The Value and Quality of Arts Education
A Statement of Principles
We, the undersigned representatives of professional education
associations, share a deep concern about the nature, role,
importance, and future of arts education in the schools where
our members teach, administer, supervise, and make and implement
education policy.
We are unanimous in our agreement that all Americans who
share our concern about the quality of education in general,
and of arts education in particular (dance, visual arts, music,
theatre), should understand the value of arts education for
every child, and we encourage those who will work with us
to enhance and support arts education in our nation's schools.
To that end, we invite all Americans, both within the professional
education community and outside it, to join us in support
of the following principles.
First, every student in the nation
should have an education in the arts.
This means that all PreK-12 students must have a comprehensive,
balanced, sequential, in-school program of instruction in
the arts, taught by qualified teachers, designed to provide
students of all ages with skills and knowledge in the arts
in accordance with high national, state, and local standards.
Second, to ensure a basic education
in the arts for all students, the arts should be recognized
as serious, core academic subjects.
The arts should not be treated as extracurricular activities,
but as integral core disciplines. In practice, this means
that effective arts education requires sequential curricula,
regular time-on-task, qualified teachers, and a fair share
of educational resources. Similarly, arts instruction should
be carried out with the same academic rigor and high expectations
as instruction in other core subjects.
Third, as education policy makers
make decisions, they should incorporate the multiple lessons
of recent research concerning the value and impact of arts
education.
The arts have a unique ability to communicate the ideas and
emotions of the human spirit. Connecting us to our history,
our traditions, and our heritage, the arts have a beauty and
power unique in our culture. At the same time, a growing body
of research indicates that education in the arts provides
significant cognitive benefits and bolsters academic achievement,
beginning at an early age and continuing through school. (See
appendix for supporting examples.)
Fourth, qualified arts teachers
and sequential curriculum must be recognized as the basis
and core for substantive arts education for all students.
Teachers who are qualified as arts educators by virtue of
academic study and artistic practice provide the very best
arts education possible. In-school arts programs are designed
to reach and teach all students, not merely the interested,
the talented, or those with a particular socioeconomic background.
These teachers and curricula should be supported by local
school budgets and tax dollars, nurtured by higher education,
and derive direct professional development benefits from outstanding
teachers and trainers in the organizations we represent. Several
national education associations identify the arts as essential
learning in which students must demonstrate achievement. (Breaking
Ranks, MASSP, 1996, Principal magazine, NAESP, March, 1998.)
Fifth, arts education programs
should be grounded in rigorous instruction, provide meaningful
assessment of academic progress and performance, and take
their place within a structure of direct accountability to
school officials, parents, and the community.
In-school programs that are fully integrated into state and
local curricula afford the best potential for achieving these
ends.
Sixth, community resources that
provide exposure to the arts, enrichment, and entertainment
through the arts offer valuable support and enhancement to
an in-school arts education.
As a matter of policy or practice, however, these kinds of
activities cannot substitute for a comprehensive, balanced,
sequential arts education taught by qualified teachers, as
shaped by clear standards and focused by the content of the
arts disciplines.
Seventh, and finally, we offer
our unified support to those programs, policies, and practitioners
that reflect these principles.
On behalf of the students we teach, the schools we administer
and work in, and the communities we serve, we ask all Americans
who care deeply about making the whole spectrum of cultural
and cognitive development available to their children to join
us in protecting and advancing opportunities for all children
to receive an education in the arts.
American
Association of School Administrators
With 15,000 members, the American Association of School
Administrators, founded in 1865, is a professional organization
for superintendents, central office administrators, and
other system-wide leaders.
American Federation
of Teachers
The American Federation of Teachers, which has more than
2,100 locals nationwide and a 1998 membership of 980,000,
was founded in 1916 to represent the economic, social,
and professional interests of classroom teachers.
Association for
Supervision and Curriculum Development
The Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development
is an international, nonprofit, nonpartisan education
association committed to the mission of forging covenants
in teaching and learning for the success of all learners.
ASCD was founded in 1943 and is one of the largest professional
education associations in the world, with membership approaching
200,000.
Council for
Basic Education
The mission of the Council for Basic Education is to
strengthen teaching and learning of the basic subjects
- English, history, government, geography, mathematics,
the sciences, foreign languages, and the arts. CBE, with
a readership base of 3,000, advocates high academic standards
and the promotion of a strong liberal arts education for
all children in the nation's elementary and secondary
schools.
Council of Chief
State School Officers
National Association
of Elementary School Principals
Dedicated to educational excellence and high professional
standards among K-8 educators, the National Association
of Elementary School Principals serves 28,000 elementary
and middle school principals in the United States and
abroad.
National Association
of Secondary School Principals
The National Association of Secondary School Principals
is the nation's largest organization of school administrators,
representing 43,000 middle, junior, and senior high school
principals and assistant principals. NASSP also administers
the National Association of Student Activity Advisors,
which represents 57,000 members, as well as the 22,000
chapters of the National Honor Society.
National Education
Association
The National Education Association is the nation's largest
professional employee organization, representing more
than 2.4 million elementary and secondary teachers, higher
education faculty, education support personnel, school
administrators, retired educators, and students preparing
to become teachers.
National
PTA
The National PTA, representing 6.5 million members, is
the largest volunteer child advocacy organization in the
United States. An organization of parents, educators,
students, and other citizens active in their schools and
communities, the PTA is a leader in reminding our nation
of its obligations to children. Membership in the National
PTA is open to anyone who is concerned with the health,
education, and welfare of children and youth.
National School
Board Association
The National School Board Association represents the
nation's 95,000 school board members through a federation
of state associations and the school boards of the District
of Columbia, Guam, Hawaii, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
NSBA's mission is to foster excellence and equity in public
education through school board leadership.
APPENDIX
Supporting examples for Principle No.3
There is a demonstrated, direct correlation between improved
SAT scores and time spent studying the arts. In 1997, The
College Board reported that students with four years of study
in the arts outscored students with no arts instruction by
a combined total of 101 points on the verbal and mathematics
portions of the SAT.
Statistically significant links are now being reported between
music instruction and tested intelligence in preschool children.
In one widely cited study (Neurological Research, Feb. 1997),
after six months, students who had received keyboard instruction
performed 34% higher on tests measuring temporal-spatial ability
than did students without instruction. The findings indicated
that music instruction enhances the same higher brain functions
required for mathematics, chess, science and engineering.
As numerous school-based programs have repeatedly reported
around the country, study of the arts helps students think
and integrate learning across traditional disciplinary lines.
In the arts, they learn how to work cooperatively, pose and
solve problems, and forge the vital link between individual
(or group) effort and quality of result. These skills and
attitudes, not incidentally, are vital for success in the
21st century workplace. Sequential arts education also contributes
to building technological competencies. It imparts academic
discipline and teaches such higher level thinking skills as
analyzing, synthesizing, and evaluating both personal experience
and objective data. Finally, research findings indicate that
arts education enhances students' respect for the cultures,
belief systems, and values of their fellow learners.
Consortium of National Arts Education Associations
c/o MENC: The National Association for Music Education
1806 Robert Fulton Drive
Reston, Virginia 20191 (703) 860-4000
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