Music workshops (strings and singing combined) showed no greater impact on maths attainment than drama workshops in a large pupil-level RCT¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · causal r3 · q4 · i0 negligible
Currency · newest study 2015 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q4 i0 In the three-arm randomised trial, music workshops did not outperform the active drama control on post-test standardised maths PIPS scores; the printed effect size was 0.003. → 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 · i0 · causal · r3

Three-arm pupil-level RCT (909 randomised, 814 analysed) comparing music workshops against an active drama control on post-test standardised PIPS maths scores, analysed by multilevel modelling. The results table prints an effect size of "0.003 (-0.01 to 0.10)", equivalent to 0 months progress.

"Maths* MUSIC workshops compared to drama workshops 0.003 (-0.01 to 0.10) 0 months"

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• The trial did not replicate Schellenberg's (2004) finding that music tuition increases attainment over other creative pursuits — a broader claim this one bears on
• Among FSM-eligible pupils, music workshops showed no impact on attainment relative to the drama control — related
• Music workshops showed no greater impact on literacy attainment than drama workshops in the same trial — related
• Neither strings nor singing workshops separately outperformed drama workshops on maths or literacy attainment — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Some tutors, particularly those less experienced with groups of primary school children, needed more guidance, and some strings workshops struggled to keep pupils on task — related