A4L Lessons curriculum

Product or Programme · All products and programmes
Evidence · 5 claims (1 for, 3 mixed, 1 against) · 1 study (1 causal), q3 · 1 of 1 report an effect size · 5 claims rest on one study

Description

An arts-integrated curriculum package for elementary students in grades 3–5, developed and delivered through the Arts for Learning program.

Components

• How People Learn framework as the pedagogical foundation of the A4L Lessons curriculum: The report identifies the "How People Learn" framework (Bransford, Brown, & Cocking, 1999) as "the foundation for the program's pedagogy and strategies for student engagement." Under this framework, the curriculum emphasizes teacher-guided, student-initiated activities, encourages students to think and learn independently, and provides tools and strategies to help students approach challenging schoolwork. The arts-integrated curricula are described as giving students opportunities to excel through activities tapping a wide variety of skill sets and learning styles. (Jonathan Nakamoto et al. (2015))

Claims

• The A4L Lessons Project had no statistically significant impact on students' OAKS Reading/Literature achievement after one, two, or three years of participation [-W]
• Grade 3 students showed small positive but statistically non-significant CCU impacts across all three study years [~W]
• The A4L impact on grade 4 CCU outcomes did not differ significantly between free/reduced-price lunch and non-FRL students [~W]
• The A4L impact on grade 4 CCU outcomes differed significantly by ELL status in years 1 and 2, with substantially larger effects for ELL students, but not in year 3 [~W]
• Grade 4 students in treatment schools scored significantly higher than control students on the CCU Assessments in each of the three study years, with effect sizes from 0.30 to 0.36 [+W]

Related Products and Programmes

• Arts for Learning (A4L) Lessons Project
• Comprehensive Cross Unit (CCU) Assessments (Joy, Ruth, and Jackie Tests)

Key Sources

• Jonathan Nakamoto, Sandy Sobolew-Shubin, Martin Orland. (2015). The Beaverton School District Arts for Learning (A4L) Lessons Project, An Investing in Innovation (i3) Development Grant: Student Impact Findings from Years 1, 2, and 3. WestEd. https://wested.org

Page metadata

Field	Value
type	product
id	a4l-lessons-curriculum
title	A4L Lessons curriculum
description	An arts-integrated curriculum package for elementary students in grades 3–5, developed and delivered through the Arts for Learning program.
status	review
product_kind	curriculum
generated	by process:settle-candidates on 2026-10-09
trust	unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content

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