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 FY07 Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill.
• Ensure that all American students reap the benefits of a full, comprehensive education in the arts. As Congress begins reauthorizing the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), it must direct state and local education agencies to ensure that arts education is fully implemented as a core academic subject.
• Direct the U.S. Department of Education to conduct much-needed research on the status of arts education in America’s public schools.

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

Notes:  Figures above are not adjusted for inflation. Source: Americans for the Arts. The House and Senate approved $35.6 million in FY06, but the funding was subsequently reduced due to a 1 percent across-the-board rescission.

TALKING POINTS

• With increased funding, the Arts in Education programs will support newly emerging initiatives that improve arts learning, and findings from model projects may be more widely disseminated. 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 student.
• Ongoing national arts education initiatives and effort of The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and 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 NCLB has led to the erosion of arts education in the schools. A report from the Center on Education Policy concludes that, since the enactment of NCLB, instructional time for arts and music has been reduced by 20 percent. Nevertheless, U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings has said, "Many educators across the country have shown that a focus in NCLB on reading and math is not mutually exclusive of the arts and music. In fact, we all know that a well-rounded curriculum that includes the arts and music contributes to higher academic achievement." A comprehensive arts education fosters creativity and innovation, leading to a more competitive workforce. As Congress begins discussions on reauthorization of NCLB, it must address the law’s unintended consequences, which have diminished the presence of arts education in our schools.
• The U.S. Department of Education must include the arts in all research and data collection regarding the "core academic subjects." NCLB and current Department policy make it clear that decisions regarding education are made on the basis of research. The Fast Response Survey System (FRSS) report “Arts in Education in Public Elementary and Secondary Schools” is the only Department-produced research on the status of how arts education is delivered in America’s public schools. The last FRSS report was for data collected in the 1999–2000 school year, and the next round of data collection for an updated report is long overdue. Similarly, the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP)—the national arts “report card” —will provide critical information about the arts skills and knowledge of our nation’s students. The next NAEP for arts education is scheduled to be administered in 2008, and must stay on track.

BACKGROUND
Congress has a record of supporting the Arts in Education programs. This year, as in the past five years, the administration’s budget proposal has omitted support for them. Also, for the past five years, they have not been included in the U.S. House of Representatives appropriations bill. Nonetheless, Congress has steadily supported them each year, with the House agreeing to the Senate’s number, currently at $35.3 million. In a May 13, 2005, letter, authored by Representatives Louise Slaughter (D-NY), Christopher Shays (R-CT), and Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) to House Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Ralph Regula (R-OH), 108 members of the U.S. House of Representatives signed their names in support of increasing Arts in Education funding to $53 million. 

Congress will soon begin the multiyear process of reauthorizing the elementary and secondary programs of the U.S. Department of Education. NCLB, the current authorizing law, recognizes the arts as a core academic subject, making them eligible for inclusion in broad categories such as teacher training, school reform, technology, and after-school programs. 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. Congress must ensure that reforms in the areas of equity, accountability, and teacher quality support opportunities for all students to access a complete arts education.

Meaningful research is needed to determine the status of dance, music, theater, and visual arts education. The last FRSS survey dedicated to the arts was “Arts Education in Public Elementary and Secondary Schools: 1999–2000.” The FRSS reports on the status and trends of how arts education is delivered in public schools. In 1997, the NAEP was administered to approximately 6,480 students in eighth grade, assessing 268 schools. The NAEP is designed to measure students' knowledge and skills in dance, music, theater, and visual arts. Both of these quantitative studies are essential to studying and improving access to the arts as a core academic subject.

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.”
• Last year, former U.S. Department of Education Assistant Secretary Susan Sclafani stated that “the arts serve as unique and powerful tools for reaching, engaging, and motivating all learners—and thus can and should play a central role in fulfilling NCLB’s goal of improved student achievement.”
• 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 publication 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 their peers on virtually every measure. Researchers found that "sustained learning" in music and theater correlates 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 contended.
• A recent study by the Arts Education Partnership, Third Space: When Learning Matters, finds that schools with large populations of students in economic poverty—often places of frustration and failure for students and teachers alike—can be transformed into vibrant and successful centers of learning and community life when the arts are infused into their culture and curriculum.

The arts prepare students for success in work and life.

• As our country seeks to train and retrain 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.”
• After-school programs help families, keep children safe, improve academic performance, and provide children with access to the arts.