VSA arts Research

The VSA arts research agenda seeks to strengthen our understanding of how the arts meet the educational needs of individuals with disabilities. Whether by investigating inclusive teaching practice, developing a database focused on arts, education, and disability information, or by tapping into the resource of our domestic affiliate network to glean a better idea of how students learn in and through the arts, VSA arts plays an important role in building knowledge about how the arts contribute to learning.

Here are a number of research efforts and resources developed by VSA arts:

2008

VSA arts Research Symposium Proceedings 1.94 KB
The Contours of Inclusion: Frameworks and Tools for Evaluating Arts in Education
The Institute Brief 324 KB
Effective Career Development Strategies for Young Artists with Disabilities by Heike Boeltzig, Rooshey Hasnain, and Jennifer S. Sulewski from the Institute for Community Inclusion at UMass Boston
Start with the Arts 92.0 KB
Current Issues and Evidence Based Practices in Using Art to Teach Literacy Skills
Start with the Arts 168 KB
Issues and Evidence Based Practices in Inclusion of Children with Disabilities in Early Childhood Education

to top

Ongoing

Screenshot of The Living Research International Database

The Living Research International Database
The Living Research International Database provides resources on existing literature focused on issues related to arts, education, and disabilities; fosters the development of additional research focused on arts, education, and disabilities; and makes research focused on arts, learning, and disability accessible via a database-driven tool.

2005

Lessons and Rubrics for Arts Integration 52 KB
Arts Integration 132 KB
How Do the Arts Impact Social, Cognitive, and Academic Skills?
The Impact of Arts Integration: Voice, Choice and Access 76 KB
Rubrics and an Arts Integration Community of Practice 56 KB
This series of articles explores the 2004-2005 efforts to investigate the impact of the arts on the social, academic, cognitive, and artistic skills of students with disabilities. The project focused on capturing comprehensive measures of student growth. For example, the Community of Practice teachers developed rubrics to evaluate student growth. These articles have been submitted for publication in Teaching Exceptional Children, and Teacher Education Special Education.

to top

2004

Arts-Based Teaching and Learning 212 KB
Review of the Literature
Westat's comprehensive review of literature focused on arts-based teaching and learning synthesizes current research that investigates the impact of the arts.
How Students with Disabilities Learn In and Through the Arts 292 KB
An Investigation of Educator Perceptions
This report represents the findings of the 2004 VSA arts Affiliate Research Project. Specifically, the findings address the way in which educators understand the value of the arts within their school.
Using the Arts to Help Special Education Students Meet Their
Learning Goals 2.38 MB
This study investigates the way in which arts-based strategies create a successful learning environment for students with disabilities.
Evaluation of VSA arts Affiliate Programs 188 KB
A Model for Evaluating The Impact of the Arts on Academic, Social, and Arts Learning for Students with Disabilities
This document suggests specific ways in which rubrics can be utilized to capture the social, cognitive, academic, and artistic growth of students.

to top

2003

SAIL Effect
This report highlights the development of a model for measuring the effectiveness of the arts as an instrumental element in overall academic and social development for students in an arts-infused, charter elementary school in Washington D.C.
Broad Brush 1.49 MB
Building on the work of Gaining the Arts Advantage: Lessons from School Districts That Value Arts Education (President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities and Arts Education Partnership, 1999) this work examines the strengths, challenges, and advice school districts encounter in trying to provide access to the arts for students with disabilities.

to top