California State PTA Members Please Read
Recently the California State PTA posted a report on the health of K-12 Arts Education. Entitled An Unfinished Canvas, the report summarizes current strengths and weaknesses in arts instruction. Some highlights include:
- State law requires that the adopted course of study for all students in grades 1 through 6 include instruction in music, visual arts, theatre, and dance, but only 10% of elementary schools meet this requirement.”
- Nearly half of California’s elementary students are not receiving any standards-aligned instruction in music and visual arts, and more than four in five are not receiving any standards-aligned instruction in theatre and dance.
- Most elementary classroom teachers have received minimal pre-service training in arts education and thus are typically not well prepared to provide standards-based arts instruction in the four arts disciplines. Those classroom teachers who feel most prepared to teach the arts typically have a background in one or more arts disciplines and/or have received some sort of external support, such as professional development in the arts. However, few classroom teachers receive any such support—86% of elementary schools offered no arts-related professional development in 2005-06.
- Under the category of barriers affecting participation and intensity many, “Elementary school principals reported greater challenges from both insufficient instructional time and a focus on improving test scores”.
- Parent group funding was the most common of these community sources, with 35% of all principals reporting that it was a “top” or “significant” source of funding. One survey respondent described the large role that parent funding played in supporting the school’s arts program: “Our parent organization bears the bulk of the responsibility [for funding] all arts instruction.”
