This research focused on the community arts organization, Center Stage Texas (CST), and its arts integration collaboration with an urban school in East Austin, Texas. Aspects of this organization’s programming was studied to gain more knowledge about the essential components a community arts organization needs to consider when conducting a partnered, arts integrated project and how programming should be implemented in these particular school settings in order to achieve the greatest impact and success. / text

This thesis addresses the methods and models of current arts integrated education curricula and their basic frameworks. The review of the literature surveys information currently available on the subject of arts integration, focusing on applicable models, theories, and the results of specific educational applications. This study compares details from non-traditional models, allowing other educators a glimpse of various arts integrated strategies that might be incorporated into their own schools. A basic and modified arts integrated art education curriculum model is suggested in order to encourage educators to create the most appropriate model for their instruction, ultimately allowing students to achieve higher level thinking and learning through the arts, as well as cross-curriculum integration.

This study focuses on an arts integration professional development approach for K-12 teachers that is collaborative, long-term, and sustainable. The question that drove this work is: What are the key elements in a professional development model for arts integration in a teacher/teaching artist partnership that best support growth in teacher efficacy and internalization of drama strategies? To answer this question, I modified an arts integration model that was long-term, used drama-based instruction in core subject areas, and involved the teacher in the execution of the lessons in addition to the teaching artist. The model for this project was implemented with two middle school math teachers, data was collected, results were analyzed and recommendations were developed. / text

The overarching problems to which this study responds are the inadequacies of a traditional language arts curriculum for underserved middle school students and the ways such curricula fall short in providing these students viable means to succeed both academically and socially. The purpose of this study was to learn what happens when underserved middle school students were simultaneously engaged in literacy studies and visual arts learning based on the perceptions of four students, their teacher and the researcher. The questions that guided this study of an integrated literacy curriculum in a visual arts classroom were: 1) What were the perceptions of four underserved middle school students regarding their participation in an arts and literacy integrated curriculum? 2) What were the perceptions of a middle school teacher about student participation arts and literacy integrated curriculum? and, 3) What were the perceptions of the researcher who participated in arts and literacy integrated curriculum? This study incorporated ethnographic techniques of observation, interviews, and artifact collection and analysis as a basis for assessing and interpreting evaluating the real world experiences of students and a teacher. By using a case study methodology along with elements of autoethnography, the study explored primarily the perceptions of four underserved students, along with casual interaction with 24 other students, in class as they engaged in literacy activities in the art class. Results illustrate the students did not find the writing assignment relevant to the associated art activity. Although some students disliked the literacy exercise, some professed to understand its value. Most deemed it irrelevant or inappropriate. All preferred to only work on their art projects. The veteran teacher expressed interest in incorporating language arts into the art class but only did so on a limited basis. It appeared to the researcher that the potential for increasing verbal literacy was likely hampered by inadequate preparation for the lesson. The teacher may not have had a deep belief or motivation to fully utilize this technique. The potential for students to be exposed to deeper literacy integration in the arts class may not have been fully realized.

This study examined the impact of the Whole Schools Initiative arts program on the academic achievement of a group of middle school students as measured by the Mississippi Curriculum Test 2 (MCT2) language arts and mathematics assessment. School year 2012-2013 yearly assessment scores for sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students in 1 middle school in the State of Mississippi were analyzed to determine if a statistically significant difference in academic achievement existed between those who participated in the arts program in elementary school and those who did not. This study was guided by 4 research questions and employed 2 research designs. Correlational research was used to answer research question 1. Question 1 sought to determine the relationships between MCT2 scores of middle school students and the number of years they attended an arts integration school. Questions 2 through 4 was answered using causal comparative research design to determine the differences in MCT2 scores of sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students who attended an elementary school with an arts program and those who did not. The findings of this study indicated that there was a relationship between MCT2 math scores but no relationship between language arts MCT2 scores and attendance in an arts integrated school. In addition, it was determined that there were no significant differences in sixth grade language arts and sixth and seventh grade math achievement scores of students who attended an elementary school with an arts integration program. However, there were significant differences in seventh and eighth grade language arts and eighth grade math scores of students who attended arts integrated elementary. The study concludes with recommendations for future research.

This MFA thesis document investigates the experience of teachers participating in a trainer of trainers (TOT) professional development model in drama-based instruction in K-12 schools. This document explores a two-phase research study in which teachers attended an Advanced Summer Institute and then took on the role of teacher trainer in their school context. The mixed-methods study uses narrative thematic analysis of interview data as well as quantitative scales to describe the experiences of the drama-based instruction teacher trainers. Throughout, this document argues for more effective, sustainable professional development practices that draw on the instructional knowledge of teachers. The findings suggest organizational support largely determines the amount of participation of teacher trainers in their school context. The document concludes with a discussion of how to better support teachers as teacher trainers on their campuses as part of a larger effort to build capacity and sustain ongoing drama-based instructional practice in K-12th grade schools. / text

The arts have the power to expand cognitive potential through the development of higher order thinking skills, the use of the imagination, forms of self-expression and pathways to self-knowledge. When teachers are educated to integrate the arts in their classrooms, the result is transformation of the learning environment. In this qualitative case study I examined teacher experience in the Higher Order Thinking (HOT) Schools Arts Integration (AI) Professional Development (PD) program. While my research was informed primarily from the perspectives of arts specialist teachers, classroom teachers, and teaching artists, it also includes the voices of other stakeholders in the HOT educational community including administrators, HOT program directors, and parents. I obtained data through questionnaires, interviews, and observations in which I documented teacher experience during various forms of HOT AI PD and their implementation in the classroom. Teachers reported professional growth and described how HOT AI PD had transformed their teaching practice. This was accomplished through experiential and ongoing PD that teachers found inspiring and relevant to their teaching. The various forms of PD included a weeklong residential summer institute with professional teaching artists and various presenters, weekend mini-institutes to reinforce the summer institute content and to share best practices, administrator PD, and various one-day events on different topics. The HOT Schools program is a supportive network providing help and guidance throughout the school year. Emergent themes were related to teacher benefits, student benefits, PD strategies, and how the HOT program builds community. Teachers expressed satisfaction with hands-on PD strategies focused on student-centered learning, with emphasis on process rather than product, encouraging deep learning through the arts. Participants’ narratives highlighted the effectiveness of PD strategies utilizing teachers as instructors for their peers, and collaborative residencies with professional teaching artists in the schools. Teachers enjoyed enhanced collegiality resulting from collaborative work when creating arts-integrated curricula, and arts specialists teachers appreciated the respect they received from classroom teachers who recognized the value of the arts as modes of inquiry. Teachers demonstrated enthusiasm for the program and expressed how they had experienced professional renewal and satisfaction in their teaching as a result of their participation in HOT AI PD.

In the state of Texas, instruction in the arts is required from Kindergarten through eighth grade. In many cases, the responsibility for teaching these subjects falls on the classroom elementary teacher despite limited knowledge, experience, and a low sense of self efficacy. This study examined how an online professional development program affected elementary teachers’ use of arts approaches, the attitudes and issues that have a bearing on the use of arts approaches, and teacher learning that occurred as a result of engaging in an online professional development program. An embedded mixed methods design was used that embedded a qualitative case study within a quantitative study in order to compare and corroborate the quantitative findings. Participants, employed at an elementary campus in South Texas, consisted of seven elementary generalist teachers who participated in an eight week online professional development program and six teachers who volunteered to complete a survey only. The central question, “how does an online job-embedded professional development program affect elementary teachers’ beliefs about and use of arts integrated approaches to learning,” guided the study. Seven sources of both quantitative and qualitative data were collected over a ten week period. Themes that emerged from the qualitative data analysis were student outcomes, teacher-efficacy, and external factors. Findings indicate that (1) online formats are a viable form of professional development, (2) a lack of time to plan most significantly impacts the use of arts approaches, and (3) improved access to rich, arts based lesson resources may increase the use of arts in the classroom. This study was significant because it provided insight into the quality of teacher learning and its impact on classroom practice as the result of online professional development.

Detta arbete undersöker hur bildstöd och bildskapande kan användas inom svenskundervisningen, vilka för- och nackdelar som finns med dessa estetiska undervisningsmetoder och vilka teorier det finns som relaterar till detta. Utifrån en sammanställning av ett större antal källor av diverse slag kom vi i korta drag fram till följande: För det första, teorierna som är av störst relevans för detta ämne är de som berör literacy, multimodalitet, kreativitet, föreställningsvärldar, arts integration, bilskapande och bildstöd. För det andra, bildstöd kan underlätta elevernas förståelse av lärarens lektioner, men många lärare känner sig obekväma med att använda sig av bilder som stöd eftersom de inte vet hur de ska gå till väga. För det tredje och sista, bildskapande kan engagera elever och främja deras lärande om det används på rätt sätt, men många lärare saknar såväl kunskap som resurser för att kunna använda denna undervisningsmetod på ett effektivt sätt och reducerar ofta bildskapande till rent tidsfördriv istället. Utifrån allt detta framstår det i vår mening som viktigt att forska vidare om hur lärare kan få stöd och utbildning när det gäller användningen av estetiska undervisningsmetoder så att de blir mer bekväma med att använda sig av bildstöd och bildskapande på ett effektivt sätt för att främja elevernas lärande.

The world of education is constantly changing. As our culture and society evolves and grows, our educational practices must follow suit to reach the minds of tomorrow in a meaningful way. Arts integration is the teaching practice of using the arts as a lens through which students can view and articulate other subject matter. Integration of dance, music and visual arts promotes creativity and interest but also nurtures a meaningful educational experience. This confluence of educational disciplines will engage our students and excite them about learning. It is important to recognize that " culture populated by a people whose imagination is impoverished has a static future n such a culture there will be little change because there will be little sense of possibility" (Eisner, 2002, p. 5). Integrating the arts into the core curriculum empowers our students to believe in possibility and provides them a future of potential. The purpose of this study is to examine the process of arts integration within an urban middle school setting. The school chosen will be observed because it is established as an arts magnet school, serving the community as an Academy for the Visual and Performing arts. An arts magnet middle school embraces the principles of seeing artfully and uses the arts to illuminate and give dimension to the other core subject matter. The structure for the model of curriculum integration adapted by the arts magnet school faculty will be determined by analyzing interview transcripts, field notes, and faculty meeting notes. Classroom observations will also serve to provide evidence of implementation of the arts integrative process into the curriculum. The results will show how arts integration acts as learning "through" and "with" the arts as a result of a curricular process and collaborative engagement.