The trial did not replicate Schellenberg's (2004) finding that music tuition increases attainment over other creative pursuits¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · causal r3 · q4
Currency · newest study 2015 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q4 i? This much larger trial was unable to replicate the earlier finding that music tuition increased attainment over and above other creative pursuits. → Sarah Haywood 2015

Evidence¶

Sarah Haywood 2015¶

Sarah Haywood, Julia Griggs, Cheryl Lloyd, Stephen Morris, Zsolt Kiss, Amy Skipp. (2015). Creative Futures: Act, Sing, Play Evaluation report and Executive summary. Education Endowment Foundation. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED581247

q4 · i? · causal · r3

The report explicitly frames the trial as a larger-sample replication of Schellenberg's (2004) design comparing music tuition against drama, and states it "was unable to replicate this result" on maths and literacy attainment.

"This design was chosen for several reasons, including the fact that a previous study (Schellenberg, 2004) had found that music tuition increased attainment over and above other creative pursuits. This present study, which involved a much larger sample than Schellenberg, was unable to replicate this result."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Music workshops showed no greater impact on literacy attainment than drama workshops in the same trial — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Music workshops (strings and singing combined) showed no greater impact on maths attainment than drama workshops in a large pupil-level RCT — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• The association between musical training and school performance appears general and non-specific across subjects, with no evidence for special links to single domains — related
• Neither strings nor singing workshops separately outperformed drama workshops on maths or literacy attainment — related