Gaining The Arts Advantage:
Lessons From School Districts That Value Arts Education"
a study published by the President's Committee
on the Arts and the Humanities and Arts Education Partnership (1997)

 

Highlighted are the findings of this study, conducted in 1997,which examined
"efforts in public school districts - urban,suburban, and rural - throughout the
United States to make the arts an essential part of the general education of all
students."

 

Listed below are some factors that are found to contribute to a successful,
district-wide arts program.

 

* "The single most critical factor in sustaining arts education in
their schools is the active involvement of influential segments of the
community in shaping and implementing the policies and programs
of the district."

 

"A kaleidoscope of small communities composed of

individuals and groups from the broader community

actively engage with one another in arts and arts education

activities inside and outside of the schools...Their influence

creates a degree of consensus among the school board, the

school superintendent, and major influential segments of

the general community that the arts are an essential part of

learning..."

 

* "School Districts with strong arts education programs

generally have boards of education that provide a supportive

policy framework and environment for the arts."

 

* "Superintendents who regularly articulate a vision for arts

education are critically important to its successful

implementation and stability."

 

* "There is enough continuity in the school and community

leadership to implement comprehensive arts education."

"Many districts examined in this study have board

members, superintendents, and/or district arts coordinators

who have served in their districts for a decade or

more...Stability in these formal leadership positions is

important in pursuing a set of educational goals, while

strong community traditions that embrace the arts are

important factors in shaping a consensus supporting arts

education."

 

* "District arts coordinators facilitate program

implementation throughout a school system and maintain

an environment of support for arts education."

"Effective coordinators play a number of crucial roles

and provide several vital services:

- They are often the staff member most actively

engaged with influential segments of the community...

- Board members credit arts coordinators with keeping

"the arts on the table" during budget sessions.

- They negotiate between board and central office

policies and school-level decision making, an increasingly

critical role as districts move towards site-based

management.

- They often participate with school-level leadership

in the screening and hiring of teachers.

- Teachers in turn cite the role of district coordinator

in facilitating communication among individual schools

and in fostering the climate of support for arts education in

the community and district."

 

* "School prinicpals who collectively support the policy of

arts education for all students often are instrumental in the

policy's successful district-wide implementation."

"For a district as a whole to sustain the successful

implementation of arts education for its students, a

sufficient number of these building-level leaders must

personally value the arts or be persuaded by other pragmatic

considerations to make them an important aspect of the

school. In view of the national trend to site-based

management, this factor is critical."

 

* "Effective teachers of the arts are allowed to - indeed are

encouraged to - continue to learn and grow in mastery of

their art form as well as in their teaching competence."

"Whatever their medium or metier, teachers who also

pursue their artistic life repeatedly told researchers for this
study that the value placed on the professional quality of their
art by administrators stimulates and refreshes their

commitment both to their art and to teaching. Administrators,
in turn, pointed out that the best teachers stay actively engaged
in their art form through performances in district and community
venues."

 

* "School leaders in districts with strong, system-wide arts

education seize opportunities to make their programs

known throughout the community in order to secure support
and funding for them." "Exhibition spaces and performance
venues in the schools are made available to students, faculty,
and community artists. Free tickets are provided to students,
staff, and faculty for attendance at community arts events. One
district provided free piano lessons to all district staff. Others

create week-long festivals of the arts engaging the school

and community organizations." "Principals told researchers

that parents who never come to school for parent-teacher
conferences will come to see their child perform, creating
opportunities for building relationships important to the school
and district."

 

* "Strong arts programs in the elementary school years are

the foundation for strong system-wide programs."

"Elementary programs establish a foundation in the arts

for all students, not just for those in specialized programs or

those who choose an arts course of study in the high school.

Moreover, in some art forms such as instrumental music, a

long period of time is needed for students to achieve even

a basic level of proficiency. If such instruction is not begun

in elementary grades, a district will not have quality

programs at the secondary level."

 

* "School leaders in these districts provide specialized arts

programs as part of their broad strategy for securing and

sustaining community support for the district's overall

educational goals." "Districts examined in this study offered
a wide range of specialized programs for students of the arts,
including magnet schools, Advanced Placement programs, and

summer and weekend programs.....Students studying the

arts in these specialized programs expressed to interviewers

their intense pride in and commitment to their work."

 

* "Many districts in this study employ state or national

policies and programs to advance arts education." "Policies,
mandates, and funding from the state or national levels, will
not of themselves forge the community/school consensus
required for district-wide arts education. But committed leaders...
marshalled such forces to strengthen the consensus...."

 

* "School leaders in this study advise the adoption of a

comprehensive vision and plan for arts education but recommend
its incremental implementation."

 

* "School districts that succeed in advancing arts education

promote reflective practices at all levels of the schools to improve
quality." "A few districts...used portfolio review for evaluations of

principals and teachers as well as students. Others encourage

teachers to set themselves a challenge within their art form that
will be addressed and assessed throughout the year - composing
new music for a choral group, for instance."

 

CONCLUSION

"...A level of agreement among formal and informal

leadership in the community and school on the importance

of arts education is essential. Implementing and sustaining

that agreement requires a sufficient presence of the critical

success factors to achieve a level of quality that keeps the

consensus intact..."

 

For more information on this study, including case studies of the schools examined, visit the website: www.pcah.gov/gaa/study_findings.html

 

 

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