Arts Education: Creating Success in
School, Work, and Life

A child's education is not complete unless it includes the arts. In fact, the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) lists the arts among the core academic subjects, requiring schools to enable all students to achieve in the arts and to reap the full benefits of a comprehensive arts education.

In spite of this federal direction, access to arts education in our schools is eroding. A report from the Center on Education Policy concludes that, since the enactment of NCLB, instructional time for art and music has been reduced in 22 percent of school districts-and this at a time when parents, employers, and civic leaders are demanding improvements to the learning environment that will make our schools places where all learners will have access to a complete education and opportunities to succeed. These demands cannot be met without comprehensive arts education.

• The Arts Prepare Students for School, Work, and Life
  The arts make a tremendous impact on the developmental growth of every child, often reaching students not otherwise engaged, uniquely bridging the broad spectrum of learning styles. Low achieving students often become high achievers in arts learning settings and their success in the arts classroom can often transfer to achievement in other subject areas. Students who participate in the arts outperform those who do not on virtually every measure. In addition, students in high-poverty schools benefit dramatically from arts education. Overall, the arts teach children the skills necessary to succeed in life learning to solve problems, make decisions and think creatively; building self-esteem and self-discipline; articulating a vision; developing the ability to imagine what might be; and accepting responsibility to complete tasks from start to finish.
  
  The Arts Strengthen the Learning Environment
  Where schools and communities are delivering high-quality learning opportunities in, through, and about the arts, extraordinary results occur. In-school and after-school learning partnerships with arts organizations, when teamed with rigorous instruction in the arts during the school day, provide students with opportunities to achieve arts literacy.  These programs decrease the frequency of delinquent behavior and school truancy, and improve overall academic performance, communication skills, and the ability to complete work on task.
  
  The Arts Can Retain Teachers Who Love to Teach
  Schools, especially those struggling, can retain their best teachers by becoming havens for creativity and innovation, places where students want to learn and teachers want to teach.  The arts can help retain the best current and future educators in our nation's schools. For schools to develop this sense of community and collaboration through the arts, arts instruction for every child must be delivered by teachers with specific and expert arts and education knowledge. The arts must be both comprehensively learned and rigorously taught as a core subject, providing students with essential success skills and offering a methodology for learning that generates creative teaching solutions from which all teachers can benefit.
  
  To Learn More:
  
  - Americans for the Arts, www.artusa.org
  - Support Music, www.supportmusic.com
  - National Assembly of State Arts Agencies, www.nasaa-arts.org/