Living Arts: Wolf Trap Early Learning Through the Arts Program

Living Arts implemented the Detroit Wolf Trap Early Learning Through the Arts program in Head Start centers from 2012-2017. The program focuses on:

• improving children's school readiness,
• creating a system change in instructional delivery, and
• influencing parents to use new strategies at home by bringing arts-infused education to Head Start, Early Head Start, and kindergarten classrooms.

The program includes direct service to children, their teachers, caregivers, parents, and teaching artists through mini-residencies, teacher training, artist training, and family workshops.

Study Goals:

The study included an implementation and impact evaluation. The goal of the implementation evaluation was to assess:

• the number and length of sessions delivered in classrooms,
• the number of professional development sessions as well as their length and number of participants, and
• the number of family engagement sessions as well as their length and number of participants.

The goal of the impact evaluation was to measure the effectiveness of arts-infused education and to determine if the Living Arts' intervention had an impact on advancing school readiness in pre-kindergarten children ages three and four.

Research Questions:

The implementation evaluation did not include specific research questions. The research questions for the impact evaluation were:

• Does the Living Arts' Detroit Wolf Trap intervention have an impact on advancing school readiness in pre-kindergarten children ages three and four, measured by HighScope COR Advantage (COR-A) instrument administered by classroom teachers?
• Does the teachers' use of the arts-infused strategies, after the Teaching Artist residency, indicate a systemic change in instructional delivery?
• Are parents using the arts-infused strategies at home with the children in the programs?

Findings:

The study found the following:

• In Project Year 4, the treatment group had statistically significantly higher scores on the COR-A total score and all subscales, with a mix of effect sizes from small to medium.
• In Project Year 5, children who received treatment scored statistically significantly higher than the comparison students on five of the eight COR-A subscales as well as on the COR-A total score.
• The Teacher Survey indicated that the teachers would use the program strategies in the future.
• The self-reported parents' survey indicated that parents consistently understood that the arts support learning and that parents will use the program's methods at home.

For more information, download the full report and report brief.