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Evidence: A Report on the Impact of Dance in the K-12 SettingNEA

 
 
With support from the National Endowment of the Arts, NDEO published Evidence: A Report on the Impact of Dance in the K-12 Setting in July 2013. NDEO researchers undertook a review of recent studies of how dance impacts learning, with particular attention to several areas determined to be under-researched in the 2004 Research Priorities in Dance Education: A Report to the Nation (Bonbright). These areas included: Creative Process, Neuroscience/Brain Research, Student Achievement, Affective Domain, Student Performance, Equity, Cultural and World Dance, and Children-at-Risk. A group of researchers combed a variety of databases, including recent theses, dissertations, and articles within the Dance Education Literature and Research descriptive index (DELRdi), the Fast Response Survey System (FRSS), and a newly discovered collection of reports from the U.S Department of Education’s Arts-in-Education programs in professional development and model programs. The researchers prepared evaluations and summaries of each study, article, or report that provided insight into the evidence of how dance education impacts teaching and learning in the first decade-plus of the 21st century.
 
Studies reveal that dance classes can have a positive impact on student achievement, teacher satisfaction, and school culture.
  
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Photo by John Spicer. Courtesy of San Francisco Ballet.