Academia and education advocates have reported a concern about the elimination of art and music education classes from high school curriculums in the United States. Studies using mean SAT test scores from 1984 and 1994 versions of the SAT test indicated participants who had art and music education classes had higher verbal and mathematical SAT…

This study addresses the need to accurately assess social emotional learning from a quantitative perspective. As school districts evaluate the allocation of educational resources, data is used to inform those decisions. Social emotional learning (SEL) is gaining prevalence in the field of education. However, an accurate way to measure that…

The topic for this dissertation was the effects arts have on standardized test scores of math. The research problem compared the students who had fine arts integrated into the curriculum and those that did not. This study included six target schools that have primarily African American students. The six-city schools studied were the third through…

This study explores the experiences of primarily Latina/o children with learning music in a Music and Arts-Based Program (MABP) the context of a low-income neighborhood on the U.S- Mexico border. This year-long ethnographic study was conducted in an after-school art program in the Rio Grande Elementary School, in a low-income neighborhood located…

The purpose of this quantitative, causal-comparative study was to compare the effect elementary music and visual arts lessons had on third through sixth grade standardized mathematics test scores. Inferential statistics were used to compare the differences between test scores of students who took in-school, elementary, music instruction during the…

This study intended to identify commonalities of fine arts programs at selected private liberal arts colleges and universities in order to ultimately develop an exemplary fine arts program in a similar setting. This study searched for answers to three research questions within the context of art, music, dance, and theatre. The first research…

For the past 30 years, educators have been challenged with mainstreaming students with disabilities into regular classrooms. Research has shown that teachers often lack the knowledge and training to implement inclusion programs effectively. Guided by Bandura's social cognitive theory, with a particular focus on self-efficacy, this mixed…

The purpose of this study was to explore the benefits of arts-based education for adolescents with learning disabilities (LD) placed in an inclusion program. The goal was to examine the potential of arts education as an inclusive curricular component that enhances students' engagement in learning. The study is framed within the education policy…

The purpose of this study was to examine the policy implications allowing administrators to exempt a student from required arts instruction if the student obtained unsatisfactory scores on the high-stake state mandated tests in English and mathematics. This study examined English language arts and math test scores for 37,222 eighth grade students…