Arts for Academic Achievement: Summative Evaluation Report
This study was funded by the Minneapolis Public Schools through a Challenge Grant 
from The Annenberg Foundation.
for Learning through the Arts Title
Past studies have shown positive correlations between the arts and academic achievement when the arts were integrated into the literature curriculum. Other studies have shown positive associations between the arts and other areas of the curriculum, such as mathematics and science. Considering the Theory of Change, which employs understandings in Critical Literacy, Multimodal Literacy, and Transmediation, this study employed a multi-stage cluster randomized design and conducted a series of comparison and treatment group statistical analyses among predominantly low income students in an urban school district, some of whom had participated in the Integrating Theater Arts Project (ITAP). The study assessed whether a relationship existed between the presence of a theater arts intervention and student achievement in language arts and mathematics. Results showed that students receiving intervention often outperformed their control group counterparts in both math and language arts. Furthermore, students in the theater arts program outperformed their control group counterparts in every case that showed statistical significance. These cases included math achievement among sixth grade students, both language arts and math achievement of sixth grade males, and math achievement of sixth grade Hispanics. The authors conclude that programs like ITAP and methods relative to the Theory of Change may in fact promote academic achievement among participating students. They also invite future studies to consider how achievement of other academic subjects – in this case, mathematics – may also relate to such interventions. Introduction and Background Madeleine Grumet (2004), in writing about the importance of integrating arts into the literature curriculum, states that, "When children understand literature as something meaningful and complex, they sense its capacity to inform their lives. This is the kind of literacy that influences reading scores in middle school and high school, when we often see the gains of intensive reading instruction diminish in national assessments” (p. 67). Over the past 30 years, there has been a growing awareness of the effectiveness of arts integration in improving classroom learning, especially for students from low income families. For instance, Stevenson and Deasy (2005) studied 10 schools where students from economically disadvantaged circumstances were succeeding. These 10 schools identified the arts as a key reason for that success. Teachers in the case study schools also said they derived delight, professional renewal, and satisfaction from incorporating arts into their teaching. Another example is the study of the Chicago Arts Partnerships in Education (CAPE) program that partnered artists and art agencies with teachers at all grade levels in low-socioeconomic urban public schools. Findings demonstrated that CAPE schools clearly outperformed the control schools in a wide variety of outcomes, such as, positive changes in school climate and improved reading and math scores (Catterall and Waldorf, 1999). Moreover, Catterall (2002) points to research that shows consistent positive associations among dramatic enactment and reading comprehension, oral story understanding, and written story understanding. Finally, in a review of 80 different studies, Ann Podlozny (2000) reported a consistent correlation between classroom drama and oral language development. Other studies include De la Cruz (1995), who reported a quantitative link between creative drama and the oral language skills of children with learning disabilities; Williamson and Silvern (1992), who found that kindergarten students who acted out roles and scenes from stories substantially increased their story comprehension and verbal abilities; and Tabone (2004), who reported that the use of puppets and masks with third and fourth graders provided the safety and distance required for children to overcome their fear of using language incorrectly. Several studies have further established a positive correlation between classroom drama activities and reading comprehension, writing, and oral communication skills. These include Parks and Rose (1997), who reported substantial improvement on standardized reading comprehension tests by fourth grade students who participated in drama activities; Wagner (1986), who studied fourth and eighth graders and provided evidence of the value of role-playing as a pre-writing activity; and Wolf (1998), who looked at third and fourth grade children designated as "at risk" and with special needs and found that involvement in classroom drama contributed to a more comprehensive understanding of literature. Classroom drama activities have also been shown to motivate and reinforce the development of intrapersonal communication, interpersonal communication, and general social skills. For instance, De la Cruz (1995) reported that children with learning disabilities who participated in a creative drama program showed enhanced social skills, including courtesy to others, greater self-control, the ability to focus and social compliance. Heath's study (1999) of several urban and rural arts educational programs in various parts of the country found that the arts were a consistent and significant force in social learning. And a ten-year study of 124 afterschool adolescent arts programs revealed that involvement in the arts "builds and sustains a host of skills and capacities rooted in their personal recognition of themselves as competent, creative and productive individuals" (Heath with Roach, 1999, p. 29). Interestingly, several studies have demonstrated a positive association between classroom drama and other areas of the curriculum, including math and science. An analysis by Catterall, Chapleau and Iwanaga (1999) of longitudinal data collected nationwide revealed that students who experience arts integrated into the curriculum scored substantially higher in various measures than students without such exposure. Additionally, Burton, Horowitz and Abeles (1999) found that students in Minneapolis applied competencies gained from experience with the arts to other areas of the curriculum and enhanced their image of themselves as learners. Last, Ingram and Seashore (2003) documented a positive correlation between students exposed to educational arts programs and academic performance, with the strongest correlation among low income students in Minneapolis. Theoretical Frameworks Burnaford et al (2007) posits three categories that help bring together varying perspectives on arts integration: arts integration as learning “through” and “with” the arts; arts integration as a curricular connections process; and arts integration as collaborative engagement. Integrating Theater Arts Program (ITAP), the program under study, fits well into these three categories, since theater arts has been used as methodology, connects directly to the district's curriculum, and acts as a way to create both engagement with what is being studied and collaboration among students. While much interest has centered on how learning occurs in and through the arts, as noted by the history of arts education, curriculum integration, and arts integration, there are also a number of theoretical perspectives in the field of literacy and cognitive learning that are useful for understanding how learning is promoted through the arts. In this article, we highlight three of these perspectives with illustrative examples of how each is reflected in activities that occur in an arts integrated classroom, and employ them in the development of the Theory of Change, which hypothesizes increased academic and social achievement when certain ascribing features are present. Critical Literacy Critical literacy studies (Barton & Hamilton, 2000) refer to literacy-teaching approaches that access and explore the cultural variables that play into student literacy learning. Perry (2012) notes that critical literacy refers to finding ways to make literacy instruction meaningful and relevant by recognizing and incorporating students’ out-of-school ways of practicing literacy and decreasing achievement gaps for students whose families and communities practice literacy in ways that may differ from those in the mainstream or in positions of power. As an example, in one infusion strategy, “Hot Seat,” characters from a story are interviewed by students as a means to dive more deeply into character interpretation and explore the characters’ personality traits and motives. Initially, the teacher takes on the role of one of the characters and sits in the hot seat, prompting students to ask this character a series of questions. Throughout the activity, the teacher comes out of role and directs the class in discussion, asking for thoughts and feelings about things such as personality, moral choices, and motives that the character represented. Because this activity steps outside of the text, there are no predetermined questions or incorrect answers. In essence, the students become the authors of a new text. This strategy allows students to think about possible issues and problems within a story. In order to do this, students must first consider their own lives and their own experiences dealing with similar situations. When the students find a comparable experience, they can reflect on how their entire person engaged within that situation, remembering the place, time, and others present, as well as the engagement of their senses (i.e. touch, sound, smell, and taste) in addition to, and often most important, the emotions connected to the event. This personal understanding of the situation is then used as a way to respond within the fictional role of interviewer and the non-fictional role of student. As promoted through critical literacy studies, the “Hot Seat” strategy allows students to access and use culturally-defined, lived experiences as a way to engage, interpret and process the curriculum, which is a pra
The evaluation of the competency perception of inspectors in using new instructional technology
Abstract The purpose of this study is to find out the evaluation of inspectors in regards to their competency perceptions towards the use of new instructional technologies. This is a qualitative model research. The target population of this study consisted of 25 inspectors serving within the borders of TRNC in 2011. Data was collected by an “interview form” developed by the researcher. The interview form consisted of 6 items. Content analyze, frequency (f) and percentage (%) techniques were used to analyze the data. This research pointed out that: “concerns on falling behind the teacher”, “training needs”, “decreasing training support within the years” and “non existing policy on IT support” are critical factors affecting an inspector's competency perceptions in using new instructional technologies.