In findings that will dismay some advocates for the arts, a Harvard study casts doubt on the link between the arts and academic achievement.

In reviewing 188 studies over the past 50 years, Harvard researchers found some evidence that playing and listening to music improves spatial thinking, but little proof that music and art classes help students read better or score higher on tests.

''We're not saying don't use the arts in presenting other topics,'' said the study's co-author, Lois Hetland, a psychologist affiliated with Harvard's Graduate School of Education. ''We're saying don't risk putting all your eggs in the basket that art will raise math scores, because the evidence is not strong enough to support that argument.''

But Don Campbell, a Colorado-based musician and journalist who has written two books on the so-called ''Mozart effect'' - the idea that listening to classical music sharpens the brain - said the connection between music and thinking defies measurement.

''The rhythm, harmony, and melodies of the music all create different perceptions and sensations within different regions of the brain,'' Campbell said. ''The Mozart effect is far more than any one study can measure.''

The issue has sparked widespread interest ever since University of Wisconsin researchers linked music to IQ six years ago. In that study, a small group of college students did better on certain spatial-reasoning tests - such as mentally cutting and folding a piece of paper - after listening to 10 minutes of Mozart's Sonata for Two Pianos in D Major.

Despite warnings from the Wisconsin researchers not to read too much into the results, the study spawned a cottage industry of classical music videotapes and CD's designed to help infants, even fetuses, think better.

Meanwhile, advocates for art and music classes in school, trying to reverse decades of budget cuts by cost-conscious school boards, began pointing to the Wisconsin study and others like it to bolster their arguments. Given the national obsession with high-stakes tests, they reasoned, it made sense to promote art and music classes as a way to boost test scores.

The Harvard study suggests they should take a different tack. Hetland and her co-author, Ellen Winner, discovered a connection between music and spatial thinking and between drama and verbal skills such as reading, writing, and oral understanding. But they didn't find any solid evidence that music, art, and dance improve reading, or that classes in the arts improve test scores.

Hetland says she's a strong supporter of art and music classes, but thinks they deserve a place in the curriculum on their own merits.

''We don't ask history to justify itself on the basis of whether it raises English scores. It's valuable on its own,'' she said.

Holly Rose of the Creative Movement and Arts Center, which has facilities in Needham, Sudbury, and Walpole and has been introducing children to music and dance for 20 years, said music has a developmental impact, if not a direct academic one.

''Music really enhances the learning experience, even if it doesn't necessarily spawn geniuses or people who excel in particular areas,'' Rose said.

Still, some arts educators insist that music and art classes can affect overall student achievement.

Arnold Aprill of the Chicago Arts Partnerships in Education said expanding the arts in Chicago schools has improved students' attitudes toward other subjects, spurred parents to get more involved, and even raised test scores.

This story ran on page B05 of the Boston Globe on 9/21/2000.
© Copyright 2000 Globe Newspaper Company.

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