(Editor’s Note: we are pleased to bring you this article thanks to our collaboration with Greater Good Magazine.)

At a time when educators are preoccupied with standards, testing, and the bottom line, some researchers suggest the arts can boost students’ test scores; others aren’t convinced. Karin Evans asks, What are the arts good for?

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When poet and national endowment for the Arts Chairman Dana Gioia gave the 2007 Commencement Address at Stanford University, he used the occasion to deliver an impassioned argument for the value of the arts and arts education.

“Art is an irreplaceable way of understanding and expressing the world,” said Gioia. “There are some truths about life that can be expressed only as stories, or songs, or images. Art delights, instructs, consoles. It educates our emotions.”

For years, arts advocates like Gioia have been making similar pleas, stressing the intangible benefits of the arts at a time when many Americans are preoccupied with a market–driven culture of entertainment, and schools are consumed with meeting federal standards. Art brings joy, these advocates say, or it evokes our humanity, or, in the words of my 10–year–old daughter, “It cools kids down after all the other hard stuff they have to think about.”

Bolstering the case for the arts has become increasingly necessary in recent years, as school budget cuts and the move toward standardized testing have profoundly threatened the role of the arts in schools. Under the No Child Left Behind Act, passed in 2002, the federal government started assessing school districts by their students’ scores on reading and mathematics tests.

As a result, according to a study by the Center on Education Policy, school districts across the United States increased the time they devoted to tested subjects—reading/language arts and math—while cutting spending on non–tested subjects such as the visual arts and music. The more a school fell behind, by NCLB standards, the more time and money was devoted to those tested subjects, with less going to the arts. The National Education Association has reported that the cuts fall hardest on schools with high numbers of minority children.

And the situation is likely to worsen as state budgets get even tighter. Already, in a round of federal education cuts for 2006 and 2007, arts education nationally was slashed by $35 million. In 2008, the New York City Department of Education’s annual study of Read the rest of this entry »

We read today how Panel Urges Schools to Emphasize Core Math Skills (Washington Post). Now, there is a more fundamental question to consider: what should the schools of the XXI century look like and do?.

To create a much needed dialogue, I asked one the most thoughtful education bloggers around to share her (I guess it’s “her”) impressions with us. Enjoy!
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What do we want our schools to do, and for whom? 

–By eduwonkette

“Schools,” Stanford historian David Labaree wrote, “occupy an awkward position at the intersection between what we hope society will become and what we think it really is.” What do we want our schools to do, and for whom?

Schools, like most organizations, have many goals. These goals often compete with and displace each other. Relying heavily on the work of David Labaree, I will discuss three central goals of American schools – social efficiency, democratic equality, and social mobility. Throughout the history of American education, these goals have been running against each other in a metaphorical horserace. While they are not mutually exclusive, the three goals introduce very different metrics of educational success. More often than not, they sit uncomfortably with each other.

Read the rest of this entry »

We were very happy to discover that Scientific American Mind has highlighted SharpBrains in their June/July 2007 issue!

Here’s what they had to say:

“Everyone knows the importance of staying physically fit. But what about staying mentally fit? Research in the past several years has shown that mental “workouts” may improve memory, relieve stress and even help stave off Alzheimer’s. This new site is an online gym for the mind, offering a blog about the science of brain fitness and links to relevant research. It also sells “exercise” software and offers personal training.”

If you are here due to that introduction, we’d like to welcome you and show you around a bit. You might enjoy:

• The Neuroscience Interview Series in our brain health blog, in which we interview some of the leading neuroscientists in brain fitness, including:
  • Dr. Elkhonon Goldberg on Brain Fitness Programs and Cognitive Training,
  • Cognitive Simulations for Basketball Game-Intelligence: Interview with Prof. Daniel Gopher,
  • Working Memory Training and RoboMemo: Interview with Dr. Torkel Klingberg,
  • Memory training and attention deficits: interview with Notre Dame’s Bradley Gibson,
  • and an upcoming interview with Yaakov Stern, the leading researcher behind the Cognitive Reserve theory
• Our collection of Brain Teasers and Puzzles
• A selection of Hot Topics in Brain Health and Fitness
• Or, sign up for our free monthly brain fitness newsletter that keeps you up to date with the latest articles and events in brain fitness

But most of all, enjoy yourself, learn something new, and let us know what you think!