Art Experiences and Attitude toward Art Education: A Descriptive Study of Missouri

Public School Principals

Author(s): Mick Luehrman
Source: Studies in Art Education , Spring, 2002, Vol. 43, No. 3 (Spring, 2002), pp. 197-
218
Published by: National Art Education Association

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Copyright 2002 by the Studies in Art Education
National Art Education Association A Journal of Issues and Research
2002, 43(3), 197-21

Art Experiences and Attitude Toward Ar

Education: A Descriptive Study of Miss
School Principals
Mick Luehrman

Central Missouri State University

Because of their positions as educational leaders, principals' art experiences and atti-
Correspondence
tudes toward art education are of interest for art education advocacy. Through use of concerning this article
a survey questionnaire and interviews, data were gathered to provide descriptive should be addressed to
information and to look for relationships between Missouri principals' art experiences the author at Central
and attitudes toward art education. A 79% return rate (n = 225) was achieved.Missouri State
Attitudes toward art education were found to be generally positive. Those withUniversity, Art Center
elementary teaching certification had significantly higher attitude scores when
AC 122, Warrensburg,
compared with other certifications groups. Qualitative descriptions of art experiences MO 64093. E-mail:
as well as positive correlation with attitude scale scores suggested the following asluehrman@cmsu.edu
important educative art experiences: influence of the family, college art classes; visits
This paper is based on
to art museums; and influence of art teacher/colleagues. Single events that resemble
the author's doctoral
crystallizing experiences (museum visit or use specific art media), as well as longer-
dissertation, The Art
term continuity of experience (classes or a series of experiences) characterized the
descriptions. Interviews revealed cases of combined home and school influences, asExperiences ofMissouri
Public School Principals
well as cases where school art experiences alone appeared to foster positive attitudes.
and Their Attitude
Toward Art Education
Arthur Efland writes, "what people believe about art and its value is
(1999), The University
likely to affect whether it is taught or not" (1995, p. 25). A principal's of Missouri-Columbia.

beliefs about the value of art and art education have the potential to affect
the status of visual art within the school. As pedagogical leader, the princi-
pal fills a key role in regard to the implementation of visual art education
within the school. In a variety of implicit and explicit ways the principal
establishes educational priorities, sending messages to the school and
community about the relative importance of art education as a part of the
school curriculum. Through the management of the school district funds
allocated to the school, the principal has a degree of control over the
funding of the art program. She or he makes important decisions about
class scheduling, class size, and facility use, and often has a strong voice in
the hiring of teachers for the building. The principal also evaluates the
performance of the art teacher, monitoring the planning and teaching of
lessons. Other than the teacher who teaches visual art, the principal is the
most important figure for the delivery of art instruction in the school
(National Art Education Association, 1992; National Art Education
Association, n. d.).
Cooperation between the art teacher and the principal is essential if art
education is to flourish and grow. Miller (1980) found that Missouri art
teachers underestimated principals' attitudes toward art when asked to
respond in the way they thought their principal would to items on an
attitude scale.

Studies in Art Education 197

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 Mick Luehrman

In an examination of school art programs that were attempting to

implement comprehensive art education reforms, Wilson (1997) found
that, "art specialists and classroom teachers working without the active
support of a building administrator have little success in implementing a
school-wide arts education program" (Wilson, 1997, p. 130). The nature
of principals' attitudes toward art and art education and an interest in
how these attitudes are formed become important considerations for the
art teacher and others who advocate for visual art in the school.
There is general agreement that attitudes are in large part formed and
shaped by experiences and that these attitudes, in turn, provide motiva-
tion for behavior (Morris & Stuckhardt, 1977). Dewey (1938/1959)
reflected on the relationships among experience, attitude, and behavior,
writing, "every experience affects for better or worse the attitudes which
help decide the quality of further experiences, by setting up certain prefer-
ence and aversion, and making it easier or harder to act for this or that
end" (p.29-30). Furthermore, in discussing the educational qualities of
experience, Dewey introduced and Eisner (1994) restated the idea that
experiences can be educative, noneducative, or miseducative. Experiences
would be considered educative if they enable further growth and expan-
sion for the individual within a domain of learning. On the other hand
experiences would be miseducative if they limit the individual's possibili-
ties for further growth, or noneducative if they have essentially no impact
on growth. If the principal's art and art education experiences have been
trivial, negative, or nonexistent, it should not be surprising if he or she is
predisposed to think of art education in these same terms. On the other
hand, following Dewey's logic, we might expect to find a history of
educative art experiences in the background of those principals who place
a higher value on art education.
Gardner (1983) and Walters & Gardner (1984) investigated the idea
that a particularly meaningful experience within a domain of learning can
have a strong dramatic impact on an individual's self-image in relation to
that domain of learning. The lasting consequences of this experience and
the meaning that is attached to it in retrospect are important aspects of
this concept that Gardner calls the crystallizing experience (Gardner,
1983). Gardner used this term in association with studies of the gifted
and talented to describe a specific event whereby an individual comes to
the realization that he or she has ability within a domain. However,
Cameron, Mills, & Heinzen (1995) in their study of adolescents recog-
nized that the concept of crystallizing experience can also be applied to
negative experiences through which individuals realize that they are "not
good at something" (p. 195). The crystallizing experience, one that
"stands out" in the individual's memory, can be contrasted with what
Dewey (1938/1959) referred to as continuity of experience. In Dewey's
explanation, continuity refers to the way in which experiences accumulate

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 Art Experiences and Attitude Toward Art Education

and form a chain of interlocking meanings, wherein each experience is

affected by those experiences that have gone before and those that will
follow. The qualities of an art experience as an isolated "stand out" event,
as well as within a continuum, were of interest for the present study.
If individuals have pivotal educative or miseducative art experiences,
where and at what times of life do they occur? In considering this issue, the
social aspect of experience becomes an important consideration. Social
theories of personality formation give particular attention to the social
context of human development and provide insight into the ways in which
experience and attitude can be interrelated (Burkitt, 1991). This view of
personality development describes the formation of "self' as a product of
social relations, and that social relations are characterized by that which
influences human consciousness: practical activity, communications,
symbols, language, culture, and values (Burkitt, 1991). The home and
school are potentially powerful social contets that mediate the experiences
that characterize social relations. Each influences human development
through the type of experiences they provide or fail to provide.
Social relations within the context of the individual's home life and
upbringing were addressed by Bourdieu (1972) in his theory of cultural
reproduction. This concept refers to the tendency for the cultural strata of
society to reproduce the same conditions from which the individuals who
form these strata arose. Two studies in Amsterdam, the Netherlands,
considered the effects of arts enculturation and cultural reproduction
through the contexts of school experiences, as well as family/home influ-
ences. Ganzeboom (1996) found a significant effect on arts consumption
later in lifel for individuals who experienced special programs of art"1"Arts consumption
later in life" was
museum visits and music lessons during their elementary school years in
defined as visits to
Amsterdam, Netherlands. In another Amsterdam study, Haanstra, Oud,
museums and concerts;
Nagel, & Ganzeboom (1997) found a significant effect on arts consump- choices of television
tion for those who had elected to take art exams in secondary school. programs; owning art
However, in the results of both these ex post facto studies, the researchers
books, art objects,
and records/CDs;
found that though these school art experiences were significant, cultural
activities during youth and the cultural climate of the home were even music listening
and
(Ganzeboom, 1996;
more important factors for predicting arts consumption later in life. In
Haanstra, et al. 1997).
light of this and in order to provide a more complete description of
principals' art experiences, it was necessary in the present study to seek
information about art experiences occurring not only within the context
of the school, but the home as well.

Purpose of the Study

Prior to the present study, anecdotal evidence suggested that many
school administrators had vivid memories of particular art and art educa-
tion experiences, some positive and some negative (Colbert, 1994).
Describing the range of principals' art experiences and the relationship of
these art experiences with attitude toward art education can benefit art

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 Mick Luehrman

education advocacy efforts and provide useful demographic information

(Burton & Boyer, 1998; Zimmerman, 1998). Based on this knowledge,
art educators can reflect on their practice and formulate possible strategies
to encourage positive attitudes toward art education and perhaps even
alter those that might be negative. With these ideas in mind, the purpose
of the study was to provide a broad-based general description of Missouri
public school principals' art experiences and to examine the relationship
between these art experiences and attitude toward art education.
Procedures
A questionnaire was mailed to 297 Missouri public school principals
who were randomly selected from among a list of 2084 possible subjects
provided by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary
Education. The sample was stratified by gender and by school level
(Elementary, Middle/Junior High, and High School) to accurately reflect
these demographic factors within the population (Berty, 1979). An initial
mailing to all subjects and a subsequent follow-up mailing to those who
had not responded produced a total return rate of 79% (n = 225).
The questionnaire included six parts (see Appendix A). Part One
consisted of an art education attitude scale made up of 25 five-point
Likert-type items. For this attitude scale, a Cronbach's Alpha procedure
produced an internal reliability rating of .81 (Hatcher & Stepanski, 1994;
Keppel, 1991). The item that had the lowest correlation with the other
items in the scale, number 13 (see questionnaire), was eliminated because
there was a question about the degree to which principals had control of
budgetary priorities in some cases. Parts Two, Three, and Four of the
questionnaire included a series of objective items that asked for demo-
graphic data and subjects' recollections of art and art education experiences
that had occurred within a variety of social contexts: during school as
students, as a part of home life during their upbringing, in the workplace
through their relationship with art educators, and during their leisure time.
Part Five began with a single open-ended narrative response question that
asked principals to recall and describe an art experience, either positive or
negative, that "stood out" in their memory. Following this question,
subjects were asked to rate the effect of the "stand-out" experience, first, on
their attitude toward art education, and second, on their decision-making
about the art program. Nearly half of the respondents (38% of the sample,
n = 111) responded to this open-ended question with some kind of written
description of an art experience. Most of these responses were brief,
consisting of no more than a sentence or two and often just a phrase. Part
Six asked for additional demographic data related to experience and teach-
ing certification. Finally, at the end of the questionnaire, subjects were
asked to provide contact information if they were willing to volunteer to
be interviewed.

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 Art Experiences and Attitude Toward Art Education

After the questionnaires were returned and analyzed, the researcher

conducted on-site individual interviews with six principals selected from
among the pool of volunteers. These interviews were included in the
study to provide more extensive descriptions of each individual principal's
art and art education experiences. A purposeful sampling strategy of
"maximum variation" was adopted in advance (Patton, 1990, p. 182).
This strategy was adopted and used in an effort to select interviewees who
could provide as much diversity as possible in terms of types of art experi-
ence and social context. All of the demographic data was considered
during the interview sampling process, but particular attention was given
to the "stand-out" art experiences described in response to the open-
ended question in Part Five of the questionnaire.
Principals who reported primarily positive art experiences dominated
the pool of volunteers for interviews. Uniform in their unwillingness to
be interviewed were those few principals who indicated that their art
experience had been negative and that this experience had negatively
affected their attitude and decision-making. This became a limitation for
the interview sampling process. Six principals, two each from Elementary,
Middle/Junior High, and High School levels, were selected for interviews
and are referred to as Principals A through F. Of these six, four were male
and two were female. The single-session, on-site interviews provided more
thorough descriptions of art experiences, and some additional background
information that helped tell the unique stories of these individuals.
There were then, three distinct data sources that together allowed for
what Patton (1990) refers to as, "methodological triangulation" during
the analysis and interpretation of results (p. 187). These three sources
consisted of (1) the statistical data from the objective items on the ques-
tionnaire, (2) the narrative descriptions from the open-ended item found
in Part Five of the questionnaire, and (3) the qualitative interview data.
In analyzing statistical relationship among various types of art experi-
ences and scores on the attitude toward art education scale, Spearman
correlation was used because in most cases the variables to be considered
were of an ordinal nature (Hatcher & Stepanski, 1994). ANOVA,
MANOVA, and chi-square procedures were used when appropriate to
investigate other aspects of the data. An alpha level of .05 was adopted
and used for all tests. All statistical analysis was performed using the
SAS@ statistical program (Hatcher & Stepanski, 1994; Keppel, 1991). In 2It should be noted
keeping with methods triangulation, qualitative data were analyzed and that at the time of the

coded for themes and dimensions, and then compared with the quantita- survey, the beginning of
statewide standardized
tive data to provide illustrations of or contradictions to statistical trends.
assessment of the fine
Discussion of Results arts was an educational
issue within Missouri
The relatively high overall return rate itself (79%) could be interpreted
and may have stimu-
as evidence that Missouri principals' as a whole had a concern for lated
or greater interest in
interest in art education.2 On average, principals' scores on Part One
artof
for this population.

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 Mick Luehrman

the questionnaire, the Art Education Attitude Scale, appeared to indicate

relatively positive attitudes toward art education. The mean score on the
attitude scale was 95.8 out of a possible 120. This figures to 3.99 out of 5
when translated into an average of their responses to individual Likert-
type items on the scale. The group who took the time to describe a
memorable art experience in answer to Part Five of the questionnaire
tended to have significantly higher scores on the Art education attitude
scale than the remaining group of respondents, F (1, 225) = 4.63, p =
.0324. Teaching Certification and Gender demographic variables also
proved to be significant for between group comparisons of scores on the
attitude scale.
When comparing groups according to Teaching Certification, those
principals whose teaching certification was for the elementary classroom
had significantly higher scores for the art education attitude scale than
principals who had other types of teaching certification [F (1, 225) =
18.90, p< .0001]. Comparisons among other certification groups (English,
Social Studies, Music, etc.) was somewhat hampered by the small
numbers in many of the groups. When these allowed statistical compari-
son, no other significant comparisons were found for attitude toward art
education.
Concerning the gender variable, the mean attitude scale score for
female principals was significantly higher than that of male principals [F
(1, 225) = 14.02, p = .0002]. Only partial control for the gender variable
was possible due to the representative nature of this sample of the popula-
tion and the consequently small number of female subjects among the
Other (non-elementary) Teaching Certification group. However,
ANOVA did reveal significantly higher attitude scale scores for male prin-
cipals with elementary classroom teaching certification when compared
with male principals who had other types of teaching certification [F (1,
56) = 4.14, p = .0466]. Overall, the differences that were found between
groups and subgroups could best be described as differences in degree of
positive attitude, rather than a contrast of positive and negative attitudes.
Cultural Climate of the Home
As Ganzeboom (1996) and Haanstra, et al (1997) found in their study
of arts consumption later in life, the cultural climate of the home appears
to have been of importance for the foundation of positive attitudes
toward art and art education for this population. Three variables that
refer to the social context of the home were found to have significant
correlation with attitude toward art education: Rating of Parental
Encouragement, r = .14 (p = .0394), Number of Family Members
Engaged in the Arts, r = .17 (p = .0069), and Rating of the Influence of
Family Members Involved in the Arts, r = .29 (p = .001). However, only
six written responses to Part Five of the questionnaire specifically
mentioned a family member as the mediator for a "stand-out" art experi-

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 Art Experiences and Attitude Toward Art Education

ence. Some others may have involved family members, but in many
instances not enough information was provided to accurately determine
whether it was a school- or family-related art experience. This was true for
four of the interviewees, Principals C, D, E, and F, all revealed that a
parent or grandparent had either mediated the "stand-out" art experience
they had written about, or had positively influenced their attitude toward
art in other ways. For example, in Principal D's case the interview
revealed family outings to art museums and art fairs in the Chicago area
during youth, even though he chose to describe, as a "stand-out" art expe-
rience, a college undergraduate program that required him to attend a
certain number of campus fine arts events. Evidently in Principal D's
case, family background prepared him to appreciate and value this later
college art experience.
Teacher-Mediated Art Experiences: During Schooling and
Through Contact with Art Teacher/Colleagues
Though the social mediation of the home was apparently important in
relationship with attitude toward art education, teacher-mediated experi-
ences also were found to be important. A large majority of Missouri prin-
cipals believed that their colleagues who were art educators had
influenced their attitudes toward art education. When asked to rate the
influence of art teacher/colleagues on their attitude toward art, the vast
majority of principals indicated that these individuals had influenced their
attitudes in a positive way, either "somewhat positive" (41%) or "very
positive" (42%). Of the remaining respondents, 12% claimed "no effect"
on attitude, while only 5% indicated any kind of negative influence. In
addition, the rating of art teacher/colleague influence was positively corre-
lated with scores on the attitude scale, r = .37 (p < .0001). One respon-
dent's written comments effectively describe not only the effect the art
teacher can have on a student, but also the way negative early experiences
for the principal can perhaps be overcome by the effect of the art
teacher/colleague:
I felt I had no art talent. I don't remember in junior high ever
receiving any praise for effort. I also don't recall learning concepts.
Today when I visit art classes at the elementary level, I am amazed
at the knowledge that is taught and the application of concepts-
I'm finally being taught. (Luehrman, 1999, p. 179)
As the comment above illustrates, the role of the teacher as an influ-
ence was also evident among the responses given to Part Five of the ques-
tionnaire. For 60 of the 111 written responses, a social mediator for the
"stand-out" art experience could be determined. Of these 60, 37 (62%)
mentioned a teacher from their school years and 7 (12%) mentioned an
art teacher/colleague. Only 6 (10%) directly identified a family member
as the mediator for their "stand-out" art experience. The remaining 10

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 Mick Luehrman

were split evenly between experiences mediated either by one of their own
students, or one of their peers when they were in school.
The dominance of teacher-mediated experiences may be partially due
to the education-oriented context of the survey. But, it also seems possible
that, as in the previously mentioned case of Principal D, art experiences
that had taken place within the context of the home or with family
members were more likely to be taken for granted, thought of as
commonplace, less dramatic, and therefore not as likely to be considered
as a "stand-out" event.
Among the other interviews, Principals A and B revealed no encour-
agement in art from home, but emphasized the influence of their art
classes and art educator colleagues as important to their view of the value
of art and art education. All of the remaining four interviewees described
a combination of school and home influences in their backgrounds.
Number and Value of Art Classes Taken
More than 19% of the principals responding did not recall having had
an art class with an art specialist at any level of their K-12 schooling.
Nearly 9% recalled completing their entire schooling, including higher
education degrees, without ever having had an art class with an art
specialist. No significant relationship was found between attitude toward
art education and recollections of the number of years of art with an art
specialist during elementary school, or number of semesters of art taken at
either during middle school/junior high or high school. However, find-
ings did reveal a positive relationship between the number of college art
classes taken and attitude toward art education (r = .18, p = .0088).
In a demographic finding that sheds some light on this positive correla-
tion, principals with elementary classroom teaching certification reported
having had significantly more college semesters of art than did principals
with other types of teaching certification [F (1,210) = 19.03, p = .0001].
These findings are of interest in conjunction with the previously
mentioned difference on attitude scale scores found between the Teaching
Certification groups. Historically, in Missouri teacher certification
programs, those who seek elementary classroom certification must take a
college-level art education methods class that is not required of other
education majors.
In a related finding the correlation between principals' attitude scale
scores and their rating of peer influence during college proved to be
significant (r = .27, p = .0006). This statistic appeared to be driven by the
group of principals who had elementary classroom teaching certification
3Correlation between (r = .34, p < .0001).3 Rating of peer influence during other levels of
attitude and peer schooling did not prove significantly correlated with attitude scale scores.
influence for principals
Though the number of art classes taken during K-12 levels of schooling
with other types of
teaching certification was not significantly related to attitude toward art education, principals'
was r = .10, p > .05 perceptions of the value of their elementary and high school art classes did

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 Art Experiences and Attitude Toward Art Education

prove to be significant in that respect. Correlation was found between atti-

tude scale scores and principals' ratings of the value of the art classes they
had taken during their own schooling. The strength of this relationship
rose for higher levels of schooling: elementary school (r = .26, p = .0135),
high school (r = .34, p = .0003), and college (r = .40, p < .0001).
Art Museum/Gallery Visits and Recollections of Teachers' Use
of Acclaimed Art Images During Art Classes
For this population, the possible importance of exposure to art images
for developing positive attitudes toward art education was suggested by
several findings. The value of direct exposure to actual works of art was
suggested by the positive relationship between Missouri principals' attitude
scale scores and the number of art museum/gallery visits that they recalled.
This was true both for museum/gallery visits during youth, r = .20
(p = .0035), and during adulthood,4 r = .26 (p < .0001). 4Youth was defined as

A relatively weak but positive relationship was also found between atti- before high school
graduation; adulthood,
tude scale scores and principals' recollections of how often their teachers
as after high school
showed acclaimed art images as a part of their high school art classes graduation.
(r = .18, p = .0485). Similar analysis for recalled use of art images during
the elementary, middle, and college levels did not yield significant correla-
tion. Support for the idea that exposure to art images during high school
might have been a particularly memorable or meaningful experience for
many principals was not born out in the analysis of data from Part Five of
the questionnaire as will be revealed in subsequent discussion.
Missouri principals tended to value their art classes more if they
remembered being shown acclaimed art images as a part of these classes.
When the rating they gave for the value of their elementary, middle level,
high school, and college art classes was considered in relationship with
these recollections, a positive correlation was found for each of the four
levels of schooling. Beginning with elementary classes, the correlation
statistics for these analyses were, respectively, r = .27 (p = .0109), r = .31
(p = .0007), r = .37 (p < .0001) and r = .37 (p < .0001).
The data from the written descriptions of art experiences from Part Five
of the Questionnaire provided further evidence of the importance of expo-
sure to art images. Among the respondents who supplied a written descrip-
tion of an art experience that "stood out" in their memory (n = 111),
viewing art images in either a museum or school setting was a frequently
described type of art experience (n=37, or 33%), second only to artmak-
ing/media experiences (n = 58, or 52%). Single or multiple museum visits
were the subject of 25 of these descriptions, while all but one of the
remaining 12 described college-level art appreciation classes, the sole
exception being the elementary school art history experiences of Principal
A which will be described shortly. The fact that none of the school art
appreciation experiences described had occurred during high school
contrasts with the previously mentioned relationship between attitude

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 Mick Luehrman

toward art education and recollections of how often art images were used
in high school classes.
Five of the six interviewees described art museum visits as being mean-
ingful experiences that happened during their youth and/or adulthood. It
is interesting to note that in the interview accounts, each of the visits to
an art museum during youth was associated with a family outing.
Determining the context of art museum visits described in the written
responses to Part Five of the questionnaire was often difficult because of
the brevity of many of the responses. Only one of the responses made
5Respondent 1102
specific mention of the museum visit as a school-sponsored event.5 It is
stated, "Visiting (an)
art gallery/2nd or 3rd likely that most of the museum visits during youth were family outings.
grade, on the visit we For example, Principal C wrote about visiting an art museum in
were allowed to 'draw'
Pittsburgh, PA; the fact that he went with his grandparents was revealed
a painting."
only through the interview.
All six of the principals interviewed discussed positive school art experi-
ences that involved the use of art images in teaching. In the interviews,
Principals A and B both indicated they believed that valuable school art
experiences that relied on viewing historically acclaimed art images had
helped them form a positive attitude toward art when art experiences
were not provided within the context of the home. Principal B's most
memorable art experience was a college music appreciation course during
which the lecturer used acclaimed art and architecture to illustrate the
contemporary visual art of the time when the music was being composed.
Principal A's story is particularly interesting. A significant experience for
him was his grade 3 through 6 art classes during the late 1950s and early
1960s. These classes provided enjoyable art media experiences but were
also characterized by a particularly pressure-packed weekly art history
memorization and recognition task. This task involved remembering,
over the course of his 4 years in the school, the artist's name, title, and
country of origin for more than 100 works of art. If called on, failure to
correctly identify all of these facts for the work chosen by the teacher
would mean losing one's seat to the next person who could answer
correctly. Though the memorization tasks were very stressful, he believed
they were responsible for a life-long interest in art, as evidenced by his
many visits to art museums, the art books in his office collection, and his
strong support of the art program in his school. Principal A described
how each year he arranges and chaperones a group of middle school
students on a field trip to a regional art museum. Regarding the source of
his interest in art he stated, "Certainly there was nothing in the home
environment.., no family member that would have generated that. So, I
think it was the fact that maybe I had some knowledge... that other
people that I met later didn't have, because of that experience. And then,
I just wanted to build on it."

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 Art Experiences and Attitude Toward Art Education

Art Production Experiences

Somewhat surprisingly, attitude scale scores for groups who claimed
relatively recent participation in categories of artmaking activity, such as
painting or drawing, ceramics, fibers or textiles, photography, or sculpture
were not significantly higher than scores for those who did not indicate 6One reason for this
may well be the
recent participation.6 However, significantly higher scores on the attitude
questionnaire item's
scale (F = 10.31 [1, 225] p = .0015) were found for the group who indi- very liberal qualifica-
cated they had read a book about art or an artist within the last 5 years, tion, "participated in
when compared with the remaining group of respondents. the art activity at least
once during leisure
Within the qualitative data the importance of art production experi- time within the last
ences as memorable events did become evident. As mentioned earlier, five years" (Luehrman,
analysis of the written descriptions of "stand-out" art experiences from 1999, p. 278).
Part Five of the questionnaire revealed that experiences involving artmak-
ing or specific art media were the most frequently mentioned (n = 58, or
52% of those who wrote a response). Some were very brief, often just
listing art media; others went into more detail, describing specific events.
Crystallizing Experiences and Continuity of Experience
Among the written descriptions of art experiences from Part Five of the
questionnaire, there was a balance between those that described a specific
isolated event (n = 54), and those that were either a series of events or
experiences that took place over a period of time (n = 57). The former
group of experiences resembled the concept of the crystallizing experience
and was characterized by events such as a visit to a particular museum or a
moment when interaction with a teacher or an art medium was recalled.
The latter group was characterized by semester-long classes, entire school
years, summer trips to Europe, a series of experiences such as a list of
museums attended over time, or a mixture of several types of experiences,
all more closely resembling the concept of continuity of experience.
The Positive and Negative Impact of the Art Experiences
Described by Principals
In Part Five of the questionnaire, respondents also rated the impact of
the art experience they had described upon their attitude toward art
education. Of those who completed this section (n = 111), 68% felt that
the experience they described had a positive impact on their attitude
toward art education, while 20% indicated a negative impact, and the
remaining 12% gave the experience a neutral rating. As might be
expected, very few of the respondents, only 4, were willing to admit that
an art experience they rated as having had a negative effect on their atti-
tude had also had a negative effect on their decision-making about the art
program in the school. Explaining this phenomenon, a number of respon-
dents felt compelled to add written qualifiers, much like the one that
follows: "While I do view my childhood art experiences as being some-
what negative, they have helped me in my resolve to make sure my
students have much more positive experiences."

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 Mick Luehrman

An examination of the time-of-life for the art experiences that were

described revealed that 23% occurred during elementary years, 9% during
middle level years, 11% during high school, 26% during college, and 31%
during post-college baccalaureate years. For the K-12 school years there
was a relative balance between positive and negative experiences. Only four
of the art experiences occurring after high school were rated as negative.
The most common negative experiences involved criticism of the respon-
dent's artwork by the teacher, usually in front of the class, or anxiety and
frustration resulting from a teacher-assigned drawing task (n = 12), each
illustrated respectively by two respondents:
In high school the art teacher and students made fun of my project.
I refused to go back to class and actually took a different kind of
class in summer school to make up the credit. When I couldn't
draw a picture "just right" (according to the art teacher), I had to
start over. The goal seemed to make everything look just like the
teacher's! Very negative impression.
Positive experiences with art media were often associated with awards
received, display of work, or praise from the teacher (n = 11). Of the "art
viewing" experiences-characterized by the art history/appreciation
classes and art museum visits discussed earlier (n = 37)-all but two were
rated positive experiences for the respondent describing the experience.
The two negative experiences were among the group of descriptions of
college art history/appreciation classes.
During the interviews, actions described by five out of the six principals
supported the idea that positive art experiences lead to positive attitudes
toward art education, and that attitude then provides the motivation for
action. Among the actions described were the following: for Principal A,
granting release time to art faculty for professional development and
involvement in NAEA/MAEA, and sponsoring and chaperoning field trips
to art museums; for Principal B, advocating for additional art education
faculty and course offerings; for Principal C, purchasing prints for the art
program out of general budget funds and fund raising for a fine and
performing arts center building project; for Principal E, using art repro-
ductions during teaching; for Principal F, setting goals for the art program
when the content being taught did not seem to be substantive.
Conclusions and Implications
The descriptive nature of this study precludes claims of causality,
though some interviewees made this claim for their own particular case.
Based on the statistical data gathered, it is not possible to make general-
ized statements about the effect of one particular type of art experience on
attitude toward art education for this population. There is a "hen or egg"
issue. It is not possible to determine which came first, predisposition for a
positive attitude toward art, or an art experience that generated and
nurtured a positive art attitude. In addition, though statistically signifi-
cant, the strength of the correlation found between variables was in many

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 Art Experiences and Attitude Toward Art Education

instances relatively small. Qualitative data from the questionnaire and the
interviews helped to provide a more comprehensive view of principals' art
experiences when considered along with the quantitative results. Keeping
this in mind, the study did reveal a wide variety of art experience factors
that offer avenues for more specific study in future research. Among these
factors were the cultural climate of the home, college art classes, visits to
art museums or galleries, use of art images in teaching, and the influence
of colleagues who teach art.
The correlation found between attitude toward art education and vari-
ables related to the cultural climate of the home was in keeping with
Bourdieu's (1972) theory of cultural reproduction and consistent with
findings from other studies (Ganzeboom, 1996; Haanstra, Oud, Nagel,
& Ganzeboom, 1997). Though the correlation statistics for the home-
related variables were relatively low in strength, the number of them
found to be significant, together with the influence of the home that was
revealed in the interviews, reaffirms the importance of art experiences
within this social context. Ways to control for these types of variables
must be carefully considered if one is to conduct meaningful study of the
effects of school-related factors on attitudes toward art and art education.
Findings suggested that principals' art experiences during college may
have been particularly influential on their attitudes toward art and art
education. Though not strong, significant relationship was found between
attitude toward art education and two variables: the number of college
level art courses and the rating of influence of peers during college.
Though it is possible that these relationships were due to additional oppor-
tunities at the college level for principals to choose courses in which they
were predisposed to have an interest, the qualitative evidence supported
the importance of college experiences. More than one-quarter of the
descriptions of "stand-out" art experiences occurred during the college
years and nearly all were positive. In addition, each of the interviewees
described positive effects for their college art experiences. Additional
research regarding college art courses is also needed to find out whether or
not differences in teacher preparation, such as the art methods classes
required for elementary classroom teaching certification, might be a signif-
icant factor for the stronger positive attitude toward art education found
among principals who had elementary teaching certification.
Considering the significant relationship found between ratings of the
value of art courses and attitude toward art education, one could interpret
this as suggesting that the quality of principals' art courses was more
important than the number of art courses. However, other forces, such as
the cultural climate of the home, may have been at work here as well,
predisposing principals to be more receptive and extract more benefit
from their art classes than those who did not have this type of family
background.

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 Mick Luehrman

The importance of art museum/gallery visits as educative art experiences

was suggested by the relationship found between these types of experiences
and attitude toward art education. It does seem likely, due to the
frequency with which museum visits were mentioned among the written
descriptions of "stand-out" art experiences, that for a number of principals,
art museum or gallery visits were crystallizing experiences for their view of
the value of art. Interviewees' stories also provided evidence of the impor-
tance of this type of event, but the fact that the initial museum visit for
each of these cases was associated with a family outing does not provide
evidence of the impact that might be made by school-sponsored museum
visits. Comparisons of school-sponsored and family-mediated visits to art
museums should be undertaken in order to provide additional evidence
that could aid advocacy for these types of experiences for students.
A large majority (83%) of Missouri principals in the study indicated
that the art educators with whom they had worked had influenced their
attitude toward art education in a positive way. This was also supported
by the correlation found between ratings of teacher/colleague influence
and attitude toward art education. Though the art teacher may influence
the principal, other factors could also have contributed to the significance
of this result, such as a predisposition to value art and therefore be more
sensitive to the quality of the art teacher and the program. What is clearly
illustrated in any case is the idea that art educators are not just teaching
their students, but also indirectly educating colleagues and community
members through the level of their own personal commitment to art and
the quality and presence of their art program. Analogous to Eisner's
(1994) idea of an implicit or hidden curriculum (concepts or values not
explicitly taught, but none-the-less learned), we may contemplate a group
of "hidden learners" within the context of the school and community, all
of whom may be affected by the actions of the art teacher.
Though principals' scores on the attitude scale indicated generally posi-
tive attitudes toward art education, whether or not this might be corrobo-
rated by action on the part of the principal is another matter. The
interviews conducted with principals who had had positive art experiences
did provide some evidence of specific actions that could be interpreted as
supportive of the art program, consistent with the idea that experiences
affect attitudes which, in turn, become motivation for behavior (Dewey,
1938/1959). However, because of the limitations of the present study, the
data came from a single source, the principal. Determining the validity of
the principals' claims and the degree to which voiced support for the art
program is manifest in policies and actions taken would require compre-
hensive in-depth on-site qualitative study over time. It would be impor-
tant to examine the interaction between the principal and the art program
within the context of the school and community and from the viewpoints
of a variety of stakeholders.

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 Art Experiences and Attitude Toward Art Education

The art experiences of Missouri principals included events that resem-

bled crystallizing experiences in that they were specifically described
meaningful art experiences, such as a museum visit or an opportunity to
work with a specific art medium (Gardner, 1983). But equally prevalent
were longer-term art experiences more closely resembling the idea of
continuity of experience, such as family upbringing, an entire semester/
school year, or a series of art experiences (Dewey, 1938/1959). The picture
is one of a complex interaction of possible influences, any one or more of
which can be instrumental in the formation of attitudes toward art educa-
tion. In accordance with the idea of continuity of experience, it seems
likely that the cultural climate of the home prepared some principals to be
more receptive to the influence of art experiences encountered within the
context of their schooling. However, in some individual cases, such as
those of Principals A and B, when there was an absence of encouragement
from home, art experiences in the schools by themselves did appear to
positively influence attitude toward art and art education later in life.
For art educators teaching at any level, it is important not to lose sight
of the fact that among the students in art classes today are the educational
and political leaders of the future. The comprehensive breadth, quality
and relevance of the art experiences that are provided for all students now
is likely to have repercussions for attitudes later in life, and, as a result, the
future status of art and art education within the school, the community,
and society as a whole.
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Burton, D., & Boyer, G. (1998). Status report: The NAEA research task force on demographics.
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Cameron, P. A., Mills, C.J., & Heinzen, T. E. (1995). The social context and development
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Colbert, C. (1994). What you are doing speaks so loudly, I can't hear what you are saying: Higher
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Efland, A. D. (1995). Change in the conceptions of art teaching. In R. Neperud (Ed.), Context,
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Ganzeboom, H. B. G. (1996). Effects of arts education in primary and secondary education on

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March 27-28, 1995, in the World Trade Center Rotterdam, the Netherlands, (pp. 146-156)
LOKV, Netherlands Institute for Arts Education, Utrecht 1996.

Gardner, H. (1983). Frames of mind: The theory of multiple intelligences. New York: Basic Books.

Haanstra, F., Oud, W., Nagel, I., & Ganzeboom, H. (1997, March). Long-term effects ofart
examination programs in Dutch secondary schools, paper presented at the AERA Annual
Meeting, Chicago, IL.

Hatcher, L., & Stepanski, E. J. (1994). A step by step approach to using the SAS system for univariate
and multivariate statistics. Cary, North Carolina: SAS Institute Inc.

Keppel, G. (1991). Design and analysis: A researcher's handbook. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice
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Luehrman, M. (1999). The art experiences ofMissouri public school principals and their attitude
toward art education, Unpublished dissertation thesis (Ph.D.), The University of Missouri-
Columbia.

Miller, J. L. (1980). A study ofattitudes ofschool boardpresidents, superintendents, and elementary

and secondary principals in Missouri school districts concerning visual arts education and the
perception of those attitudes by art teachers, Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of
Kansas.

Morris, J. W., & Stuckhardt, M. H. (1977). Art attitude: Conceptualization and implication,
Studies in Art Education, 19 (1), 21-28.

National Art Education Association (1992). Elementary artprograms: A guide for administrators,
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National Art Education Association (n. d.). Quality art education a checklist developed for secondary
principals, [Brochure]. Reston, VA. Author.

Patton, M. Q. (1990). Qualitative evaluation and research methods, Newbury Park, CA: Sage
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Walters, J., & Gardner, H. (1984). The crystallizing experience: Discovering an intellectual gift.
Harvard Project Zero, report sponsored by Bernard Van Leer Foundation, The Hague
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research task force 1998 status reports, pp. 1-3. Reston, VA: National Art Education
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 Art Experiences and Attitude Toward Art Education

Table 1
Relationship Between Art Education Attitude Scale Scores
and Art Experience Variables

- Spearman Correlation (r) for Missouri Public School Principals.

n = 225
Attitude Toward

Art Experience Variables Art Education

r

1. Years of Elem. Art with an Art Specialist -.05

2. Number of Middle School/Jr. High Semesters of Art Class .04
3. Number of High School Semesters of Art Class .10
4. Number of College Semesters of Art Class .18*
5. Rated Value of Their Elementary Art Experiences .26*
6. Rated Value of Their Middle/Jr. High Art Classes .17*
7. Rated Value of Their High School Art Classes .34*
8. Rated Value of Their College Art Classes .40*
9. Recall Being Shown Acclaimed Art Works (Elementary Art) .09
10. Recall Being Shown Acclaimed Art Works (Middle/Jr. High Art) .08
11. Recall Being Shown Acclaimed Art Works (High School Art) .18*
12. Recall Being Shown Acclaimed Art Works (College Art) .04
13. Rating of Peers Effect on Elementary Art Experiences .00
14. Rating of Peers Effect on Middle/Jr. High Art Experiences -.01
15. Rating of Peers Effect on High School Art Experiences .08
16. Rating of Peers Effect on College Art Experiences .27*
17. Art Museum Visits During Youth (Before High School Grad.) .20*
18. Art Museum Visits During Adulthood (After High School Grad.) .26*
19. Parental Encouragement to Participate in Art Activities .14*
20. Number of Family Members Involved in the Arts .17*
21. Rating of Influence of Family Member Involved in the Arts .29*
22. Rating of Own Art Knowledge .17*
23. Rating of Own Art-Making Skills .05
24. Number Art/Craft Activities (Past 5 Yrs) .16*
25. Rating of Art Teacher/Colleague Influence .37*
*p < .05

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 Mick Luehrman

APPENDIX A: QUESTIONNAIRE
Attitude Toward Art Education and Art Experiences of Missouri Principals

PART ONE: ATTITUDE TOWARD ART EDUCATION

Instructions:

Please circle the response that best reflects your level of agreement or disagreement with the
following ideas about art education. There are no right or wrong answers and all information
will be kept confidential. So, please answer as freely as possible what you believe. What is
important to this study is your view.
Strongly Strongly
Disagree Disagree Undecided

1. For those with little drawing talent there is not

much to be gained by taking an art class ....................SD D U A SA
2. Art education teaches critical thinking skills .............SD D U A SA
3. Art is not an important part of the school
curriculum .... ............... ...... .......................... SD D U A SA
4. Art credit should be required for graduation from
high school. ..................................................................SD D U A
5. Art education's ultimate purpose is to prepare those
who will go on to work in art-related fields ................SD D U
6. Textbooks and commercially produced teaching
resources are not necessary for art classes.....................SD D U A SA
7. Art education would be more appropriately served
through extra-curricular programs ................................SD D U A SA
8. For all students, art education offers important learning opportunities
that are unavailable through other subjects ...................SD D U A SA
9. Gifted education programs should consider ability in art as one of the factors
when determining student eligibility standards. ............SD D U A SA
10. Having students study the great works of acclaimed artists
in art class is as important as having them make art ......SD D U A SA
11. Art specialists are not necessary at the elementary level; visual art
can be taught well by classroom teachers.....................SD D U A SA
12. Art education develops visual communication skills
that represent an important form of literacy .................SD D U A SA
13. In our school the budgetary priority for art is equal to
that of any other subject area .....................................SD D U A SA
14. It makes more sense for art to be taught as an integrated part of
other subject areas-not as a separate subject .............SD D U A SA
15. It is acceptable for class sizes to be larger for art than for traditional
core subjects (math, science, lang. arts) ......................SD D U A SA

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 Art Experiences and Attitude Toward Art Education

Strongly Strongly
Disagree Disagree Undecided Agre

16. Students should be given grades or assessment repo

in art just as they are in other subjects
17. The quality of students' art education experience
levels will affect their attitude toward art as adults...SD D U A SA

18. Art should be used as a "reward" in education, helping to

motivate students to get school work done..............SD D U A SA
19. Art concepts and ideas cannot be effectively
assessed ........................... .............SD D U A SA

20. A strong art program can provide a central conn

for integrating learning in all subjects. ..................SD D U A SA
21. Children's progress in art requires a systematic and
sequentially organized art curriculum ...................SD D U A SA
22. Teaching art is less demanding than teaching other
subjects .................... ....................SD D U A SA
23. Art should be one of the first courses eliminated from the
curriculum if a cut is necessary ............................SD D U A SA
24. Visual art education is a unique subject with specific
content worth knowing .......................................... SD D U A SA
25. A strong art program is a sign of a strong overall
program in the school .................. ....................SD D U A SA

PART TWO: YOUR ART EXPERIENCES AS A STUDENT

1. During what elementary grades did you have regularly scheduled art classes with an art
specialist?
(Please circle each grade during which you did) K 1 2 3 4 5
2. As a student, how many semesters of art did you have at each level? (Please circle the
number)
(Number of semesters of art)
a. Grades 6, 7, & 8 ................0 1 2 3 4 5 6
b. Grades 9 through 12 ...........0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
c. College/University................0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
3. Remembering when you were a student, what are your feelings about the value of the art
experiences you had in school? (skip the levels at which you had no art instruction).
No Limited No Somewhat Highly
Value Value Opinion Valuable Valuable
a. Elementary school...........................( ( ) ( ) () ( )
b. Middle school/jr. high ...................( ) ( ) ( ) () ( )
c. High school....................................( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
d. College classes................................. ( ) ( ) ( ) (

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 Mick Luehrman

4. When you were a student, how often did the art teacher show works by famous artists as a
part of the lesson? (please check an answer for each level)
Almost Had No
Always Often So
a. Elementary school ....................( ) () ( ) () ( )
b. Middle school/jr. high .................( ) ( ) () () ( )
c. High school...............................() () () () ()
d. College classes........................... ( ) ( ) ( ) () ( )
5. When you were a student, what kind of effect did your classmates and peers h
on your art experiences?
Very Somewhat No Somewhat Very
Negative Negative Effect Positive Positive
a. Elementary school.....................( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
b. Middle school/jr. high ...................( ) ( ) ( ) ( (
c. H igh school oo ............ ...................( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
d. College classes ...........................( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
6. Check the answer that most closely fits the number of times you participated in th
art-related activities during childhood (elementary through high school age).
Once or 3-5 6-10 More than
Never Twice Times Times 10 times

a. Visited an art museum ................( ) ( ) ( ) () ()

b. Visited an art fair/gallery ....... ....( ) ( ) ( ) () (
c. Had art lessons outside of school ...( ) ( ) ( ) (

PART THREE: YOUR ART EXPERIENCES AS AN ADULT

1. Check the answer that most closely fits the number of times you participated in these
art-related activities as an adult (since high school).
Once or 3-5 6-10 More than
Never Twice Times Times 10 times

a. Visited an art museum ...............( ) ( ) ( ) () ( )

b. Visited an art fair/gallery ..............( ) ( ) (
c. Had art lessons outside of school...( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) (
2. As an administrator/teacher, what kind of influence have art teachers who
colleagues had on your attitude toward art education?
Very Somewhat No Somewhat Very
Negative Negative Effect Positive Positive
() () () () ()
3. Check the art-related activities you hav
leisure time within the last 5 years? (check
( ) drawing or painting ( ) ceramics
( ) sculpture or jewelry making ( ) photography
( ) architectural or landscape design ( ) computer graphic or advertising design
( ) weaving, quilting, or fashion design ( ) woodworking or furniture making
( ) reading a book about art or artists ( ) other
4. How would you rate your own knowledge about art or art history?
Very Very
Good Good Fair Limited Limited
() () () () ()

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 Art Experiences and Attitude Toward Art Education

5. How would you rate your skills for making art?

Very Very
Good Good Fair Limited Limited

() () () () ()
6. How would you rate the importance of art e
For each level, please check one answer
Non- Limited Moderate Considerable
Essential Importance Importance Importance Essential

a. Elementary ............................................() ( ) () ( ) ()
b. Middle school/junior high....................( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
c. H igh school................................. ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
d. College....................... ....................... () () () () ()

PART FOUR: ART EXPERIENCES RELATED TO FAMILY

1 Did your parents encourage you to participate in art activities?

Never Seldom Sometimes Usually Always
() () ( () ()
2. Is someone close to you in some way in
use the blank to describe their involveme

( ) parent(s) ...... .....................

() spouse........ ......................
( )child ........ ........................

( ) other relative or close friend...

( ) no one [skip #3]

3. How would you characterize the influence they've had on your attitude toward art?
Very Somewhat No Somewhat Very
Negative Negative Effect Positive Positive
() () () ) ()

PART FIVE: RECALLING AN EXPERIENCE

1. Recall an art or art education experience, either positive or negative, that stands out in
your mind. Please describe.

(If you were unable to recall any art experiences that stand out, skip #2 & #3 of this section.)

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 Mick Luehrman

2. Which best describes the impact you believe this experience has had on your attitude
toward art.
Strong Strong
Negative Negative N
() () () () ()
3. What effect do you believe this experien
your school's art program?
Strong Strong
Negative Negative N
() () () () ()

PART SIX: DEMOGRAPHIC INFORMATION

1. Including the current year, what is the total number of years that you have
professional educator (teaching + administration).
1-5 6-10 11-15 16-20 21-25 26 or more

2. Please list the content area(s) and grade levels that you are certi

3. Please list student extra-curricular activities for which you have

responsibility at some time during your career (i.e., band, chorus,
as, drama, art, photography, business, etc.)

Please feel free to make any additional general comments related t

If you would be willing to be contacted for a brief confidential int

contact information below.

Name Mailing Address

City ,MO Zip Code
Phone Preferred time to call

Thank you for taking the time to complete this su

part of this research project.

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