arts education

Arts Education Research

From disciplines to practitioners to populations served, arts education varies in content and context. Learning in music, dance, theater, and the visual arts are beneficial to all members of American society—children, teens, adults, and seniors. Schools and community-based arts organizations are major providers of formalized arts education instruction and programming.

Americans for the Arts provides these public venues for current research and information. 

• Americans for the Arts Online Store
  Visit our bookstore for publications related to arts education assessment, standards, practice, and advocacy.
• National Arts Policy Database
  The National Arts Policy Database is a tool that enables users to access and contribute to current information on a multitude of topics related to arts policy. Records in the database are classified into four types: research abstracts, news articles, project profiles, and sample documents. Although no longer updated, this resource can still be helpful to the field.
• 2010 Congressional Arts Handbook
  Provided to attendees of National Arts Advocacy Day in Washington, DC, the 2010 Congressional Arts Handbook provides an enormous amount of information on the arts and arts education.
• Arts Education Research 2010
  This site provides additional resources and one-pagers on a variety of arts education issues.
• Arts Education in Public Schools Online Resource Center
  Some older information gathered in partnership with the National School Boards Association.

Other websites with updated arts education research include the following:

• Arts Education Partnership
  Excellent arts education research organization
• Issue Lab
  Arts education case studies and evaluations
• Education Commission of the States
  2010 State Policies/Activities log
• The Dana Foundation
  Plethora of information on arts education and the brain
• The Qualities of Quality: Understanding Excellence in Arts Education Report
  "helps arts educators...build and clarify their visions of high quality arts education; identify elements of quality in their own programs; reflect on the relationship between quality and a program’s foundational decisions; seek alignment between a program’s beliefs about quality and its practices; and seek alignment across decision makers at all levels who help to shape a program’s pursuit of quality."
•  The Kennedy Center Alliance for Arts Education
  KCAAEN develops and provides tools and resources that assist in developing and assessing programs related to arts education for general community and KCAAEN members.