This qualitative study examined the integration of arts and academic curricula at a performing arts school by focusing on the curriculum as it is understood and perceived by the students. The study centered on five students at a performing arts magnet school who were chosen based upon contrasts in their arts classes in order to represent a range of participation in the various performing arts. Findings indicated that students were unable to recognize the integration of arts in the teaching materials, strategies, and interaction in academic courses. Results also indicated that the more teacher-centered instructional materials and pedagogical strategies utilized in the arts courses, although less cohesive to the students, allowed the students to perceive the integration of more academic activities and behaviors in those art classes. The authors argue that the students' familiarity with scholastic behaviors, understood by students as "doing school," impacted the students' capacity to perceive the cohesiveness of the academic curricula and recognize the integration of these behaviors and activities in the arts courses.