An Arts-rich Education Helps Prepare Students for A Changing World

A growing body of evidence points to the important role of arts education
in improving student achievement, offering positive alternatives to troubled
youth, developing America’s creative industries and building a workforce
capable of competing in an increasingly knowledge-based global economy.

From The Education Commission of the States "The Progress of Education Reform 2004 The Arts in Education"

This publication is made possible in part through
a grant from the GE Foundation. The report was
written by Suzanne Weiss, ECS managing editor.

While tight budgets have led to the reduction or elimination of K-12 music,
art, drama, dance and creative writing programs in some states and school
districts over the past several years, other states and districts have found ways
to maintain and, in some cases, even increase funding.
Arts education enjoys considerable public support, particularly among
parents. According to a 2001 Harris Poll, an overwhelming majority of
American adults view the arts as vital to providing children with a wellrounded
education, and nine in 10 parents of school-age children oppose
subjecting arts programs to budget cutbacks.

The number of credits earned by high school students in the arts has
been rising for 20 years, and so has the number of states that have
established some study of the arts as a graduation requirement. But more
than half of the states do not have such a requirement. Moreover, there are
increasing disparities in arts coursetaking among students of different races
and socioeconomic backgrounds, as well as between students in
academic and vocational tracks.

While virtually every state has adopted standards in the arts, only
a few have incorporated the arts into their accountability systems.
This omission, advocates of arts education fear, inadvertently
encourages schools and districts to reduce their investment
in a balanced curriculum in favor of one heavily
weighted to those subjects measured in state
accountability systems.

This issue of The Progress of
Education Reformprovides a brief
summary of several recent research
studies on the role and value of
education in the arts, as well as a
look at the results of National
Assessment of Educational Progress
tests in music, visual arts and theater.

For the full report: http://www.ecs.org/clearinghouse/49/91/4991.pdf