Why Arts Advocacy?
The last issue of Links & Threads explored the "how" question of arts education advocacy: How can schools communicate the value of arts education? But as school board members, superintendents and principals search for ways to stretch already strained budgets, another question may arise: Why? With so many demands on resources, why are efforts to sustain and strengthen arts education important?
As a committed arts advocate, you regularly highlight the intrinsic value of arts learning—its role in preserving heritage, enriching culture and strengthening the human spirit. But in hard times, short-term thinking often rules.
When decision makers are struggling with the realities of doing more with less, arts education advocates must portray arts learning not only as intrinsically valuable but also as integral to the overall improvement agenda.
Just the Facts
In today's world of testing and accountability, the big question school leaders are asking arts advocates is, "Would time and money spent on high-quality arts programs help improve standardized test results? Can the arts help narrow achievement gaps in reading and math and raise graduation rates?"
Here is some background information for responding:
1) Establishing causal links between student outcomes and any educational practice or condition is difficult at the programmatic or curricular level. However, scholars have documented gains in standardized reading and math results among groups of students receiving high-quality arts instruction. A number of the schools studied served economically disadvantaged and academically at-risk students.
2) Neuroscience researchers have established that music-making exercises the same neural pathways that govern mathematical reasoning and pattern recognition, resulting in changes to the brain's size and organization. They are actively testing the hypothesis that music learning can enhance cognitive abilities. Moreover, a number of education studies indicate that children provided with music instruction score higher than control groups on the type of spatial-temporal reasoning important in math and science.
3) Assessment results from several projects suggest strong correlations between arts learning and math and reading achievement in the early grades. For example, in eight Rhode Island schools, first-graders who had lagged behind in kindergarten were given ongoing music and visual arts training. After seven months, they caught up to their classmates in reading and outperformed them in mathematics. After a second year, their performance improved even more.
4) Neuroscience research links positive social conditions and emotional states to better cognitive performance. A number of studies suggest strong correlations between arts-rich educational experiences and positive selfimage, self-efficacy, engagement and social skills. Many of those studies include students with risk factors in their backgrounds, behavioral disorders or histories of delinquency.
5) Finally, the U.S. Department of Education considers the arts core academic subjects, and the State Board of Education has adopted academic standards for the fine arts that all students will meet only if they receive comprehensive arts education. Achievement in the arts, though not tested, is important.
Think About It . . .
Knowledge about the cognitive and academic benefits of arts learning is growing, and scholars suggest more research. Low-performing schools with enhanced arts programs have improved dramatically and outperformed comparison groups. Economic forecasts, cultural trends, the changing Web landscape and the daily challenges of educators are full of clear indications that the 21st century job market's demands for creativity and artistic skills will only increase.
Is a wait and see attitude the best choice? Should schools allow arts programs to waste away until causal links are established?
Schools that view the arts as expendable may have found a short-term solution. But they also may be exchanging one of the few avenues to quantum academic leaps for a long, slow climb toward yesterday's standards of excellence.
Go to "The Art of Improvement for more information on Advocacy.
