Messages and Research

Arts North Carolina’s core statements about arts education should serve as a launching pad for discussion in your communities about how to preserve, grow, and sustain arts education in our public schools.

1. Arts education programs have been shown to lower dropout rates and contribute to higher graduation rates.




2. Training in the arts and arts integration are “ready-now” strategies to graduate students who can compete in a global setting and who can provide a trained labor force for the new service based economy.

3. Strong, sequential arts education programs correlate to higher achievement in standardized test, academic performance, and school participation.

Explore these national sites for additional arts education support:

The NAMM Foundation Support Music Website
www.nammfoundation.org/support-music/community-action-kit
A comprehensive grassroots advocacy program focused on music education but adaptable to any discipline.

The Kennedy Center Alliance for Arts Education Network
The KCAAEN brings together educators, school administrators, parents, cultural leaders, and citizens from across the nation. KCAAEN seeks to advance the quality of education through the inclusion of the arts in the curriculum. The Kennedy Center supports the growth and development of the Network and the efforts of participating State Alliances through staff consultation, professional development, grant support, and other resources.
KCAAEN Arts Education Advocacy Toolkit
http://www.kennedy-center.org/education/kcaaen/resources/ArtsEducationAdvocacyToolkit.pdf
Developed in 2009, the KCAAEN Arts Education Advocacy Tool Kit is a resource for State Alliances and the general public to use in planning, organizing and implementing their arts education advocacy efforts. The Tool Kit includes information on topics such as messaging, developing an advocacy plan, and the nine habits of effective arts education advocates. A companion video helps prepare advocates to make visits to their state and national legislators.

Americans for the Arts – Arts Education Campaign
http://www.americansforthearts.org/public_awareness/artsed_facts/
Includes Quick Facts, highlights from national research, and arts education websites.

National Assembly of State Arts Agencies
www.nasaa-arts.org

The Research-Based Communication Tool Kit
http://www.nasaa-arts.org/Research/Key-Topics/Arts-Education/Research*Based-Communication-Toolkit.php
The Research-Based Communication Tool Kit is a comprehensive document that brings together several components that advocates can use at state and local levels. Each component is research-based, drawing on careful reviews and analyses of research literature that confirm, explain and clarify the role of the arts in various significant policy contexts. The sample materials in the Tool Kit, prepared by a working committee of State Arts Agency Arts Education Managers, are meant to be “boilerplate” so that arts advocates can adapt them to their contexts and needs, quickly creating targeted, personalized advocacy messages.

Arts Education Partnership
www.aep-arts.org
The Arts Education Partnership provides information and communication about current and emerging arts education policies, issues, and activities at the national, state, and local levels. The website landing page will allow you to subscribe to their Arts Ed Digest, a source of national and international arts education communications.

Partnership for 21^st Century Learning Skills
www.p21.org
21^st Century Skills are those skills business and civic leaders have identified as essential to enable American workers to compete in today’s global economy. The Partnership for 21^st Century Skills has emerged as the leading advocacy organization focused on infusing 21^st century skills into education. The organization brings together the business community, education leaders, and policymakers to define a powerful vision for 21^st century education and to ensure that students emerge from our schools with the skills needed to be effective citizens, workers, and leaders in the 21^st century. (AEMS)

The skills named as essential for our nation’s labor force are inherent outcomes of training in music, theatre, dance, and visual arts. Those skills include critical thinking and problem solving, communication, creativity and innovation, collaboration, information and media literacy, and contextual learning skills. Arts education is a “ready-now” strategy for schools to accomplish the visionary goals of the 21^st Century Skills movement.

NORTH CAROLINA DATA

Materials prepared from DPI for Arts Education Task Force (coming soon).