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

SUSTAINING ARTS EDUCATION
Building and maintaining a strong, stable arts education
program that adapts to new challenges requires:
• The commitment of students to arts learning.
• Allocation of the resources needed to ensure
improved access and quality in arts education.
• Policies that affirm the value of arts education.
• Inclusion of arts education programs and arts
educators in ongoing school improvement efforts.
Findings from the Status Survey, considered alongside
ODE data from 2009-2010, provide information about
Ohio’s status in each of those areas.
Courtesy: Steven Bognar, Arts Learning Residency
FINDINGS: WHAT DO THE DATA SAY?
Summary: Nearly all of Ohio’s students in grades K-8 are enrolled in visual arts and music
education, but enrollment in the arts drops significantly when students reach high school. Most
high schools require arts courses for graduation and assign those courses the same weight as other
courses. Arts educators play a role in school improvement planning in most schools. Community
fundraising and support for the arts show that many parents and community groups support arts
education. However, school arts education budgets vary widely and typically do not always
enable the kinds of contributions the arts are capable of making in this time of educational
transformation.
INCREASING STUDENT ENROLLMENT IN THE ARTS
All students can benefit from enrolling in arts courses.
Nearly every school in Ohio provides opportunities to learn in the arts, but not all students enroll.
Ohio’s median 2009-2010 enrollment in arts courses for students in grades K-12 was 61 percent
for music and 46 percent for visual arts. (Enrollment in drama/theatre and dance, due to their
limited availability, is too low to allow definition of a median participation rate.) Figure 22 (next
page) shows enrollment by percentiles.
Status of Arts Education in Ohio’s Public Schools 49