Research shows that young people engaged in the arts-in school or after school-have superior scholastic experiences and are more involved in their communities than their peers who do not participate in arts programs.

Learning in 3D: Arts and Cultural Programming in Afterschool
Julia Gittleman, Ph.D., Mendelsohn, Gittleman & Associates, LLC (Fall 2007)

The Massachusetts Commission on Afterschool and Out-of-School Time, co-chaired by Senator Thomas McGee of Lynn and Representative Marie St. Fleur of Boston, released this issue brief highlighting the benefits of including arts and culture in afterschool programming statewide.

Key findings:
The brief identifies a list of best practices, finding that successful youth arts programs:

• Recognize that art is a vehicle that can be used to engage children and youth in activities that will increase their self-esteem
• Make the delivery of the program a collaborative effort among the artist, social service provider, teacher, agency staff, children, youth, and family
• Recognize and involve the community in which the youth live
• Provide a safe haven for children and youth
• Use age-appropriate curriculum that is essential in developing appropriate activities
• Emphasize dynamic teaching tactics such as hands-on learning, apprentice relationships, and the use of technology
• Culminate in a public performance or exhibition in an effort to build participants’ self-esteem through public recognition
• Have high standards and opportunities to succeed
• Offer sustained engagement
• Provide opportunities for active and reflective learning

Living the Arts Through Language and Learning: A report on Community-based Youth Organizations
Shirley Brice Heath, Elisabeth Soep, Adelma Roach, Americans for the Arts, (1998)

This monograph summarizes the results of a nine-year national research project conducted by a team from Stanford University. The researchers investigated the structure and impact of afterschool youth organizations across the country, programs focusing on the arts as well as other types of youth programs.

Key findings:
Young people involved in arts-based programs over extended periods of time have increased chances of succeeding at high levels in school and beyond. They show heightened academic standing, a strong capacity for self-assessment, and a secure sense of their own ability to plan and work for themselves and their communities.

Compared with young people nationally, students in the study faced much greater risks, such as attending schools with high potential of violence. However, the young people in the arts programs were:

• Four times more likely to have won school-wide attention for their academic achievement.

• Elected to class office within their schools more than three times as often.

• Four times more likely to participate in a math or science fair.

• Three times more likely to win award for school attendance.

• Over four times more likely to win an award for writing an essay or poem.

Involvement in the Arts and Success in Secondary Schools
James S. Caterall, Ph.D., Americans for the Arts, (c) 1998

This research is based on data from an ongoing study following some 25,000 students in 1,000 schools across the United States and examines the correlation between involvement in the arts and academic performance, standardized test scores, community service, and drop-out rates.

Key findings:

• Young people highly engaged in the arts do better in school and are more involved in their communities.

• Students involved in the arts showed higher academic performance, increased standardized test scores, and lower drop-out rates than did those students not involved in the arts.

• Students involved in the arts do more community service than their peers who are not involved in the arts.

• These differences are more pronounced for students consistently involved in the arts over an extended period of time, and these differences cross socio-economic status.

Massachusetts Cultural Council YouthReach Initiative: Impact Evaluation
Anna Madison, Ph.D., College of Public and Community Service, University of Massachusetts, 1997

An independent report on the Massachusetts Cultural Council's YouthReach Initiative, funding arts-based youth development programs for some of our state's most vulnerable young people. Included in the research were extensive pre-program and post-program measures of student attitude, life skills, and personal self-esteem. This quantitative data was supplemented with qualitative findings from focus groups of parents and young people themselves.

Dr. Madison's report was followed up in 2002 with a survey of YouthReach students' post-high-school plans.

Key findings:

• YouthReach programs teach crucial life skills that prepare young people for college, the workforce, and the world beyond.

• Young people in YouthReach programs experienced an increase in life skills, self-esteem, and personal self-efficacy.

• After participating in a YouthReach program, the number of students who reported that they liked school doubled (and attitude towards school is a major indicator of academic success).

• The longer a young person is involved with a YouthReach program, the deeper the impact.

• In 2002, 100% of high school seniors who participated in a YouthReach program graduated. 82% of those students are now in college.

YouthARTS Development Project
Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Prevention, Americans for the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Arts, 1998

This collaborative effort of local arts agencies in Portland, Oregon, San Antonio, Texas, and Atlanta, Georgia included a controlled two-year research study (1995-1997) in which three cities rigorously evaluated their arts programs for at-risk youth. Data on the results of the demonstration projects was evaluated by an independent research firm under contract with the Justice Department.

Key findings:
Arts programs can effect meaningful, positive change in the lives of young people most at risk. Researchers under the supervision of the U.S. Department of Justice found that when compared with control groups of young people not involved in an arts program, participants in youth arts programs showed:

• Better attitudes toward themselves and their role in the world.

• Fewer new court referrals; and, for those committing new offenses, those offenses tended to be less severe.

• An increased ability to express anger appropriately and to communicate effectively with both peers and adults.

• An increased ability to stick with a complex task through its completion.

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