Yesterday, the DOE released its second annual Arts in Education report. The 'gains' celebrated by the DOE -- rising percentages of students participating in the arts --obscure both the comparatively small fraction of students who receive arts education at all, and the overwhelming trend of decreasing arts education as students progress from elementary to middle to high school.
For an example of a little bit of good news, the report says that the DOE has increased per capita arts funding. They have -- from $308 per student to $311. Is a $3 rise significant? You be the judge.
Visual arts remains the most widely offered discipline, but less than half of the city's elementary schools and only a third of middle schools offer four arts options -- visual arts, music, drama, and dance. These numbers, while disturbingly low, do represent increases from 2006-07 (38% and 17%, respectively), which the report attributes at least in part to more accurate reporting.
Arts study decreases significantly as students get older. From an average of 83% of elementary students exposed to at least one arts discipline during the academic year, the percentage drops steadily: 73% of 7th graders, 57% of 8th graders, declining to 31% in 12th grade.
An article in the Post highlighted serious shortfalls in elementary arts education, but a couple of nagging questions persist: There's little distinction drawn by DOE between arts within general-ed coursework (think tri-fold board craft projects) and studio-level arts instruction. And there's no attention paid to the minority of public schools in relatively wealthy districts which, via PTA funding and other parent-supported efforts, maintain their own robust arts programs, distinct from DOE curriculum.
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