Public Elementary and Secondary School Arts Education Instructors. Stats in Brief. NCES 2015-085
Author: Sparks, Dinah
Date: 2015-03-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Art Education,Music Education,Elementary Secondary Education,Minority Group Students,Low Income Groups,At Risk Students,Time Factors (Learning),Teacher Characteristics,Teacher Certification,Employment Level,Specialists,Art Teachers,Music Teachers,Institutional Characteristics,Geographic Location,Elementary Schools,Secondary Schools,School Size,Public Schools,Graduation Requirements,Poverty,Visual Arts

Amid reports of decreased instructional time in music and art in some districts (Heilig, Cole, and Aguilar 2010; McMurrer 2008; Rabkin and Hedberg 2011), researchers, policymakers, and practitioners have questioned the status of arts education in the United States (Sabol 2013). Evidence about how elementary and secondary schools staff their arts instruction would further inform the discussion regarding arts education in U.S. public schools. A recent National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) report detailed high levels of visual arts and music instruction in both the 1999-2000 and 2009-10 school years, while reporting drops in dance and drama/theatre instruction (Parsad and Spiegelman 2012). Additionally, a 2009 U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) study on arts education found that while most schools did not report decreased instructional time in arts education between the 2004-05 and 2006-07 school years, those that had high percentages of minority and low-income students and those labeled as in need of academic improvement reported reduced arts instructional time (U.S. GAO 2009). While previous NCES reports have examined the availability of arts education to students and the incorporation of arts education into the school day, both during a single school year and across school years, this &quot;Statistics in Brief&quot; focuses on who teaches arts education in schools and how instructional staff varies by school characteristics and across school years in elementary and secondary school settings. Specifically, this report builds on the prior studies to explore the different types of school staff (i.e., full-time arts specialists, part-time arts specialists, and classroom teachers) used to provide arts instruction. This &quot;Statistics in Brief&quot; reports data only for schools that offered instruction in visual arts or music. The following study questions are addressed: (1) Among public schools that offered instruction in visual arts and/or music, what percentage of elementary schools employed full-time arts specialists, part-time arts specialists, and classroom teachers in the 2009-10 school year; and what percentage of secondary school teachers were full-time or part-time arts instructors in the 2008-09 school year?; (2) How do schools' use of full-time and part-time arts specialists, and classroom teachers vary by selected school characteristics for elementary schools (school year 2009-10) and for secondary schools (school year 2008-09)?; (3) How has the use of full-time and part-time arts specialists and classroom teachers changed for elementary schools (from the 1999-2000 to the 2009-10 school year) and secondary schools (from the 1998-99 to the 2008-09 school year)?; (4) How has the use of full-time and part-time arts specialists and classroom teachers changed for elementary schools (from the 1999-2000 to the 2009-10 school years) and secondary schools (from the 1998-99 to the 2008-09 school years) by selected school characteristics?; and (5) What percentage of elementary schools report the use of facilities specifically dedicated to arts education and how, if at all, has this use changed from 1999-2000 to 2009-10? The findings reported in this brief are statistically significant at the p &lt; 0.05 level. No adjustments were made for multiple comparisons. The following are appended: (1) Data Tables; and (2) Standard Error Tables.