It’s well known that the arts make us happier and healthier, and that students involved in the arts often get better grades and attend school more regularly. But it’s not just art classes that benefit students, though they profoundly do, it’s arts in the classroom that I would argue is the real secret to success.
At McLean School, we emphasize direct instruction in executive functioning – a set of skills that includes working memory, cognitive flexibility, and impulse control. These are the tools students need not only to succeed academically but also to navigate life beyond the classroom. Our teachers actively work to strengthen these skills, and the arts support this development in powerful and often overlooked ways.
Whether learning to dance, act, paint, make a film, or play an instrument, students are practicing essential executive function skills. But the arts’ true power emerges when they’re integrated with core academic subjects. Here’s how:
Close Observation
Artists are trained observers. They see beyond the surface, noticing details and asking questions about what works and what doesn’t. This habit of close looking strengthens judgment, critical thinking, and curiosity. For example, actors learn to interpret tone, body language, and subtle gestures. These are skills that build emotional intelligence and social awareness.
These same habits, when practiced in an academic setting, enhance cognitive reasoning. Observing a work of art or a scene in a play teaches students to slow down, analyze, and extract meaning—skills that translate directly into success in reading comprehension, science labs, and even math problem-solving.
Meaning Making
Artists constantly make connections between the subject, the medium, themselves, and the world. This meaning-making strengthens working memory and deepens understanding. The arts encourage students to synthesize information, see patterns, and retain complex ideas.
This is critical in today’s world. Students need to do more than memorize facts; they need to connect and apply knowledge. Arts education helps train the brain to do just that, whether interpreting a poem or understanding the causes of a historical event.
Drafting and Critique
No one gets it perfect the first time, and in the arts, that’s expected. Drafting and critique are central to the creative process. Students create, reflect, revise, and try again. This builds a growth mindset and resilience.
Learning to give and receive feedback strengthens emotional intelligence, collaboration, leadership, and adaptability. Students who regularly engage in this process don’t fear critique, they welcome it. They gain the confidence to ask for help and the drive to improve. They become self-advocates who take ownership of their learning.
Arts in the Classroom
Arts integration invites students to express understanding of any subject through creative means. At McLean’s Middle School, that might mean staging a dramatized trial of Christopher Columbus in history class, writing original songs in Latin, or designing 3D cell models in science.
These activities are more than just fun, they engage students in deep learning. When students explore a core subject through an arts lens, they retain information longer, think more critically, and make meaningful connections. Arts integration enhances content knowledge while also sharpening executive functioning.
Even simple routines, like close looking, sketching ideas, or group reflection can make a big difference in non-arts classrooms. They encourage curiosity, focus, communication, and collaboration.
The arts transform students. They’re not just enrichment; they’re essential to developing the cognitive and emotional skills young people need to thrive in our complex world.
By Kristin Anclien of McLean School in Potomac, Maryland. Kristin holds an Ed.M. in Arts in Education from Harvard University, an M.A.T. in Special Education from Trinity College, a graduate certificate in Arts Integration from American University, and a B.A. in Political Science from Michigan State.
McLean School prepares bright K-12 students, including those with dyslexia, ADHD, and executive functioning challenges, for college success. Learn more at mcleanschool.org/admission/visit/
