Learn how to leverage your own resources to build a high-quality arts program in your community. Includes evaluation tools, resource texts, and examples from the field.

Performing Arts Workshop Reports & Presentations

For over 10 years Performing Arts Workshop’s programs have been the subject of several evaluation projects measuring the impact of the performing arts on student achievement. Over the years, both our findings and our methods have become more rigorous. We have collected a body of evidence that illustrates how the arts provide students with the education they need and deserve to succeed in school, work and life in the 21st Century.

Performing Arts Workshop Evaluation Reports

Artists-in-Schools, California Arts Council 2001-2003

For two years, the Workshop participated in an evaluation project run by the California Arts Council. The goals of this project were to identify potentially “at-risk” student populations and then evaluate the effects of a Creative Movement or Theatre residency in the classroom. Areas for student improvement were based on the Workshop’s Cycle of Artistic Inquiry which seeks to demonstrate the process of critical thinking through arts learning. The following reports deal with the findings of this project at three separate locations: The Paul Robeson & Diego Rivera Academy, John Muir Elementary, and Mission Education Center.

Download: First-Year Demonstration Project Report for the CAC (2001-02)
Download: Second-Year Demonstration Project Report for the CAC (2002-03)

During the 2001-2002 year of programming, Performing Arts Workshop engaged Richard Siegesmund, an arts education researcher and current professor at the University of Georgia, to evaluate the Artists-in-Schools program. From this relationship, the Workshop gained invaluable knowledge about its methodology and practice, including the Cycle of Artistic Inquiry - a visual representation of the Workshop’s methodology, as well as numerous recommendations to strengthen the program. You can read the full report by downloading it below.

Download: Artists-in-Schools Program Evaluation (2001-02)

Artists-in-Schools, U.S. Department of Education 2003-2006

Over the course of three years, Performing Arts Workshop and evaluators measured five goals of the Workshop’s Artists-in-Schools program. These goals were: to improve student critical thinking in the arts, to use the arts to positively impact academic performance, to identify problems in teaching at-risk youth, to use the arts to develop pro-social behavior, and to institutionalize arts and arts education in school settings to increase sustainability. The ability of the Artists-in-Schools program to meet these goals is examined through a quasi-experimental, mixed-method research design in the following reports.

Download: AIS First-Year Annual Evaluation Report for the U.S. Dept. of Education (2003-04)
Executive summary: First-Year Executive Summary for the U.S. Dept. of Education (2003-04)

Download: AIS Second-Year Annual Evaluation Report for the U.S. Dept. of Education (2004-05)
Executive summary: Second-Year Executive Summary for the U.S. Dept. of Education (2004-05)

Download: AIS Third-Year Final Evaluation Report for the U.S. Dept. of Education (2005-06)

The ARISE Project, U.S. Department of Education 2006-2010

Arts Residency Interventions in Special Education (ARISE) was a federally-funded research project led by Performing Arts Workshop with five San Francisco Unified School District elementary schools. The project provided year-long Theatre or Creative Movement residencies to over 1,000 3rd-5th grade students in general and special education classrooms. Key findings from the research demonstrate improved test scores, reduced absenteeism, and growth of critical thinking skills among students who participated in the project. Follow the links below to read our Executive Summary and full reports.

Download: ARISE Project 2008 Annual Evaluation Report
Download: ARISE Project 2009 Annual Evaluation Report
Download: ARISE Project 2010 Final Evaluation Report
Executive summary: ARISE Executive Summary 2010
2 Page Summary Report: ARISE Summary Report

PACT-21, U.S. Department of Education 2010-2014

Performing Arts Workshop has been awarded a 4-year Arts in Education Model Development and Dissemination grant from the U.S. Department of Education to explore how our Artists-in-Schools program supports the development of 21st Century skills.  We are thrilled to have our work recognized for a third time at the federal level and look forward to sharing our results from our forthcoming evaluation. PACT-21 stands for Performing Arts Create Tools for 21st Century Learning. To read more about PACT-21 please download the document below. Be on the look out for our first report in Spring of 2012.

Download: What is PACT-21?

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Performing Arts Workshop Evaluation Presentations

Charting a Course for the Arts and 21st Century Learning, 2009

Performing Arts Workshop Executive Director Tom DeCaigny and Program Director Jessica Mele presented in partnership with the San Francisco Unified School District at the Arts Education Partnership's forum in Cambridge, MA. The forum was titled: "Charting a Course for the Arts and 21st Century Learning" and took place October 2-3, 2009. The Workshop’s session focused on the role that the arts can play in district-wide school reform, beginning with Project ARISE (Arts Residency Interventions in Special Education), and how that project has contributed to positive whole-school change, as well as individual student achievement. Tom and Jessica were joined by co-presenters Francisca Sanchez, Associate Superintendent of Academics and Professional Development, and Antigone Trimis, Arts Education Master Plan Implementation Manager. You can view their presentation by downloading it below.

Download: AEP Presentation

 

Links to Other Evaluation Reports

California Arts Council's Research and Reports on the Arts

US Department of Education Research and Statistics

Arts Education For All: Lessons from the First Half of the Ford Foundation's National Arts Education Initiative

Model Programs

Model arts education programs provide a variety of benefits:

• Providing professional development to teachers to help them integrate more arts into their lessons
• Bringing artists to the classroom through residencies
• Funding arts curricula and creating arts requirements for students
• Offering after-school arts programs
• Building arts networks in the community with student involvement
  

The Performing Arts Workshop Cycle of Artistic Inquiry

The Workshop’s mission is supported by a teaching framework that has been developed in schools and community centers for over four decades. Specifically, the Workshop’s framework:

• Breaks down the creative process into perception, conception, expression, reflection, and re-vision
• Uses improvisation as a way to develop young people’s problem-solving and communication skills
• Stimulates critical dialogue among young people
• Integrates culturally relevant content to inspire active learning in a variety of subjects

Download: Cycle of Artistic Inquiry

Performing Arts Workshop publishes several texts and manuals with detailed lesson plans for use in the classroom. All texts explain the Workshop methodology and can be used by anyone with an interest in arts education. To order resources, call us at (415) 673-2634 or visit our Online Store.

Links to Other Program Models

There are several model programs with active websites, including:

Arts for Learning Offers examples of arts programs and has arts discussions.	American Alliance for Theatre in Education A national organization to foster high standards in theatre and drama and promote theatre.	Americans for the Arts
Arts in Basic Curriculum Project A project to provide comprehensive arts education to every child in South Carolina; has curriculum standards and links to school sites.	Chicago Arts Partnerships in Education CAPE is dedicated to school improvement through the arts. Their website has a number of resources including articles, publications, and research regarding the program and arts education in general.	Opening Minds through the Arts An in-school project for Tuscon, Arizona area schools that links arts education with success in other disciplines.
Studio in a School A New York City based program offering artist residencies in public schools and other settings. Offers examples and details about specific programs.	Arts Connection The mission of Arts Connection is to make the arts an essential part of education, we connect artists with children, families and schools in creative partnerships for teaching and learning.

Program Evaluation

This portion of the resource center was prepared by the Improve Group. There are many reasons to evaluate arts education programs.

• First, you want to know what kind of impact you are having on program participants. Are they learning about the arts? Do the arts help students learn other subjects?
• Second, you want to be able to adjust your program to best meet the needs of your participants. Do the participants like the program? What aspects of the program can be improved upon?
• Third, you want to be able to build support for the arts, and that often requires telling people your story. Evaluation helps you to tell your story and answer other people's questions. What does your program do?
  

Planning for Evaluation

As you prepare to evaluate your program, pull together a group of people who will have a lot of different perspectives and ideas about what you offer. Host a meeting that offers everyone a chance to be reflective, and ask the following questions:

• When someone participates in our program, what changes do we hope they experience?
• When our program partners with another organization, what impact do we hope to have on the overall environment or how we do business?
• How will we know we are successful?
• Who can tell us we are successful? What information do those people already have? What can they easily tell us if asked through a survey, interview, or some other format?
• What sort of measurement tools will work best with our participants and to tell us if we are successful?
• What resources do we have for evaluation?
• What do we want to learn from our evaluation?

The answers to these questions can be used to create a logic model and data collection instruments.

Preparing a Logic Model

A logic model is simply a way of presenting the program, its theories, processes, goals and measures in an easy to read table format. The logic model answers key questions about the program.

• Goals: What do you want to achieve?
• Activities: What services do you provide? What else do you do to meet your goals?
• Theory of change: Why do you do those particular activities?
• Target population: Who is receiving services? Who will experience or show a change as a result of activities?
• Indicators of success: How will you know your theory is correct (process indicator)? How will you know you have achieved your goal (outcome indicator)?
• Measures: What will you use to show success?
  

Workshop Logic Models

Download: Artists-in-Schools
Download: ARISE (Arts Residency Interventions in Special Education)

Strategies for Collecting Data

There are some general guidelines you should keep in mind when you are collecting data from participants, staff, and other interested people:

• Only ask people things that they legitimately could know. Avoid asking people to judge what another person thinks or feels or about something that they would have no way of knowing.
• Make instruments age-appropriate. Even very young children can provide you with ideas and feedback, but may do better in a group discussion than with a survey.
• Bring the instruments to the person taking it rather than force someone to leave their environment. Except for focus groups, which work well by having people reflect outside of their normal routine, instruments should be administered in a comfortable and familiar setting.
• Use pictures and examples to demonstrate concepts.
• Build support for the evaluation ahead of time by including participants in determining what you are going to research and why.
  

Instruments and Assessments

You will need to have some sort of instrument or assessment to evaluate your program. You can use things already being administered (i.e., school-wide tests) if appropriate, but you will often need to design your own or customize something to make sure the questions you have are being answered. The table below shows the strengths and weaknesses of various types of instruments.

Download: Types of Measurement Tools

Tips for Preparing Instruments

Download: Tip Sheet for Preparing Instruments

Performing Arts Workshop Instruments

The Performing Arts Workshop uses a variety of instruments to assess its programs, including:

• Surveys for Artists, Students, and Teachers
• A Rubric for Residency Observations
• Focus groups for Artist, Students, and Teachers
  

Download: Artist Survey
Download: Artist Focus Group Protocol
Download: Residency Observation Rubric
Download: Student Survey
Download: Teacher Survey
Download: Teacher Focus Group Protocol

Links to Other Instruments

The following sites also have arts education instruments available:

The American Evaluation Association Go to the home page and click “Resources.” There is a collection of instruments and tools as well as links to other resources.	The Arts Education Assessment Consortium The Consortium is housed by the CCSSO and can be accessed from their website.	Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO)
The Kellogg Foundation At the home page, click the Knowledgebase button at the top of the page, then select Toolkits from the bottom of the drop down menu. The Evaluation toolkit contains the PDF version of two very good reference materials – a primer on evaluation and a guide for understanding logic models.	National Assessment of Educational Progress	The National Science Foundation’s Online Evaluation Resources Library This site sections on sample evaluation plans, instruments, and reports.

Other Useful Links

The Wallace Foundation Knowledge Center Explore topics such as school leadership, after school, arts education, summer and extended learning time, audience development for the arts, and advancing philanthropy.	The Hewlett Foundation Library The Library is a repository for reports, papers, research, past programs, and studies that The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and its grantees have generated over the years. Search the archive by keywords, year published, region or program.	The U.S. Government Accountability Office The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) is an independent, nonpartisan agency that works for Congress. GAO investigates how the federal government spends taxpayer dollars..
Americans for the Arts Announces Arts Education Toolkit and Webinar Series Americans for the Arts (AFTA) is producing a yearlong series of webinars about arts education. The seven part series is based on AFTA's new toolkit, The Arts Education Field Guide. The Field Guide illuminates ways to navigate the complex web of citizens, policymakers, government entities, and organizations that influence arts education.