Research-Based Lessons
KWEST is grounded in research by Dr. Eleanor Brown and colleagues from West Chester University, done at Settlement Music School’s Kaleidoscope Preschool Program. Compared to students at high-quality preschools without arts integration, these studies have demonstrated that arts-integrated preschool environments lead to 3x vocabulary growth, 60% increase in personal happiness and pride, significant reduction of stress levels among students, and more.
Big Gains in Vocabulary!
An initial study in 2010, published in Early Childhood Research Quarterly (ECRQ), compared children’s vocabulary development over the course of the preschool year and controlled for key demographic variables. The study included children at Settlement’s Kaleidoscope preschool as well as those attending a matched comparison site that was not fully arts integrated. Both programs were Head Start sites, NAEYC accredited, and with the same, highest Keystone Stars rating.
Using the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT), this study found that children at Settlement’s Kaleidoscope preschool showed more than 3x the gains in receptive vocabulary over the course of the school year.
Brown, E.D., Benedett, B., & Armistead, M.E. (2010). Preschool arts enrichment and school readiness for children at risk. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 25, 112-124. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2009.07.008
In a 2017 study in the journal Child Development, it was found that emotional benefits of arts-integrated preschool could be documented at a physiological level. Dr. Brown and colleagues asked, “Can the arts get under the skin?” and found that indeed, levels of the stress hormone cortisol were lower after music and arts versus homeroom classes, positively influencing brain areas involved in learning and memory.
Can the arts get under the skin?
Brown, E.D., Garnett, M., Anderson, K., & Laurenceau, J.P. (2017). Can the arts get under the skin? Arts and cortisol for economically disadvantaged children. Child Development, 88, 1368-1381. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.12652
Leaping ahead in emotion regulation
In a study published in 2013 by Early Childhood Research Quarterly, children at Settlement’s Kaleidoscope preschool showed greater positive emotions than their peers at the preschool that was not arts integrated. They showed growth across the year in positive skills for managing or regulating their emotions, whereas those at the comparison site did not show significant growth. And, although children at both preschools showed a decrease in negative emotion regulation problems over the course of the year, that decrease was five times greater at Kaleidoscope.
Brown, E.D., & Sax, K. (2013). Arts enrichment and preschool emotions for low-income children at risk. Early Childhood Research Quarterly 28, 337-346. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2012.08.002
Dr. Brown and colleagues set out to examine an overall index of school readiness skills, and their findings were published in a 2018 study in Early Childhood Research Quarterly. They used the Bracken Basic Concepts Scale to examine things like letters, numbers, colors, shapes, and sizes - and again found a striking advantage for children at Settlement’s Kaleidoscope preschool.
Children at the arts-integrated preschool made greater gains than those found for the normative sample. Children facing economic hardship who attended Kaleidoscope ended the year scoring higher than their middle-income peers in terms of overall school readiness.
The art of Head Start
Brown, E.D., Garnett, M., Velazquez-Martin, B., & Mellor, T. (2018). The art of Head Start: Intensive arts integration associated with advantage in school readiness for economically disadvantaged children. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 45, 204-214. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2017.12.002