Music, the Arts, and Academic Achievement
A historic elementary-school study found encouraging academic results when sequential music and visual-art instruction were integrated with classroom learning.
First-grade classrooms receiving a structured arts program showed especially strong improvement in mathematics, and the pattern continued when the study followed students into second grade.
The Children’s Music Workshop advocacy archive described research conducted in public elementary schools in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. The project examined whether sequential, skill-building instruction in music and visual art – connected with the broader curriculum – might influence student performance in reading and mathematics.
How the Study Was Organized
First-Grade Students
The first year included ninety-six children, ages five through seven, in eight classrooms.
Test and Control Classrooms
Four classrooms participated in the enhanced arts program while four followed the school system’s standard arts schedule.
Weekly Arts Instruction
Students in the test classrooms received one hour of music and one hour of visual art each week, with an emphasis on sequential skill development.
What Happened After Seven Months?
Students took standardized Metropolitan Achievement Tests. According to the archived report, children in the enhanced arts classrooms had begun the study behind the control group on earlier achievement measures. By the end of the first year, they had reached statistical equality in reading and had moved ahead in mathematics.
of students in the enhanced arts classrooms were reported at or above grade level in first-grade mathematics.
of students in the comparison classrooms were reported at or above grade level in first-grade mathematics.
The Second-Year Pattern
The project continued into second grade. The archived account reported that reading performance was again similar between the groups, while students with the arts experience remained ahead in mathematics. Children with two years of participation showed the strongest second-grade math results, followed by students with one year of participation and then students without the enhanced program.
Why Might Arts Learning Transfer?
Research director Martin Gardiner and colleagues proposed that learning artistic skills may require a kind of mental stretching that also supports other learning. Music and visual art involve ordering, sequencing, pattern recognition, attention, memory, and the coordination of multiple kinds of information – abilities that can also matter in mathematics and reading.
Music Belongs in a Complete Education
Music does not need to justify its existence only through math and reading scores. It is a valuable subject in its own right. Research like this is useful because it also shows how the habits developed through serious arts instruction can interact with the broader work of learning.