Experimental Pre/Post Comparison of Arts and Socio-Emotional Learning via Student-Response Surveys

• In Event: How School-Based Arts Programming Supports Social Emotional Learning for Elementary School Students

Abstract

Purpose:
This inquiry is part of the mission of an NEA Research Lab whose aim is to understand what SEL outcomes are made possible through participation in artist-in-residence programs during the school day. The purpose of this paper is to share the findings of the quantitative-thread of the lab’s larger mixed-methods study. This paper presents the results of an experimental pre/post design addressing the question: What are the social and emotional benefits of residential performing arts programs for students?

Theoretical Perspective:
The Collaborative for Academic, Social Emotional Learning defines SEL as, “how children and adults learn to understand and manage emotions, set goals, show empathy for others, establish positive relationships, and make responsible decisions” (CASEL, 2013, p. 4). The Chicago Consortium for School Research (Farrington et al., 2019) developed a theory to describe the relationship between arts education and SEL involving three core areas: self-management and discipline, interpersonal and relationship skills, and self-expression and identity. These theoretical perspectives inform the subscales in the below survey measure.

Methods and Participants:
This study utilized an experimental pre/post design with a waitlist control group in two public elementary schools located in a small Midwestern city. The intervention school received residencies from three performing arts programs for all 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students. All students took part in the arts programming. Students with additional familial consent for the research element also completed a survey three times: pre-program, mid, and post. The arts intervention condition included Narts= 51 total participants. The control school also invited all 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students to participate. The control condition included Ncontrol= 22 participants.

Measures and Analysis:
The student surveys included 30 previously validated (Lashley, 2018) context-specific items for the drumming program that were adapted for the movement and play/story writing programs across four subscales: 1) artistic skills, 2) discipline and self-efficacy, 3) community & collaboration, and 4) leadership. Each item offered a 5-point Likert scale response. The surveys were given at 3 time points to allow for measuring growth as change over time.

Results:
Initial analyses of repeated measures ANOVAs showed statistically significant changes in both art skill and SEL efficacy beliefs over time and descriptive statistics showed differences between the control and the treatment school students. These results provide strong data for corroboration through the qualitative interviews and observational data presented in the other paper in this symposium.

Significance:
This study will demonstrate the main exogenous outcomes associated with students’ performing arts participation. The performing arts have been the subjects of greatest casualty in the erosion of arts education from public schools; a 2015 NCES report indicates that only 3% of public elementary schools offer designated instruction in dance and 4% offer designated instruction in drama/theater (as cited in Bowne & Kisida, 2017). This creates an “arts opportunity gap” that is impossible to bridge without external assistance (Walker, 2012). Arts residency programs are one method of bridging that gap. This study presents vital experimental evidence on the impact of these programs on social and emotional outcomes among youth.

Authors

• Katherine Norman, University of Wisconsin - Madison
  Presenting Author

• Yorel Lashley, University of Wisconsin - Madison
  Non-Presenting Author

• Stephanie Richards, University of Wisconsin - Madison
  Non-Presenting Author