How the Arts Can Enhance After-School Programs Digitized by the Internet Archive 2015 in https://archive.org/details/howartscanenhancOOotte How the Arts Can Enhance After-School Programs U.S. Department of Education National Endowment for the Arts This document was prepared by Susan D. Otterbourg under contract ED-OO-PO-3598 to the U.S. Department ofEducation. NOTICE: This document contains examples, contact information and Web sites for information createdand maintainedbyotherpublic andprivate organizations. This information isprovidedfor the reader’s convenience. The U.S. Department ofEducation and theNational Endowment forthe Arts do notcontrol orguarantee the accuracy, relevance, timelinessorcompleteness ofthis outside information. Further, theinclusionofinformation, addressesorWeb sites forparticularitemsdoes notreflecttheirimportance,norisitintendedtoendorseanyviewsexpressedorproductsorservices offered. Richard W. Riley Bill Ivey U.S. Secretary ofEducation Chairman National Endowment forthe Arts Terry K. Peterson Scott Shanklin-Peterson Counselorand SeniorAdvisor SeniorDeputy Chairman to the Secretary National Endowment forthe Arts U.S. Department ofEducation September 2000 The textofthis reportis in the public domain. Feel free tophotocopy orreprint. To ordercopies ofthis report, write: ED Pubs Editorial Publications Center U.S. Department ofEducation P.O. Box 1398 MD Jessup, 20794-1398; fax: 301-470-1244; e-mail: [email protected]; call toll-free: 1-877-433-7827 (1-877-4-ED-PUBS). Ifno 877 service: 1-800-872-5327 (1-800-USA-LEARN). Telecommunication device forthe deaf(TDD) orteletypewriter (TTY): 1-800- 437-0833. Online: www.ed.gov/pubs/edpubs.html. Also atPartnership’sWeb site: http://pfie.ed.gov. Foralternative formats (Braille, large print, audio tape, or computerdiskette), call Alternate Format Centerat 202-205-8113. Formore information on after-school programs contactus at: U.S. DepartmentofEducation Partnership forFamily Involvement in Education 400MarylandAvenue, S.W. Washington, DC 20202-8173 E-mail: [email protected] Telephone: 1-800-USA-LEARN (1-800-872-5327) FIRS: 1-800-877-8339, 8 a.m. - 8 p.m., ET, M-F National Endowmentforthe Arts Nancy Hanks Center 1100 PennsylvaniaAvenue, N.W. Washington, DC 20506-0001 Telephone: 202-682-5400 Web site: http://arts.gov ll ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The concept for this report was formulated by Adriana de Kanter and Andy Finch ofthe U.S. Department ofEducation and Lee Kessler ofthe National Endowment for the Arts. Additional editing and advice came from Scott Shanklin-Peterson, Robbie McEwen and Patrice Walker Powell at the National Endowment for the Arts and from Terry Peterson and Menahem Herman at the U.S. Department ofEducation. The staffofthe 21st Century Community Learning Centers program, including Robert Stonehill, Shawn Mussington, Sara Koenig, Jennifer Rinehart, and Steven Balkcom, gave invaluable assistance in identifying exemplary programs. 111 This report provides a brief introduction to the role ofthe arts in those programs. It consists ofa brief summary ofrecent research findings about both arts and after-school programs, a description of the key elements of successful programs and some key examples that showcase partnerships between schools and community-based organizations. For the purposes ofthis report, arts activities cover a wide range, including instrumental and vocal music, dance, theater, creative writing and the visual arts such as painting, sculpture, digital art and photography. Research results to which the report refers come from a series of recent studies that are cited at the end ofthe report under “Publications,” along with information on how to obtain them. This report is issued under the auspices ofthe Partnership for Family Involvement in Education, an initiative ofthe U.S. Department ofEducation that brings together schools, community organizations, employers, congregations and parents working in common to improve education for all children. 2 21st Century Community Learning Centers The 21st Century Community Learning Centers program, authorized under Title X, Part I, of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, is a key component of the administration’s commitment to help families and communities keep their children safe and smart. The 21st Century Community Learning Centers, supported by grants from the U.S. Department of Education, enable school districts to fund public schools as community education centers, keeping children safe in the after-school hours while they learn and build new skills. Congress has supported this initiative by appropriating nearly $454 million for after- school programs in fiscal year 2000, more than double the fiscal year 1999 appropriation of $200 million. In fact, this program has increased tenfold since 1998. This increase in funding brings the total number of 21st Century Community Learning Centers grants to 903, spanning every state, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and the Federated States of Micronesia. These grants provide high-quality academic, arts, and cultural enrichment and expanded youth services, within a community schools context, for 3,610 schools and provide services to over 615,000 children and 225,000 adults. The president has asked Congress for $1 billion in fiscal year 2001. 3 . How the Arts Can Enhance After-School Programs In a recent report titled Champions ofChange: The Impact ofthe Arts on Learning, publishedjointly by the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities and the Arts Education Partnership, several independent researchers reached the same conclusion: that engagement in the arts nurtures the development ofcognitive, social and personal competencies. Arts programs can increase academic achievement, help decrease youth involvement in delinquent behavior and improve youths’ attitudes about themselves and their future. More specifically, researchers found that learning in and through the arts: • Contributes significantly to improved critical thinking, problem posing, problem-solving and decision-making; • Involves the communication, manipulation, interpretation and understanding ofcomplex symbols, much as do language and mathematics; • Fosters higher-order thinking skills ofanalysis, synthesis and evaluation; • Regularly engages multiple skills and abilities; and • Develops a person’s imagination andjudgment. While many types ofafter-school programs provide important access, extension and support to children’s learning and social development, those that include the arts add a special dimension, outlined below. Furthermore, after-school programs can add important elements to in-school arts curricula through extended engagement with the artistic process beyond the usual 45-minute 5 time periods in school. This lengthened timeframe for instruction and structured exploration give students more satisfactory opportunities for self-expression or development oftheir abilities in one or more art forms. This, in turn, enables these young people to develop the motivation, skills and discipline necessary to make meaningful contributions to solo or group projects. They learn about the importance ofhigh standards ofachievement for themselves and others. They experience what it means to maintain focus and how sustained practice can lead to higher levels of proficiency. Research shows that children who participate in after-school programs generally attain higher academic achievement, behave better in class, handle conflict more effectively and cooperate more with authority figures and with their peers than their counterparts who are not in after-school programs. (This research is summarized in the publication Safe and Smart: Making theAfter- School Hours Workfor Kids released in 1998 by the U.S. Department ofEducation and revised in April 2000 as Workingfor Children and Families: Safe and SmartAfter-School Programs.) Arts learning experiences can alter the attitudes ofyoung people toward themselves and each other. For example, students involved in sustained theater arts (scene study, acting techniques, dramatic or musical theater production) often show gains not only in reading proficiency, but also in self-control and motivation and in empathy and tolerance for others. Arts activities can promote shared purpose and the team spirit required, for example, to perform in an ensemble music group or to design and paint an urban mural. Learning in and through the arts can even help students overcome the obstacles ofdisadvantaged backgrounds. For example, one of the Champions ofChange reports, using data from a study that followed over 25,000 students for 10 years, found that students 6