Howard Gardner's Theory of multiple intelligences has been used as part of the rationale for the use of integrated arts models in teaching and learning.
For over 30 years, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., has been offering arts integration learning opportunities for educators. Locally, through its Changing Education Through the Arts (CETA) program, the Kennedy Center provides professional learning for Washington, D.C. area educators that are implementing arts integration in their classrooms or teaching about an art form. To develop a school-wide culture of arts integration, a network of CETA schools partner with the Kennedy Center to engage their teachers in in-depth professional learning focused on arts integration. The CETA program has added to the research about the impact of arts integration on students, teachers, and school culture through multiple evaluation studies. To reach educators throughout the nation, the Kennedy Center hosts an annual Arts Integration Conference, in which educators actively explore arts integration concepts and strategies. The Kennedy Center’s online resource, ARTSEDGE, also hosts a web series of arts integration resources that explain the ‘what’ and ‘why’ of arts integration, provides examples of arts integration in practice, and links to a range of resources. A series of Kennedy Center Seminars for Teaching Artists that focus on arts integration, as well as practices for developing strong arts-integrated residencies for students and workshops for teachers are available throughout the nation. A National Seminar for Teaching Artists is offered bi-annually at the Kennedy Center during the summer. Three other Kennedy Center national initiatives support practices and partnerships in arts integration and arts education: Any Given Child, Partners in Education, and VSA.
The Kennedy Center Partners in Education, headquartered in Washington, DC, is an organization that has promoted arts integration for over two decades. While The Kennedy Center does conduct research in arts learning, they also provide networking opportunities for arts education programs nationwide through The Kennedy Center Alliance for Arts Education Network KCAAEN. This organization advocates for arts education, fosters collaboration between artists and schools to support arts learning, develops and conducts professional development in arts education for teachers, and recognizes achievement in the arts.KCAAEN
Since the 1980s, Lesley University in Cambridge, MA, has been educating classroom teachers across the US in the implementation of arts integration through a professional development master's degree program. A 2012 research study, funded by the Ford Foundation, has found that teachers who graduate from the program and integrate the arts into their teaching are more resilient and remain committed to their profession. Their students engage in deep learning through arts integrated activities, leading to a greater interest in school.Bellisario, K. & Donovan, L. (2012). Voices from the field: Teachers’ views on the relevance of arts integration. Cambridge, MA: Lesley University.
The College of Education at University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee located in Sarasota, FL, has adopted arts-integration across of all its educator preparation programs, providing training for teachers, leaders, and specialists who take on educational roles in their careers. Through its Center for Partnerships for Arts-Integrated Teaching (PAInT), the College conducts research and service activities that benefits their students and the entire region.
ArtsNow provides professional development training for educators, focused on building the skills needed to integrate arts across the curriculum. Through the innovative Foundational Training course, teachers learn to identify opportunities to integrate all art forms - visual, dance, and music - into lessons in all class subjects for grades K-12, meeting both state and national curriculum standards (including Common Core standards). ArtsNow offers free Ignite Curriculum Guides through its website.ArtsNow Learning, Inc.