Evaluators concluded that one of the finest attributes of the RIGs is their summer institute programs for teams of school principals, art specialists, and general classroom teachers. These programs have become indispensable in redefining DBAE theory and practice and preparing participants to experiment with new ideas and implement programs in their schools.

At their best, the summer institutes serve as rites of passage from traditional instructional approaches to the world of art and discipline-based art education, facilitating the introduction of DBAE programs in elementary and secondary schools.

The DBAE institutes are predicated on the belief that teaching art requires knowledge of artworks and of the inquiry process of the artist, art historian, art critic, and aesthetician. In the most effective DBAE institutes, learning takes place not in classrooms but in art museums, art centers, galleries, artists' studios, and other authentic art world contexts.

Of the one hundred individual summer institute programs evaluated between 1988 and 1995, those deemed best transported participants the farthest from their everyday worlds and provided the most complete experiences of what it is like to live in the art world. They encouraged participants to explore different dimensions of the art world, play with art-related ideas, and create new instructional strategies.

Authentic art world encounters, evaluators believe, can radically alter beliefs about the meanings of artworks and inspire participants to return to their schools firmly determined to implement comprehensive art education programs.

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