Growing Chorus Fights to Preserve Arts Education in Schools

Arts educators cheered when the arts were declared a “core” academic subject under the No Child Left Behind education reform measure signed into law two years ago by President Bush.

Since then, however, those cheers have turned to consternation as arts educators have watched school districts around the nation cut classroom time and funding for art and music. School officials say they now need to focus most of their attention and money on reading and math — the subjects in which students are tested annually under this law.

But arts educators, joined by groups representing teachers, parents, school administrators and school boards, are fighting back. Citing research showing a strong correlation between the arts and students’ academic success, these groups have mounted national public awareness campaigns aimed at convincing parents, educators and school board members about the importance of arts education in creating well-rounded students.

In addition, the National Art Education Association has created a “Tips For Parent Advocacy” booklet to help parents lobby locally to keep or increase arts education in their schools.

Another group, the Arts Education Partnership, has produced a guide, “No Subject Left Behind,” designed to help state and local education leaders identify and apply for federal funding that can be used for arts education under the NCLB law.

The importance of arts education took center stage recently at the national conference of the Education Commission of the States, a Denver-based group that works with governors, legislators and state education officials.

Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas, the commission’s incoming chairman, has chosen arts education as the theme for his two-year term in that job and is expected to push for efforts to integrate the arts into the K-12 curriculum.

The issue also was a focus at the recent convention of the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies and the Americans for the Arts group. Donna Collins, executive director of the Ohio Alliance for Arts Education, is part of a convention panel that will explore ways to ensure the continuation and improvement of arts education in American public schools.

“We all want a high-quality education for our children, and we want schools to be accountable for providing that,” Collins said in a telephone interview. “But we can’t just be focused on reading, writing and science.”

A Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup poll done last year found that 80 percent of Americans have at least a “fair amount” of concern that there will be less emphasis on the arts and other subjects because of the NCLB’s focus on assessing student improvement only in reading, math and, eventually, science.

The law, among other things, requires annual math and reading tests from third through eighth grades and once in high school.

Under the NCLB, arts education was listed as a core subject for the first time in federal education law. But reports released over the past several months have documented that arts classes are getting squeezed out of schools because the federal law doesn’t require that students be tested for their proficiency in art, music, dance or drama.

In addition, because many people see the arts as “academic frills,” these classes often have been the first to be cut as cash- strapped school districts are forced to make tough budget choices.

As a result, art, music and other arts classes are at risk of becoming a “lost curriculum,” said Brenda Welburn, executive director of the National Association of State Boards of Education.

“The fact is, however, that these subjects should be considered as fundamental to a child’s education as the three ‘R’s,’ ” Welburn said.

A recent report by the Council for Basic Education, a Washington- based education nonprofit, found that schools are spending substantially less time on the arts as well as social studies, civics, geography and languages since NCLB became law.

The report, billed as the first to examine how NCLB is influencing instructional time in key subject areas, said such a trend is worrisome in light of research showing that active involvement in music, art and other arts subjects helps students do better in more traditional academic subjects.

In addition, the report, titled “Academic Atrophy: The Condition of the Liberal Arts in America’s Public Schools,” found that schools with large numbers of minority students have been particularly affected by cutbacks in art education classes.

“Truly high expectations cannot begin and end with mathematics, science and reading,” the report’s authors stated.

“Though we must certainly strive to close racial achievement gaps in mathematics and reading, we run the risk of substituting one form of inequity for another, ultimately denying our most vulnerable students the full liberal arts curriculum our most privileged youth receive almost as a matter of course.”

Michael Petrilli, a senior U.S. Department of Education official, said NCLB isn’t meant to undercut support for the arts. “While accountability in the law is focused on reading and math, the two most basic subjects, there is a lot in the law that supports other academic subjects, such as the arts,” Petrilli said.

“The spirit of No Child Left Behind is to make sure that every child in America gets the kind of well-rounded education once reserved for children of the elite,” Petrilli added.