稳定增长后在20世纪的大部分时间里,艺术教育的机会在美国自1980年代以来一直在稳步下降(汉密尔顿et al ., 2007;Rabkin & Hedberg, 2011;冯Zastrow & Janc, 2004;西,2007)。这一趋势在学生群体并不公平。在此期间,白人学生经历了几乎没有变化,而AfricanAmerican学生经历了下降49%,西班牙裔/ Latinx学生40%。此外,如果孩子的父母有不到一个高中教育经历了下降77% (Rabkin & Hedberg, 2011)。儿童艺术经验预测艺术参与和合作在以后的生活中,这意味着减少儿童访问可能有持久的影响。这些趋势,特别是在休斯顿,86%的学生参加休斯顿独立学区(HISD)非洲裔或拉美裔/ Latinx (HISD, 2017)。此外,在2012年休斯顿艺术调查,据报道,近60%的受访者至少参加过一个艺术表现在过去的一年; however, participation plummeted to 29% for individuals from households with incomes at or below $37,500 (Klineberg, Wu, & Aldape, 2012).

艺术具有内在利益参与者,但支持者也认为艺术在公共教育中扮演着重要的角色,因为他们提高技能和知识转移到学生成绩在其他学科,积极影响社会和情感学习,提高艺术能力和创造力,而这正是宝贵的技能在当今的经济。(Deasy, 2002;艾斯纳,2002;赢家,Goldstein & Vincent-Lancrin, 2013;赢家& Hetland, 2001)。然而,艺术仍然是一个主要目标削减教育管理者和决策者在面对accountability-driven权衡(Yee, 2014)。自通过不让一个孩子掉队法案》(2001),强调标准化考试在“核心课程”恰逢school-facilitated艺术暴露显著下降(加兹登,2008)。强调问责之间有很强的联系测试和减少时间和资源的艺术和其他的科目(Bassok, Latham & Rorem 2016;政府问责局(Government Accountability Office), 2009;Guzenhauser, 2003; West, 2007). Moreover, evaluations of education programs and policies increasingly rely on empirical evidence, yet the causal benefits of the arts have rarely been rigorously investigated with experimental methods (Winner & Cooper, 2000; Winner, Goldstein, & Vincent-Lancrin, 2013; Winner & Hetland, 2001). As a result, policymakers and administrators struggle to make the case for the arts in K-12 schools, and advocates lack evidence to quantify the costs that come with decreases in access. An increasingly common strategy for addressing K-12 arts educational inequities is the formation of school-community arts partnerships. Typically, these partnerships consist of school- and district-level administrators, cultural institutions, philanthropists, government officials, researchers, and a “backbone” organization that facilitates these collaborations (Bowen & Kisida, 2017; Perille, 2016). Successful partnerships have flourished in many urban school districts, including Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Seattle. One such partnership, Houston’s Arts Access Initiative (AAI), launched in 2013. This multi-sector, collaborative effort aimed to advance student access to the arts through “strategy, partnerships, data collection, and advocacy.” The AAI vision statement was “that every student in Houston will have the opportunity to benefit cognitively, creatively, emotionally, and academically through the arts,” with an emphasis on foundational goals of equity, impact, and sustainability. As with arts education research in general, only a few studies have investigated the effects of these partnerships (Catterall & Waldorf, 1999; Rowe, Werber, Kaganoff, & Robyn, 2004). Preliminary research suggests that school-community arts partnerships improve academic achievement and attainment (Catterall & Waldorf, 1999); however, there is no causal evidence about the impacts of these interventions.

经过针对校园库存,AAI公司利益相关者发展策略为学校提供艺术资源的最低水平,主要通过建立和增强学校的合作伙伴关系。学校参与计划是自愿的,申请者必须提交一个货币匹配用于艺术经验通过教授艺术派驻期间,校内专业艺术家的表演,实地考察,和课外的项目。AAI公司参与需求超过供应的前两年实现。46个校园应用参与AAI公司的第一年,35额外校园应用参加第二年。咨询后,我们的研究团队,AAI公司利益相关者同意随机分配参与42头两年的学校和推迟AAI参与其他申请人。除了作为一个公正的方法选择AAI学校,这个过程是有利于集群进行随机对照试验(RCT)。

在这项研究中,我们调查的因果效应增加在小学和中学学生的艺术教育经历、通过学校群体提供艺术合作计划实施的第一年。AAI学校获得随机分配同行相比,我们发现越来越多的艺术学习的机会大大降低学生接受惩戒违规的比例,增加写作的成就,增加对他人的同情。我们没有发现显著影响总体学生出勤率,数学、阅读、科学成就,或其他基于调查的措施。学生在小学,计划的重点,由我们学校86%的样本,我们发现干预也提高了学生参与,大学的愿望,arts-facilitated移情。我们也发现,这些效果差异很大,学生子组。学生接受“英语水平有限”(地蜡)和天才和天才(GT)项目服务似乎从这些艺术学习经验获益更多。