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The profound impact of arts education on children and youth follows them throughout their lives. Arts education rewards our children by helping them to reach practical goals such as academic achievement and career success. Arts education enriches our youth with social, cultural and emotional benefits. As shown in study after study, a widely held belief in the positive value of arts education is shared by parents, teachers, school administrators and arts education experts.

This belief is the reason that arts education has historically been an important part of the education of our children in the United States. However, deeper analysis both nationwide and here in Illinois reveals a gap between what individuals, educators and elected officials profess as the value of arts education and what is allocated to arts education in terms of budget, faculty, class time, curriculum, planning and evaluation.

Illinois Creates is a broad-based statewide coalition of 150 education, business, civic and arts advocates dedicated to promoting a comprehensive, standards-based arts education program for all Illinois public school students.
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Provides the result of an unprecedented survey of all Chicago Public Schools documents the extent of arts education provided to K-12 students during the school day, in the school year 2000-2001. Complete listing and access info »

Using district data for grades six to twelve, examines the state of public school arts education in the state, including disciplines and courses offered, student enrollment, student-teacher ratios, and the effects of the district's location and wealth. Complete listing and access info »

In September 2002, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors adopted Arts for All: Los Angeles County Regional Blueprint for Arts Education, a ten-year strategic plan to restore arts education -- in dance, music, theatre, and the visual arts -- to the 1.7 million students in Los Angeles County's 80 school districts and Los Angeles County Office of Education (LACOE) classrooms. The Arts for All Executive Committee, with more than 100 partners and supported by the Los Angeles County Arts Commission, leads this effort. The initiative, now in its fifth year, has made great strides. Complete listing and access info »

In September 2002, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors adopted Arts for All: Los Angeles County Regional Blueprint for Arts Education, a strategic plan to restore arts education -- in dance, music, theatre, and the visual arts -- to the 1.7 million students in Los Angeles County's 81 school districts. The Arts for All Executive Committee, with more than 100 partners and managed by the Los Angeles County Arts Commission, leads this effort. The initiative, having completed its sixth year, has made great strides. Complete listing and access info »

The following report contains findings from case studies of the first 11 districts to join the initiative, six in 2003-2004 and five in 2004-2005. These initial districts, referred to as the Vanguard Districts, developed strategic plans to guide efforts to offer sequential, standards-based arts instruction for all students. The case studies were written in 2008 to document the progress made and the issues confronted by each district during the early stages of planning and implementing their arts plans. A second purpose was to measure preliminary effects on the level of student access to arts instruction. The results of the research are intended for use in identifying meaningful ways for Arts Commission staff and its partners to provide technical assistance as the Arts for All initiative advances. Complete listing and access info »

Arts for All: The Vanguard Districts -- Case Studies from the First Five Years fills a gap in our knowledge about arts education efforts. There is a robust and rigorous body of research on the impact of arts education on students but there is sparse research on the effective strategies for implementing, sustaining and stewarding arts education efforts. Not since Arts Education
Partnership's (AEP) Gaining the Arts Advantage (1999) has there been a comprehensive study of how school districts animate the arts in their schools. We believe these case studies and subsequent cross-case analyses offer new insights about the differences between planning to restore arts education and making that plan a reality. Complete listing and access info »

No time like the present! This is the phrase that most readily comes to mind in the world of education these days - especially for the arts. The Goals 2000 Educate America Act signed into law in March 1994 makes resources available for states and local education agencies to plan their education reform efforts based on challenging content and performance standards - which include the arts. Without a doubt, Goals 2000 is opening doors of opportunity for arts education that were previously closed.





This is the first of two Monographs devoted to the timely issue of community-based planning in arts education. Local arts agencies over the past decade have been leaders and change agents for their communities in the area of cultural planning and local arts development. It is not surprising that this expertise is being called upon as more communities take a hard look at the challenging issue of education reform.




This country is historically rooted in local determination for education. While national and state policies can serve as catalyst to education and reform efforts, true change will take place on the local level. The Goals 2000 legislation underscores this: in the first year, local education agencies will receive up to 60 percent of the funds granted to State Education Agencies to be used for local reform plan development, pre-service and professional development programs. This amount increases to 90 per cent for these activities in the second and subsequent years.




The communities featured in this Monograph series offer an array of local arts education planning strategies, circumstances and outcomes. In this first Monograph we take a look at the large city approaches used in Richmond, Virginia and Boston, Massachusetts and see similar strategies which yield very different outcomes. We also travel to the rural community of Mount Orab, Ohio, for an example of the types of planning strategies that are feasible for smaller communities with limited financial resources.




None of these communities entered into a local education planning process specifically to meet the needs of the Goals 2000 effort; they first and foremost are meeting the needs of their community. And yet, through the engagement of the community planning process, they are well positioned to take advantage of the continually unfolding opportunities.




The reader will notice that there are many common themes that run through each of the articles: the emphasis on a quality process; the inclusion of many voices at the table; as well as the strong partnerships developed between the arts community and the school leadership. There is also unmistakably the instinctive yet elusive ability to recognize and take advantage of an unexpected opportunity - even if it takes the form of a crisis.
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If the national arts education landscape has you confused, you are not alone. There are more AIE policy committees and task forces than ever before. This is also an exciting time, with new resources and increased attention to the arts as a catalyst for improving the country's schools.




Doug Herbert, Director of the Arts in Education Program at the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) begins this monograph with a guided tour of the national arts education scene. He describes the initiatives and partnerships that are shaping the policy and agenda for the arts in our children's education. He brings into focus the current momentum for supporting the arts as essential to education reform.




Tip O'Neil said, All politics is local. All change is local, too. Local communities bring to life the national AIE policy with the excellent work already in progress across the country. To help bridge the gap between the national scene and the local level, the Monograph profiles five communities that are making the arts central in their local schools. Schools, together with local arts agencies and arts organizations, are transforming teaching and learning, and redefining the role of the arts community in education, with a variety of funding and partnership strategies. These local initiatives are described in the second part of the Monograph.




There are many challenges for local arts agencies that plan to invest in arts education partnerships. Nancy Welch, Senior Research Specialist for the Morrison Institute for Public Policy, and Paul Fisher, Director of the Arts in Education Program of the Tucson/Pima Arts Council, conclude this Monograph by considering these challenges and the decisions that must be made at the local level to create a vital cycle of local arts education partnerships making the arts a part of the core curriculum.




The Monograph ends with a bibliography and resource guide that includes a glossary of the national arts and education agencies, organizations and task forces discussed by Doug Herbert.
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Arts in Focus: Los Angeles Countywide Arts Education Survey is the largest, most detailed survey on arts education in Los Angeles County, the most populous county in the United States. The county has 1,745 schools with 1.7 million students in 82 school districts. The goal of the survey was to obtain a panoramic view of arts education across this diverse landscape. Data was obtained through in-depth interviewing at the district level, just one part of the chain of educational provision. The students in the districts covered in this survey represent 27% of all students enrolled in public schools K-12 in the state of California and 3.4% of all students enrolled in public schools K-12 in the nation. The survey reveals several fundamental contradictions. Complete listing and access info »