What is Arts Integration?

Arts Curriculum teaches stand alone vapa standards��Arts-Enhanced Curriculum uses art to support other areas��Arts-Integrated Curriculum requires mutually beneficial learning in core area and the vapa area

Willcox, L., & McCormick, K. (2023). Examining Three Populations of Preservice Teachers: SEL and Art Integration in Elementary Classrooms. Art Education, 76(5), 38–45.

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�Arts-Integrated Curriculum requires mutually beneficial learning in core area and the vapa area

Willcox, L., & McCormick, K. (2023). Examining Three Populations of Preservice Teachers: SEL and Art Integration in Elementary Classrooms. Art Education, 76(5), 38–45.

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What Arts Integration is.

-Kennedy Center Education

Arts Integration Example

Video courtesy of Focus 5

Needs

Identified Needs from LCAP

1. Support every student to work towards achieving mastery of grade level standards in all subjects
2. Reduce chronic absenteeism
3. Improve behavior & climate to decrease suspensions

Identified VAPA Needs

1. All students have access to standards-based arts instruction
2. Arts instruction is culturally responsive and relevant
3. Arts instruction provides space for students to express themselves and feel accepted

Implementation Steps

• Observed Arts Integration (Ascend Elem.)
• Explore possible partnerships for training
• ArtsCore
• Focus 5
• TEAL/ ECELA
• Choose one or more training partners
• Identify pilot school(s)
• Work with HR to create positions for I.S. in Arts Integration
• Hire appropriate number of I.S. for the pilot
• Train I.S. and possibly classroom teachers in Arts Integration

Implementation Steps (con’t.)

• Pilot Arts Integration
• Collect feedback
• Refine the program as needed based on feedback
• Hire additional I.S. and add additional schools to the pilot
• Collect feedback
• Refine the program as needed based on feedback
• Roll out program district-wide

Outcomes

Needs

Identified Needs from LCAP

1. Support every student to work towards achieving mastery of grade level standards in all subjects
2. Reduce chronic absenteeism
3. Improve behavior & climate to decrease suspensions

Identified VAPA Needs

1. All students have access to standards-based arts instruction
2. Arts instruction is culturally responsive and relevant
3. Arts instruction provides space for students to express themselves and feel accepted

Goals

Identified Needs from LCAP

1. Students will be supported in learning core area standards with arts-based strategies and work towards mastery in arts standards
2. Arts instruction creates an additional connection to school that encourages attendance and improves climate

Identified VAPA Needs

1. All students have access to a standards-based arts integration program
2. Arts instruction is culturally responsive and relevant
3. Arts instruction provides space for students to express themselves and feel accepted

Expected Outcomes

• I.S. support multiple curricular areas in K-3 with standards-based arts integration strategies
• I.S. work with classroom teachers in a gradual release format to incorporate arts and core learning into arts-based lessons
• Student exposure to learning in the arts increases- approx. 20 hours per child per year
• Students are provided a new way to show learning in their core subject areas

Expected Outcomes

• The arts become a regular and valuable part of the learning community.
• Students take the opportunity to use the arts for self-expression, improving their well being.
• Culturally relevant arts instruction creates an additional connection to school, leading to a better climate and better attendance.
• Arts integration providing an additional way of knowing and learning eventually leads to higher student achievement in all curricular areas.

Research Based

Mariale Hardiman, Luke Rinne and Julia Yarmolinskaya, “The Effects of Arts Integration on Long-Term Retention of Content and Student Engagement,” Mind, Brain and Education 8, no. 3 (2014): 144-148. 

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• Tested eight weeks after the completion of the unit, the arts-integrated instruction showed significantly better retention for the group of students who performed at the lower levels of reading achievement. 
• The retention rate for arts-integrated instruction among students who performed at lower levels of reading achievement was 97.6%, while the retention rate for conventional instruction was 72%. 
• Findings show that higher-achieving students, who are often adept at learning in traditional ways, performed similarly with both modes of instruction. However, this study shows that integrating the arts into content instruction did not produce a loss of learning for higher-performing students. This finding highlights that incorporating the arts does not interfere with instructional time and did not lead to learning loss. 

Research Based

Cunnington, Marisol, Andrea Kantrowitz, Susanne Harnett, and Aline Hill-Ries. “Cultivating Common Ground: Integrating Standards-Based Visual Arts, Math and Literacy in High-Poverty Urban Classrooms.” Journal for Learning through the Arts: A Research Journal on Arts Integration in Schools and Communities 10, no. 1 (2014). 

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• Results indicate that rigorous interdisciplinary instruction that links visual arts, literacy, and math skills, and supports cognitive skill development, can increase students’ literacy and math learning while nurturing their art making skills and enhancing their ability to meaningfully reflect on their own work and that of their peers.  
• Qualitative findings suggest that interdisciplinary educator collaborations were critical to project success and highlight the project’s successful engagement of lower-performing students and students with disabilities. 

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Research Based

Brouillette, L., & Graham, N. J. (2016). Using arts integration to make science learning memorable in the upper elementary grades: A quasi-experimental study. Journal for Learning through the Arts, 12(1). 

• Students who received nine hours of arts integrated science (STEAM) instruction made improvements in their science achievement. When controlling for all other factors, students who received the STEAM instruction from a well-trained teacher went from the 50th percentile to the 63rd percentile in the district science assessment. The gain is significant given that there were only nine hours of exposure to the intervention. 

Inoa, R., Weltsek, G., & Tabone, C. (2014). A study on the relationship between theater arts and student literacy and mathematics achievement. Journal for Learning through the Arts: A Research Journal on Arts Integration in Schools and Communities, 10(1). 

• Results showed that students whose language arts curricula were infused with theater arts often outperformed their control group counterparts, who received no arts integration, in both math and language arts.  

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Further Reading

I have eleven pages of research citations. If you would like to read them on your own here is the link:

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arts integration research.docx

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Section 4- Evaluation

Cycle of Refinement

Cycle of Refinement

Cycle of Refinement

Cycle of Refinement

Cycle of Refinement

Data!

Cycle of Refinement

Cycle of Refinement

Thank you!