The importance of arts education

A per pupil payment to Baltimore City principals will be a gift for some and a chore for others. Choosing how to spend their dollars school leaders need to be well educated about the options available for students and the benefit and downside of programs and services. Principals would be well advised to consider reinstituting or increasing arts funding in their schools. Research on the relationship between arts education and student achievement suggests that an investment in arts programs can improve the educational experience of children.

Since NCLB became law schools have been criticized for shifting resources away from courses such as arts and music in order to increase time for test preparation. An article in Politico, http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1107/6715.html, quotes a recent study by the Center on Education that finds school time spent in art classes had decreased by nearly half since NCLB was passed. “Some educators say that the focus on testing is so intense that it is forcing schools to siphon time away from other non-test subjects such as music and dance.” Arts education was originally included as a core subject in NCLB but it was difficult to find both funding and attention for arts after reading and math tests became schools’ main focus. The law also does not require schools to provide arts classes. 

The arts community has responded with research suggesting that eliminating arts from education inadequately prepares students for 21st century careers. An integrated arts curriculum has been shown to increase imagination and creativity as well as focus and discipline. “Art classes enhance the creative and innovative thinking that drives entrepreneurs.” Studies have found that art classes can help students’ performance in other subjects and could even raise test scores. For instance, dance movement can be used to help a child learn rhythm and meter in reading classes, while singing can enrich the memorization of multiplication tables.

Locally a group of arts supporters have come together to emphasize the importance of a fully integrated arts curriculum in our schools. Partners for Enhanced Learning formed in 2004 with a mission “(t)o lead a community-wide collaborative effort using Baltimore’s arts, cultural, educational and leadership resources as the vehicles to transform Baltimore’s middle grade schools into powerful learning communities.” http://www.baltimorepartners.org/organizationalhistory.html. Their goal is to have an arts program in every middle grades school in Baltimore. Hopefully, principals will become educated on the importance of arts in their schools and when it comes time to allocate resources decide to make an investment in an area that has been shown not only to improve achievement but to keep children who might not otherwise be engaged in school coming back for more.