It’s time for kids to sharpen their pencils and get ready for standardized testing. While this is not good news for anyone involved, did you know research has proven that participation in art class can improve test scores?

Several new studies have been published recently on the relationship between the arts and test scores. The Journal of Educational Leadership recently published an article – The Art and Craft of Science: by Robert and Michele Root-Bernstein. In it they document thirty-four different research studies that underscore the value of the arts in the development of visualization, patterning, differentiation and a host of other math and science skills that directly impact student and career success.

Check out some of their conclusions:

“… analysis of SAT scores from 2006 reveals that four years of high school arts or music classes confer a 100-point advantage over the average SAT score…”

“Arts, in short, have the greatest impact of any subject on standardized test scores, even when those tests have nothing to do with arts-related material.”

“…. arts and crafts participation started in childhood and sustained in maturity looks to be a leveler among individuals from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds. Childhood privilege in and of itself does not give a leg up on entrepreneurship or innovation. Arts and crafts apparently do.”

The article also cites a host of Nobel Prize laureates that attribute their success in math and science to their participation in some form of the arts. Luis Alvarez – 1968 Noble Prize in physics – attributed his success to his ability to visualize concepts and construct experimental apparatus. Einstein, who played violin and piano, was well known for his ‘musical thinking’, his intuition and his ability to visualize concepts. Richard Feynman, a famous physicist, played patterning games as a child and as an adult, was awarded the Nobel Prize for discovering new patterns in physics.

The authors conclude their article by saying: “Arts and crafts, in short, are not luxuries that we can dispense – or dispense with- as the mood strikes us. The skills, knowledge, techniques, models, concepts, and inventions that artists and craftspeople develop sculpt the imagination, making new sciences and technologies possible.

Click here to read this great article: The Art and Craft of Science: by Robert and Michele Root-Bernstein

Bette Fetter Founder and CEO of Young Rembrandts and Author of Being Visual [email protected] Follow Bette on Twitter