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

ANALYSIS: HOW DOES OHIO COMPARE TO A NATIONAL SAMPLE?
Ohio differs slightly from the nation in systemic support for arts education.
A comparison of Ohio’s Status Survey results and the results of a survey by the National Center for
Education Statistics (NCES, 2012) showed slight differences between Ohio’s survey responses and those
of the national sample regarding the factors that help sustain and strengthen arts education.
Including the Arts in Planning: As shown
in Figure 27, including arts educators in school
improvement teams is less prevalent among
Ohio high schools (73 percent) than among high
schools nationally (88 percent).
Requiring Arts Courses: Seventy-nine
percent of the Ohio high schools responding to
the Status Survey included at least one credit in
the arts as part of their graduation requirements.
High schools in the national sample required
arts courses at a rate of 59 percent. The national
data did not indicate whether counting high
school-level courses taken in grades 7 and 8
toward graduation is widely permitted in other
states.
Weighting Arts Courses Equally:
Assigning equal weighting to arts courses is
more common nationally (96 percent) than it
is in Ohio (84 percent).
Figure 27: Percentage of Schools That Included Arts
Specialists in Improvement Planning—National
Sample Compared to Ohio Survey
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
73%
National
76%
Ohio
88%
73%
K-8 High School
The national survey asked about not only school improvement
teams but also site-based management and leadership councils.
Ohio’s survey referred only to “school improvement teams.”
Figure 28: Arts Course Requirements and Course Weighting
— National Sample Compared to Ohio Survey
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
59%
79%
Percentage of High Schools Requiring
at Least One Arts Course to Graduate
96%
84%
National
Ohio
Percentage of High Schools Assigning
Equal Weight to Arts Courses
Status of Arts Education in Ohio’s Public Schools 54