The Schooled Mind: Do the Arts Make a Difference? An Empirical Evaluation of the Hamilton Fairfield SPECTRA+ Program, 1992-93.

The Spectra+ program is a 4-year model arts initiative being conducted in four elementary schools in two southwestern Ohio cities. An empirical study compared students in a Spectra+ program with two groups of students in two alternate, non-Spectra+ programs in districts A and B to measure differences in creativity, academic achievement, self esteem, locus of control, and appreciation of the arts. Results showed that on creativity tests, Spectra+ children scored highest overall on the total test, originality, and resistance to closure. Reading and mathematics achievement scores were examined prior to and following program treatments. Spectra+ students showed no differences in reading improvement from Group A, but less achievement improvement than group B. Spectra+ males showed greater mathematics improvement than Group A as a whole, while the Spectra+ girls showed the lowest mathematics improvement. There was no difference in Spectra+ and group B students in total mathematics achievement. Grade and gender were more significant to self-esteem than either Spectra+ or other treatments. There were no significant differences among the groups in locus of control measures. In total arts appreciation measures, Spectra+ students scored highest. Recommendations called for: (1) continuance of Spectra+ program in the school districts employing it; (2) longitudinal evaluation of areas showing inconclusive results; (3) expansion of the Spectra+ program to use among older students; (4) and investigation of the gender inequities shown among Spectra+ students in terms of mathematics achievement and social self-concept functioning. (MM)