policy and advocacy

Issue Brief - Arts Education through the U.S. Department of Education

Helping Children Succeed in School, Work, and Life

ACTION NEEDED
We urge Congress to:

• Appropriate $53 million for the Arts in Education programs in the FY06 Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Bill
• Maintain the arts as a core academic subject. As Congress begins the reauthorization process, it must include language that directs state and local education agencies to ensure that all American students reap the benefits of a full, comprehensive education in all core subjects, including the arts 
• Fully fund after school learning opportunities through the 21st Century Community Learning Centers program.

Table: Arts in Education Annual Appropriations, FY01 to Present (in millions of dollars)

Fiscal Year	‘01	‘02	‘03	‘04	‘05
Appropriation	28.0	30.0	33.8	35.1	35.6

Figures above are not adjusted for inflation.  Source:  Americans for the Arts

TALKING POINTS

• Federal leadership impacts schools and communities nationwide. Arts in Education funds provide unique federal support for:
• Model Arts Collaborations with Schools that strengthen student learning through standards-based arts education and integration of arts instruction into other subject areas.
• Professional Development for Arts Educators grants, identifying innovative models that improve instruction for arts specialists and classroom teachers.
• Evaluation and National Dissemination, multiplying the impact of this federal investment.  State and local education agencies can adapt these models to provide rigorous arts instruction for all students.
• Ongoing national arts education initiatives of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and the efforts of VSA arts to ensure the participation of people with disabilities in arts programming in schools and communities.
• The arts are designated as a "core academic subject," however, implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) has led to the erosion of art education in the schools. In a July 26, 2004 letter, former Education Secretary Rod Paige said, "As I travel the country, I often hear that arts education programs are endangered because of No Child Left Behind...It's disturbing not just because arts programs are being diminished or eliminated, but because NCLB is being interpreted so narrowly as to be considered the reason for these actions." As discussions begin regarding reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, Congress must address the unintended consequences of NCLB that have diminished the presence of arts education in our schools. The Department must also include the arts in all research and data collection regarding the "core academic subjects."
  
  After school programs help families, keep children safe, improve academic performance, and provide children with access to the arts.

BACKGROUND
This year, as in the past four years, the Administration’s budget proposal has omitted support for the U.S. Department of Education’s Arts in Education programs.  Congress has steadily increased support for the programs each year, providing $35.6 million for FY05. 

Congress will soon begin the multiyear process of reauthorizing the elementary and secondary programs of the U.S. Department of Education.  The current authorizing law, the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, recognizes the arts as a core academic subject, making them eligible for inclusion in broad categories such as teacher training, school reform, and technology.  However, in implementing NCLB, school systems are focusing largely on reading and math at the expense of arts education and other core subjects of learning.

After school programs often feature significant arts learning opportunities.  The Administration’s FY06 budget recommends $991 million in funding for 21st Century Community Learning Centers, the federal after-school program. We request that the program be fully funded at its authorized level.
 
ARTS EDUCATION: ADDITIONAL TALKING POINTS
Congress and the White House have included the arts in the definition of core academic subjects and 49 states have adopted standards for arts learning.  (In Iowa content standards are developed at the school district level. All Iowa school districts have arts standards.)

• The current chair of the Education Commission of the States (ECS), Governor Mike Huckabee (R-AR) has made arts education his highest priority. Governor Huckabee has said, “In the true spirit of No Child Left Behind, leaving the arts out is beyond neglect and is virtual abuse of a child. It is certainly inexcusable.”
• A 2003 study by the National Association of State Boards of Education (NASBE) concluded that the arts are “increasingly at risk of being lost as part of the core curriculum.”  And, according to a study by the Council for Basic Education (CBE), 25 percent of principals reported decreases in the time their schools devote to the arts and 33 percent expect decreases in the next two years.  Congress must act to reverse these trends.

The arts are proven to help close the achievement gap.

• The collection of research described in Critical Links: Learning in the Arts and Student Academic and Social Development finds that learning in the arts may be uniquely able to boost learning and achievement for young children, students from economically disadvantaged circumstances, and students needing remedial instruction.
• According to the Arts Education Partnership report Champions of Change: The Impact of the Arts on Learning, a compilation of studies on the impact of arts on learning, students who participate in the arts outperform those who don't on virtually every measure. Researchers found that "sustained learning" in music and theater correlate to greater success in math and reading, and students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds see the greatest benefits. In fact, "learning in and through the arts can help 'level the playing field' for youngsters from disadvantaged circumstances," the researchers contend.

The arts prepare students for success in work and life.

• As our country seeks to train and re-train our workforce to prepare for new jobs, the arts should be a component of that training.  According to the National Governors Association brief, The Impact of Arts Education on Workforce Preparation, “School districts are finding that the arts develop many skills applicable to the ‘real world’ environment.  In a study of 91 school districts across the nation, evaluators found that the arts contribute significantly to the creation of the flexible and adaptable workers that businesses demand to compete in today’s economy.”
• The arts advance the motivation to learn.  Motivation and the aspiration to pursue and sustain learning are essential to achievement in all areas of life. Learning in the arts nurtures these capacities, including active engagement, disciplined and sustained attention, and persistence, and increases attendance and educational aspirations.