Integrating the arts into the preschool learning environment

The National Standards for Arts-In-Education, K-12, exclude the preschool learning environment, The first statement in Goals 2000: Educate America Act, states that children should come to school ready for learning. Thus, this thesis focuses on including the arts as part of the curriculum for early childhood education. Ultimately, this thesis proves that the arts are an essential part of child development, and that a movement toward making the arts a part of the core curriculum needs to begin at the onset of a child's development. This movement should include all learning environments. The research used in this thesis includes observation, participation and interviews with coordinators from The Wolf Trap Institute for Early Learning through the Arts, Vienna, VA; The Bethesda Academy of Performing Arts, Bethesda, MD, and The Inner City/Inner Child Workshop Program, Washington, D.C. Also, used to support this thesis is, documentation from journals, articles and textbooks concerning the relationship between developmentally appropriate activities using the performing and visual arts, and the child's stages of development. This research concludes that the performing and visual arts are essential to the child's cognitive, social, aesthetic, and physical development. Statistical information has not been fully developed to provide conclusive data showing the academic achievement of preschool children who are in an environment which integrates the arts compared to those preschool children whose environment does not include an integrated arts program.