Independent Study: Arts for Learning Improves Students’ Literacy Learning
In fall 2007 classroom teachers engaged approximately 2500 students across ten school districts innine sites nationwide inone or twoinstructionalunits of Arts for Learning (A4L) Lessons. For most of the teachers and studentsthis was their first experience with the challenging and stimulating material of A4L Lessons.
An evaluation conducted by WestEd, a leading national independent research firm, collected and analyzed data from six sites to extend and expand theimpressivefindings reported by WestEd for a smaller study in fall 2006. The overall finding in 2007is that the majority of students instructed in A4L Lessons made significant gains on specific measures of literacy skills and understanding. 
The fall 2007 assessment of nearly 2000 students in grades 3-8 found that for A4L units, across elementary and middle-school grades, in various locations and school districts:
- There is a reliable and statistically strong pattern of literacy learning gains from pre-test to post-test, both for specific objectives of a unit and for skills practiced across all Arts for Learning Units.
- Students rate specific A4L activities very positively.
- Teachers report that after receiving training from Young Audiences that they feel confident about using A4L Lessons.
- Student achievement and classroom observations affirm that regular teachers can use A4L Lessons effectively with high levels of student engagement.
- While achieving gains as measured against challenging literacy standards, students also were engaged in substantial arts activities.
- The great majority of students across the grades said they enjoyed their A4L Lessons more than their regular reading classes.
- A comparison in one particular district showed that students receiving A4L Learning Lessons showed significantly greater literacy learning than students in a comparison group receiving the district’s standard literacy curriculum during the same period of time.
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