TRANSFORMING IDEAS FOR TEACHING AND LEARNING THE ARTS

 March 1997

Background

“Archeologists, when they study past civilizations, study the artifacts of pottery

and cave paintings and musical instruments to determine the quality of a culture.”

Boyer1

Some civilizations have left us no trace but their arts. Should we be educating children without

involving them in those activities that may define their time and place in history? Those school

systems that treat the arts as something other than essentials give that impression. Yet this is

hardly the American way.

Music was established as part of the curriculum for the “Common Schools,” when universal

public education was adopted as critical for a democracy, early in the 19th century. Art

instruction was soon added. Drama took a little longer. Dance is an even more recent addition.

Despite the worldwide acclaim that music in America's schools attracted, the music educators

themselves were not satisfied. About 30 years ago, their professional organization published a

list of objectives that should result from 12 years of music education. Those objectives were

beyond the attainments of all but a few school systems. Three years later the Tanglewood

Declaration called for music and dance to be placed at the core of the curriculum.

Shortly thereafter, the U.S. Office of Education (now the U.S. Department of Education) funded

with $1 million a project to demonstrate the feasibility of such an idea. Arts IMPACT

(Interdisciplinary Model Programs in the Arts for Children and Teachers) demonstrated that such

a central role for the arts could bring positive results for the whole school.

Twenty-five years ago the American Association of School Administrators' Curriculum

Handbook stated, “In the truly comprehensive program, the school administrator is willing to

accept the role of the arts as equal in importance to the role of scientific and technical studies.”2

For a time, progress was steadily upward. Now, most public elementary schools offer instruction

in music and visual arts (97 percent and 85 percent respectively), although relatively few offer

dance and drama courses (43 percent and 8 percent respectively); and only 39 percent of the

nation's public secondary schools require credit specifically in the arts for graduation.3

In 1987, participants in a symposium called by the American Council for the Arts and the Music

Educators National Conference prepared The Interlochen Proposal that describes the potential

role for the arts in a reformation of American schooling.4

Arts IMPACT began a relationship among the professional organizations of teachers of dance,

art, music, and theater that continues today as the National Coalition for Education in the Arts

(formerly, Consortium of National Arts Education Associations). This group prepared the
National Standards for Arts Education, released in 1994, which are organized around the

definition of art as (1) creative works and the process of producing them and (2) the whole body

of work in the art forms that make up the entire human intellectual and cultural heritage.5

Exit-level achievement standards for grades K-4, 5-8, and 9-12 have been developed. These

standards help place arts education into overall school improvement and local and state efforts

to raise standards. 

Plans for a national assessment of students' knowledge in dance, art, music, and theater (grades

4, 8 and 12) through the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) are now

underway. Although arts programs in some school systems have suffered during recent

retrenchments, education in the arts continues to improve for many American students.

Richard W. Riley, in one of his early statements as U.S. Secretary of Education, called for the

recognition of the arts “as a vital part of our effort” to improve the quality of education for all

children. This echoes a statement of the Arts Education Partnership Working Group sponsored 6

by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the J. Paul Getty Foundation, that the

arts are one of education's most potentially powerful assets and should be included in educational

reform efforts. This idea was incorporated into the language of Title X of the 1994

reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (Improving America's Schools

Act). The arts were also recognized by the Goals 2000: Educate America Act of 1994 as one of

the core disciplines of study listed in the National Education Goals calling for high academic

achievement by all students. Subsequently, the U.S. Department of Education and the National

Endowment for the Arts formed the Goals 2000 Arts Education Partnership in order to develop

an action plan to maximize the role of the arts in improving education and helping students

achieve the National Education Goals.

Considering the stance of the U.S. Department of Education, NAEP, the Goals 2000 Arts

Education Partnership, and the Coalition for Education in the Arts, along with increasing support

from research as to the value of the arts, the present seems a time of real opportunity. While there

are still issues being discussed, such as the importance of interarts instruction and the inclusion

of creative writing in the arts, the state-of-the-art in arts education may soon properly reflect the

importance of this aspect of education to our civilization.

This booklet is designed to give teachers some of the latest ideas about how arts principles and

concepts can best be understood, taught, and used in the classroom to improve instruction in the

arts and other disciplines. In discussing the U.S. Department of Education's support for the arts,

Secretary Riley said, “The arts in all their distinct forms define, in many ways, those qualities that

are at the heart of education reform in the 1990s—creativity, perseverance, a sense of standards,

and, above all, a striving for excellence.” 7
Make Certain All Students Have Daily Arts Experiences

“All students will leave grades 4, 8, and 12 having demonstrated competency over

challenging subject matter including English, mathematics, science, foreign

language, civics and government, economics, the arts, history, and geography; and

every school in America will ensure that all students learn to use their minds well

so that they may be prepared for responsible citizenship, further learning, and

productive employment in our Nation's modern economy.”

Goals 2000: Educate America Act 1994. 8

“The arts can become important in the lives of students whether taught by

classroom teachers or specialists, or both.” 

Arts IMPACT 9

The practice of isolating contact with music or art to two or three short periods a week, dance to

an occasional physical education class, and theater to a seasonal play has given children an

unnatural idea about the place of the arts in life. The principal and all teachers, classroom and

specialist, together need to plan ways for daily art experiences for every child.

Practice

The Magnet Arts School in Eugene, Oregon, is an elementary school that truly places the arts in

the center of its curriculum in the belief that they represent an effective way to learn. A lineal

descendent of an Arts IMPACT school, this magnet program enrolls students who come by

choice and not because of any demonstrated talent. The curriculum is concept oriented and the

arts are employed in reading, math, language arts, science, social studies, physical education, and

health. In an environment suffused with the arts, the children learn their own arts heritage, the

importance of the arts in the structure of all cultures, and the skills and attitudes on which to build

a lifelong appreciation for beauty. 10

All students at the Highland Upper Grade Center in Libertyville, Illinois, are involved in the arts

during their three years at the school. The comprehensive nature of the theater offering

demonstrates the Center's commitment to the arts: sixth grade focuses on creative drama,

pantomime, improvisation, and story development; seventh grade concentrates on studying silent

films, silent film production, writing dialogue, body movement, and voice projection; and eighth

grade emphasizes theater history, radio theater, movie production, sound technology, and public

speaking.11
The Arts Offer the Opportunity to Practice Decision Making

 “I believe that every student who enrolls in school has the innate ability and

capacity to be artistically expressive just as fully as they have the capacity to be

linguistically expressive. But after several years, we suppress and destroy this

language and we say eventually that it's just a frill. What we have done is deny

one of the elements, one of the God-given capacities to respond to what the

Psalmist called, 'The beauty that surrounds us.' ” 

Boyer 12

 “The arts are essential to the education of all children and a comprehensive

education in the arts (visual arts, dance, music and theater) provides a powerful

means of engaging children in learning and improving student achievement.

 The arts help teach students many skills they need to succeed in life.” 

Official Policy Resolution, 63rd Annual 

 Conference of Mayors 

 June 1995 13

Arts educators play up the unique opportunities for decision making presented by dance, art,

music, and drama. Frequently, however, their own teaching demands that students follow set

rules without allowing students to explore for themselves. Teachers need to develop strategies

that will allow students to discover their talents and creativity on their own. 

A few examples of such opportunities for decision making could include: selecting adjectives that

help define an object in terms of its look, smell, sound, taste, and touch; creating body

movements to accompany a fellow-student's poem; designing costumes and scenery for a play;

selecting percussion instruments to accompany the reading of a story such as “Billy Goats Gruff;”

choosing items for display in an artist's corner; selecting appropriate background music for a

class-made video as an introductory experience that would lead to creating an original score.

All such activities should require defending one's choices and learning to live with the consequences. “Students who have the opportunity to make artistic decisions develop a deeper sense

of [musical] understanding and aesthetic awareness.” 14
Practice

 Decision making has been the emphasis of the Manhattanville Music Curriculum

Project, a model for arts educators for the past 25 years. Ronald B. Thomas, its

creator, developed a series of problem-solving experiences on a spiral curriculum

of skills and principles taught in the primary grades and then expanded upon in the

upper grades. In the primary grades, for example, children composed a musical

piece about other subjects of their choice—about a story that was read, about

counting and adding, about gerbils and fish, or about spelling and punctuation.

Thus, music was integrated into other subject experiences. In the music lab,

children were free to explore and discover music as part of the total learning

experience. 15 
Students Need to Know the Elements of the Various Arts and Need

to Develop the Vocabularies with Which to Discuss Them.

 “When we teach a child to sing or play an instrument, we teach her to listen.

When we teach a child to draw, we teach her to see. When we teach a child to

dance, we teach him about body and about space. When we teach a child design,

we teach the geometry of the world. When we teach children about the folk and

traditional arts and great masterpieces, we teach them to celebrate their roots and

find their place in history.”

Alexander 16

 “In order for the words to be personally useful, students need to describe and

express their perception and experiences of musical events in their own words,

words drawn initially from an experiential vocabulary.”

Costanzo and Russell 17

By asking more questions and making fewer statements, arts educators can help students develop

the ability to verbalize about their experiences. Encouraging the use of verbal imagery and

metaphors over the memorization of professional terms (many of them in foreign languages) can

assure real understanding. Expressing a concept in one's own words builds ownership.

Translation to the professional level is then less confusing.

Practice

Teresa Purcell, physical education and dance teacher at the Brunswick Acres Elementary School

in Kendall Park, New Jersey, encourages children to create their own expressive movements.

They learn to extend original ideas by discussing and revising their actions. In the course of this

process the children build a vocabulary in dance terminology. 18

One third–grade teacher in Illinois, Mary Rose, shows her students examples of famous paintings

by well-respected artists. She encourages her students to use their own vocabularies to describe

the paintings by asking probing questions: For example, when she shows the class a Marc

Chagall painting, she asks, “What is in the picture?” The students recognize the dreamlike quality

of Chagall's artwork. They compare this style to traditional landscapes. The teacher is thus

incorporating artistic terms and ideas into a natural conversation with the students. 19
Experiences in the Arts Provide Opportunities for Students to Learn

as Much about Themselves as They Do about the Subject Matter.

 “While increased self-concept . . . is not, in the eyes of some educators, a high

priority objective for education in the arts, the evaluation team maintained it is one

of the most important outcomes of any educational program.” 

Arts IMPACT 20

“It taught me not to be nervous.”

“It taught me. . . togetherness, care of property, and respect for others”.

“I felt like I could be somebody.”

Comments from children in a 

 Title I Music Project for Migrant Workers 21

The arts can provide engaging learning environments for students who may lack interest in other

classes. These environments offer high levels of learning, meaning, and caring by emphasizing

direct participation both alone and with others. Arts classes have been shown to significantly 22

improve attitudes relating to self-expression, trust, self-acceptance, acceptance by others,

self-awareness, and empowerment. 

23

Practice

“Robert was a fifth grader who missed four or five school days regularly. He 'tuned out' both

the teacher's instruction and other classmates. . . . But Robert did connect with Albrecht Durer,

the 16th-century printmaker. . .[when he] was shown a self-portrait that Durer had painted at age

13. That night he went home and drew his own self-portrait. His teacher suggested that he begin

keeping a sketchbook. Thereafter, three or four times a week, Robert shared his sketchbook with

the teacher and the class. . . . His identity was in his artwork. . . .His school attendance improved

and he looked more confident in the way he carried himself. . . . In Robert's case it was through

the historical component of the DBAE (Discipline-Based Arts Education) program that he

received his inspiration to be an artist. His self-esteem obviously improved with his growth and

experience as an artist.” 24

A Title I Arts Project in Worcester County, Maryland, introduced the children of migrant

workers to playing band instruments three summer evenings a week. As an evaluation of the

project, the children were asked if they were helped in any way. Their responses appear to the

left on this page. 

Recent changes in Title I, the federal government's largest investment in education, make it

possible for many schools across the country (22,000 total) to use Title I funds for schoolwide

improvement. The arts can play a vital role in such improvement.
Provide Students with Opportunities to Develop a Craft While

Exploring Originality and Analytical Thinking.

 “The learner passes through different stages involving different types of learning.

If the teacher ignores the various stages and only focuses on the terminal

performance, then learning could be haphazard or inefficient.”

Schuell 25

 The Congress finds that the arts are forms of understanding and ways of knowing

that are fundamentally important to education.

Improving America’s

 Schools Act of 1994 26

Craftsmanship is an essential part of any art. Teachers have tended to emphasize it at the expense

of other parts of what is an important triad. The other two parts, originality and a concern for

quality, can never be forgotten. As soon as a student has demonstrated the grasp of a simple skill,

the wise teacher seeks to provide an opportunity to use the new-found ability in a way that

enhances the learner's pride and identity. At the same time, concern for quality must be

encouraged. Students who learn early to evaluate their productions are on the road to the great

satisfactions that the arts can bring. As soon as a young instrumentalist can produce a tone, the

improvement of that tone should be a continuing matter of attention. Once an individual can twirl

across the floor and keep focus, the dancer must search for ways to make the movements more

expressive. Skill, originality, and self-evaluation are the vital distinguishing factors of an artist,

whether student or professional.

Practice

A visual arts teacher at Colonial Elementary School in Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania, teaches

watercolor by having her students paint oriental fans, because they “like to have some kind of

product when they finish.” She teaches “wet-on-wet” technique, encouraging exploration and

abstraction, while discussing art history and art from other cultures. 27

Band students in a high school in Montgomery County, Maryland, developed an original,

one-minute musical idea by expanding it, scoring it, rehearsing it, and recording it, thus acquiring

many of the crafts of making music, while being original and applying analytical thinking. 28
Lead Students to New Ways of Solving Problems Through Unique

Challenges in the Arts, Both Mental and Physical

 “The arts also enhance our nation's economic competitiveness by developing

creative problem-solving skills, imagination, self-discipline, and attention to

detail.” 

Riley 29

 “You can't create without analysis, synthesis, evaluation, and problem solving.

So the arts are the perfect model for moving into higher levels of thinking.” 

Myers 30

 “The Congress finds that the most significant contribution of the arts to education

reform is the transformation of teaching and learning.”

Improving America’s

 Schools Act of 1994 31

Arts educators can provide opportunities for different kinds of learning, such as musical, spatial,

and bodily-kinesthetic, among others. By fostering different kinds of learning, arts programs 32

have been shown to help students use analytical thinking and problem-solving skills, including

the ability to pose questions, analyze evidence, consider hypotheses, and defend a point of view.33

Practice

Lisa DeLorenzo, a researcher now at Montclair State College in New Jersey, has studied the

learning that children can gain through decision making when given musical problems by their

teachers. She discovered that the desired degree of personal involvement with the task came

about when the teacher was successful in posing a problem that was within the students'

capabilities and of interest to them. The more options available to the students for solving the

problem, the more they were apt to become involved. DeLorenzo saw musical problem solving

as involving analysis, synthesis, evaluation, and inquiry. 34

Margo Faught, dancer and member of the physical education faculty at the Indiana School for

the Blind, uses group problem solving to establish body awareness, good posture, and self

confidence. The process is successful enough to have resulted in the New Visions Dance

Company that gives public recitals. 35
Employ Modern Technology to Encourage Imaginative Use of

Artistic Material

The effect of participation with computers in compositional activities was more

beneficial than using programs that stressed music fundamentals.

A conclusion reached by both Kozerski 36

 and Conant 37

 “Use computers. Introduce students to software. . . . Provide instruction that will

allow them to create art on the computer. Discuss ways computers are used by

professional artists. Ask students to find examples of computer-generated art in

books, magazines, and newspapers.” 

Art Strategies 

Fairfax County Public Schools, Virginia 38

Computers, which are descended from simpler, programmed-learning devices, were first used by

arts teachers for rote learning the names and dates of artists, drama plots, key signatures, etc. A

well-known computer program taught musical intervals as a purely mental exercise without any

aural involvement by the student. Now, the many wonders of modern technology are being used

routinely and more imaginatively, but many arts educators remain intimidated by the machines.

Practice 

Russ Gibb, originally a creative-writing teacher at Dearborn, Michigan High School, now

considers himself a facilitator as he and his students explore the creative possibilities of the video

camera and the computer. James Irwin at the Maret School in Washington, DC, introduces

39

ninth graders to melody, harmony, notation, orchestration, and style by having them create

original musical ideas with computers and a 16-voice multitimbral keyboard.40
Arts Specialists Are Educators Who Are Also Skilled in at Least One

Arts Discipline

 “There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects

it.”

Wharton 41

It is critically important that arts specialists working in the schools be excellent dancers, artists,

musicians, or thespians; and it is just as important that they be skilled as teachers. Though these

teachers may, and it is hoped, will continue to be productive in their chosen disciplines, it is

crucial that they find major satisfaction in the growth of others for whom they open the wonders

of the arts. Teaching is hard work; it requires imagination and diligence to plan the steps that lead

to understanding. Arts educators are those dancers, musicians, artists, and thespians who devote

their lives to teaching.

Practice

Connie Sophocles is a music educator at Mt. Abraham High School in Bristol, Vermont. Her day

starts before school begins, because her best students want to come early to make music. The day

sometimes continues until 11 p.m. as her definition of music educator is extended to include

responsibility for theater production. 42

Judy Rudnicke is a third-grade teacher in Danville, Illinois. She contributes to the school's

theatrical productions by writing original scripts. She is also interested in the visual arts and talks

about her visits to museums and shares her ideas and reproductions of artwork with her

colleagues. Her influence has extended beyond the classroom to the school via her involvement

in the theater and her advice and suggestions to other teachers. 43
Enriching the Experiences of All Children as They Study Literature,

History, Geography, Foreign Languages, Math, or Science Is a Gift

Arts Specialists Offer the School.

 “All the evidence points to a relationship between the arts and the other academic

disciplines that is clear and compelling, indicating to both fields that one cannot

really flourish without the influence of the other.” 

Ross 44

 “Given . . . assistance, classroom teachers can become expert at integrating the

arts into the teaching of their regular subject matter.” 

Fowler 45

“Vocabulary and reading comprehension were significantly improved for

elementary students in the ”Arts Alternatives" program in New Jersey."

Murfee 46

Variety is the spice that the arts can contribute to almost any subject. The integration of the arts

with the rest of the curriculum is an asset that schools must find a way to use, despite the

administrative problems such interaction may present. 

Martin Luther wanted all teachers to be musical. So did Harriet Beecher Stowe's husband,

Charles, and her brother, Calvin, who advised the Ohio legislature to define a “professional

teacher” as one who could teach reading, writing, arithmetic, and music. Over the years, this

advice has not been followed, except that most elementary teachers have had some introduction

to the teaching of music and art. 

Arts specialists, charged with developing arts skills, can help classroom teachers make disciplines

such as history or literature come alive and cultural comparisons meaningful. They can make the

principles of geometry or symmetry more real, and they can sharpen the vision of science. 

Practice

Fourth grade students at John Eliot Elementary School in Needham, Massachusetts, adopt

historical characters and act out their personalities. They study the character, dress like the

character, and dramatize the character's personality and events in his or her life. 47
In Fairfax County, Virginia, a goal for students in grades 6–8 is to experience interdisciplinary

learning by connecting the visual arts with other subject areas. One of the suggestions is to

coordinate with the English teacher to have students read The Invisible Man when studying

African-American art. Another is to integrate art and mathematics by looking at tessellations in

Islamic and Moorish art, American patchwork quilts, and the work of M.C. Escher. Students

would be asked “to notice how the geometric shapes tessellate to create a pattern.” 48 
A Major Asset of the Arts in Education Is to Make Schools a More

Engaging Learning Environment

“Wherever classroom teachers, arts resource teachers, and principals worked

unselfishly to change a school's learning atmosphere, change took place.” 

Arts IMPACT 49

 “School documents state that, ‘success is achieved by creating reasons and needs

for learning through the arts.’ ”

U.S. Department of Education 50

Americans have taxed themselves billions of dollars to construct large buildings in which their

children are to be educated. Yet, the environments in many of the schools lack liveliness and

charm. Pestalozzi in Switzerland and Bronson Alcott in Massachusetts understood the importance

of making their schools enjoyable places to be. We practice this in our kindergartens, but once

children are full-fledged students we tend to revert to no-nonsense, lackluster establishments. 

Interesting, colorful schools improve attendance, not only of the pupils but of the teachers as well.

Parents form different impressions of the institution and may become more involved.

Practice

At Roosevelt Middle School for the Arts in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the hallways were

decorated—not with graffiti and vandalism—but with displays of artwork by students. Students

directed the attention of teachers, parents, and visitors to their sculpture or their own section of art

on the wall, thus demonstrating a broad ownership of the school building and program.51 

Aiken Elementary School in South Carolina used the arts to change the spirit of the place. The

school moved from among the lowest in academic performance to a position in the upper 1

percent in the State.52
Conclusion

“Here, then, is my conclusion. First, we need the arts to express feelings words

cannot convey. Second, we need the arts to expand the child's way of knowing and

to bring creativity to the Nation's classrooms. Third, we need the arts to help

students integrate their learning and discover the connectedness of things. Fourth,

we need the arts in education to help children who are emotionally and physically

restricted. Above all, the arts can build community not only within the school but

beyond it as well: in neighborhoods, in different cultures, and across the

generations. Learning in the arts truly is lifelong. It's a deeply satisfying journey

that I am convinced should never end.” 

Boyer 53

If arts educators are to be successful in having their specialties recognized as critical parts of the

curriculum, it will be important that they comprehend the messages coming from researchers and

effective classrooms. They need to strive to help their schools reach high standards in all core

subjects, including the arts. Many of them need to become more sensitive to the nature of their

role as team members in school renewal.

Increasing student academic achievement is at the core of current school improvement efforts.

To accomplish this, schools must be safe; parents, businesses, and communities need to be

involved; teachers need innovative training; and students need to be ready to learn. The arts can

contribute to the successful development of all these goals.

Processes that focus on the individual student are vital in arts education, as they should be in all

subjects. Arts teachers need to think of themselves both as resources for knowledge, as well as

planners of challenges that will result in the growth of individuals and artists. While skills in the

arts are very important, teamwork, a sense of discipline, persistence, and creativity are equally

valuable products of school arts experiences. Arts curricula should be built from the best

possible arts experiences, but each encounter must have significance for the student at the time

it is presented. When we remember that the term “to educate” means both “to lead forth” and

“to draw out,” we can see that the arts contribute to education as both a body of knowledge to

be led to and a means to draw out every child.
NOTES

1. Ernest Boyer, former U.S. Commissioner of Education, to Mississippi State Arts Council

Conference, Jackson, MS, August 1995. 

2. American Association of School Administrators, “Arts Education” in Curriculum

Handbook for School Administrators. Washington, DC: AASA, 1967, p. 18.

3. Westat, Inc., under contract with the U.S. Department of Education, National Center for

Education Statistics, and the National Endowment for the Arts, Arts Education in Public

Elementary and Secondary Schools. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office,

1995, pp. iii-iv.

4. David B. Pankratz and Kevin V. Mulcahy, The Challenge to Reform Arts Education,

“The Interlochen Proposal I.” New York: American Council for the Arts, 1989, p. 85.

5. Consortium of National Arts Education Associations, National Standards for Arts

Education. Reston, VA: Music Educators National Conference, 1994.

6. Richard W. Riley, Secretary, U.S. Department of Education NEWS, Washington, DC.

Released February 22, 1993.

7. Richard W. Riley, to National Association of State Arts Agencies, Charleston, SC,

November 19, 1993. 

8. 103rd Congress, “Goals 2000: Educate America Act” (Public Law 103-227).

Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1994, Title I—National Education

Goals.

9. The Pennsylvania State University, Arts Impact: Curriculum for Change: A Summary

Report. Washington, DC: Office of Education, Arts and Humanities Program (DHEW),

1973, p. 42.

10. Magnet Arts School, Eugene, Oregon Public Schools, Curriculum Guide Handbook,

revised ed., 1985. p. 2.

11. U.S. Department of Education, Office of Educational Research and Improvement,

Programs for the Improvement of Practice, Blue Ribbon Schools: Outstanding Practices

in the Arts. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1994. p. 3.

12. Boyer.

13. U.S. Conference of Mayors, ``Official Policy Resolution,'' 63rd Annual Conference,

Miami, FL, June 1995.

14. Peter Costanzo and Timothy Russell, “Methodologies in Music Education” in Handbook

of Research on Music Teaching and Learning. New York, NY: Schirmer Books, 1992,

p. 504.

15. Ronald Thomas, Manhattanville Curriculum Program. Final Report. Purchase, NY:

Manhattanville College. (ERIC document number ED 045865AA000653.) 1970.

16. Jane Alexander, Chairman, National Endowment for the Arts, Town Hall Meeting, Salt

Lake City, UT, November 23, 1994.

17. Costanzo and Russell, p. 527.

18. Teresa Purcell, dance teacher, Kendall Park, New Jersey. Telephone interview, October

26, 1992.

19. Robert Stake, Liora Bresler, Linda Mabry, Customs and Cherishings: The Arts in

Elementary Schools. Urbana, IL: National Arts Education Research Center, University

of Illinois, School of Music, 1991. p. 58. 
20. Arts IMPACT, p. 48.

21. “Music, Music, Music.” Snow Hill, MD: Worcester County Board of Education. (No

date).

22. Susan W. Stinson, “Meaning and Value: Reflections on What Students Say About

School” in Schools, Communities, and the Arts: A Research Compendium, Tempe, AZ:

Morrison Institute for Public Policy, School of Public Affairs, Arizona State University

with the National Endowment for the Arts, 1995. p. 87.

23. Annette F. Gourgey, Jason Bosseau, and Judith Delgado, “The Impact of an

Improvisational Dramatics Program on Students Attitudes and Achievement” in Schools,

Communities, and the Arts: A Research Compendium, p. 52.

24. Marilee Mansfield Cowan and Faith M. Clover, “Enhancement of Self–Concept Through

Discipline–Based Arts Education'' in Arts Education 44 (March 1991): pp. 45–50.

25. T.J. Schuell, “The Role of Transfer in the Learning and Teaching of Music” in The

Crane Symposium: Toward an Understanding of the Teaching and Learning of Musical

Performance. Potsdam, NY: College of the State University of New York, 1988, pp.

151-152.

26. 103rd Congress, “Improving America's Schools Act of 1994” (Public Law 103-382).

Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1994, Title X, Part D—Arts in

Education.

27. Stake, Bresler, and Mabry, p. 186.

28. Christopher C. Allen, “C.A.P.E.R.: A Creative Unit for Band.” Unpublished master's

thesis, Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America, 1987.

29. Richard W. Riley, Secretary, U.S. Department of Education NEWS. February 22, 1993.

30. Rose Maree Myers, Principal, Ashley River Elementary School, as quoted in Learning

Matters, Video 1201, PBS Series, “Broken Arts.” South Carolina Educational Television,

1993.

31. “Improving America's Schools Act of 1994,” Title X, Part D.

32. Jaye T. Darby and James S. Catterall, “The Fourth R: The Arts and Learning” in

Schools, Communities, and the Arts: A Research Compendium, p. 69.

33. Carol Fineberg, “Arts and Cognition: A Study of the Relationship Between Arts Partners

Programs and the Development of Higher Level Thinking Processes in Elementary and

Junior High School Studies” in Schools, Communities, and the Arts: A Research

Compendium, p. 33.

34. Carol P. Richardson and Nancy L. Whitaker, “Critical Music Teaching and Learning”

in Handbook of Research on Music Teaching and Learning, pp. 553-554. 

35. Margot Faught, dancer, Indianapolis, Indiana, Telephone interview, October 26, 1992.

36. R.A. Kozerski, “Computer Microworlds for Computer Composition and Education.”

Unpublished doctoral dissertation, San Diego, CA: University of San Diego, 1988.

37. B.H. Conant, “A Study of the Cognitive Processes of Children Creating Music in a

Computer Learning Environment.” Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Amherst, MA:

University of Massachusetts, Amherst, 1988.

38. Department of Instructional Services, Fairfax County, VA, Art Strategies for Instruction,

Organization, Evaluation: Art Program of Studies, Grades 6–8. Fairfax, VA: Fairfax

County School Board, 1993, p. 35. 
39. Learning Matters, Video 1201, PBS Series, “Broken Arts.”

40. James Irwin, Head of Music, Maret School, Washington, DC, telephone interview.

October 12, 1992.

41. Edith Wharton as quoted in The Arts and English Curricular Framework proposal.

Montana Office of Public Instruction, 1993, p. 12.

42. Learning Matters, Video 1201, PBS Series, “Broken Arts.”

43. Stake, Bresler, and Mabry, p. 324.

44. Jerrold Ross, Director, National Arts Education Research Center, New York University,

in letter to Milton Goldberg, Director, Office of Research, U.S. Department of

Education, with the Fifth Year Report of the National Arts Education Research Center,

May 22, 1992.

45. Charles Fowler, Can We Rescue the Arts for America's Children? New York, NY :

American Council for the Arts, 1988, p. 55.

46. Elizabeth Murfee, Eloquent Evidence: Arts at the Core of Learning. Washington, DC:

National Assembly of State Arts Agencies, 1995, p. 5. 

47. OMG, Inc. with Charles Fowler and Bernard J. McMullen, Understanding How the Arts

Contribute to Excellent Education. Report prepared for the National Endowment for the

Arts, Contract DCA-90-50, Philadelphia: OMG, Inc., Fall 1991, p. 29.

48. Department of Instructional Services, Fairfax County, VA, p. 34.

49. Arts IMPACT, p. 49.

50. Policy Studies Associates, under contract with the U.S. Department of Education,

Implementing Schoolwide Projects. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office,

1994, p. 72.

51. OMG, Inc., pp. 32-33.

52. Ibid., p. 19.

53. Ernest Boyer, former U.S. Commissioner of Education, to the National Endowment for

the Arts Conference, Chicago, IL, April 16, 1994.
Suggested Reading

Arts Education in Public Elementary and Secondary Schools. Prepared by Nancy Carey and

Elizabeth Farris, Westat, Inc., for the National Center for Education Statistics, the National

Endowment for the Arts, and the National Institute on Student Achievement, Curriculum, and

Assessment, October 1995. Contact: U.S. Department of Education, 1-800-424-1616.

Arts Education: Research Agenda for the Future. Prepared by Pelavin Associates for the U.S.

Department of Education, Office of Educational Research and Improvement, and the National

Endowment for the Arts, February 1994. Contact: U.S. Department of Education,

1-800-424-1616.

The Arts and Education: Partners in Achieving Our National Education Goals. Prepared by

Goals 2000 Arts Education Partnership, January 1995. Contact: Goals 2000 Arts Education

Partnership, (202) 326-8683.

The Basic School: A Community for Learning, by Ernest Boyer, September 1995. Contact:

California Princeton Fulfillment Services, 1-800-777-4726.

Be Smart, Include Art: A Planning Kit for PTA's. Contact: The National PTA, (312) 670-6782.

Coming Up Taller: Arts and Humanities Programs for Children and Youth At-Risk. Prepared

by President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, April 1996. Contact: President's

Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, (202) 667-0901.

Eloquent Evidence: Arts at the Core of Learning, by Elizabeth Murfee, October 1995. Contact:

National Assembly of State Arts Agencies, (202) 347-6352.

Lifelong Journey: An Education in the Arts, by Gary O. Larson, July 1996. Contact: National

Endowment for the Arts, Office of Public Information, (202) 682-5400.

National Standards for Arts Education: What Every Young American Should Know and Be Able

To Do in the Arts. Developed by a consortium of national arts education associations. Contact:

Music Educators National Conference, 1-800-828-0229.

Schools, Communities, and the Arts: A Research Compendium. Prepared by the Morrison

Institute for Public Policy for the National Endowment for the Arts, June 1995. Contact: The

Alliance for Arts Education, (202) 416-8800.

Start with the Arts. Prepared by Very Special Arts (designated by the U.S. Congress as the

national coordinating agency of arts programming for people with disabilities). Contact: Very

Special Arts, 1-800-933-8721.
Selected Resources

 Additional Reading

Boardman, Eunice, ed. Dimensions in Musical Thinking. Reston, VA: Music Educators National

Conference, 1989.

National Arts Education Association Research Commission. Creating a Visual Arts Research

Agenda Toward the 21st Century. Reston, VA: The National Art Education, 1993.

National Dance Association. Dance Education: What Is It? Why Is It Important? Reston, VA:

National Dance Association. 1991.

“Dance Education, K-12/Theory Into Practice” in Journal of Health, Physical Education and

Dance, Part I (November-December 1992) and Part II (May-June 1993).

Dunn, Phillip. Promoting School Art: A Practical Approach. Reston, VA: The National Art

Education Association, 1987.

Goldberg, Merryl Ruth and Philipps, Ann, eds. Symposium “Art as Education” in Maryland

Educational Review 61 (February 1991), pp. 25-87.

Gratto, Sharon Davis. “Performance-Based Arts Education: A Study of Music in Inter-Arts

Programs for Secondary-School Students.” DMA dissertation, Catholic University of America,

1993.

Mayes, Jennifer Fell and Schindel, Dorothy Napp. “Museum Education Through Drama:

Blazing a New Trail” in Drama/Theatre Teacher IV (Winter 1992), pp. 12-15.

Leonhard, Charles. The Status of Arts Education in American Public Schools. Urbana, IL: The

National Arts Education Research Center, 1991.

Libman, Karen. “Integrating Drama into the Curriculum” in Drama/Theatre Teacher III (Winter

1992), pp. 19-24.

Loyucono, Laura L., “Why the Arts Are More Than a Thrill” in Reinventing the Wheel—A

Design for Student Achievement in the 21st Century. Denver: National Conference of State

Legislatures, 1992.

Reimer, Bennett. “A Comprehensive Arts Curriculum Model” in Design for Arts Education 90,

#6, pp. 2-16.

Riherd, Mark. “Critical Thinking Through Drama” in Drama/Theatre Teacher V (Fall 1992),

pp. 18-20.
The Arts Partnership Working Group. The Power of the Arts To Transform Education.

Washington, DC: The Arts Education Partnership Working Group and The John F. Kennedy

Center for the Performing Arts, 1993.

The National Endowment for the Arts and the U.S. Department of Education, OERI, Office of

Research. The Arts in American Schools: Setting a Research Agenda for the 1990s. Conference

Report. Annapolis, MD, May 1992.

Zimmermann, Marilyn P., ed. “The Future of Arts Education: Arts Teacher Education,'' special

issue of the Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education #117 (Summer 1993).
Related Organizations

Alliance for Arts Education 

John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts 

Education Department 

Washington, DC 20566 

(202) 416-8800

American Alliance for Theatre & Education 

Department of Theatre 

Arizona State University 

Tempe, AZ 85287 

(602)965-6064

The Getty Education Institute for the Arts 

1200 Getty Drive, Suite 600 

Los Angeles, CA 90049-1683 

(310) 440-7315

Goals 2000 

Arts Education Partnership 

c/o Council of Chief State School Officers 

One Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Suite 700 

Washington, DC 20001 

(202) 326-8693

The National Art Education Association 

1916 Association Drive 

Reston, VA 22091 

(703)860-8000

Americans for the Arts 

927 15th Street, NW, 12th Floor 

Washington, DC 20005 

(202) 371-2830

National Assembly of State Arts Agencies

1010 Vermont Ave, NW Suite 920 

Washington, DC 20005 

(202) 347-6352
National Coalition for Education in the Arts 

c/o Music Educators 

National Conference 1

806 Robert Fulton Drive 

Reston, VA 22091-1599 

(703) 860-4000

National Dance Association 

1900 Association Drive 

Reston, VA 22091 

(703) 476-3436

National Endowment for the Arts 

Education and Access Division 

1100 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Room 702 

Washington, DC 20506 

(202) 682-5438

National Parent Teacher Association

Publications Department 

33 North Wabash Avenue, Suite 2100 

Chicago, IL60611

 (312) 670-6782

Teachers & Writers Collaborative 

5 Union Square 

New York, NY 10003 

(212) 691-6590

Very Special Arts 

1300 Connecticut Avenue, NW 

Washington, DC 20036 

1-800-933-8721
Internet Resources

ArtsEdge—John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts 

http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org

ArtsEdNet 

http://www.artsednet.getty.edu/

ArtsWire 

http://gopher.tmn.com:70/1Artswire

The Getty Art History Information Program 

http://www.ahip.getty.edu/ahip/home.html

Goals 2000 Arts Education Partnership 

http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/aep/aep.html

Goals 2000 Legislation and Related Items 

http://www.ed.gov/G2K/

Internet ArtResources 

http://artresources.com

The National Endowment for the Arts Educational Programs 

http://arts.endow.gov

World Arts Resources 

http://wwar.com
Transforming Ideas for Teaching and Learning

The Arts

by

Charles L. Gary

Edited by Rita Foy 

SAI 96-3007

U.S. Department of Education

Richard W. Riley

Secretary

Office of Educational Research and Improvement

Marshall S. Smith

Acting Assistant Secretary

National Institute on Student Achievement, Curriculum,

 and Assessment

Joseph C. Conaty

 Director

Media and Information Services</strong

Cynthia Hearn Dorfman

Director

March 1997

This book is in the public domain. Authorization to reproduce it in whole or in part for

educational purposes is granted. The material in it should not be construed or interpreted as an

endorsement by the U.S. Department of Education of any private organization listed herein.

This book was prepared under contract for the U.S. Department of Education, Office of

Educational Research and Improvement, National Institute on Student Achievement,

Curriculum, and Assessment. The views and observations expressed in this report do not

necessarily reflect the official position of the U.S. Department of Education.

Designed by Phil Carr, with editing by Kathy Perkinson, 

OERI Media and Information Services.
The author Charles L. Gary is a former Executive Director of the Music

Educators National Conference. He is currently Professor of Music at the Catholic

 University of America and a consultant in education and the arts. He has also taught at

Purdue, American, George Mason and Austin Peay State universities. He is the author of

many books including Flower Fables and A History of American Music Education (with

Michael Mark). He has been recognized by awards from the Yale University Band, The

College-Conservatory of Music of the University of Cincinnati, the National

Dance Association, and was recently inducted into MENC's Music Educators Hall of Fame.

Ordering Information

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information, call the GPO Order Desk at 202/512-1800. 

Content Information

For further information, contact Rita Foy, OERI's National Institute on Student

Achievement, Curriculum, and Assessment, U.S. Department of Education,

555 New Jersey Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20208 (phone: 202-219-2079).

For sale by the U.S. Government Printing Office

Superintendent of Documents, Mail Stop SSOP, Washington, DC 20402-9328

ISBN 0-16-049021-9