No Child Left Behind Act
The No Child Left Behind Act clearly mandates The Arts (music, art, foreign language, etc.) as a core academic subject.
In the "No Child Left Behind Act", the arts, including all arts such as dance, music, theater, and visual arts, are indeed considered “core academic subjects” under federal law. This means that if there are any change in federal education funding’s for schools and their policies, it will affect almost all of the opportunities for art programs and the teachers.
Decline Of Arts Education
There are indeed great benefits that have been progressed through the "No Child Left Behind" act, but the act has also led to less time in the classrooms, fewer opportunities nationwide, and different access across American communities. It has been said to believe that public schools think that the arts are getting crowded out of the school days.
Less Time In The Classroom
A survey was taken called Learning Less by public schools teachers about what they see happening in their classrooms, how they are spending their time, how state testing affects what they do, and which subjects get more attention and which get less. A majority of the teachers stated that schools are narrowing curriculum's shifting instructional time and resources toward math and language arts and away from subjects such as art, music, foreign language, and social studies.
Fewer Opportunities Nationwide
Arts Education In Public Elementary And Secondary Schools viewed the availability of music, visual arts, drama, and dance in elementary and secondary schools. The percentages of the surveys that were taken on access to arts education still demonstrates a large number of students across the nation that these subjects don't pertain to.
Different Access Across Communities
The statistics that are shown is the decline of arts education in under served populations such as African Americans and Hispanic students They have less access to a quality art education then their Caucasian peers. It has steadily been decreasing for the last three decades for these two races of children. Research has proven that the arts are an excellent investment for low economic status students. Schools are not utilizing the arts as a tool to reach their neediest students.
Year Percentage 1982 59% 51% 47% 1992 65% 44% 35% 2002 53% 36% 27% 2008 59% 28% 26% |
Purple – Caucasian Blue – African American Green – Hispanic |