This report is the second part of a three-part comprehensive report filed by both Dr. Burnaford and Dr. Scripp, as Co-Principal Investigators of the PAIR project.

The first report, written by Dr. Gail Burnaford [2010], focused primarily on three years of collecting evidence of progress meeting PAIR teacher professional development goals, the evolution of teacher professional development outcomes in comparison with control group teachers, and speculation on theg eneral impact of high quality PAIRteacher practices on student learning.

The second and third parts of this report, written by Dr. Lawrence Scripp and his research team from the Center for Music-in-Education and CAPE (2011-2012], focus on the impact of PAIR on student learning. This second report (2011) reports primarily on differences among control-treatment statistical comparisons of PAIR student academic test outcomes. The following third report (2012) features an extensive review of qualitative and quantitative aspects all PAIR student arts integration outcome data. In addition, it provides a comprehensive analysis of the possible statistical links between seven teacher professional development factors and four student learning outcomes.

In this paper reports on a research project in arts integration education, conducted in the Chicago Public Schools in partnership with Chicago Arts Partnerships in Education (CAPE), a research-based organization focused on optimizing the impact of artists and arts learning in schools for the benefit of whole-school improvement in arts learning, teacher professional development, and school culture.

Beyond the intrinsic value of music to cultures worldwide, education in music has benefits for young people that transcend the musical domain. The Arts Education Partnership (AEP) reviewed an extensive body of research to identify high quality, evidence-based studies that document student learning outcomes associated with an education in and through music. The results show conclusively that music education equips students with the foundational abilities to learn, to achieve in other core academic subjects, and to develop the capacities, skills and knowledge essential for lifelong success.

Benefits of Music Education

A. Music education prepares students to learn

1. Enhances fine motor skills

2. Prepares the brain for achievement

3. Fosters superior working memory

4. Cultivates better thinking skills

B. Music education facilitates student academic achievement

1. Improves recall and retention of verbal information

2. Advances math achievement

3. Boosts reading and English language arts (ELA) skills

4. Improves average SAT scores

C. Music education develops the creative capacities for lifelong success

1. Sharpens student attentiveness

2. Strengthens perseverance

3. Equips students to be creative

4. Supports better study habits and self-esteem

In July 2010, working with a nonprofit organization called Big Thought, officials at the Dallas IndependentSchool District embarked on an approach to summer school they hoped would change the image from one of punishment and failure and engage kids. The idea was to support teachers, artists, and others to replace worksheet-style instruction with teaching animated by music, visual arts, dance, and theater.

The new arts-rich summer school program that resulted is just another sign of Dallas' initiative, spearheaded by BigThought (www.bigthought.org), to bring together schools, cultural organizations, and others to restore high-quality arts instruction to the many classrooms from which it has long been missing. "What's the goal of education: to assess kids or prepare them for life?" asks Craig Welle, executive director of enrichment curriculum and instruction for the Dallas Independent School District. "If you've taken the arts out of the education system, you are no longer preparing kids for life."

This report talks about the history of arts education funding and the success of the Dallas initiative.

This paper describes the 2012-2017 plan for funding arts education in the Los Angeles Unified School District. This mission for this project is as follows:

The Visual and Performing Arts are an integral part of the District's comprehensive curriculum and are essential for learning in the 21st century. All LAUSD students, from every culture and socioeconomic level, deserve quality arts learning in dance, music, theatre, and visual arts as part of the core curriculum.

Traditionally in the United States, schools and after-school programs have played a promi-nent part in teaching young people about the arts. Arts education has been waning in K-12 public schools in recent times, however. This is especially true in low-income communities, where public schools have often cut back on arts instruction so they can devote limited public education dollars to subjects such as writing and math that are the focus of high-stakes standardized tests.

When we look outside of school, however, we see a strikingly different landscape, one full of promise for engaging young people in artistic activity. What makes this landscape possible is an eagerness to explore that springs from youths' own creative passions -- what we call "interest-driven arts learning" -- combined with the power of digital technology.

This report is a step in trying to understand the new territory. It gives a rundown of scholarship in the areas of arts and out-of-school-hours learning; offers a framework for thinking about interest-driven arts learning in a digital age; examines young people's media consumption; provides a survey of youths' creative endeavors online and elsewhere, along with a look at the proliferation of technologies that young people are using in the arts; and concludes with thoughts about challenges and possibilities for the future

Every young person in America deserves a complete and competitive education that includes the arts. America's global stature, culture of innovation, and entrepreneurial spirit depend on the strength of a world-class education system. Perhaps now more than ever -- as the country becomes increasingly diverse, the world more interconnected, and the workplace more oriented around technology and creativity -- arts education is key to such a system and to ensuring students' success in school, work, and life.

For this reason, the Arts Education Partnership (AEP) created ArtsEdSearch.org -- the nation's first clearinghouse of research examining the mounting body of evidence on the benefits of an arts education. Drawing on the research in ArtsEdSearch, this bulletin offers a snapshot of how the arts support achievement in school, bolster skills demanded of a 21st century workforce, and enrich the lives of young people and communities.