In recent years many school districts have had to restructure their arts curriculums to meet the growing emphasis on standards that is central to most school reform. This unique collection is meant to assist educators, policymakers, grantmakers and other stakeholders by focusing on the potential benefits of arts education for students and communities alike, and providing examples of creative ways school districts are handling their constraints.

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Creative Work: How Arts Education Promotes Career Opportunities Beyond the Arts

April 15, 2015

This study takes a closer look at those occupations that do not require a bachelor's degree, asking questions about what kinds of jobs they are and how they compare to jobs that do require at least a bachelor's degree. Specifically, How many job openings are there, and how well do they pay? What kinds of activities do those workers do on the job? What opportunities do they offer to learn on the job? How locally concentrated are those occupations? This report concludes with recommendations for how the K-12 education system could be improved to increase opportunities in LA's creative occupations, in ways that benefit the LA County economy as a whole.

Community Outcomes

Foundation Funding for Arts Education: An Update on Foundation Trends

April 10, 2015

To document the size and scope of arts education grantmaking by US foundations, Foundation Center and Grantmakers in the Arts collaborated on a 2005 report. The report examined foundation grantmaking for arts education between 1999 and 2003 and represented the most comprehensive analysis of foundation arts education support available. This new report updates the analysis of foundation arts education funding through 2012 and illustrates how support for arts education has evolved during a period of pronounced economic volatility and dramatic political and technological change.

Funding Trends

Turnaround Arts Initiative Final Evaluation Report

January 1, 2015

This final evaluation report provides a description and analysis of program impacts in the pilot cohort of Turnaround Arts schools at the end of their second year, including summaries of: 1) the theory of action and program pillars, 2) the evaluation design and research questions, 3) program operation and implementation in the arts, and 4) outcomes and trends in school reform indicators and student achievement data.

Classroom Examples; Student Outcomes

State of the Arts in Chicago Public Schools: Baseline Report 2012-2013

July 3, 2014

Over the past three decades, countless educational, cultural, and philanthropic leaders have worked tirelessly to improve access to the arts for all students in Chicago Public Schools. Since its inception in 2011, Ingenuity has been working in partnership with these same leaders toward the goal of an arts education for every student in every CPS school. Ingenuity underpins its work by gathering a deep set of data that provides a clear understanding of the specific arts needs of each school and the district as a whole. This report presents findings from the first year of comprehensive data collection, the 2012 -- 13 school year, and sets the baseline against which Ingenuity will annually measure district-wide efforts to expand arts instruction. Nearly four hundred schools participated in this data collection, which makes this report the most current, comprehensive view of arts education in Chicago. This report also offers an analysis of progress on the CPS Arts Education Plan and shows data related to its implementation in schools. The key to looking at the state of arts in the city's schools is taking a closer look at some of the Plan's high-level goals, which stand out as central to its overall progress.Make the arts a core subject by dedicating 120 minutes of arts instruction per week in elementary schools. (1a)Create a system to track the quantity of elementary-level arts instruction. (5a)Set minimum staffing requirements in the arts at one certified full-time employee per school or an improved ratio. (1d)Require each school to maintain a budget for the arts. (6a)Match at least one community arts partner to every school in collaboration with an arts, or other instructor. (4b)Launch the Creative Schools Certification to establish school and network-level supports to help principals plan for and implement the arts. (3c)Integrate the arts into the school progress report card. (5d)

Program Models

The Retention of Chicago's Arts Students in Comparative Perspective

May 28, 2014

Highlights:* 58 percent of Chicago arts-school alumni took up residence in the city within 5 years of the date of their last attendance. Of the regions compared in this report, only New York City has a greater portion of its arts-school alumni taking up residence in the city within 5 years, at 66 percent.* 51 percent of Chicago arts-school alumni were out-of-state applicants who came to Chicago and were still living in the city within five years of their last date of attendance. This is the second highest portion of out-of-state applicants taking up residence in the city of their alma mater. New York City's rate was highest at 54 percent.* Of arts-school alumni who searched for work, 38 percent of those attending school in Chicago obtained work prior to leaving their institution; 85 percent obtained work within a year. Alumni from other regions had similar experiences.*50 percent of Chicago's alumni reported that their first job or work experience was "closely related" to their arts-school training. However, alumni from institutions in Los Angeles County, Cleveland/Columbus and New York City reported higher rates of their first work experience being closely related to their arts training.

Annual Arts in Schools Report 2011-2012

September 6, 2013

Data from the 2006-12 Annual Arts Education Surveys and other NYCDOE databases for 2006-12 have yielded valuable information to school leaders, teachers, parents, and community-based organizations to expand students' access to and participation in the arts. Under the leadership of Mayor Bloomberg and Chancellor Walcott, the NYCDOE maintains a strong commitment to arts education for all students. The success of our endeavor to build the quality of arts instruction and equity of access across all schools, as articulated in the Blueprints for Teaching and Learning in the Arts, will depend on our continued collaboration with the arts and cultural community, the higher-education community, and other city and state agencies. Working with the New York State Education Department (NYSED), the arts and cultural community, and the higher-education community, along with school leaders and parents, the NYCDOE is fully committed to supporting quality arts education, even in the face of the most severe fiscal crisis in 40 years, and will continue to:ensure student achievement in the arts;support school leaders to plan and provide comprehensive, sequential Blueprint-based instruction for all students;build capacity of teachers to deliver quality teaching and learning in the arts; andsupport all schools to meet ArtsCount/NYSED requirements.The Office of Arts and Special Projects (OASP) -- within the Office of School Programs and Partnerships, Division of Academics, Performance, and Support -- continues to analyze arts education data to refine and develop strategies to address the findings of the Annual Arts in Schools Report and support arts education citywide.

Funding Trends; Program Models

New Opportunities for Interest-Driven Arts Learning in a Digital Age

July 23, 2013

Traditionally in the United States, schools and after-school programs have played a promi-nent part in teaching young people about the arts. Arts education has been waning in K-12 public schools in recent times, however. This is especially true in low-income communities, where public schools have often cut back on arts instruction so they can devote limited public education dollars to subjects such as writing and math that are the focus of high-stakes standardized tests.When we look outside of school, however, we see a strikingly different landscape, one full of promise for engaging young people in artistic activity. What makes this landscape possible is an eagerness to explore that springs from youths' own creative passions -- what we call "interest-driven arts learning" -- combined with the power of digital technology.This report is a step in trying to understand the new territory. It gives a rundown of scholarship in the areas of arts and out-of-school-hours learning; offers a framework for thinking about interest-driven arts learning in a digital age; examines young people's media consumption; provides a survey of youths' creative endeavors online and elsewhere, along with a look at the proliferation of technologies that young people are using in the arts; and concludes with thoughts about challenges and possibilities for the future

Classroom Examples; Program Models; Student Outcomes

Los Angeles Unified School District Arts Education and Creative Cultural Network Plan

June 14, 2013

This paper describes the 2012-2017 plan for funding arts education in the Los Angeles Unified School District. This mission for this project is as follows: The Visual and Performing Arts are an integral part of the District's comprehensive curriculum and are essential for learning in the 21st century. All LAUSD students, from every culture and socioeconomic level, deserve quality arts learning in dance, music, theatre, and visual arts as part of the core curriculum.

Program Models

Advancing Arts Education through an Expanded School Day: Lessons from Five Schools

June 4, 2013

In schools across the country, educators recognize the power of the arts to change young lives. They know that students' sustained engagement with enriching, high-quality experiences in the arts promotes essential skills and perspectives -- like the capacity to solve problems, express ideas, harness and hone creativity, and persevere toward a job well done. And yet today, educators at many schools that operate with conventional schedules are forced to choose between offering their students valuable opportunities to pursue the arts and focusing on other rigorous core classes that also are necessary for success in the 21st century. This study, which highlights an exciting new approach, is produced by the National Center on Time & Learning (NCTL), an organization dedicated to expanding learning time to improve student achievement and enable a well-rounded education, with support from The Wallace Foundation, a national philanthropy seeking to improve education and enrichment for disadvantaged children. In these pages, we present portraits of five schools that are advancing arts education through an expanded school day as they create vibrant and inclusive models of truly enriching education for all students.

Classroom Examples

Increased Arts Involvement Among Disadvantaged Students Leads to: Finding a Better Job, Earning a College Degree, and Volunteering

March 11, 2013

This infographic and accompanying text shows that low-income students who are highly engaged in the arts are more than twice as likely as their peers with low arts involvement to have earned a Bachelor's degree.

Student Outcomes

Arts Corps Program Evaluation Report

November 27, 2012

Founded in 2000 on the principle that all young people -- not just those with resources -- should have access to quality arts learning opportunities, Arts Corps is now a leading nonprofit arts education organization in Seattle. Starting with just a few classes at six sites, Arts Corps now serves over 2,000 K-12th grade students a year at approximately 40 sites. Arts Corps places after-school classes and in-school residencies primarily at schools and community centers serving low-income youth who often have few other opportunities for arts learning. Programs cover the spectrum of arts disciplines from dance to visual arts to photography to music, and include popular classes such as Brazilian dance, theater, comic illustration, spoken word, sculpture and more. Programming is designed to foster artistic competencies and creative habits of mind such as imagination, healthy risk-taking, reflection, persistence and critical thinking. The program operates on a school year, with select workshops occurring in the summer months. Arts Corps has conducted program evaluation since inception and has refined its focus each year to better explore and describe the impacts of arts classes on students. This report represents Arts Corps' evaluation work during the 2011-2012 program year.

Student Outcomes

Arts Education in Michigan: Fostering Creativity and Innovation

October 11, 2012

In the fall of 2011, Quadrant Arts Education Research, in partnership with Michigan Youth Arts, the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs, the Michigan Department of Education, and ArtServe Michigan, began a statewide study of arts education in Michigan schools. The project was designed to create a never-before-available picture of arts education in Michigan and institute baseline information for tracking and measuring future progress. This landmark study provides essential data on student access, teacher training, assessment and accountability in arts education in K-12 schools in Michigan. The data provides the groundwork to drive future arts education policy decisions that effect all Michigan students.The principals of 4163 schools, including 718 private and 293 charter schools, were asked to complete an online survey detailing numerous building-level specifics on arts education in their schools.

Student Outcomes