policy and advocacy

Issue Brief: Strengthening Arts Education in No Child Left Behind

Helping Children Achieve in School, Work, and Life

ACTION NEEDED
We urge Congress to:

• Ensure that all American students reap the benefits of a full, comprehensive education in the arts. As Congress begins reauthorizing the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), it must provide support for state and local education agencies to ensure that arts education is fully implemented as a core academic subject.
• Include arts education in the hearings related to reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act. 

TALKING POINTS

• The arts are designated as a "core academic subject", but implementation of NCLB has led to the erosion of arts education in the schools. A report from the Center for Education Policy concludes that, since the enactment of NCLB, 22 percent of school districts surveyed have reduced instructional time for art and music. Nevertheless, U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings has said, "Many educators across the country have shown that a focus in NCLB on reading and math is not mutually exclusive of the arts and music. In fact, we all know that a well-rounded curriculum that includes the arts and music contributes to higher academic achievement." As Congress begins discussions on reauthorization of NCLB, it must address the law’s unintended consequences, which have diminished the presence of arts education in our schools.
• The arts are proven to help close the achievement gap. A 2006 study by the Arts Education Partnership, Third Space: When Learning Matters, finds that schools with large populations of students in economic poverty–often places of frustration and failure for students and teachers alike–can be transformed into vibrant and successful centers of learning and community life when the arts are infused into their culture and curriculum.
• The arts prepare students for success in school, work, and life. The 2006 report from the New Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce, a bipartisan assembly of Education Secretaries, state officials, and business leaders, said in its executive summary, “The best employers the world over will be looking for the most competent, most creative, and most innovative people on the face of the earth and will be willing to pay them top dollar for their services.”  The report includes the arts as an essential skill for the future workforce.

BACKGROUND
The No Child Left Behind Act, the 2001 update of the 1965 Elementary & Secondary Education Act (ESEA), will expire in September 2007.  Congress will soon begin the process of reauthorizing this law which recognizes the arts as a core academic subject, making them eligible for inclusion in broad categories such as teacher training, school reform, technology, and after-school programs. However, in implementing NCLB, school systems are focusing largely on reading and math at the expense of arts education and other core subjects of learning. 

Attached to this issue brief is a paper titled Arts Education: Creating Student Success in School, Work, and Life which is a statement supported by more than 60 national arts education and education organizations.  This unified statement serves as a tool for communicating the benefits of arts education to policymakers at all levels as federal lawmakers begin the process of reauthorizing the No Child Left Behind Act.