We don't guess. We read the studies. Here's what they say.

Peer-reviewed research on book illustration design shows well-designed illustrations measurably improve attention and comprehension for young readers — the closest research to Read & Paint's actual format.

Dupont, S. (1992), Reading Research and Instruction — a controlled study of 51 remedial 5th graders found comprehension gains that transferred even to passages they hadn't acted out.

Catterall & Waldorf (1999), Chicago Arts Partnerships in Education, in Champions of Change — in a multi-year evaluation of Chicago public schools, the share of sixth graders reading at or above grade level in arts-integrated schools went from about 8 to about 14 percentage points ahead of matched comparison schools (1993–1998). Ninth graders in the program’s high schools also scored higher than the citywide average, but that difference was not statistically significant.

President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities (2015), Turnaround Arts Initiative — schools saw a 13% average increase in reading proficiency over three years, alongside higher attendance and fewer disciplinary issues.

Peer-reviewed research (2024) found drawing is a more reliable way to boost recall than writing, because it forces multi-channel processing — visual, kinesthetic, and semantic at once.

A study of 125 preschoolers found the two are linked, with both tied to working memory and executive function.

Catterall, Chapleau & Iwanaga (1999), Champions of Change — a 25,000-student, 10-year longitudinal study from UCLA's Imagination Project.

Menzer, M. (2015), National Endowment for the Arts — a literature review of peer-reviewed studies on children birth to age 8.

Peer-reviewed research on art-based interventions shows real improvements in both regulation and mental health markers.

National Literacy Trust research on reading motivation — the largest gains are concentrated in struggling readers who become genuinely engaged.

Multiple studies tie arts integration to higher on-task behavior, higher attendance, and fewer disciplinary incidents.

A peer-reviewed systematic review found shared reading produces significantly greater verbal interaction than screen time, regardless of child age.

Dialogic reading — where the adult actively prompts the child — repeatedly shows improved vocabulary and comprehension over passive read-aloud.

National Endowment for the Arts (2012), four longitudinal studies — low-income students with high arts involvement attended college at 71% vs. 48% for low-arts peers, and were 4x more likely to participate in civic or school service.