It’s official: school is back in session! Bright yellow school buses are once again roaming the streets, teachers have made the final touches to lesson plans and backpack-laden kids are making their way to new schools, new teachers and new friends.
As parents, much is likely on your mind. What should I pack for healthy lunches that my child will actually eat? How can I build a good relationship with the teachers? And, perhaps, most importantly, how can I do ensure that my child has the best possible education this year and every year?
But have you considered whether or not your child’s school is providing a complete and competitive education that include the arts? Decades of research collected by the Arts Education Partnership (AEP) have shown that the arts are an essential component for providing all children the foundation to succeed in school, work and life.
With that in mind, Congress has set aside a time each year to consider and celebrate the role of the arts in our schools and communities by establishing this week as National Arts in Education Week. To assist parents, teachers, school leaders and policymakers in exploring the role of the arts in education, AEP recently released The Arts Leading the Way to Student Success: A 2020 Action Agenda for Advancing the Arts in Education.
This Action Agenda outlines a set of goals and strategies by which the arts can be employed as AEP’s 100+ partner organizations collectively respond to and inform four high priority areas of action needed to effectively address educational inequities, and level the playing field for academic achievement and student success. These four areas are:
- To raise student achievement and success through the adoption and implementation of higher learning standards and effective accountability systems
- To support effective educators and school leaders through improved preparation, support, and evaluation systems
- To transform the teaching and learning environment through student-centered strategies for using time, resources, and technology in new and innovative ways
- To build leadership capacity and knowledge by providing all arts and education leaders with the knowledge and resources necessary to engage the arts as an essential component of a complete and competitive education for all students
Join AEP as we work to achieve the Action Agenda’s aspirational goal that, by the year 2020, every young person in America, at every grade level, from pre-kindergarten through grade 12, will have equitable access to high quality arts learning opportunities, both during the school day and in out-of-school time.
Scott D. Jones is the senior associate for research and policy at the Arts Education Partnership.
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