Center for Arts Education Research

A curriculum development and assessment project in the visual arts for children and adolescents focused on working in Central Park as a site for investigation and creative practice in teaching and learning. Funded: Central Park Conservancy.

As assessment initiative of the William Penn Foundation, to document a series of funded artist residencies in the public schools of Philadelphia, PA.

Funded by MacArthur and General Electric, a three-year initiative to study the effects of transfer from learning in the arts to learning in the other school disciplines. Findings from the study are published in E. Fisk (Ed.),  Champions of Change, (1999), and in Studies in Art Education, 41.3.2000.

An arts in education assessment initiative involving community arts programs, artists, and schools in Hartford and Bloomfield, CT.  Locally funded.

A curriculum development/assessment initiative involving middle- and high-school pupils in using the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, NYC as a context for interdisciplinary teaching and learning. Private funding.

An assessment initiative of the Pew Charitable Trust, to document a series of funded community arts programs in the city of Philadelphia, PA.

The Heritage High School is a partnership between Teachers College Columbia University and the New York City Board of Education. The Center is funded to collaborate on a series of yearly conferences to examine learning in the context of collaboration between the School and the cultural institutions of New York City.

Funding is currently sought for a research initiative focused on the collection and analysis of adolescent responses to works of culture (fine art and commercial media). Researchers have already collected interview materials from over 100 adolescents and have begun an analysis of the trajectory, patterns, and movements in thought as youngsters formulate their responses.

As part of a multi-million-dollar grant from Lila Wallace, the Center carried out an assessment of the LCI's visiting artist program and summer repertoire selection. Information from this project was used to develop the chapter "Natural Allies: Children, Teachers and Artists" in Jane Remer's bookBeyond Enrichment.

Funded by the National Art Education Association, the nine-member task force of public school teachers and college faculty spent three years researching art teacher classroom practices and their effects on pupil learning. Publication forthcoming.

Funded by the National Art Education Association; a research initiative focused on the way middle-school students distill and embed responses from cultural objects (fine art and commercial media) within their own creative practice. Two public presentations of this work have been given.

An arts-based literacy and learning initiative hosted by Teachers College, Columbia University. The project encourages children to make a connection between what they write and what they draw about their personal experiences, interests, and environments, thereby engaging them in the learning process and motivating them to succeed in school, after school, and in life. 

A Spencer Foundation research-training program focusing on the philosophies and practices that shape educational research in the arts and humanities. Funding has sponsored two student-organized conferences on 'Ways of Doing' and an electronic publication.