Arts Education and Social-Emotional Learning Outcomes among K-12 Students: Developing a Theory of Action

Across existing research literature and among arts educators there is widespread belief that artistic disciplines including music, dance, theatre, visual arts, literary arts, and media arts have a positive effect on children's and adolescents' social-emotional development. This project investigates the relationship between arts education and social-emotional learning and develops a theory of action describing the nature of that relationship. This project consists of two components: a review of literature on this topic and an interview-based fieldwork component with educators, administrators, students, and parents in Chicago Public Schools. The authors propose a theory of action that describes how arts learning experiences have the potential to promote young people's development of social-emotional competencies. The theory emphasizes that the artistic and social-emotional aspects are always happening simultaneously and that, just as a student can learn good or bad piano habits, she can learn good or bad social-emotional habits. Just as the art practices must be cultivated into long-term art competencies through guidance and instruction, the social-emotional components of these activities must be cultivated into long-term social-emotional competencies. This report has three sections. The first describes the theory of action in greater detail, emphasizing the developmental effects of arts education. The second section surveys evidence in three areas of social-emotional development: self-management and discipline, interpersonal and relationship skills, and self-expression and identity. It also provides illustrative examples of the theory of action drawn from literature and our fieldwork interviews. The third and final section describes practical implications of this work and suggests areas for further research. Overall, this report emphasizes that arts education settings are sites of great potential. Learning literary or media arts, visual arts, theatre, dance, or music has great intrinsic benefits for young people, as they are exposed to creative humanistic experiences and the potential for rigorous skill development. [This report was prepared by Ingenuity.]