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Research Promotes Integration of Performing Arts and Literacy Instruction for High School and Elementary Students
Associate Professor Liane Brouillette discussed her recent and on-going research during a department colloquium on November 6. The ArtsCore: High School research, supported by a state-administered Eisenhower grant, was carried out between 2001 and 2005. The ArtsCore K-2: Teachers as Artists research was begun in 2007 and will continue through 2011. Both projects have been funded by Improving Teacher Quality grants administered by the California Postsecondary Education Commission.
The ArtsCore High School Project assisted teachers in responding to a new University of California admission requirement in the arts that required all freshmen admitted to University of California campuses to take one year of standards-based arts instruction. The ArtsCore project assisted arts teachers in high-poverty schools in designing and implementing the written assignments required by the new UC requirement.
To test whether the writing-to-learn strategies had improved student writing skills, a subset of ArtsCore teachers was matched to a control group that had not participated in ArtsCore. In September 2005, and again in May 2006, students of both treatment and control teachers were asked to write an essay to a prompt taken from a previous California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE). UC Irvine English composition instructors scored the essays.
Analysis of pre- and post-writing samples revealed that informal quick-writes integrated into arts classes produced improvements in student writing. Findings suggested that arts and writing are complementary activities. Both promote problem-solving, demand improvization, and create flexible performance capacity. Additionally the research suggested that requiring students to follow a specific model in a mechanical manner is not sufficient for high level performance in either writing or the arts.
Dr. Brouillette also reviewed her current research in San Diego. The ArtsCore: K-2 project is a partnership between UC Irvine and the San Diego Unified School District to help improve teaching in kindergarten through second grade in the core content areas of visual and performing arts and English language arts.
Additional information about Dr. Brouillette's research is available at: https://eee.uci.edu/08f/12321
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