A prevailing urban legend exists about the status of arts education in our schools. “We all know the arts are the first to be cut.” This view is so widely held that it can limit us to a mindset of scarcity and victimhood. In fact, exciting progress is being made to increase arts programs in school districts all across the country. Some terrific tools are being developed in California that allow access to real data about school arts programs.
California school districts already report secondary school student enrollment in arts courses to the California Department of Education. But until recently that information was buried deep within the CDE website. Now, thanks to CREATE CA (http://www.createca.dreamhosters.com/), a new online tool is available to look in depth at all California districts. A coalition of the leading statewide arts and education organizations, CREATE CA was able to join with Bob Morrison of Quadrant Research to bring this great resource to our state. You can see the Arts Education Data Project here (http://www.createca.dreamhosters.com/artsed-dataproject/). These are some of the key findings or trends from middle and high schools:
- Although most students (96.7%) have access to arts instruction, only 26% of students have access to the four arts disciplines as required by state education code.
- Thirty-eight percent of all students participated in arts education courses. This represents more than 1.2 million students.
- Participation in Art (17%) and Music (14%) were highest among the five artistic disciplines. Music and Art are also the most widely available of the arts disciplines.
- There were 101,374 students, or 3.3%, who did not have access to any arts instruction. Between 2014 and 2015 there has been a 9.6% improvement in the number students without access to arts instruction.
Meanwhile, the Los Angeles County Arts Education Collective has long sought to get an accurate school-level picture of the status of arts education, including elementary schools. Experience tells us that a summary picture at the school district level can never reveal the nuances and the disparities that may existing within and across the individual school campuses. In order to drill down to the campus level, the Collective developed a survey that was sent to every public school in the County. Thanks to a strong 40% response rate, the data collected provides a robust look at the status of arts education. These are some of the key findings from the Los Angeles County Arts Education Profile:
- Arts instruction is offered in nearly every school in LA County, and most schools offer two or more disciplines.
- Nearly every school district has an arts coordinator on staff responsible for overseeing arts education, who usually does this work part time along with other job responsibilities.
- Teaching artists and arts nonprofits play a critical role in arts education, providing arts instruction in more than half of all public schools in LA County.
- Equity continues to be a challenge in arts education. Schools with a larger share of English learners, more students eligible for free and reduced price meals (a proxy for low income) and more students of color tend to provide less arts instruction which is of lower quality. The evidence for this is stronger in elementary grades than secondary.
You can use this tool to look at every public school site and school district in Los Angeles County https://www.lacountyartsedcollective.org/research-evaluation/arts-ed-profile.
Between the state level and Los Angeles County data, it is clear that arts education is alive and well in most communities. The challenge now is to understand and correct the inequities and disparities that stand in the way of full access for all students.