This report contains new research about the state of arts education in Boston. It provides a detailed picture of current offerings in the schools as well as a set of recommendations advanced by School Superintendent Carol R. Johnson, who has called for a greater commitment to equity and quality in arts in school, even as the current economic crisis is forcing cuts in schools budgets. The report charts current strengths and gaps in arts education and calls for greater consistency against established benchmarks to measure progress toward integration of arts in school programs at every level. Among the key findings of the report: While fully 70 percent of BPS students receive some type of arts instruction during the school day, access to arts varies greatly by grade levels, with high school and middle school students less likely to receive adequate amounts of arts instruction. The proportion of students who receive arts instruction once a week for a full year drops from 76 percent for students in kindergarten through fifth grade and 81 percent for students in kindergarten through eighth grade to just 48 percent for students in middle school. Only 25 percent of the city’s high schools report offering any arts instruction to more than 25 percent of their students. Only 5 percent of elementary school students and 6 percent of middle school students achieve what experts describe as the “best practice” of twice weekly, year-long arts instruction.
This report contains new research about the state of arts education in Boston. It provides a detailed picture of current offerings in the schools as well as a set of recommendations advanced by School Superintendent Carol R. Johnson, who has called for a greater commitment to equity and quality in arts in school, even as the current economic crisis is forcing cuts in schools budgets. The report charts current strengths and gaps in arts education and calls for greater consistency against established benchmarks to measure progress toward integration of arts in school programs at every level. Among the key findings of the report:
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