Arts enrichment and school readiness for children at risk

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2009.07.008Get rights and content

Abstract

Arts enrichment provides varied channels for acquiring school readiness skills and may offer important educational opportunities for students from diverse backgrounds and with diverse needs. Study 1 examined achievement within an arts enrichment preschool that served low-income children. Results indicated that students practiced school readiness skills through early learning, music, creative movement, and visual arts classes. Students who attended the preschool for 2 years demonstrated higher achievement than those who attended for 1 year, suggesting that maturation alone did not account for achievement gains. Across 2 years of program attendance and four time points of assessment, students improved in school readiness skills, and there were no significant effects of race/ethnicity or developmental level on achievement growth. Study 2 compared students attending the arts enrichment preschool to those attending a nearby alternative on a measure of receptive vocabulary that has been found to predict school success. At the end of 1 year of attendance, students in the arts program showed greater receptive vocabulary than those at the comparison preschool. Results suggest that arts enrichment may advance educational outcomes for children at risk.

Section snippets

Arts education

The role of arts education represents a subject of considerable controversy. Although most scholars and practitioners agree that arts education enhances artistic skills and development of the “whole child” (Zigler & Bishop-Josef, 2006), many debate whether it offers more (Catterall, 2003, Chapman, 2004). One prominent debate concerns transfer of training. Of the robust studies to date, few support claims that transfer is general, in that training in the arts bestows general intelligence (see

Kaleidoscope Preschool

Settlement Music School launched Kaleidoscope Preschool in 1990 to promote school readiness via arts enrichment, for young children at risk. The founders hoped that early arts experiences might develop artistic abilities and provide varied channels for acquiring school readiness skills. In particular, the founders expected that children from racial/ethnic minority backgrounds might benefit from the cultural relevance of arts education, and that those showing language-based learning delays

Present investigation

The present investigation includes two studies and addresses several questions regarding arts enrichment and school readiness for children at risk. Study 1 uses Kaleidoscope's curriculum-based checklists to examine pre-academic achievement within this arts enrichment program. Preliminary analyses for Study 1 assess the tenability of this type of integrated arts enrichment for early childhood by using teachers’ ability to report on the items included on the curriculum-based checklists as a

Method

This study examined pre-academic achievement for children attending Kaleidoscope's arts enrichment program. Parent interviews and child assessments provided information on variables of interest.

Method

This study compared receptive vocabulary for children attending Kaleidoscope versus those attending a nearby preschool, at the end of a year of program attendance. Individual parent interviews and child tasks provided information on variables of interest.

General discussion

Questions concerning arts enrichment and school readiness for children at risk motivated the present investigation. Study 1 used Kaleidoscope's curriculum-based checklists to assess the tenability of integrated arts enrichment for early childhood, the dose–response relationship for program attendance and achievement, and the possibility that arts enrichment might relate to equivalent achievement growth for students of varied racial/ethnic backgrounds and developmental levels. Study 2 used a

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