The Status of Arts Education in Ohio's Public ... - Ohio Arts Council

ENSURING ACCESS AND EQUITY
Measuring the status of arts education begins with access—how available arts instruction is
overall—and equity—how the availability of arts learning opportunities differs when schools are
grouped by geographical, demographic and income characteristics.
Most Ohio students had access to arts instruction in 2009-2010, yet only a small
percentage of Ohio’s public schools offered more than two arts disciplines.
• As stated earlier, 93 percent of Ohio’s public schools provided
arts instruction in the 2009-2010 school year. When broken
down by school type, 97 percent of traditional public schools
and 61 percent of community schools provided arts instruction.
• About 54,700 of Ohio’s 1.8 million students did not have access to arts courses.
• One percent of Ohio’s public schools offered instruction in all four disciplines.
Ohio’s traditional public schools offered arts instruction at every grade level with arts
offerings clustered around music and visual arts.
• Among Ohio’s traditional public schools, 84 percent offered arts instruction in music and
visual arts.
• Among Ohio’s 612 school districts, 87 percent offered instruction at every grade level in
at least one discipline.
According to 2009-2010 ODE data, some significant arts education interests and needs
were not widely met in Ohio.
• Less than 2 percent of the Ohio public schools with arts courses offered dance courses.
Nine percent of those schools offered drama/theatre courses.
• Enrollment in dance and drama/theatre courses was less than 2 percent of students.
• Fifty-eight percent of Ohio’s public schools did not identify students gifted in the arts as
required by Ohio law. Ohio’s public schools identified 19,771 students as gifted in the
arts. Schools provided gifted education services in the arts to 1,048 of those students.
Comparing 2009-2010 results from the Ohio and the National Center for Education
Statistics (NCES) studies shows only slight differences in access and equity.
• Access to music and visual arts was slightly better in Ohio than it was nationally.
• Access to dance and drama/theatre was less common in Ohio than it was nationally.
• The gap in access between poor and wealthy districts was somewhat narrower in Ohio
than it was nationally.
Note: NCES did not collect data on gifted education in the arts.
See page 19 for
detailed information on
access and equity.
Status of Arts Education in Ohio’s Public Schools 13