Highlights the historical role of the visual arts in America's public school system. Discussing: Challenges, Conflicts, Benefits and Drawbacks

1. Issues Facing Education and Educators Today
Margo Dupre
EDGR 602
Contemporary Educational Thought
Dr. Carla Postell
Concordia University – Portland, Oregon
August 30 , 2014

2. What is the role of the arts in the public school system?
The effect of Common Core State Standards on the arts curriculum : Fact or Fiction
The impact of poverty on student’s ability to learn
Collaborative opportunities for teachers focused on closing the achievement gap
Zero Tolerance in the public school system
Will Common Core change the educational responsibilities of nation and state in the
minds of the citizens?
Job preparation for the non-college bound student in public school
The impact of teacher expectations on student achievement
The consequences of states who opt out of Common Core Standards
Will the Common Core standards effect college admittance requirements?

3. Key Issue
What is the role of the arts in the public school system?
The Arts Action Fund supports the Partnership for 21st Century Skills argument
that “the arts are among society’s most compelling and effective paths for
developing 21st Century Skills in our students” (2013).
Hand holding antique key
(Clip art by Fotolia , n.d.)

4. 1870
1873
1873 +
Moving from an agriculture to an
industrial society ,
Massachusetts becomes the
first state to make industrial
drawing a requirement of public
school education.
Boston Board of
Education invites
Englishman Walter Smith
to America to set up a
drawing curriculum.
The strongest supporters
of this curriculum were
the business men
focused on the drafting
skill needed in their
factories.
Smith trains teachers as masters of industrial
drawing focused on teaching manual arts in
the public school , creating draftsmen and
woodshop workers to transform raw material
into finished products in factories across
America.
The art curriculum was developed and confirmed as a utilitarian value for industrial evolution in the public school
Dobbs, S. M. (1971). The Paradox of Art Education in the Public Schools: A Brief History of Influences
Business men at construction site (Clip art by Fotolia , n.d.)
Industrial Factory (Clip art by Fotolia , n.d.)

5. Major Challenges
Art advocates say public schools are cutting time on other subjects to dedicate to math
and reading (DeLisio, 2008). Although we are a private school, the elementary program
has dropped visual arts and art specialist position this year in favor of Spanish as a
language class because administrators could not fit it into the schedule.
Budgeting for supplies, tools, materials, class space and certified specialists that are
unique to the arts programs. Space is premium in our school and the elementary art class
is now used for student interactive activities in social engagement therapy. At the
beginning of the school year, each teacher gets a check for purchasing materials, so far
this year funds have not been distributed.

6. Major risks and/or threats
Arguments presented by art advocates for keeping the arts in public school are
unrealistic. The arts need to establish their own intrinsic reasons by clearly
establishing the role they serve in education (Winner pp. 17 -24 , 2000).
The art curriculum has exhausted its original purpose as a tool to fulfill the
needs of educating citizens for the workforce.
America has never incorporated the teaching of art in public schools for the
sake of art.
The art curriculum continuously remakes its importance in public education
based on the cultural, educational and industrial needs of the current generation.

7. Major Benefits
Students develop strategies for solving problems using their own innovative
approaches to learning. The West Texas community is comprised of three main
employers: independent small business owners (ranchers), post-secondary
institutions and the science/medical field (research) placing high value on creative
problem solving. The creative arts is strongly supported here with seasonal and
annual events. Students are celebrated for their artistic accomplishment. Public art
abounds on college campuses and city streets. Many well-known artists make this
area their home.
Per study by Winner and Hetland of Project Zero, concluded that the visual arts has
a broad indirect benefit to education in areas of critical observation, visualization
and the perception of errors as opportunities to learn (Pogrebin, 2007).
Eisner concludes that the actual work of educators should be viewed as an art form
because of how it is practiced (Eisner, 2002).

8. Major Drawbacks
Professionals in art education continue to identify its value by
pointing to the advancement of issues that are not directly related to
the field.
Conflictual research puts into question a direct effect that the arts
program has on the student’s cognitive ability.
Art programs can not survive in a system whose policy emphasizes
quantifiable measures (Winner and Hetland, 2007).

9. Research outcomes: What has most influenced art education in public schools?
Findings in a 10-year (1999 – 2009) comparative survey performed by the National Center
for Education Statistics (NCES, 2012) presented the following:
Public school initiative to retain music instruction and the visual arts were directly linked to
the percentage of poverty in secondary schools (NCES, 2012). On average 80% of secondary
schools with the highest level of poverty offered music and visual arts. However, on average
95% of secondary schools with the lowest poverty levels experienced music instruction and
visual arts.
Other supporting sources:
1. Schools with high poverty percentages are perceived to need more remedial class work, therefore
reducing enrichment activities. As described by Hirsch, most schools that are poverty-stricken are
limited to remedial activities (Hirsch Jr., 1993).
2. United State education policy steers academically weak students into remedial courses instead of the
arts (Winner, section 2 pp. 17 – 29, 2000).
3. Tight school budgets as well as policy mandates over the past 30 years has created a generation of
current parents, teachers and administrators who lacked public education opportunities in the arts. This
lack of experience has lessened the value and desire of advocating for it now (Smith, 2009).

10. References
Dobbs, S.M. (1971). The paradox of art education in the public schools: a brief history of the influences. Pages 1 -5 .
ERIC Database. Retrieved from http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED049196.pdf
Eisner, E. W. (2002). What can education learn from the arts about the practice of education? the encyclopedia of
informal education. Retrieved from
http://www.infed.org/biblio/eisner_arts_and_the_practice_of_education.htm
Hirsch, E. D. Jr. (1993). The core knowledge curriculum – what’s behind its success? [pdf] The Changing
Curriculum Pages 23-30. Retrieved from http:// www.ascd.org/publications/educational-
leadership/may93/vol50/num08/The-Core-Knowledge-Curriculum—What%27s-Behind-Its-
Success¢.aspx
National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). (2012). Arts education in public elementary and secondary schools,
FRSS 101. 2009 - 10. Retrieved from http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2012/2012014_2.pdf
Ozlu, N. (2008). An e-interview with Nina Ozlu/Interviewer: Ellen R. DeLisio. Keeping art alive under No Child Left
Behind (NCLB). Education World: Wire Side Chat. Retrieved from
http://www.educationworld.com/a_issues/chat/chat190.shtml
Smith, F. (2009). Why arts education is crucial, and who’s doing it best. Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/arts-
music-curriculum-child-development
Pogrebin, R. (2007, August 4). Book tackles old debate: role of art in schools. Arts Education. The New York Times.
Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/04/arts/design/04stud.html?_r=0
Winner, E. (2000). Beyond the soundbite: arts education and academic outcomes. The relationship between arts and
academic achievement: no evidence (yet) for a casual relationship. A summary of a meta-analytical study
[pdf]. Section 2 pp. 17 – 29. Retrieved from
http://www.getty.edu/foundation/pdfs/soundbite.pdf#page=8&zoom=auto,-58,436