Arkansas elementary art teachers' attitudes toward discipline-based art education and their implementation of the state visual arts standards

ARKANSAS ELEMENTARY ART TEACHERS’ ATTITUDES
TOWARD DISCIPLINE-BASED ART EDUCATION AND
THEIR IMPLEMENTATION OF THE STATE VISUAL ARTS
STANDARDS
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.

ARKANSAS ELEMENTARY ART TEACHERS’ ATTITUDES
TOWARD DISCIPLINE-BASED ART EDUCATION AND
THEIR IMPLEMENTATION OF THE STATE VISUAL ARTS
STANDARDS
A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment
of the requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
By
MOHAMMAD M. A. ALDOSARI, B.S., M.S.
King Saud University, 1995
University of Dayton, 2003
December 2006
University of Arkansas

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The purpose of this study was to examine the Arkansas K-4 grade elementary art
teachers’ attitudes toward the four foundational disciplines of discipline-based art
education (DBAE), art making/studio art, art history, aesthetics, and art criticism, to
determine their acceptance of the approach. Another purpose of this study was to
examine the Arkansas K-4 grade elementary art teachers’ level of implementation of the
state’s three visual arts standards in the instruction. In Content Standard One K-4, the
students are expected to develop concepts and ideas through the processes of inquiring,
exploring, and discovering a variety of references, such as historical, cultural, social,
environmental, and personal references. Content Standard Two K-4 aims to develop
students’ creativity skills by manipulating a wide variety of media, techniques, processes,
and tools to develop original works of art and design. Finally, Content Standard Three
K-4 sets learning expectations through a process of rediscovering and responding to
artworks and concepts of self, of others, of environment, and of cultures. The study also
sought the factors that may influence the art teachers’ attitudes and implementation
means.
To answer the study’s questions, a 56-item survey questionnaire was developed.
Independent-sample t-tests, one-way ANOVA, and Tukey (HSD) post-hoc analysis tests
were conducted to analyze the collected data. The participants of the study were 288 K-4
grade elementary art teachers.
Results of the study revealed that the participants highly valued the importance of
art making/studio art and art history. Aesthetics and art criticism had the lowest means of
attitudes. Statistical tests determined that having a degree in teaching art, confidence

level regarding the knowledge of each discipline, and job satisfaction had significant
effect on the participants’ attitudes toward the four foundational disciplines.
The study’s results also indicated a high level of implementation of three visual
arts standards. Visual art standard two had the highest level of implementation; then
visual art standard one came second, finally; visual art standard three had the lowest level
of implementation. Factors such as, having a degree in teaching art, confidence level of
professional knowledge, and job satisfaction were found to be statistically significant
factors.

I hereby authorize the University of Arkansas Libraries to duplicate this
dissertation when needed for research and/or scholarship.
Agreed / / ) y h a w im oi-r)
Refused

Acknowledgements
My most sincere gratefulness and thanks are due to God for the graces, guidance,
and support that he has given me through my life.
My deepest appreciation and gratitude go to my beloved father, mother, brothers,
and sisters for their continuous support. In addition, I would like to express my sincere
appreciation and thanks to my wife and children who did not spare any effort to prepare a
good family environment that greatly helped me throughout my graduate study.
My sincere gratitude is also due to my advisor and the chairman of the
dissertation committee, Dr. Michael Wavering, for his support, expertise, and valuable
advice during the dissertation process.
I would like to express my deepest appreciation and gratitude to the research
committee, Dr. George Denney, Dr. Mounir Farah, and Dr. Angela LaPorte, for their
unlimited support and assistance in this dissertation and throughout my doctoral study.
Finally, I would like to thank all my friends who have supported me during my
study journey.
Mohammad
November 30, 2006
vi

TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS................................................................................... vi
TABLE OF C O N T E N T S .................................................................................. vii
LIST OF C H A R T S ................................................................................................ix
LIST OF T A B L E S ................................................................................................xi
CHAPTER 1: IN T R O D U C T IO N .........................................................................1
Purpose of the Study . . . . . . . . 5
Significance of the Study . . . . . . . 6
Statement of the Problem . . . . . . . 6
Research Questions . . . . . . . . 9
Research Hypotheses . . . . . . . . 1 0
Definition of Terms . . . . . . . . 1 1
Summary . . . . . . . . . 12
CHAPTER 2: REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE . . . . 1 4
The Twentieth Century Educational Movements and Studies
that Contributed in developing the Status of
American Art Education . . . . . . . 1 4
tVi
Art Education at the Opining of the 20 Century . . . 1 4
Art Education before World War II . . . . . 1 5
Art Education after World War II . . . . . 1 7
Discipline Oriented Art Education . . . . . 1 7
Discipline-Based Art Education (DBAE) Roots . . . . 1 8
DBAE Definition and Development . . . . . 1 8
Foundational Disciplines of DBAE . . . . . 2 2
How to Teach the DBAE Four Foundational Disciplines . . 26
Evaluation of DBAE . . . . . . . 28
Arkansas State Visual Arts Standards . . . . . 3 0
Arkansas State Teacher Accreditation . . . . . . 3 2
Competency Area . . . . . . . 3 3
Summary . . . . . . . . . 34
CHAPTER 3: M E T H O D S ................................................................................... 36
Research Rationale . . . . . . . 3 6
Participants . . . . . . . . . 36
Procedures and Data Collection. . . . . . . 3 7
Instrument . . . . . . . . . 38
Variable List . . . . . . . . . 39
vii

Pilot Study . . . . . . . . . 42
Measures . . . . . . . . . 43
Reliability and Validity . . . . . . . . 43
Data Analysis Procedures . . . . . . . 44
Delimitation of the Study . . . . . . . 45
CHAPTER 4: F I N D I N G S ................................................................................... 47
Pilot Study . . . . . . . . . 47
Data Collection . . . . . . . . 48
Elimination of Record . . . . . . . 49
Participants . . . . . . . . . 49
Hypotheses Testing . . . . . . . . 5 6
Summary . . . . . . . . . 1 1 0
CHAPTER 5: SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS . . . . 1 1 3
Summary of Findings . . . . . . . . 1 1 4
Discussion . . . . . . . . . . 1 1 8
Implications. . . . . . . . . . 1 2 9
Limitations . . . . . . . . . . 1 3 1
Recommendations . . . . . . . . 1 3 2
Conclusions. . . . . . . . . . 133
R E FE R E N C E S...........................................................................................................136
A P P E N D IX E S ...........................................................................................................140
A. Survey Cover Letter (Principal’s Letter) . . . . . 1 4 1
B. Survey Cover Letter (Art Teacher’s Letter) . . . . 1 4 3
C. The Survey . . . . . . . . 145
D. The Arkansas State’s Visual Arts Frameworks K-4 Grades . . 1 5 3
viii

LIST OF CHARTS
Chart Title Page
1. A Distribution of the Participants’ Mean of Attitude toward
the Importance of Art Making Due to
their Professional Reading Level . . . . . . 64
the Importance of Art History Due to
their Professional Reading Level . . . . . . 66
the Importance of Aesthetics Due to
their Professional Reading Level . . . . . . 6 8
the Importance of Art Criticism Related to
their Professional Reading Level . . . . . 7 0
5. A Distribution of the Participants’ Mean of Attitude toward the Importance
of Art Making Based on the Participants’ Art Making
Confidence Knowledge Level . . . . . . 72
of Art History Based on the Participants’ Art History
Confidence Knowledge Level . . . . . . 74
of Aesthetics Based on the Participants’ Aesthetics
Confidence Knowledge Level . . . . . . 7 6
8. A Distribution of the Participants’ Mean of Attitude toward the Importance of
Art Criticism Related to the Participants’ Art Criticism
Confidence Knowledge Level . . . . . . 7 8
the Importance of Art Making Due to the Participants’
Job Satisfaction Level . . . . . . 8 1
the Importance of Art History Due to the Participants’
Job Satisfaction Level . . . . . . . 8 3

the Importance of Aesthetics Due to the Participants’
Job Satisfaction Level .
12. A Distribution of the Participants’ Mean of Attitude Toward
the Importance of Art Criticism Related to The Participants’
Job Satisfaction Level .
13. A Distribution of the Participants’ Mean of State
Visual Art Standard-One Based on Teaching
Art Knowledge Confidence Level . . . .
Visual Art Standard Two Based on Teaching
Visual Art Standard-Three Based on Teaching
Visual Art Standard One Based on the
Participants’ Job Satisfaction Level . . . .
Visual Art Standard Two Based on the
Visual Art Standard Three Based on the
x
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LIST OF TABELS
Table Title
1. Visual Arts Standards’ Reliability Coefficient .
2. The Participants Characteristics .
3. The participants’ knowledge and confidence and Job
Satisfaction Level . . . . . .
4. Frequency and Percentage of Introducing and Preferring Taking
a Course in Each Discipline of DBAE . . . .
5. Frequency and Percentage of the Participants’ Attitude
toward DBAE . . . . . . .
6. Independent Sample t test for Importance of Art Making
Based on Having a Degree in Teaching Art
7. Independent Sample t test for Importance of Art History
Based Having a Degree in Teaching Art
8. Independent Sample t test for Importance of Aesthetics
9. Independent Sample t test for Importance of Art Criticism
10. One-Way Analysis of Variance for Importance of Art Making
Due to Professional Reading Level . . . .
11. One-Way Analysis of Variance for Importance of Art History
12. One-Way Analysis of Variance for Importance of Aesthetics
13. One-Way Analysis of Variance for Importance of Art Criticism
Based on the Participants’ Confidence Knowledge
Level of Art Making . . . . . .
xi

Level of Art History . . . . . . . 73
Level of Aesthetics . . . . . .
Based on the Participants’ Confidence Knowledge Level
of Art Criticism . . . . . . .
Due to the Participants’ Job Satisfaction Level .
Due to the participants’ Job satisfaction Level .
22. Participants Overall Means of Arkansas State Visual Arts
Standards . . . . . . . .
23. Independent Sample t test for Standard One Implementation Mean
24. Independent Sample t test for Standard Two Implementation Mean
25. Independent Sample t test for Standard Three Implementation Mean
26. One-Way Analysis of Variance for Implementation of Standard One
Based on Teaching Art Knowledge Confidence Level .
27. One-Way Analysis of Variance for Implementation of
Standard Two Based on Teaching Art Knowledge
Confidence Level . . . . . . .
xii
75
77
80
82
84
86
88
91
92
93
94
96

Standard Three Based on Teaching Art Knowledge
Confidence Level . . . . .
Standard One based on the Participants’
Job Satisfaction Level . . . .
Standard Two Based on the Participants’
Standard Three Due to the Participants’
xiii
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CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
In the late twentieth century, conferences and seminars held for evaluating
American education called for reforming and restructuring education in the United States.
One of those calls was the well-known report A Nation at Risk, written in 1983, that
criticized American public education for causing American students to fall behind in
competition with students of other countries. The knowledge of Japanese and German
students exceeded the students of the United States not only in industry and commerce
but also in high quality of learning, information, and intelligent skills. The report stated
that “the educational foundations of our society are presently being eroded by a rising
tide of mediocrity that threatens our very future as a Nation and people” (The U.S.
Department of Education, 1983, A nation at risk section, para.l).
The report provided examples that identified the educational dimensions of the
risks. One of those dimensions was the international comparisons of student achievement
that indicated that American students were never first or second on 19 academic tests and
were last 7 times. Another example was the high rates of illiteracy among adult and
teenage Americans. According to the simplest tests of everyday reading, writing, and
comprehension, there were 23 million functionally illiterate American adults. In
addition, about 13 percent of all 17-year-olds in the United State were considered
functionally illiterate. Finally, the high school students’ poor performance in most
standardized tests was another indication of the educational risks. It was found that the
students’ average achievement on most standardized tests was lower than it had been two
decades ago (The U.S. Department of Education, 1983, Indicators of Risk section).
1

The report called for focusing more on the educational subject content, claiming
that the teacher preparation curriculum focused more on courses in educational methods
at the expense of the subjects to be taught. The report ended with recommendations for
developing the quality of American education. Recommendations included making the
subject content more comprehensive and developing students’ skills in comprehension,
interpretation, and evaluation. The standardized tests were to be used in schools at
transition points from one level of schooling to another and from high school to
university and work. Lastly, teachers should meet high educational standards to
demonstrate and be prepared for teaching (The U.S. Department of Education, 1983,
Recommendations section).
The idea of comprehensive curriculum had emerged in art education in the 1960s.
Art education curriculum and frameworks were revised to define what students should
learn and experience in art. The seminars and conferences that evaluated art frameworks
in the 1960s recommended including other visual art areas such as art history, art
criticism, and aesthetics in art instruction because those disciplines help in providing a
comprehensive art knowledge and understanding (Duke, 1984). However, it was found
that the visual art teaching in the United States was concerned with art production over
such art disciplines. For instance, the seminar in Art Education for Research and
Curriculum Development held at the Pennsylvania State University in 1965
recommended a major curriculum reform that shifted the focus of education from
teaching facts to more comprehensive knowledge, understanding, and problem solving.
Art disciplines such as art history and criticism were to be included in art teaching
alongside studio study (Efland, 1984).
2

Putting the educational reco=mmendations and theories of the conferences and
reports into practice, The Getty Education Institute for the Arts in 1984 responded to the
need of comprehensive art knowledge and understanding by sponsoring a comprehensive
approach called discipline-based art education (DBAE). DBAE is a comprehensive
approach to instruction and learning in art with a sequentially organized written
curriculum consisting of lessons that draw their content from four foundational art
disciplines: (a) art making/studio art enabling students to use their artistic abilities to
develop artworks; (b) art criticism helping students to analyze, interpret, and evaluate
qualities of artworks; (c) art history providing students with knowledge and
understanding of the role of art in society; (d) aesthetics helping students to understand
the nature and quality of art to be able to make and justify judgments about it (Dobbs,
1992).
DBAE presents art education in the way of other academic subjects’ mode or
design, in terms of written lessons and learning activities for each grade level in a
systematic, coherent, and sequential way. The written curriculum in DBAE aims also to
ensure that the learner move from one grade level to another with appropriate learning
that builds on overall goals of skills, knowledge, and understanding (Dobbs, 1998).
Ways of implementing the DBAE approach in art instruction have been clarified in the
Getty Education Institute for the Arts’ publications making the learning objectives in the
art classrooms planned and assessable (McLaughlin & Thomas, 1984).
Evaluations of the schools that applied the DBAE approach indicated
improvement in the quality of art teaching and learning, which appeared on the students’
performance in the art classroom. In those schools, students are involved in active
3

discussions of ideas, subjects, styles, and qualities of artworks. In addition, the influence
of artists’ works appears in the students’ works, which are exhibited with the students’
critical and historical reflections. Art teachers who teach at schools that applied DBAE
approach became active members involved in school planning (Wilson, 1997).
Moreover, the teachers who have been oriented about the DBAE indicated that they could
teach art in important ways and they assisted other teachers to teach effectively
(Silverman, 1989).
The national visual art standards require art programs to teach more art
disciplines. The National Standards for Arts Education development by the Consortium
of National Arts Education Associations, published in 1994, established content and
achievement expectations for K-12 students considering aesthetics, history, creativity,
and performance as basic curriculum content in visual arts (Dreeszen, Craig, & Comp,
2001). The Arkansas frameworks for curriculum guidelines increasingly require
exposure and experiences in the various art disciplines such as art history, aesthetics, and
art criticism. Hence, DBAE content fits with most visual art standards because these
comprehensive approaches have much in common with DBAE (Dobbs, 1992). DBAE
evolution was greatly influenced by the state frameworks which were in favor of a
comprehensive, multifaceted approach to art. DBAE, in turn, has influenced and changed
frameworks in many states. Therefore, the relationship between DBAE and state visual
arts frameworks is reciprocal or mutual (Dobbs, 1998).
The student learning expectations in Arkansas state visual arts standards for K-4
grades “are specific to what all students in those grades should know and be able to do in
visual art during that span of years” (Arkansas Department of Education, 2001, Fine Arts
4

Curriculum Framework section). There are three visual arts standards for K-4 grade in
Arkansas. Standard One aims to develop the students’ inquiry and discovery skills
regarding their surrounding cultural, social, and historical environments to develop their
own ideas and concepts. Standard Two has objectives regarding the students’ creative
skills, expecting students to use their creativity “in a wide variety of media, techniques,
processes, and tools to develop original works of art and design.” Standard Three expects
students to “reflect upon, respond to, and rediscover the art work and concept of self, of
others (past and present), of environments, and of diverse cultures” (Arkansas
Department of Education, 2001, Fine Arts Curriculum Framework section).
Purpose of the Study
The purpose of this study was to examine Arkansas State K-4 grade elementary
art teachers’ attitudes and knowledge about the discipline-based art education approach
(DBAE) to determine its applicability to AR elementary schools. According to Greer
(1984), teachers’ acceptance of DBAE and realization of its importance are indications of
its successful implementation in schools. This study also attempted to determine if there
were factors that influenced art teachers’ attitudes toward DBAE. The examined factors
were art teachers educational level, whether or not the art teacher had a degree in
teaching art, the art teachers’ professional reading level, the art teachers’ confidence
knowledge level of each art discipline, and the art teachers’job satisfaction level.
In addition, this study was to examine Arkansas elementary art teachers’
implementation of the state visual arts standards in their lesson instructions and to
provide additional important objectives to be added to the arts standards. This study also
attempted to determine the significant differences in the mean of standards’
5

implementation in the art teachers’ lesson instructions based on five independent factors.
The examined factors were the art teachers’ years of teaching experience, educational
degree, whether the art teachers have degrees in teaching art, self-efficacy regarding their
knowledge of the art subject, and their satisfaction of being art teachers. The level of
contribution of each variable was determined.
Significance of the Study
This study examined Arkansas elementary art teachers’ attitudes toward the
discipline-based art education (DBAE) approach. Investigating teachers’ attitudes toward
DBAE is a factor of its successful implementation to find out to what extent they accept
this approach (Greer, 1984). Therefore, this study attempted to provide Arkansas
elementary art teachers’ level of acceptance of DBAE, which may be used when planning
to use the DBAE approach in the state’s elementary schools. In addition, this study
aimed to provide statistical data about the status of the visual arts standards
implementation in Arkansas elementary schools, which may be used as a reference for
the state’s department of education and districts. As will be clarified later in the
literature, the Arkansas visual arts standards were examined in the year 1986 by Teague
in a doctoral dissertation titled “An assessment o fArkansas middle school/junior high
school art programs using art education association standards therefore this study may
update the data on teachers’ views concerning these standards.
Statement of the Problem
Since the last quarter of the 20th century there have been calls for providing K-12
students with a comprehensive art curriculum that adequately serves students’ knowledge
6

and understanding about visual arts by going beyond the production of the art objects to
the artistic forms, historical and cultural background, and critical and aesthetic aspects of
the art objects. Ralph Smith in 1966 supported the idea of a synthesis of comprehensive
art discipline writing about aesthetics, art history, artistic creation, and art criticism
(Dobbs, 1998). In addition, the seminar in Art Education for Research and Curriculum
Development held at the Pennsylvania State University in 1965 and A Nation at Risk
report in 1983 supported such a curriculum. Moreover, the State’s visual arts
frameworks have adopted more comprehensive art disciplines such as, aesthetics, history,
creation, and performance as basic curriculum content in visual arts. Because there is no
written art curriculum, art units and learning activities are selected by the class teachers,
according to their preference, which will not ensure the scope and sequence plan
(DiBlasio, 1987). Discipline- based art education (DBAE) is a comprehensive art
approach based on four art disciplines, art-making/studio art, art history, art criticism, and
aesthetics, which all together could be applied in teaching art in a comprehensive way.
With its written curriculum and exemplary lessons, DBAE makes learning a continuous,
systematic, and sequential process having specific educational objectives for each grade
level, according to the students’ appropriate age and ability.
The literature indicated that schools that applied DBAE showed improvement in
their art programs and art teachers became active members involving in school planning.
According to Wilson (1997):
Evaluators found that schools that once had weak visual arts programs have since
developed strong ones. In other schools, visual arts programs have moved from their
customary place at the margins of the school curriculum to its core. Art teachers
who were accustomed to working by themselves are now working as key members
of school planning teams with the intent on broadening school instruction programs.
7

And principals are using DBAE initiatives to organize entire elementary school
curriculum, (p. 11)
In his study “The effects o fmodified discipline-based art instruction on
mainstreamed students' attitudes, achievement and classroom performance in a public
school system”, Gray (1992) concluded that discipline-based art education enhanced the
mainstreamed students’ understanding, making, approaching, and evaluation of art. In
another study, Severance (2005) used critical-thinking skills and DBAE theory to teach
parents and fifth grade students in designing an art museum show focusing on art careers.
Severance confirmed that:
We incorporate critical-thinking skills and use discipline-based art education
(DBAE) theory. These components enable our art programs to present art as it fits in
with all other academic areas and our culture. We now do a better job explaining
why art is important. These improvements can be furthered with the following
generational activities, (p. 24)
Arkansas State elementary schools depend on the state visual arts framework to
guide teaching art. The Arkansas visual arts standards include disciplines such as, art
production, art history, and aesthetics. This study attempted to examine Arkansas
elementary art teachers’ knowledge and attitudes toward the four foundational disciplines
of DBAE, art production/ studio art, art history, art criticism, and aesthetics to examine
their acceptance of the DBAE approach.
The literature did not indicate a recent evaluation of Arkansas elementary
teachers’ implementation of the state visual arts standards. There are studies that
evaluated Arkansas schools’ art programs regarding their implementation of the National
Art Education Association standards, which were used in the schools before the year
1987 when Arkansas developed its visual arts standards. Stafford (1985) indicated that
Arkansas high school art programs met 61% of the National Art Education Association
8

standards. The schools in Central regions of the state had the highest percentage of
meeting the standards, while the schools in the Southeast regions of the state had the
lowest. Teague (1986) in his study that evaluated Arkansas middle school art programs
concluded that Arkansas schools met 55% of National Art Education Association
standards and that the most art programs were studio-based.
The second major objective of this study was examining to what extent Arkansas
elementary art teachers implement the state visual arts standards content in their teaching
and what additional objectives they think are important to be added to the standards.
Research Questions
This study addressed two major research questions with associated sub- questions:
1) What were the Arkansas K-4 grade elementary art teachers’ attitudes toward the
four discipline foundations of discipline- based art education (DBAE): art
making/ studio art, art history, aesthetics, and art criticism?
❖ Were there differences between Arkansas elementary art teachers’ attitudes
toward each foundational art discipline of DBAE based on the following
independent variables:
• Education degree
• Having degree in teaching art
• Level of professional reading
• Level of confidence regarding their knowledge of art making/studio
art, art history, art criticism, and aesthetics
• Level ofjob satisfaction
9

2) To what extent do Arkansas K-4 grade elementary art teachers implement the
State visual arts standards in their instructions?
❖ Were there differences between Arkansas elementary art teachers’
implementation of the state visual arts standards based on the following
• Year of teaching experience
• Education level
• Whether they have degrees in teaching art
• Self-efficacy of their knowledge about teaching art
Research Hypotheses
It was hypothesized that there were differences between Arkansas art teachers’
attitudes toward the discipline- based art education (DBAE) based on the following
• Level of professional reading
• Level of confidence regarding their knowledge of art making/studio art, art
history, art criticism, and aesthetics
10

In addition, this research study hypothesized that there were differences between
Arkansas art teachers’ implementation of the State visual art standards in their instruction
due to the following independent variables:
• Year of teaching experience
• Educational degree
• Self-efficacy of their knowledge about teaching art
Definitions of Terms
• Aesthetics: refers to a scanning process that “helps students learn to evaluate the
basis upon which to make informed judgments about art” (Dobbs, 1992, p. 75).
• Arkansas State Visual Arts Standards: these are the three standards that set
expectations of what K-12 grade students will learn in Arkansas art classes.
• Art criticism: “Entails describing, interpreting, evaluating, and theorizing about
works of art for the purpose of increasing understanding and appreciation of art
and its role in society... therefore, art criticism includes the use of language,
thoughtful writing, and talk about art through which we can better understand and
appreciate art, artists, audiences, and the roles of art in culture and society”
(Dobbs, 1998, p. 32).
• Art History: refers to teaching students about the art objects’ historical, social, and
cultural contexts (Dobbs, 1992).
11

• Art making/ studio art: “The process of responding to observations, ideas,
feelings, and other experiences by creating works of art through the skillful,
thoughtful, and imaginative application of the tools and techniques to various
media” (Dobbs, 1998, p. 27).
• Attitude: Is the degree to which a person likes or dislikes an object (Ajzen &
Fishbein, 1980).
• Discipline- based art education (DBAE): is a comprehensive approach to
instruction and learning in art with a written and sequential organized curriculum
consisting of lessons drawing their content from four foundational art disciplines:
art making/studio art, art history, art criticism, and aesthetics (Dobbs, 1992).
• Foundational disciplines: are art making/studio art, art history, art criticism, and
aesthetics that form the DBAE content.
• Job satisfaction: “a pleasure or positive emotional state resulting from the
appraisal of one’s job or job experience” (Locke, 1976, p. 1304).
• Self-efficacy: “Is the judgment of one’s capability to organize and execute the
courses of action required to produce given attainment” (Bandura, 1997, p.3).
Summary
Educational conferences and reports recommended comprehensive art curriculum
that provide students with adequate knowledge and skills. Discipline-based art education
(DBAE) was developed in 1984 to provide such curriculum. DBAE is a comprehensive
art approach supported with a sequentially organized written curriculum consisting of
four foundational art disciplines: art making, art history, aesthetics, and art criticism.
12

DBAE content does not contradict the states’ visual arts frameworks because they have
objectives that serve the four foundational art disciplines.
This study was designed to examine Arkansas K-4 grade elementary art teachers’
attitude toward the DBAE foundational art disciplines as well as to determine the extent
to which Arkansas K-4 grade art teachers implemented the state visual art standards.
13

CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE
This chapter provides the review of the literature related to this study. It starts
with a historical background including the major educational reform movements and
studies in the 20th century that contributed to creating the current visual arts curriculum in
the United States. It also provides an overview of DBAE regarding its roots,
development, content, as well as its current status in states and educational districts that
apply DBAE in their schools. This chapter concludes with an explanation of the content
of the Arkansas State Visual Arts Frameworks K-4 grades and art teachers’ certification.
The 20thCentury Educational Movements and Studies that Contributed
in developing the Status of American Art Education
Art Education at the Opening ofthe 20th Century
At the beginning of the 20th century, the purpose of teaching art was for
appreciation and creativity (Kern, 1987). The emphasis on drawing instructions related
to craft and industrial purposes that characterized art education in the United States
started to shift to teaching more inclusive education, such as appreciation, design, and
crafts. This was a sign of a split between art education and vocational education that
greatly influenced art education’s practices during the industrial revolution in the 19th
century (Efland, 1990).
The 1927 Cleveland Board of Education’s report stated that teaching art in school
was for appreciation values:
14

Art like music is taught with an eye to its appreciation values. Observation and
experience show that he who has tried to create beauty gains from the experience a
livelier appreciation of the works of others. For this reason drawing is generally
taught throughout the school system. (Efland, 1983, p. 39)
Art education broadened its educational goals to include goals such as solving
problems of living related to the individual, which started to replace realization and
appreciation of beauty in art as the purpose of art education. Art education was to help
individuals understand their lives and communicate with others through cooperative
activities. Hopkins and Burnett (1936) confirmed that the purpose of art education:
Is to aid the individual to improve his daily living by helping him to discover in it
more and varied insights, deeper feeling, and broader understandings. This means
beginning with the individual where he is in his thinking, desiring, and appreciating,
and working with him in the realization of his purposes, (p. 13)
Another purpose of art education serves the field of social attitudes and abilities
of the individual. “An individual who has little communication with other individuals
lives a poor life.... But with increased contacts comes the necessity to leam how to work
together, to cooperate toward common ends.” (Hopkins & Burnett, 1936, p. 14)
Art Education before World War II (1930s)
Art teaching was affected by the child psychology studies in the late 19th and
beginning of 20th centuries. Child drawing studies found that children’s drawing abilities
depended on a process of lawful development, which initiated calls for investigating the
traditional art teaching methods; and new methods of teaching art soon appeared. Earl
Bames (1903) in two volumes of articles explained the findings of his studies that
involved a large number of school boys and girls. He analyzed the children’s minds and
thinking by studying their drawing. His articles included studies of the pictorial
evaluation of a man, children’s attitudes toward problems of perspective, analysis of the
15

illustration of stories made by children, and evidences of the quality difference of the
children’s thinking driven from drawings. Results of Barnes’s studies described
children’s drawings and indicated that children preferred symbolic drawing rather than
representing objects as they appear.
As a result of these studies, more attention to learners’ interests and needs as well
as connecting art activities to the learner’s daily life characterized art teaching in the
1930s. According to Gearhart (1938), art education:
Develops the child’s use and awareness of art in his daily life.... The emphasis on
art is on its contribution to the child’s well-balanced outlet in work as well as in play.
Opportunity is offered for varied experience based on child’s interests and needs, (p.
38)
Art education in school became a subject consisting of units of instructions with
lessons that relate to other educational subjects in the school curriculum such as history,
geography, science, languages, mathematics, industrial arts, social studies, and music.
Leon Winslow (1939) in his book The Integrated School Art Program advocated
integrating art in the curriculum to serve a broadly cultural education along with the
humanities and natural science in elementary and secondary school programs. Winslow
insisted on integrating art as a general rather than a special subject in the school program.
For art instruction, he recommended that the subject of art consists of unit instructions
and each unit consists of correlated lessons that serve the unit subject. The unit should
include general information derived from the subjects of the curriculum, such as history,
geography, science, and music, and technical information derived from the subject matter
or what we call today art elements, such as line, mass, and color, as well as structural
principle of design with construction, rhythm, harmony, and balance (Winslow, 1939).
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In the 1930s the importance of art appreciation, which had been considered as an
important purpose of teaching art in the teens and twenties, started to decline. It was
replaced with self-expression and its use in everyday living (Efland, 1983).
Art education after World War II
After 1945, art education emphasized the child’s development and individuality
as central issues. This was in part a result of theorists’ educational thoughts, such as
Viktor Lowenfeld who advocated free expression as a vital way for the child’s healthy
growth and development. In his book “Creative and Mental Growth” Lowenfeld
successfully provided descriptions for the child developmental basis helping in
understanding the child’s art. He clearly described these stages and provided examples of
children’s drawings and paintings. In addition, he suggested appropriate art activities for
every developmental stage. In addition, he provided different educational purposes, such
as child development, individual development, aspects of growth, and developmental
stages, which should be taken into consideration when designing classroom and school
exhibits (Lownefeld, 1957).
Discipline OrientedArt Education
The definition of discipline derived from the sciences means having an organized
body of knowledge, specific methods of inquiry, and a community of scholars who
generally agree on the fundamental ideas of their field (Efland, 1990). In 1960, the
psychologist Jerome Bruner argued that the content of any subject could be taught to
students at any age when defining the appropriate structure of the discipline and
presenting its principles in a form that fits and appeals to the students (Stankiewicz,
2000). Bruner argued that the adult practitioners in every particular field should be used
17

as models for students, “the students should be introduced to the ways of thinking, the
concepts, and the typical activities of the adult in a particular field” (Smith, 1996, p. 208).
Bruner’s philosophy was introduced to art education in 1962 in the Arts and
Humanities Program that funded 17 conferences on arts to form a discipline oriented art
education curriculum. There was an agreement that art is a discipline that has its own
structure and goals that should be to help engage in disciplined inquiry in art. After these
conferences, there was a movement to create a discipline oriented art education. As a
result of that movement, the focus in art education shifted from self-expression to a focus
on the discipline and what should be taught (Efland, 1990).
Discipline-Based Art Education (DBAE)
Discipline-Based Art Education’s Definition and Development
In the 1980s there were calls for improving the quality and status of education.
The well-known report “A Nation at Risk” in 1983 that warned that American public
schools do poorly and that American students are falling behind compared to students of
other countries (Delacruz & Dunn, 1996). The report indicated that “Our once
unchallenged preeminence in commerce, industry, science, and technological innovation
is being overtaken by competitors throughout the world” (The U.S. Department of
Education, 1983, A Nation at Risk section, para. 1). In 1984, the Getty Center for
Education in the Arts, now called the Getty Education Institute for the Arts, sponsored a
comprehensive approach called Discipline-based art education (DBAE) derived from
four art disciplines: art production, art history, art criticism, and aesthetic (Dobbs, 1998).
DBAE aimed to provide students with a comprehensive understanding of art
beyond the making of art and utilitarian purposes that characterized the teaching of art.
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According to Dobbs (1998), “comprehensive approach to art education is markedly
different from the approach taken in most U.S. schools for most of the twentieth
century.” (p. 17). He added, since its appearance, art in school curriculum “followed the
predictable path of utilitarian necessity” and he gives examples:
In the nineteenth century the evolution of the American work ethic placed a premium
on drawing skills, whether for the purpose of acquiring job skills to work in a
factory, to sketch portraits, or simply to encourage good penmanship and hand-eye
coordination, (p. 17)
The term discipline-based art education first appeared in 1984 in an article by
Dwain Greer. In his article Discipline-Based Arts Education: Approaching Art as a
Subject Study, Greer (1984) stated that “I have simply provided an identifying label for
an approach to teaching art: I call it discipline-based art education”, (p. 212). However,
the DBAE seeds had been in the field of education decades before. According to Duke
(1988):
The idea of DBAE was first developed during the 1960s by a group of leading art
educators, including Manuel Barkan of Ohio State University and Elliot Eisner of
Stanford University. But theory had not been completely developed or integrated
with actual practice in the classroom, (p. 8)
The ideas and philosophies that formed DBAE existed in the field and were
tVi
actively discussed in the literature throughout the last quarter of the 20 century (Dobbs,
1998). Jerome Bruner called for a major curriculum reform that shifted focus of
education from teaching facts to understanding and problem solving (Efland, 1990).
Bruner’s philosophy was introduced to art education by Barkan, who believed that the art
curriculum should help students to have art experiences related to art criticism and art
history by exposing the students to a wide range of art activities. He claimed that these
experiences and knowledge are vital for students’ creation and understanding of art.
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Barkan’s ideas were discussed in a conference held at Pennsylvania State University
indicating that schools should provide students with a wide range of art activities (Dobbs,
1997, p. 19). In 1965, the seminar in Art Education for Research and Curriculum
Development held at the Pennsylvania State University recommended that art disciplines
such as art history and criticism should be included in art teaching as well as studio study
(Efland, 1984).
In 1966, Ralph Smith called for a synthesis of the discipline and child-centered
conception of art education writing about aesthetics, art history, artistic creation, and art
criticism, and finally established the Journal o fAesthetic Education encouraging a
comprehensive view of arts education. In the same time, research studies and articles
were investigating and discussing the students’ perception, talk about art, responses to
artworks, and other subjects about the consequences of curriculum (Dobbs, 1998).
In the early 1980s, there was a trend to reform the old state curriculum
frameworks encouraging comprehensive approaches. The Southwest Regional
Laboratory (SWRL) in Los Angeles developed an art program for the elementary grades
including content and visual resources focusing on art production, art history, and art
criticism. The trend of a comprehensive art approach was adopted by the National Art
Education Association’s “Quality Goals Statement” that required a comprehensive
modification in conceptions of art education goals, learners, teacher training, instructional
resources, and other aspects of art curriculum. Then, books and articles were published
in response to the need for comprehensive art education. In addition, textbooks and a
variety of instructional resources and materials designed according to the elements of the
approach started to appear in the market to be used by art teachers in schools. Although
20

these commercial products supported the comprehensive art approach, it was not enough
for the needs of art specialists and general classroom teachers. Finally, the professional
effort to develop a comprehensive art approach was provided by the Getty Education
Institute for the Arts outlining its view in a publication titled Beyond Creating: the Place
for Art in America’s Schools in 1984 reinforcing the concept of discipline-oriented art
curriculum and later developed by Gilbert Clark, Michael Day, and Dwaine Greer to
discipline-based art education, providing a comprehensive art approach derived from four
disciplines: art-making, art history, art criticism, and aesthetics (Dobbs, 1997).
According to Leilani Duke (1984):
The Getty Center for Education in the Arts did a year long examination of public
schools’ visual arts programs finding that those programs characterized with
emphasis on art production excluded teaching about the cultural and historical
contributions of art or how to value, analyze, and interpret works of art. Another
finding was the absence of written, sequential, and substantive curricula that produce
the content and process of art and provide for cumulative learning. (McLaughlin &
Thomas, 1984, pp. iii-iv)
Therefore, DBAE was developed to provide students with comprehensive art
knowledge and understanding. Eisner (2002) indicated that DBAE aims to help students
acquire high-quality arts performance by developing the students’ skills and imagination
needed for enhancing their ability to talk about the qualities of the art and their
understanding about the historical and cultural context in which art is created.
Discipline-based art education is not a curriculum rather it is a comprehensive
approach. According to Elliot Eisner “because DBAE is not a curriculum, conceptual
clarity about its aims, components, and their meaning is particularly important.” (Dobbs,
1998, p. x). Dobbs (1998) indicated that DBAE:
Is not a curriculum in the sense of being a stipulated series of learning arranged in a
prescribed manner. Rather, it is a conceptual framework or set of principles and an
21

approach to teaching and learning in art based upon disciplines that contribute to the
making and understanding of art. (p. 6)
In addition, Young and Adams (1991) describe DBAE as “unifying approach or
concept rather than as a narrowly prescribed curriculum or specific method of teaching”
(p. 99).
Foundational Disciplines ofDBAE
The content of DBAE consists of four foundational disciplines or areas. The
discipline as defined by Wilson (1997) is a field of study that has a recognized body of
knowledge or content, a community of professionals who study the discipline and a set of
characteristic procedures and behaviors that facilitate exploration and inquiry. According
to Dobbs (1992), discipline-based art education (DBAE) is a comprehensive approach to
instruction and learning in art with a written and sequentially organized curriculum
consisting of lessons drawing their content from four foundational art disciplines: art
production enabling students to use their abilities to develop artworks; art criticism
helping students to analyze, interpret, and evaluate qualities of artworks; art history
providing students with knowledge and understanding of the role of art in society;
aesthetics helping students to understand the nature and quality of art to be able to make
and justify judgments about it.
Art making
Art making is using tools and techniques in skillful and imaginative ways in
response to ideas, feelings, and observations to create artistic objects (Dobbs, 1998). By
making art, students can explore and experience many aspects including:
o Applying a wide range of art materials, tools, equipment, and techniques and
becoming familiar with them
22

o Learning about tradition of craftsmanship and developing respect and utilitarian
ways of materials
o Learning attitudes and feelings of artists toward their work
o Acquiring the personal qualities and skills required for successful artistry, such as
persistence, patience, and self-criticism
o Learning artistic techniques and solutions to express ideas and feelings in visual
form
o Understanding the motivations and attitudes of artists by learning their lives and
appreciating their contribution to the society
o Appreciating the cultural histories from which the artists draw ideas and
inspiration to create their works. (Dobbs, 1992, pp. 71-72)
Art history
Art history provides students with knowledge about the art objects’ historical,
social, and cultural contexts helping the students to understand the historical order of the
art movements and stylistic traditions (Dobbs, 1998). The study of art history is
important for students to understand and appreciate art and to make connections between
artworks from different historical eras. Eisner (1965) stated that adults who had not been
introduced to art history in their school education found it difficult to appreciate
contemporary art, found it difficult to discuss artworks they saw in art exhibits, and could
not relate the new artworks with the artworks of the past.
Aesthetics
In DBAE, aesthetics is a scanning that focuses on the visual appearance of works
of art. Aesthetics, therefore, could be a tool that initiates the process of art criticism. It
23

helps students learn and evaluate the basis upon which to make judgments about art.
Aesthetics seeks answers for the definition of art, beauty, and how to support or justify
judgments about art (Dobbs, 1992).
“Aesthetic scanning” is a method developed by Harry Broudy to help students
understand art and Dwaine Greer used it in teaching aesthetics in DBAE (Erickson,
1986). It is a scanning process that focuses on the visual appearance of works of art.
Aesthetics, therefore, could be a tool that initiates the process of art criticism.
According to Dobbs (1992), aesthetics helps students learn and evaluate the basis
upon which to make judgments about art. It seeks answers for the definition of art,
beauty, how to support or justify judgments about art. Aesthetics scanning helps the
learner to visually see what is in works of art in four properties. First are the sensory
properties that help learners identify the visual elements of the works of art including
lines, shapes, values, textures, colors, and spaces. Second are the formal properties or art
principles that describes how the work of art elements are organized, how they work
together to shape the whole work and express ideas, the repetition and emphasis of
elements that characterize the work, and how the elements are distributed in the work.
Third are the technical properties that identify the tools, equipment, and art techniques
the artist used to make the work. Fourth are expressive properties that discuss the
expressive characteristics of the work and how it sounds. Students learn that the
elements of the work of art give a variety of feelings. For example, wavy lines and blue
color give a feeling of relaxation (Dobbs, 1992).
Smith (2002) developed four phases of aesthetics learning according to the
student’s school grade. The first phase starts from kindergarten to the 3rdgrade during
24

which “the teachers try to develop an elementary sense of art and exploit the well-known
propensity of young children to delight in the sensory and dramatic qualities of things”
(p. 13). The second phase starts when the student from 4th to 6thgrade during which
“Aesthetic instruction becomes more narrowly focused. The emphasis is on perceiving a
work’s conventional manifold of properties, for example, subject, form, content,
expressiveness, and style” (p. 14). The third phase of learning aesthetics starts when the
student is in grades 7 to 9 in which learning aesthetics “incorporates and builds upon the
phases of exposure, familiarization, and perceptual training” (p. 14 ). Smith indicated
that students in this phase develop the ability of connecting art with the stream of time.
The fourth phase starts when the student is in grades 10-12 during which the student can
“cultivate an appreciation of the qualities of masterworks and ultimately to formulate a
rudimentary philosophy of art” (p. 14).
Art criticism
Art criticism means description, analysis, interpreting, and evaluating of works of
art for the purpose of understanding and appreciation of art. Art criticism seeks answers
for the works of art’s perception and description, what they mean through analysis and
interpretation, and finally, what their worth and value is through judgment. Through art
criticism, students are involved in a process of comparing and contrasting works to one
another, and considering the social and cultural contexts in which the works were
produced (Dobbs, 1992).
Art criticism, according to Feldman (1970), is “more or less informed organized
talk about art” (p. 50). Stinespring (1992) confirmed that:
Art criticism can be used to illustrate the problems presented by the DBAE concept,
which is based on the assumption that there are disciplines with methodologies that
25

can be reasonably defined and that are conducted by clearly credentialed
professionals who serve as role models, (p. 21)
According to Eisner (1987), teaching art criticism in the classroom should include
discussion about the artwork in terms of the way the forms are organized, the feelings
derived from the images, and making comparisons between the artworks.
How to Teach the DBAE Four Content Discipline Foundations
There is no certain proportion of instructional time devoted to each one of the
DBAE four art disciplines. Dobbs (1998) stated that:
The proportions of instructional time and attention allocated to the individual art
disciplines may vary with the nature and scope of the individual lesson and local
circumstance, such as the training and interests of the teachers, or availability of
resources such as art reproductions or an art museum in the community, (p. 82)
Although there is no time proportion formula for each discipline, the lesson
should be “balanced to reflect the multiple interests involved, that alternative perspectives
be available, and that a variety of resources might be utilized” (Dobbs, 2004, p. 707). In
addition, Greer (1984) confirmed that “discipline-based instruction also reflects balanced
attention to all four components of the discipline of art, which reinforce one another as
they are taught concurrently” (p. 217).
DBAE aimed to “formalize art education so it conforms to the curricular mode of
other school subjects” (Swanger, 1990, p. 437). One of DBAE features is that it has
written lessons that plan the learning activities for each grade level. The written lessons
avoid learning redundancy and ensure that students acquire new art knowledge and skills
in each grade level. According to Dobbs (1992):
New teachers are apprised by a written DBAE curriculum as to what is required in
the district and what students have previously experienced. Another way to make
the point is to remember that we want students to have twelve years of art education,
not one year of art education twelve times, (p. 23)
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The Getty Education Institute for the Arts published lesson examples to describe
ways of implementing the discipline-based art education approach in art instruction
helping art teachers to pursue new ideas and evaluate their lessons’ objectives.
By describing program objectives and clear goals for practice, a written curriculum
provides the structure necessary for confident pursuit of new ideas and strategies. A
written curriculum also creates a surer basis for evaluation, which is important for
both curricular accountability and program development. Unless strategies and
objectives are clearly stated and understood, it is difficult to assess how well they
have been realized or to identify areas for improvement. (McLaughlin & Thomas,
1984, p. 6)
Stephen Dobbs (2004) stated that DBAE considers art like other academic
subjects in terms of the need for a written, sequential curriculum that helps students move
from one grade-level to another with age-appropriate learning tracks and reinforced
lessons, without repetition, incrementally building the overall goals including the skills,
knowledge, and understandings.
In DBAE, the four foundational disciplines are equally valued (Dobbs, 1998).
Through exploring these disciplines, students study visual arts in a coherent and
consequential way and know and understand art from different sources.
The four content areas of discipline based art education are important for a
complete understanding of art, including its historical and cultural contexts, which help
students to interpret and analyze works of art. According to McLaughlin and Thomas
(1984):
The inclusion of these four content areas in art instruction is important because each
develops knowledge and skills that contribute importantly not only to children’s
more complete understanding of art, but to their ability to draw facts and inferences
about the cultural and historical contexts from which the arts spring and analyze and
interpret the powerful ideas that the arts communicate, (p. iv)
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DBAE Evaluation
According to Wilson (1997), between 1988 and 1994 evaluators visited more than
100 elementary schools that implemented DBAE. He indicated that it was obvious that
DBAE art programs were successful. Wilson confirmed that, “The evaluators could tell
within a few minutes of their arrival whether or not they were at a DBAE elementary
school” (p. 140).
Wilson (1997) stated that the walls of the DBAE elementary schools and
classrooms displayed many students’ works of art that showed the influence of artist
works. In the art classroom, students studied and discussed ideas, subjects, styles, and
the quality of artworks. The students’ exhibitions were accompanied with students’
critical and historical writing about artists’ work and their works showing the relationship
and connection between their works and the artists’.
Art teachers worked cooperatively and communicated with people from other
fields such as museum educators, artists, art critics and professors, which reflected the
quality of education they provided to their students. Wilson indicated that the art teacher
working with other fields’ members, “Together they have planned programs that have
symbolically removed classroom walls, virtually bringing the art world into classrooms.
At the same time students have gone into the art world to receive an authentic education
in the arts.” (Wilson, 1997, p. 11)
In a study titled “Attitude toward andfrequency o f use o f discipline-based art
education among John Paul Getty Institute trained educators”, Triche (2004) examined
teachers who trained in the John Paul Getty Institute regarding their attitudes toward and
frequency of use of DBAE. The study revealed that the teachers were motivated and
28

confident in their ability to provide art instruction to students. The teachers who have
been oriented about DBAE indicated that they could teach art better and also helped other
teachers to teach effectively. Dwaine and Silverman (1988) evaluated elementary
teachers’ implementation of DBAE in their schools after they attended a summer
professional development program at the Getty Institute for arts. Dwaine and Silverman
(1988) concluded that “when classroom teachers have a comprehensive curriculum to
guide their efforts, they can teach the arts more effectively. Furthermore, the more in
service a teacher receives, the more effectively he or she teaches a discipline-based
perspective.” (p 14)
Students in DBAE classes engage in art making activities and make connections
between the art objects and human cultural heritage. These learning activities “contribute
to developing both perceptual and cognitive skills. Studying art comprehensively also
contributes significantly to building the storehouse of images and concepts which make
all experience meaningful” (Silverman, 1989, p. 54). Finally, Dobbs (1998) stated that
“DBAE has made significant strides in the 1980s and 1990s toward achieving the more
significant role for art in schooling for which so many of its practitioners have always
hoped.” (p. 120)
DBAE considers art like other academic subjects in terms of the need for a
sequential written curriculum that helps students move from one grade-level to another
with age-appropriate learning tracks and reinforced lessons (Dobbs, 2004). DBAE
insures the continuity of art learning in a systematic and sequential art instruction
maintaining a formalized written curriculum having specific educational objectives.
Teachers who select art units and learning activities according to their preference will not
29

ensure the scope and sequence plan (DiBlasio, 1987). In addition, DBAE provides
specific art knowledge, concepts, and techniques that make it possible for teachers to
evaluate the outcomes of what is being taught (Greer, 1986).
Eisner confirmed that DBAE is based on facts and theories about the ways
children learn what should be learned, and how lesson instruction can be organized
(Black, 1996). DBAE aimed to “formalize art education so it conforms to the curricular
mode of other school subjects” (Swanger, 1990, p. 437). Dobbs (1998) stated that the
lessons of DBAE written curriculum are to have a clear statement of learning ideas and
behaviors that the lessons focus on, descriptions of the significance of learning, basic
questions, and alternative activities. In addition, the written curriculum includes
instructional materials, provides readings to give students additional background
information of what is being learned, and offers assessment procedures to help teachers
evaluate the learning.
Arkansas State Visual Arts Standards
The national visual art standards require art programs to teach more art
disciplines. The National Standards for Arts Education development by the Consortium
of National Arts Education Associations, published in 1994, established content and
achievement expectations for K-12 students considering aesthetic, history, creation, and
performance as basic curriculum content in visual arts (Dreeszen, Craig, & Comp, 2001).
DBAE content fits with most visual art standards. Dobbs (1992) stated that the
state frameworks for curriculum guidelines increasingly “require exposure and
experiences in the various art disciplines. While these comprehensive approaches go by
30

various names, they have much in common with DBAE and are often conceptually
identified with it.” (p. 66)
Arkansas visual arts strands of the fine arts curriculum frameworks were designed
to guide the art curriculum in grades K-12. They set specific students’ learning
expectations that explain what students in grades K-4, 5-8, and 9-12 should know and be
able to do in the art classroom during a school year. There are three content standards,
and each one depends on the other in a reciprocal way that represents a cycle process for
art making and responding to art. Thus, every standard has the same level of importance
and each standard needs the other to complete the process. The participants in this study
are K-4 grade art teachers; therefore, the content standards K-4 are provided (See
Appendix D).
In content standard One, (K-4), the students are expected to develop concepts and
ideas through the processes of inquiring, exploring, and discovering a variety of
references such as, historical, cultural, social, environmental, and personal references.
Content Standard Two (K-4) aims to develop students’ creativity skills by manipulating a
wide variety of media, techniques, processes, and tools to develop original works of art
and design. Finally, content Standard Three (K-4) sets learning expectations through a
process of rediscovering and responding to artworks and concepts of self, of others, of
environment, and cultures. (Arkansas Department of Education, 2001, Fine Arts
Curriculum Framework section).
As indicated earlier, the literature did not indicate a recent evaluation of Arkansas
visual arts standards’ implementation in the state elementary schools. This study aims to
examine Arkansas elementary art teachers’ level of visual arts standards implementation
31

in their art instruction. In addition, it aims to provide additional standards objectives
according to the elementary art teachers’ opinions.
Arkansas State Teacher Accreditation
In January 1, 2002, Arkansas used a performance based system that provided
requirements for teacher license. The system required beginning teachers with less than
one year of teaching experience to have a minimum of bachelor’s degree and to complete
Praxis I, II, and III in order to be licensed teachers. Praxis I tests the teachers’ basic skills
in reading, writing, and mathematics. Praxis I tests are taken before entering or at the
beginning of a teacher preparation program. Praxis II provides tests that measure
teachers’ subject area content knowledge and teaching skills. These tests are taken either
while the teacher is enrolled in or toward the end of his/her preparation program. Praxis
III includes more advanced tests that assess the teachers in their own classroom settings,
and is required to change an Arkansas Initial Teaching License to a Standard Teaching
License. Praxis III is done by:
• Using written description of the class and subject matter
• Utilizing a trained State Certified Assessor’s direct observation of the teacher’s
classroom practices
• Using structured interviews around the classroom observation
In addition, to be licensed a teacher must successfully meet the required criminal
background check. After completing the previous requirements, the teacher is eligible for
an initial teacher license valid for less than one year and no more than three years during
which the teacher is considered in a time of Induction. During the induction, the novice
teacher is assigned to a trained mentor to support his/her practice and professional
32

growth. When the novice teacher’ teaching meets the mentoring requirements, Praxis III
performance assessment is scheduled. A standard teaching license is issued upon
successful completion of the Praxis III. All teachers are required to have 60 hours of
professional development per year (Arkansas Department of Education, 2001, Initial
licensure section).
Competency areas
The teacher competency documents states what that teacher should know and be
able to do in the subject or area for which the teacher is seeking license.
For teachers seeking licenses for teaching art, the state visual arts standards
should be understood by the teachers in terms of the knowledge, disposition, and
performance of each standard.
Standard One:
Teachers should understand the central concepts, tools of inquiry, and structures
of discipline(s) included in standard one. In addition, teachers also should be able to
create learning experiences to transfer these aspects to the students in a meaningful way
linking the disciplines to other subjects.
Standard Two:
Teachers should be able to plan appropriate curriculum to serve students, the
content, and the course objectives.
Standard Three:
The teachers should be able to plan instruction according to human growth and
development, learning theory, and the students’ needs (Arkansas State Department of
Education, 2001, Competency area- art section).
33

Summary
In the opening of the twentieth century the focus of art education started to shift
from the industrial purposes to more inclusive education such as appreciation (Efland,
1990). Art education started to include more variety of goals such as, solving problems
relating to the individual living by discovering more and varied insights and
understanding in his/her daily life (Hopkins & Burnet, 1936). In addition, studies on
child drawing provided more understanding of the children’s artistic abilities
development. As a result, the traditional art teaching methods were investigated and new
methods appeared.
In 1960, Bruner’s ideas helped in shifting the focus of education to more
comprehensive goals of understanding and problem solving. Barkan introduced Burner’s
philosophy to art education which became more comprehensive by including art
experiences related to art subjects as art history, aesthetics, and art criticism. In 1980s,
comprehensive modifications in the conceptions of art education’s goals, learners, teacher
training, and other aspects of art curriculum were required by the National Art Education
Association. The professional effort to provide a comprehensive art approach was
provided by the Getty education Institute for the Arts in 1984 when it developed the
discipline-based art education (DBAE) approach and supported it with research studies
and teacher training programs. DBAE aims to provide students with comprehensive
understanding of art education by exposing them to experiences in four art disciplines, art
making/studio art, art history, aesthetics, and art criticism.
The National Visual Arts Standards require art programs to be more
comprehensive by including more art disciplines such as aesthetics, art history, creation,
34

and performance. Therefore, the relationship between DBAE and the states’ frameworks
is reciprocal where DBAE was influenced by the state’s visual arts frameworks that
require a comprehensive approach to art and has influenced and changed many states’
arts frameworks.
This study aimed to examine Arkansas K-4 grade art teachers’ attitudes toward
the four foundational disciplines of DBAE, art making/studio art, art history, aesthetics,
and art criticism. This study also attempted to explore to what extent they implemented
Arkansas visual arts frameworks.
35

CHAPTER III
METHODS
Chapter III presents the methodology and procedures that were used in this study
to attain the study goals. This chapter includes: the research rationale, participants,
procedures, instrument, validation of the instrument, and measures used to analyze the
data collected.
Research Rationale
The objectives of this research were to gather attitudinal data concerning the
Arkansas K-4 grade elementary art teachers’ attitudes toward the four discipline
foundations of the DBAE and the extent of their implementation of the Arkansas
elementary school visual arts standards content in their lessons’ instructions. Teachers’
attitudes toward DBAE are important for the successful implementation of DBAE in
schools, “in order for a discipline-based art program to succeed, such a view must also be
accepted by teachers and principals” (Greer, 1984, p. 217). Moreover, additional
objectives that the Arkansas elementary art teachers may think need to be added to the
state visual arts standards were investigated in the study. Appendix B showed a survey
instrument with 56 items developed to gather data for this study.
Participants
The sample of this study consisted of 288 K-4 grade elementary art teachers
drawn from a population of 570 of Arkansas State K-4 grade elementary art teachers. For
statistical purposes the sample was divided into five sets according to each participant’s
36

school region. The sample was also divided into different sets of three categories
according to the teachers’ years of teaching experience, level of reading about teaching
art, level of confidence knowledge regarding teaching art, and level of job satisfaction.
In addition the sample was divided into two categories regarding educational degree and
whether or not the participants had degrees in teaching art. These categories were used as
independent variables to examine if they had significant effects on the participants’
attitudes toward DBAE and their implementation of the state visual arts standards.
Procedures and Data Collection
To collect data for this study these procedures were taken:
• The survey was sent to the Institutional Review Board (IRB) in the University of
Arkansas to get the approval that the survey meets the policies and procedures of
studies that involve human subjects.
• Prior to distributing the study questionnaires to the research study sample, five
copies of a pilot survey were mailed to five K-4 grade elementary art teachers in
Fayetteville, AR. Each survey had a cover letter asking the art teachers about the
clarity of the survey and the time that would take a participant to answer its items.
• The participants’ mailing addresses were obtained from the Arkansas State
Department of Education website. The total number of the questionnaires to be
sent to the participants was 570 copies or one questionnaire for each elementary
school in the state.
• The participants’ mailing addresses were saved in a Word document and typed
directly on the envelopes to avoid multiple use of one mailing address and to
insure that all participants received a copy of the questionnaire.
37

• Each survey included two cover letters. The first one was directed to the school
principal asking him/her to give the survey to the art teacher or the regular
classroom teacher who taught art education at the school (See Appendix A). The
second letter was directed to the art teacher explaining the research purpose and
goals and asking him/her to participate in the study (See Appendix B). The letter
also encouraged the participant for honest answers and indicated that the data will
be used for research purposes and that the participants’ names were not required.
Instrument
A survey questionnaire consisting of 56 items was developed to gather the data
for this study (See Appendix C). The participants’ characteristics are provided in items
1-8 that seek demographical data regarding participants’:
• Gender
• Years of teaching
• School region
• Degree in art
• Job Certification
• Employment status.
Items 9-12 asked for data concerning the participants’ knowledge and confidence
regarding teaching art including:
• The range of in-service training hours per school year directed toward art
education
38

• Reading of art education journals
• Level of reading about teaching art
• The teachers’ confidence level about teaching art
• Satisfaction with being an art teacher.
Items 13-24 in the survey were used to collect data about the participants’
background in the four discipline foundations of discipline-based art education (DBAE)
including:
• The teachers’ confidence level regarding their knowledge of each foundational
discipline,
• The teachers’ implementation of each discipline in their lesson instruction
• Whether or not they would like to take courses in each discipline.
Data investigating the participants’ attitudes toward the four foundational
disciplines of DBAE were collected by items 25-28. Items 29-55 were used to examine
the participants’ levels of implementation of the state visual arts standards in their lesson
instructions (See Appendix D). Finally, item 56 was an open ended question asking the
participants to suggest additional important objectives to be added to the Arkansas state
visual arts standards.
Variable List
There were two dependent variables, attitude and implementation, that served the
study’s two major questions. Each dependent variable had associated independent
variables.
39

Attitude:
The teachers’ attitude consisted of four dependent variables which investigated
the Arkansas K-4 grade elementary art teachers’ attitudes toward the four foundational
disciplines of discipline- based art education (DBAE): art making/ studio art, art history,
aesthetics, and art criticism. Art teachers’ attitudes toward the four foundational
disciplines were obtained in questions 25, 26, 27, and 28 and measured by a 5-point
Likert-type scale (i.e., 1-SD = strongly disagree, 2-D = disagree, 3-N = no opinion, 4-A =
agree, 5-SA = strongly agree). There were five independent variables associated with the
dependent variable of attitude. This study determined the statistically significant
difference in the participants’ means of attitudes toward the four foundational disciplines
of DBAE based on the following factors:
Educational degree: Educational degree was obtained from item 4 according to
the participants’ self reports that consisted of four points, less than bachelor, bachelor,
master, and other.
Whether or not the participants had degrees in teaching art: obtained in item 5 by
a yes/no question.
Level ofprofessional reading: Represented in item 10 in a 3-point Likert-type
scale, never, rarely, and often.
Level of confidence regarding their knowledge of studio art, art history, art
criticism, and aesthetics: This variable was addressed in items 13, 16, 19, and 22. This
variable was measured by a 3-point Likert-type scale indicating three levels of confidence
(i.e., high, moderate, and low).
40

Participants’satisfaction of being art teachers: The participants’ satisfaction of
being art teachers was obtained in item 12 and measured by a three-point Likert-type
scale with a three levels of satisfaction (i.e., high, moderate, and low).
Implementation:
The implementation was the second dependent variable that determined to what
extent the state visual arts standards were implemented in the participants’ lesson
instructions. The art teachers’ level of implementing consisted of 9 items for standard
one, 9 items for standard two, and 9 items for standard three. The means of
implementation of the state visual art standards were obtained in questions from item 29
to item 55 and measured by a 5-point Likert-type scale where 1 represented the lowest
implementation and 5 represented the highest implementation. There were four
independent variables used in this study to determine if there were significant differences
between Arkansas elementary art teachers implementation of the state visual arts
standards based on:
Years of teaching experience: Years of teaching experience was addressed in item
2 depending on the participants’ self reports in the demographic section according to
three ranges of years of teaching experience, 1-7, 8-15, and 16 or above.
Educational degree: Educational degree was obtained in item 5 based on the
participants’ self reports in the demographic section indicating four levels, less than
bachelor, bachelor, master, and other.
Having a degree in art: obtained in item 5 by a yes/no question.
41

Self-efficacy regarding the participants’knowledge of the art subject: Self-
efficacy was obtained in item 11 and measured by a three-point Likert-type scale (i.e.,
high, moderate, and low).
Participants’satisfaction of being art teachers: The participants’ satisfaction of
being art teachers was addressed in item 12 and measured by a three-point Likert-type
scale, high, moderate, and low.
Pilot Study
Before sending the study survey, it was important to send several copies of the
survey to some participants just for practicing the survey. According to Mitchell and
Jolley (1992), a pilot study helps researchers to discover whether the participants
perceived the survey content as the researcher intended, whether the survey instruction
were clear, and whether the researcher provided the right amount of time for the research
tasks. The survey was sent to 5 elementary K-4 art teachers to evaluate its clarity and
design as well as the time that took the participant to complete the survey. The selection
of those teachers was due to their school’s geographical location, which was close to the
researcher who could conveniently contact them. The teachers’ recommendation and
suggestions were consolidated and applied to the final version of the survey before
distributing it to the study’s population. Based on the pilot study some items were
eliminated from the survey, namely, items 13, 17, 21, and 25, which asked for the
number of art making/studio art, art history, art criticism, and aesthetics courses that art
teachers took in their college study and professional development training programs,
were eliminated from the survey because two art teachers who participated in the pilot
study commented that it was difficult for them to recall the number of courses. It was
42

also expected that the participants would spend about 15 to 20 minutes to answer the
survey questions.
Measures
Descriptive data analysis was used with the demographic data using frequencies
and categories that divided the sample into groups according to the study questions. The
participants’ attitudes toward the four discipline foundations of DBAE in the survey
consisted of 4 items by which participants reported their attitudes on a 1-5 Likert-type
scale where 1 represents the highest level of disagreement and 5 represents the highest
level of agreement. The participants reported their implementation level of the state
visual arts standards in their lesson instruction by answering 27 items in the survey on a
1-5 Likert-type scale where 1 represents the lowest level of implementation and 5
represents the highest level of implementation.
Reliability and Validity
The survey was reviewed by the research committee members. In addition, the
survey was sent to five art teachers to review its content in terms of clarity and time that
would take a participant to fill out the survey. According to the experts and the pilot
study’s reviews, the survey was revised and some items were eliminated.
Attitude dependent variables were measured separately regarding their association
with the independent variables; therefore there was no need for calculating their internal
consistency.
Implementation dependent variables were measured together for each standard.
The dependent variables were tested to determine if the change in the dependent variables
43

is accounted for by the independent variables. The internal consistency of each
standard’s was tested by Cronbach alpha. The Cronbach’s alpha for standard one was
.84, which indicated that standard one items had a high reliability, more than 0.65. In
addition, the Cronbach’s alpha for standard two showed a high reliability of alpha = .90.
Finally, the Cronbach’s alpha indicated a high reliability of standard three items with
alpha = .87.
Table 1
Visual Arts Standards’Reliability Coefficient
Scale Number of Items Cronbach’s Alpha
Visual Art Standard One
9 .840
Visual Art Standard Two 9 .896
Visual Art Standard Three 9 .840
Data Analysis Procedures
An independent sample t test was used to determine the statistically significant
difference in the mean of attitudes between two groups due to the participants’
educational level and whether or not a participant had a degree in teaching art. The
analysis of variance (ANOVA) is used to determine the mean differences among two or
more groups (Glass & Hopkins, 1996). One-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) test
with an alpha level of .05 was used to determine if there were significant differences in
the participants’ attitude means toward the four disciplines of DBAE based on selected
44

independent variables, namely, professional reading level, level of confidence regarding
their knowledge of studio art, art history, art criticism, and aesthetics, and job satisfaction
level.
In addition, an independent sample t test was used to determine the statistically
significant differences in the groups’ mean of the three visual arts standards’
implementation due to the participants level of education (bachelor’s or master’s) and
whether or not they have degrees in teaching art. Moreover, one-way ANOVA tests with
alpha level of .05 were used to examine the significant differences between the
participants’ implementation levels of the state visual arts standards in their lesson
instructions due to (a) years of teaching experience, (b) educational level, (c) whether or
not having a degree in teaching art, (d) self-efficacy of their knowledge about teaching
art, and (e) level of job satisfaction.
Tukey (HSD) post-hoc analysis was conducted with significant ANOVA test
results to determine the significant differences that occurred among the groups’ means of
attitude. Tukey’s HSD (honestly significant difference) test is the most widely used
procedure to test hypotheses about all pairwise contrasts (Kirk, 1995).
The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), version 14.0., was used to
analyze the data. As a criterion for statistical significance a .05 alpha level (type one
error rate) was used.
Delimitation of the Study
This study investigated the Arkansas K-4 grade elementary school art teachers’
attitudes toward the importance of the four foundations of the discipline- based art
45

education (DBAE) and their implementation of Arkansas visual arts standards in their
lesson instructions. This study was limited to:
• The State of Arkansas K-4 grade elementary art teachers
• Results of the Arkansas K-4 grade elementary art teachers’ attitudes were limited
to the discipline- based art education approach and its four foundational art
disciplines: art making/ studio art, art history, aesthetics , and art criticism
• Results of the Arkansas K-4 grade elementary art teachers implementation of the
Arkansas visual arts standards were limited to the Arkansas visual arts standards
revised in 2001
46

CHAPTER IV
FINDINGS
Chapter four provides an analysis of the study data providing the types of
statistical tests used in the study and their results. Each research hypothesis was tested,
and the statistical tests’ results determined the acceptance and rejection of hypotheses.
The purpose of this research study was to explore Arkansas K-4 grade elementary
art teachers’ attitudes toward the four foundational disciplines of discipline-based art
education (DBAE), art making/studio art, art history, aesthetics, and art criticism. In
addition, this study aimed to examine to what extent Arkansas fine art standards are
implemented in the state elementary schools’ art rooms. Moreover, the study investigated
the relationship between the dependent variables of attitude and implementation and
other independent variables: namely, years of teaching experience, educational level,
certification, having a degree in art, self efficacy toward the subject knowledge, and level
of job satisfaction. Independent sample t test and one way ANOVA tests were used to
determine the groups’ overall differences. Ten hypotheses were presented as five
hypotheses for each major research question tested at .05 alpha level of significance using
SPSS program version 14.0.
Pilot Study
Prior to distributing the study questionnaires, five pilot survey questionnaires
were mailed to five elementary art teachers in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The purpose of this
procedure was to get the art teachers’ feedback about the clarity of the questionnaire’s
items and the time it would take a participant to answer the questions. With each
questionnaire a pilot study two letters (See Appendix A and B) and a self addressed
47

envelope with a stamp were enclosed. The art teachers were given a week to complete
and return the questionnaires.
The five questionnaires were filled out and returned to the researcher with
valuable feed back and comments. Two art teachers indicated that they could not answer
items 13, 17, 21, and 25. These items asked for the number of courses that included art
making/studio art, art history, aesthetics, and criticism, that an art teacher took in his/her
professional training programs. The art teachers commented that they can not recall the
number. “I should check my record” one art teacher said. Other than those four items,
the rest of items were clear and easy to answer as indicated by the art teachers. The time
took the art teachers to fill out the survey ranged from 8-25 minutes.
As a result of the pilot study’s feedback, items 13, 17, 21, and 25 were eliminated
from the study questionnaire because it was difficult, especially for art teachers with
longer years of teaching experience, to recall the number of courses taken in the four art
discipline.
In addition, the expected time for filling out the survey was 15-20 minutes as
shown in the questionnaire cover letter (See Appendix B).
Data Collection
A 56 item survey questionnaire was developed to collect data for this study. The
questionnaire included items that sought demographic data providing characteristics of
the participants including years of teaching experience, educational degree, whether or
not they have a degree in art, reading level, knowledge confidence, and job satisfaction.
The collected data from these items were used to categorize the study’s sample and create
the five independent variables for the study’s dependent variables of DBAE attitude and
48

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