ESEA Funds Can Be Used for the Arts

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan recently released a letter reminding administrators and boards of education that Elementary and Secondary Education Act Title I funds may be used to fund arts education in schools. According to Secretary Duncan, “At this time when you are making critical and far-reaching budget and program decisions for the upcoming school year, I write to bring to your attention the importance of the arts as a core academic subject and part of a complete education for all students. The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) defines the arts as a core subject, and the arts play a significant role in children’s development and learning process.”

“Under ESEA, states and local school districts have the flexibility to support the arts. Title I, Part A of ESEA funds arts education to improve the achievement of disadvantaged students. Funds under Title II of ESEA can be used for professional development of arts teachers as well as for strategic partnerships with cultural, arts and other nonprofit organizations.”

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The Arts Education Effect

“The Arts Education Effect: Why Schools with Arts Programs Do Better at Narrowing Achievement Gaps” by Sandra S. Ruppert, proposes that high-quality arts education programs for all students may be a strategy for closing the achievement gap and helping more students graduate from high school. The article was published in Education Week on September 23, 2009.

The author opines that the estimated 1.3 million students who drop out of school each year may be turned off from school starting in middle school. What is troubling is recent information from the National Assessment of Educational Progress in the arts, released in June 2009, that shows a lackluster performance of eighth-grade students in music and visual arts and significant disparities in achievement in the arts (visual and music) based on socioeconomic status, race and ethnicity, gender, and type and location of schools.

Ruppert asks, “Does it really matter if the performance of eighth-grade students on the NAEP arts assessments is mediocre at best, or that significant achievement gaps based on socioeconomics and other characteristics continue to persist? It matters only if we as a nation are truly serious about reaching the president’s goal of preparing all K-12 students by 2020 to succeed in school, work, and life.”

Ruppert goes on to describe the important learning experiences that students achieve through high-quality arts education. For example, arts education helps students to develop capacities for critical thinking, creativity, imagination, and innovation, all skills and competencies that student need to succeed in the 21st century.

Research also shows that arts education can make a difference in the educational experiences of eighth graders. In 1999, the Arts Education Partnership published Champions of Change, a groundbreaking research study that “compared eighth graders who were highly involved in the arts with those who had little or no involvement and found consistently better outcomes for the highly involved students: better grades, less likelihood of dropping out by grade 10, and more positive attitudes about school. The study also showed that the benefits of high levels of arts participation can make more of a difference for economically disadvantaged students.”

Rupppert identifies five strategies, drawn from the NAEP results, that can help arts education leaders, policymakers, and educators improve performance in the arts and narrow achievement gaps:

• Ensure equal access to arts education. Eighth graders who attend schools where visual arts instruction is offered at least once a week perform better than eighth graders who attend schools where the visual arts are not taught. The same is true for music education.
• Raise levels of participation in arts courses. Even in schools where the arts are offered, actual rates of student participation can be low. For example, one-third of schools estimate that no more than 20% of their students received any music instruction in 2008. Fewer than half of eighth graders reported taking a visual arts course in 2008.
• Build interest in and demand for the arts in the early grades. Multiple factors can account for mediocre performance and low levels of participation in the arts, but one plausible explanation is that arts programs have been eliminated or reduced at the elementary grade levels, which reduces interest in and demand for arts courses in middle school.
• Focus on what works in improving student achievement in the arts. Based on the NAEP results, eighth graders perform at consistently higher levels when they attend schools where any of these conditions exist: (1) a state or district curriculum is in place; (2) classes are taught by a full-time or part-time arts specialist; and (3) classes are located in a designated and adequately equipped space.
• Level the playing field to help close the arts education achievement gap. Minority students and those from low-income households have less access to instruction and are less likely to attend schools that have a state or district curriculum in the arts. They are less likely to receive instruction from a full-time or part-time arts specialist or to take field trips or have visiting artists in their schools.

The author concludes with this recommendation: “Arts learning opportunities—both as stand-alone classes and integrated with other subjects—must play an integral role in providing all student with the complete education they need to succeed.”

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