International Journal of Education & the Arts

Volume 2 Number 8

November 12, 2001

The Effects of an Enriched Elementary Arts Education Program on Teacher Development, Artist Practices, and Student Achievement: Baseline Student Achievement and Teacher Data from Six Canadian Sites

Dr. Rena Upitis
Dr. Katharine Smithrim
Ann Patteson
Margaret Meban
Queen's University
Kingston, Ontario, Canada

Abstract
Learning Through the Arts (LTTA) is a school transformation project developed by The Royal Conservatory of Music (Canada). The first elementary schools were founded in Toronto, Ontario, in 1995, and LTTA is currently operating in elementary schools in seven urban and rural sites across Canada. LTTA is designed with the goal of engaging students deeply in learning, through carefully designed math, science, history, geography, and language units that incorporate performing and visual arts into the learning process. This goal is achieved through a structured program of teacher development which includes the involvement of artists who work along with teachers to develop curricula. LTTA offers effective and sustainable professional development programs, based on the sharing of knowledge and skills between teachers, artists, and students, through multi-year partnerships. Artists model techniques and activities for teachers to implement in their classrooms and also work directly with students in schools.This articledescribes the baseline data gathered as the first part of the evaluation of the national LTTA program, for the students, teachers, parents, and administrators involved in the six sites that were established in 1999. Preliminary data were gathered over the 1999-2000 year. Canadian Achievement Tests (CAT/3) were used to assess students' performance in vocabulary, reading comprehension, and mathematics. In addition, writing samples were taken and scored holistically. Students also completed a survey indicating their interests in schooling in general and in the arts in particular, as well as in the activities they engaged in outside of school. Parents were asked to report on language(s) spoken at home, leisure activities, household income level, and the mother's education level. Teachers were surveyed regarding a variety of teaching beliefs and practices. Administrators were surveyed regarding their support for arts activities, both in terms of human and financial resources. Baseline data indicate that there are clear correlations between achievement in mathematics and language and engagement in arts activities, particularly with respect to music lessons (outside of school). That is, students who take music lessons outside of school perform significantly better on all language and mathematics measures than their peers who do not take music lessons. Not surprisingly, socio-economic status is also clearly related to arts activities and achievement, and strategies for tracking changes within socio-economic groups over the next two years of the study are planned. It was also found that attitudes towards various art forms are established in students as early as the first grade, with boys being less interested and perceiving themselves as less skilled, for example, in singing and dancing than their female peers. Hypotheses and general issues for consideration for the next two years of work are described, and methods for exploring those issues and hypotheses are also discussed.

Context

Learning Through the Arts ä (LTTA) is a school transformation initiative developed by The Royal Conservatory of Music (Canada; <http://www.rcmusic.ca/ltta/index.asp>). The first schools were founded in Toronto, Ontario, in 1995, and LTTA is currently operating in elementary schools in seven urban and rural sites across Canada. A further five sites will begin in the fall of 2001, with further expansions planned for subsequent years. By 2003, it is expected that 100,000 students will be taking part in the LTTA program in Canada, expanding to the middle school and high school settings as well.
LTTA is designed with the goal of engaging students deeply in learning, through carefully designed math, science, history, geography, and language units that incorporate performing and visual arts into the learning process. This goal is achieved through a structured program of teacher development which includes the involvement of artists who work along with teachers to develop curricula. LTTA offers effective and sustainable professional development programs, based on the sharing of knowledge and skills between teachers, artists, and students, through multi-year partnerships. Artists model techniques and activities for teachers to implement in their classrooms and also work directly with students in schools. Early research on the LTTA program, conducted in the pilot schools from 1995-1999, was based on interview data, journals, and participant observations. This research indicated that students were engaged by the LTTA program, achievement on language and mathematics measures increased, teachers reported positive changes to their teaching practices and attitudes towards the arts, and administrative practices were changed to increase support for arts curricula after involvement with the program (Elster & Bell, 1999; Wilkinson, 1996, 1998).
In the summer of 1999, a comprehensive design for evaluating the national LTTA elementary school sites was planned. The design was developed during a two-day retreat, with researchers and school board representatives from Vancouver (The University of British Columbia), Calgary, Regina, Windsor (University of Windsor), Kingston (Queen's University), Cape Breton, and Corner Brook (Memorial University of Newfoundland). The design includes the use of standardized instruments and a number of other quantitative measures for all three years of the study, as well as qualitative measures for years 2 and 3 of the study, to illustrate and illuminate the quantitative findings. Canadian Achievement Tests (CAT/3) were used to assess students' performance in vocabulary, reading comprehension, and mathematics. In addition, writing samples were taken and scored holistically. Students also completed a survey indicating their interests in schooling in general and in the arts in particular, as well as in the activities they engaged in outside of school. Parents were asked to report on language(s) spoken at home, leisure activities, household income level, and the mother's education level. Teachers were surveyed regarding a variety of teaching beliefs and practices. Finally, administrators were surveyed regarding their support for arts activities, both in terms of human and financial resources. The instruments are discussed in greater detail later in the paper.
This article describes the baseline data gathered to evaluate the effects of the LTTA program, for the students, teachers, parents, and administrators involved in the six Canadian sites. These six sites were established in 1999, and preliminary data were gathered over the 1999-2000 year.

Related Literature

In the years between 1950 and 1980, arts education proceeded under the mantle of the aesthetic education movement (Reimer, 1970). During this period, arts education was justified by solely aesthetic or intrinsic endsóart for art's sakeóand not, for example, to enhance self-esteem or improve reading skills. To conduct research on the non-arts effects of arts education was "out of vogue at best, out of touch at worst" (Cutietta, Hamann, & Walker, 1995, p. 5). Consequently, little research on the non-arts outcomes of arts education took place in North America in those decades. In the early 1970s, Eisner (1974) began calling for the evaluation of the educational impact of arts programs. He suggested that special arts programs in schools should be evaluated "because it is important to know what educational impact arts initiatives have, and...when public money funds programs, there is an obligation to determine...whether the programs are effective" (p. 21). Consequently, in the following decades many arts programs were evaluated, and there is now a growing body of evidence showing that arts education affects other aspects of life and learning beyond the value of the arts experiences themselves.
Reported benefits of arts education include the development of the imagination (Greene, 1995), the elevation of students' intrinsic motivation to learn (Csikszentmihalyi, 1997), the improvement of children's spatial reasoning abilities (Rauscher, Shaw, Levine, Wright, Dennis, & Newcomb, 1997), and the development of higher levels of self-esteem (Sylwester, 1998). Recent American studies report increased academic achievement for students involved in the arts (Catterall, 1998; Catterall, Chapleau, & Iwanaga, 1999; Hamblen, 1993; Luftig, 1994; Moore & Caldwell, 1993; Murfee, 1995; Music in World Cultures, 1996; Welch & Greene, 1995). However, as Eisner points out, "although there is much material published that claims the arts cause academic achievement scores to increase...it is often difficult to know the basis upon which the claims are made" (1998, p. 8). Indeed, Winner and Hetland (2000) conducted an extensive analysis of the body of research that purports a positive relationship between the arts and academic achievement and concluded that claims are being made that are, by and large, based on unsubstantiated research findings. They stress the need for more rigorously designed, theory-driven, quasi-experimental research with appropriate comparison groups, and also encourage researchers to investigate how school environments that are rich in the arts impact on students' motivation, engagement, and understanding. Although Winner and Hetland warn against justifying the arts solely by non-arts outcomes, they argue that there is a clear need for more rigorous research that addresses the link between the arts and academic achievement, as this type of research hasimportant implications for education and cognitive science.
Although much of the previous research has failed to take socio-economic status into consideration, one report by Catterall, Chapleau and Iwanaga (1999), cited in the Champions of Change initiative of the U.S. Secretary of Education, addresses this important issue (http://www.aep-arts.org/highlights/coc-release.html). The researchers analyzed differences in achievement and attitude for 25,000 students over a ten year period, treating students who were disadvantaged in terms of socio-economic status (SES) as a separate group. For all students, but particularly for those in the low SES group, academic performance, attitudes and behavior were all positively affected by high arts involvement. Catterall et al. also found that the probability of being highly involved in the arts is twice as high for economically advantaged students.
The research described in the present article responds to the challenges of Winner and Hetland and complements and extends the work of Catterall et al. (1999). Because the experimental (LTTA) schools are being compared to two types of control schools (schools initiating other special programs and schools with no special programs), evidence of connections between arts education and achievement may be more clearly determined through this research program. Like the work of Catterall et al., the research design also takes into account the effects of socio-economic status.
Teacher transformation is another expected outcome of the professional development program, as one of the foci of the program is that of professional development for teachers <<http://educ.queensu.ca/~arts>>. In an earlier study, using a different model for enhancing arts education and teacher development in elementary schools, Upitis, Smithrim, and Soren (1999) concluded that profound changes to teachers' practices and beliefs arose when teachers worked directly with artists and experienced the artistic process while making their own art, and that lasting and profound changes occurred for a number of participants (20%) after two years of professional development. Among the benefits teachers ascribed to the program were confidence to try new things, a new appreciation of the planning and work involved in art-making, a revitalization of teaching in other subject areas, and a commitment to provide more time, materials, instruction and support for students' art-making. Data were analyzed using a three-level matrix developed by Upitis, Smithrim, and Soren (1999) to assess and describe teacher transformation. The first level of the matrix identified conditions that were necessary, but not sufficient, for teacher transformation (e.g., exploration of new art forms and media). The second level identified the potential for sustained transformation (e.g., changing images of artists). The third level identified ways in which profound changes were operationalized (e.g., long-term pursuits of new art forms).

Research Questions

The research is guided by three major questions, with a number of related sub-questions. They are as follows:
  • Do the students involved in LTTA schools take more interest in learning in general, and in the arts in particular, than do students in the two types of control schools? Are there differences in student attitudes and achievement that can be accounted for by program effects, in addition to the differences explained by socio-economic status
  • Do the teachers who take part in the LTTA schools become more involved in the arts, and value the arts in more ways, than teachers in other schools, as indicated by reported changes in their personal lives and classroom practices?
  • Do the principals and superintendents of the participating LLTA schools allocate more human and financial resources to the arts, and make changes to the school environment, as a result of the LTTA program?

Sub-Questions

The research is further guided by sub-questions including, but not limited, to the following:
  • Students
    • Does participation in the LTTA program improve students' attitudes toward learning and schooling?
    • Does participation in the LTTA program improve students' attitudes toward the arts?
    • Does participation in the LTTA program improve student achievement in mathematics and language?
    • Are changes in achievement in mathematics and language independent of socioeconomic status (SES)? If not, how does SES affect the achievement/arts interaction effects?
    • Do children who take part in the LTTA program increase the time they spend on the arts outside of school?
    • Are other student habits and values affected by the LTTA program (e.g., reading for pleasure, participation in sports, watching television)?
    • Are gains associated with the LTTA program also found for students who attend schools with other specialized programs (e.g., technology programs)?
    • How do changes in LTTA schools, over a three year period, compare with "regular" schools (i.e., those without special school-wide initiatives)?
  • Teachers
    • Do teachers' beliefs and practices, as related to the curriculum in general, change as a result of the LTTA program?
    • Do teachers begin to value the arts more as a result of the LTTA program?
    • Do teachers devote more class time to learning through the arts as a result of the LTTA program?
    • Do teachers devote more class time to learning in the arts as a result of the LTTA program?
    • Do teachers change their art-making and art-viewing life habits as a result of the LTTA program?
    • Do teachers' images of artists change as a result of the LTTA program?
  • Parents
    • Do parents invest in more arts-related activities outside of school as a result of the LTTA program?
    • How do such investments compare across household income groups?
  • Administrators
    • Do principals devote more human and financial resources to the arts as a result of the LTTA program?
    • Do principals make changes in the school environment and school structures and practices as a result of the LTTA program?
    • Do school district administrators devote more human and financial resources to the arts as a result of the LTTA program?
    • Do school district administrators shift funding priorities as a result of the LTTA program?

Data Collection and Analysis

The research involves the collection and analysis of data in LTTA schools in Vancouver, Calgary, Regina, Windsor, Cape Breton, and Corner Brook. As noted previously, two types of control schools are involved in each of the six sites: schools with a special school-wide initiative (such as an emphasis on technology), and schools without any particular school-wide initiative (called "regular" schools).
Learning Through the Arts ™ (LTTA) programming was introduced with a staggered entry by grade. In the first year of programming (1999–2000), students in Grades 1 and 4 were involved. In the second year (2000–2001), students in Grades 1, 2, 4, and 5 took part. In the final year (2001–2002), all six elementary grades (Grades 1 through 6) will take part in the LTTA program. The data were collected with a similar staggered entry. Approximately 900 students were sampled in each grade (600 LTTA, 150 special initiative, 150 regular), and all of the teachers and principals in the LTTA schools and the two types of control schools were invited to take part in the research (the response rate, thus far, has been over 80%). The two control conditions were matched as closely as possible to the LTTA schools in other dimensions (e.g., socio-economic status of the students and their families, and size of school).
The student measures, administered at regular intervals throughout the three year study, included the following: 1) Standardized scores on achievement tests (CAT/3) for reading comprehension, vocabulary, and mathematics, 2) Writing samples (scored holistically), and 3) Survey questions dealing with out of school activities (e.g., music lessons, sports, television viewing, reading for pleasure, computer and videogame play), interest in school and school subjects, and interest in and attitudes towards the arts.
Parents of the students were also surveyed on a number of dimensions, including mother's education level, household income, leisure activities, and language(s) spoken in the home. Parents are surveyed twice, at the beginning and end of the study.
Because teachers are the primary agents of change in schools, research on teacher knowledge and teacher transformation informs not only the rationale but also contributes to the methodology for the research. Schˆn (1991) argued that the connections between research and practice have to be addressed directly within research; teachers' developing knowledge and practice are at the heart of this research. Whereas the focus of teacher education and development used to be on teacher performance and improving performance through behaviorist notions of change or on changes in school curricula, the focus has shifted towards teacher knowledge about teaching and how it is acquired (Bresler, 1993). Central to the research methodology is the conviction that teachers change their practice as they gain new knowledge and experience, within the "macro" contexts in which they find themselves (Bresler, 1998). Thus, we examine how teachers' practices change as their knowledge changes through the infusion of the perspective of artists, rather than how practices change in response to imposed curriculum guidelines. These changes are documented and analyzed through the use of teacher surveys, administered regularly throughout the study, and interviews with a purposefully selected sample of teachers. Changes in administrators' beliefs and practices are documented and analyzed in a similar fashion.

Summary of Findings: Year One Baseline Data

This article describes the baseline findings that were determined from Year 1 of the study (1999-2000). At the time of writing the present paper, data were being gathered and analyzed for Year 2. Accordingly, comparisons between types of schools and changes in students', teachers', and administrators' beliefs and practices will be made in the next report on the LTTA study.
Even with baseline data alone, some interesting correlations can be reported. It must be borne in mind, however, that these are correlations that already existed between and amongst the variables as the programs began to be implemented.
Correlations are examined between gender and other variables, among the three conditions (experimental [LTTA] and two types of control schools [special initiative and regular]); and from factors in the students' backgrounds (e.g., socio-economic status and previous arts experiences).

Baseline Comparisons Between LTTA, Special Initiative, and Regular Schools

For almost all measures, there were no significant differences between students, teachers, principals, and parents in LTTA, special initiative, and regular schools. This is an important finding, as it will allow for meaningful comparisons between the three types of schools in Years 2 and 3 of the study. In particular, there were no differences between students in terms of achievement in mathematics and language, and in terms of out of school activities.

Student Achievement, Socio-economic Status, and the Arts

The single greatest predictor of academic achievement was socio-economic status (as indicated by household income as well as by mother's education level). That being said, of the various art forms, those students who took music lessons outside of school scored significantly better on all language and mathematics measures than their peers (p<.05). It must be stressed, however, that these are merely correlations, that is, cause and effect cannot be implied from the correlations alone.

Student Desires, Beliefs, and Practices and the Arts

Grade 1 students. Most Grade 1 children, in all three types of schools, reported that they felt "happy" when engaged in a number of arts activities. Some of their responses are summarized in Table 1, in descending order of enjoyment (rounded to the nearest percentage, with aggregate means across schools reported).
Grade 4 students. A summary of free time preferences for out of school activities for Grade 4 students appears in Table 2 below. The percentages represent the average responses, across types of schools, of students who "strongly agree" with the statement that they like to take part in the named activity.

The following two tables (Tables 3 and 4) report the average percentage, across school types, of Grade 4 students who take lessons or perform as indicated.
Attendance at performances and exhibitions by Grade 4 students is indicated in the following table, where the average percentage of students responding "strongly agree" to each type of activity is reported.

The average percentages of Grade 4 students attending more than one performance per year in each of the categories are shown in Table 5.

Grade 4 students perceptions of themselves in terms of abilities in the arts are described in Table 6.
A summary of attitudes towards school and arts subjects, for the Grade 4 students, appears below.

The only place where significant differences between students in the LTTA schools and the other types of schools were found were with respect to some of the questions related to the arts as subjects. Students in LTTA schools were, generally speaking, more interested in the arts subjects. This may be due to the fact that some LTTA programming had already taken place by the time the baseline measures were taken in the 1999-2000 school year. Differences between students in the three types of schools appear below. In all cases, p < .05.

Gender Differences: Grade 1.There were strong differences by gender in student preferences. These were apparent as early as Grade 1. Each of the following differences reported is statistically significant at p<.05.

Gender Differences: Grade 4. Grade 4 students also differed by gender regarding preferences for arts activities, and also on their perceived skills in various art forms. Some of the significant findings appear below; in each case, p<.05.

Significant gender differences for out of school activities are shown below:

Music Lessons and Other Out-of-School Activities.Of the 26% of the students in Grade 4 who took music lessons outside of school, most were girls. One in every three girls and one in very five boys reported taking music lessons. There were also significantly more girls taking dance lessons (21%) than boys (5%). Those students engaged in music lessons were less likely to watch television or play videogames than their peers, and more likely to read for pleasure. Similar significant results were found for dance lessons.

Parents and the Arts

Approximately 55% of the parents filled in the optional survey item regarding household income, while almost 70% indicated mother's level of education. Of the sampled households, 36% of the mothers had achieved a high school education, 51% had a university or college education, and 13% had completed post-graduate studies.
Adults who valued arts activities, as indicated by their own leisure choices, were more likely to have children who took music lessons outside of school (p< .05). The percentages of parents who reported taking part in the various leisure activities appear in the following table:

Teachers' Beliefs and Practices and the Arts

Teachers (in all types of schools) believe in the value of the arts. Indeed, 98.7% of the teachers either "strongly agree" or "agree" that the arts are fundamental to quality learning. Despite their belief in the importance of the arts, fewer than half of the teachers (41%) either "agree" or "strongly agree" with the statement, "I try to schedule arts every day for at least an hour". This indicates that teachers' beliefs and practices do not always coincide.
Most teachers (98.7%) believe that students can express knowledge and skills through the arts. Nevertheless, only 18.5% of the teachers frequently use the arts as a teaching tool, and one in three teachers often schedules arts at the end of the day or the week.
Close to 80% of the teachers feel that the arts are an effective way of increasing parental involvement in the classroom, while close to 90% of the teachers agree that the arts are an effective way to reach the "hard-to-educate" student. Most teachers (93%) do not believe that bringing artists into the classroom is disruptive.
Of the teachers in all three types of schools, 6.6% strongly agreed with the statement "I am involved in the arts as an artist," with a further 28% agreeing with the statement. Of this group, most were involved in the visual arts (16%), with the next most common art form being music (11%), followed by drama (7%), and dance (6%).
Teachers' attendance at performances and exhibitions can be summarized as follows:

Administrators' Beliefs and Practices and the Arts

Reported administrator practices at the school board or district level were often those that were mandated by the Departments and Ministries of Education. This applied to issues such as core programs, compulsory arts credits, and hours of instruction. In many cases, staff support was an issue identified as something led by principals, as was staff development and community attitudes towards the arts. Resources devoted to the arts varied widely across the country.
The main impediment to creating stronger arts programs in schools, as identified by board administrators, was that of leadership at the school, community, and district levels. Leadership factors included principals' leadership, consultants' support, teacher interest, and home and school association support. The lack of trained teachers in the arts was also identified as an impediment. Human resource issues were considered more of an issue than financial or curriculum resources.
All districts followed provincial curriculum guidelinesómusic and art are required in elementary schools in all districts surveyed. Drama and dance are required in three-quarters of the districts. However, board respondents indicated very little provincial support in terms of consultative staff and there are few district consultants available leaving the classroom teachers very much on their own to implement curricula which in some cases can be quite demanding (e.g., the new Ontario Arts curriculum).

Years Two and Three

Several hypotheses are being examined in years two and three of the program. Based on our preliminary findings and an examination of related research, we expect to find the following for students:
  • Students in the LTTA program will become more engaged in learning and demonstrate improved academic achievement over the three years of the study than their peers in the control conditions, as a result of the effects of learning through the arts.
  • Students who take music lessons outside of school will continue to perform better on math and language than students who engage in other arts activities. Further, growth in the number of children taking music lessons may occur in the LTTA students over the two control conditions.
  • Participation in arts activities by students will be continue to be correlated positively to mother's education level and household income.
  • Time spent watching television and playing video games will be continue to be negatively correlated with arts activities outside of school and with math and language achievement.
  • Socio-economic status will continue to account for most of the variance in achievement in mathematics and language, followed by children's activities out of school, namely, music lessons, reading for pleasure, and engagement in sports activities.
  • From an early age, girls will like to sing and dance more than boys, and girls will consider themselves more skilled than boys in singing and dancing. Over time, however, these gender differences will diminish in the LTTA schools.
  • Students who engage in arts activities outside of school will continue to be more likely to read for pleasure and spend less time watching television and playing video games than their peers.
Answers to the major research questions and sub-questions listed in the previous section, will also be sought, as related to changes in teachers' and administrators' beliefs and practices. In addition, several other questions will be addressed in Years 2 and 3. Of these, one of the most crucial will be to test the emerging hypotheses against another large-scale Canadian study called the National Longitudinal study on Children and Youth (NLSCY), which was initiated in 1994 by Statistics Canada and involves 15,000 students and their teachers and families. The NLSCY study includes student data on many of the same issues considered in the present study (e.g., out of school activities including the arts, sports, reading, television, computer and videogames), as well as information on such items as friendships, bullying, and substance abuse, which are beyond the scope of the present study. However, it is possible to both verify the representativeness of the LTTA sample against the NLSCY sample as well as to extend the findings of the LTTA data through the NLSCY database. Arrangements have been made with analysts at Statistics Canada to do just this during Years 2 and 3 of the study.
Another question that will be addressed more fully in Years 2 and 3 is that of the relative effects of socio-economic status. Following the example of Catterall, Chapleau, and Iwanaga (1999), the researchers will attempt to determine the relative value of the experimental programs across income groups, as indicated by changes in student achievement, attitudes, beliefs, and practices.
Yet another issue to be addressed in Years 2 and 3, and this is more of a theoretical rather than an empirical issue, is the question: What makes music special? It would appear from a preliminary analysis of the Year 1 findings, as well as from the Catterall et al. (1999) study, that music affects performance in mathematics and language to a greater extent than the other art forms. An attempt to begin to delineate the cognitive roots of music and mathematics and language that would explain this finding will be made, on the basis of the research literature and follow-up interviews with a sample of the students. The non-cognitive aspects of music, such as the self-discipline required to pursue lessons, will also be considered.
The findings related to gender will also be examined further in Years 2 and 3. Some of the gender trends are strong ones; interviews will be employed to assess some of the reasons that students and teachers both attribute as causes for these differences.
Information regarding the nature of the various art forms and activities in which both children and adults take part will also be considered in subsequent years.
Finally,transformations to teaching practices, artistic practices, and school culture will be assessed through survey data and the transformation matrix developed previously (Upitis, Smithrim, & Soren, 1999). Reasons for such transformations will be sought through semi-structured interviews in Year 3.

Concluding Comments

The arts are important to human development and to the social and economic health of our nations (Pitman, 1998; Schacter, 1996). Because of the demonstrated importance of the arts and the lack of emphasis both on arts education and research, this research is important because it will shed light on how the arts can be infused in elementary schools, not just in those few schools where the teachers and administrators are specially selected for their commitment to the arts. This new knowledge will help administrators, teachers, and policy makers, select and implement effective arts programs for their schools.
This research is also significant in that there has never been an evaluation of an arts initiative of this scale in Canada, in which teacher and student transformations and changes in administrative practices are documented and analyzed. Over time, the student achievement component will provide important insights regarding the effects of arts education on academic achievement. Most important of all, the study promises to provide a comprehensive description of student life, both within and outside the school, and how students' lives are affected by the arts, and how teachers and administrators contribute to the students' development while at the same time, altering their own personal and professional beliefs and practices to more fully embrace the arts.

Acknowledgments

The authors of this article gratefully acknowledge the assistance provided by Angela Elster, Director of Learning Through the Arts™; members of the national research team: Sandra Falconer Pace, Rita Irwin, Kit Grauer, Marg Guillet, Eric Favaro, Cathy MacNeil, and Catherine Jordan; and graduate students: Alex de Cosson, Margaret Meban, Ann Patteson, Alison Pryer, Stephanie Springgay, Sylvia Wilson, and Lee Vogel. The authors also acknowledge the support of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, and the following groups and institutions for their support for the national assessment: Learning Through the Arts™, Royal Conservatory of Music, the Toronto Dominion Financial Group, Canada 2000, Salamander Foundation, CP Charitable Foundation, the Government of Ontario, and the George Cedric Metcalf Foundation.
This research was originally reported at the American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, Seattle, Washington, April 10-14, 2001.
A similar version of this paper was also presented at the 2nd International Conference for Research in Music Education, School of Education, University of Exeter, April 3-7, 2001, and will be presented at the Canadian Society for the Study of Education (CSSE), University of Laval, QuÈbec City, May 23-27, 2001.
The research reported here was supported, in part, by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (Grant #410-2000-0052)

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About the Authors

Dr. Rena Upitis
Faculty of Education
Queen's University
Kingston, Ontario
Canada

Telephone: (613) 533-6212
Fax (613) 533-6761
E-mail: upitisr@educ.queensu.ca

Rena Upitis is the former Dean of Education at Queen's University, and currently a Professor of Education at Queen's. A musician and composer, Dr. Upitis has worked as a music teacher in inner-city schools in Canada and the United States and her two books on music teaching explore possibilities for teaching music through children's improvisation and composition in regular classroom settings. She is also co-author of a book on elementary mathematics teaching. Her various research projects have explored teacher transformation through the arts and the use of electronic games in mathematics and science education.

Katharine Smithrim (PhD, Eastman) is Associate Professor of Education at the Faculty of Education at Queen's University, Kingston, where she teaches music in the pre-service programme and courses in arts education at the graduate level. Her current research interests are music in early childhood, teacher transformation through the arts and the spiritual dimension in teaching and learning. To keep her grounded in the real world, she continues to perform as a singer and to teach preschoolers. She is co-author of The Arts as Meaning Makers (2001, Pearson).Along with Bob McGrath of Sesame Street, she has made two commercial recordings: "The Baby Record" and "Songs and Games for Toddlers," the latter a Juno nominee and now a Golden Book Video.

Ann Patteson is performing artist and a Ph.D. student at the Faculty of Education, Queen's University, Kingston, ON. Her research is focussed on teachers' personal renewal and professional transformation through the arts.

Margaret Meban is a Ph.D. student at Queen's University, Kingston, ON. Her research interests include visual arts education and contemporary artistic practice.

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