Book Description

The purpose of this study is to answer the call of the National Endowment for the Arts (2011),and various other arts-related organizations, for extensive research on the ability of the fine and performing arts to improve the quality of life for those who participate in them. Guided by C. Robert Pace's theory of quality of student effort, this study was conducted to determine the relationship between community college student participation in arts-related courses and activities and their academic, personal, and social development The Community College Student Experiences Questionnaire (CCSEQ) was used to acquire the data analyzed herein The CCSEQ is a student self-assessment instrument that provides information on the quality of students' educational experience as well as students' progress toward important educational goals (Pearson, Gould, Ethington, & Murrell, 2009). The subjects who provided the data used in the study were 303 community college students who attended ""Regional Community College"" during the spring semester of the 2010-2011 academic year. To address the four research questions posed in this study, the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) will be used to conduct four two-factor multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) analyses, one for each research question. The dependent variables considered in each of the questions are the set of ""estimate of gains"" items that best represent students' academic, personal, and social development. The set of independent variables considered in the study include students' gender, students' age, participation in arts-related courses, and students' quality of effort in the art, music, and theatre activities, provided by the institution The results of the study indicate that significant differences do exist in the self-reported development of the groups observed. Most notable is the large difference found in the overall development of the male and female students of Regional Community College. Differences were also observed in the academic and social development of students reporting different levels of participation in arts-related courses and activities.