Advocacy Information

ArtsEdge: Advocacy Resources

Did You Know?

The No Child Left Behind Act’s definition of core academic subjects includes the arts.

In this respect, the arts were given equal billing with reading, math, science, and other disciplines. And this definition could lead to a huge improvement in national education policy. This means that whenever federal education programs (such as teacher training, school reform, and technology programs) are targeted to “core academic subjects,” the arts may be eligible to receive funds.

Washington, D.C. (July, 2004 ) — Secretary of Education Rod Paige recently penned a letter supporting arts education. It cites both the benefits and the supporting research that arts education contributes to our educational system. “I believe the arts have a significant role in education,” Paige writes, “both for their intrinsic value and for the ways in which they can enhance general academic achievement and improve students’ social and emotional development.”

Secretary Paige refers to the National Educational Longitude Study (NES: 88) from the University of California-Los Angeles, launched in 1988. A nationally-representative group of eighth-graders were surveyed, as well as parents, teachers and school administrators. Researchers found that students who had arts included in their education performed better on standardized tests, donated more community service hours, watched fewer hours of television, were less bored in school and were less likely to drop out of school.

How does arts education produce such results? In 2002, the Arts Education Partnership released Critical Links: Learning in the Arts and Student Academic and Social Development . The art education findings compiled results of 62 studies, in six major areas. These areas encompassed reading and language development, including basic reading; literacy and writing; mathematics; fundamental cognitive skills and capacities; motivation to learn; effective social behaviors and issues relating to school environment.

Among other findings, the report documented students’ improved ability to understand complex issues and emotions; problem solving dispositions/strategies; self-confidence, motivation and ability to focus; nonverbal reasoning; verbal skills and writing skills; and reasoning about scientific images.

Critical Links: Learning in the Arts and Student Academic and Social Development and the National Educational Longitude Study support Secretary Paige’s emphasis on the importance of education. In light of “the important knowledge and skills they impart and the ways in which they help students succeed in school and in life,” Paige notes, “the arts are an important part of a complete education.”

Vivian Wessel is executive director of the Arizona Alliance for Arts Education (AAAE). The Alliance is a member of the Kennedy Center Alliance for Arts Education Network, a program of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, in Washington D.C. It is a 30-year-old 501C3 coalition of organizations and individuals who work to develop and support policies and practices to ensure every child has access to a quality arts education. For more information, please call 602.264.0299, or visit http://www.artsed.org/ .

Arts Education Partnership is a national collation of arts, education, business, philanthropic, and government organizations that demonstrates and promotes the essential role of the arts in the learning and development of every child and the improvement of America’s schools. For more information on the Arts Education Partnership and Critical Links, please visit www.aep-arts.org.

Student Advocacy Statements
The Arts are exercise for the brain. Scientific studies prove that 30 minutes a day with a creative activity builds “dendrites,” (brain connectors). The arts make us smarter.
The Arts makes us more careful observers. This helps us to become better at sports, spelling & math by being able to recognize subtle differences.
Art helps us to understand the history of the world. Artists left visual images before there were cameras.
The Arts develop imagination.
The Arts makes different cultures unique and gives us a greater understanding of others.

Ask students to tell their parents about a particular concept they are studying in art or music. Reward the ones who do. This will begin a dialogue about the arts at home.

Adult Advocacy Statements

Did you know?
That young people who participate in the arts for at least three hours on three days each week through at least one full year are:

4 times more likely to be recognized for academic achievement.
3 times more likely to be elected to class office within their schools.
4 times more likely to participate in a math and science fair.
3 times more likely to win an award for school attendance.
4 times more likely to win an award for writing an essay or poem.

Did you know?

The arts teach kids to be more tolerant and open.
The arts allow kids to express themselves creatively.
The arts promote individuality, bolster self-confidence and improve overall academic performance.
The arts can help troubled youth, providing an alternative to delinquent behavior and truancy while providing an improved attitude towards school.
89% of Americans believe that arts education is important enough to be taught in schools.

Facts about Arts Education: http://www.artsusa.org/