Arts Education is Important for Children

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Arts Education is Important for Children

  • 17,000 community organizations (such as Boys & Girls Clubs, libraries, parks and rec) are using arts to:
    • Divert youth from gangs, drugs, and the juvenile justice system
    • Provide a cost-effective approach with better results than sports and boot camps
    • Reduce truancy and improve academic performance
    • Build self-discipline, communication, and job skills
  • Example: The Arts Apprenticeship Training Program at the Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild in one of Pittsburgh’s poorest neighborhoods found that
    • 80% of participants go on to college compared to 20% of the community’s non participating youth
    • In the program’s three years, juvenile crime dropped 27%
    • For 11- and 12-year-old youth, the rate of repeat criminal behavior dropped 64%
    • The cost per participant is $850 per year vs. $28,000 per year for juvenile boot camp
  • The US Department of Justice finds that these programs:
    • Increase the ability to express anger appropriately, and to communicate and cooperate effectively with others
    • Increased academic stamina
    • Reported a decrease in delinquent behavior
    • Resulted in improvements in attitude towards school, self-esteem, and self-efficacy
    • Fewer new court referrals during the program period
    • New offenses by participants during program period tended to be less severe than prior to the program
  • A study by Stanford University found that young people who participate in the arts for at least three hours three days a week through at least one full year were:
    • 4 times more likely to be recognized for academic achievement
    • 3 times more likely to be elected to class office within their schools
    • 4 times more likely to participate in a math and science fair
    • 3 times more likely to win an award for school attendance
  • In the last decade, arts education in schools has decreased dramatically.
    • 16% of districts reduced elementary school class time for music and art
    • In 2006, 89% of schools in California failed to offer a standards-based course of study in music, visual arts, theater, and dance
    • Regardless of push from Bloomberg, still only 45% of elementary schools, 35% of middle schools, and only 34% of high schools in NYC provided arts education in all four forms
  • Recent proposed budget cuts will dramatically reduce the ability of organizations to provide arts services and programs for children
    • Obama proposed cutting funding by 6 million (from 167.5 million to 161.3 million) while demand for services continues to rise.
    • New budget proposals also consolidate Arts in Education funding into a larger pool that funds a wide range of subjects with no guarantee of specific arts education grants.

Information gathered from Americans for the Arts, Center for Education Policy, and other sources.