A r c h i v e d I n f o r m a t i o n

   FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE        Contact:  Melinda Kitchell (ED)        February 28, l994                      (202) 401-1008                                           Virginia Cohen (NEA)                                           (202) 682-5440

ARTS EDUCATION RESEARCH AGENDA ANNOUNCED

How does learning about dance, theater, music or the visual arts motivate children to learn, raise their self-esteem, contribute to their understanding of cultural differences, or enhance creativity? Such questions are part of an arts research agenda announced today by the U.S. Department of Education and the National Endowment for the Arts.

"Today we start an ambitious effort to involve artists, educators and researchers in defining questions and seeking answers to help improve teaching and learning in the arts," said Sharon Robinson, assistant secretary for educational research and improvement. "In setting the agenda, we confirm a commitment to the arts and to quality education."

"The future promises to be more fulfilling for all children with arts as part of the basic curriculum," said Scott Sanders, deputy chairman for public partnerships, National Endowment for the Arts. "To reach our destination of better schools, we must first draw the maps for the future. We need this basic research to discover the most effective ways to integrate the arts into the overall curriculum, to learn how to train our teachers and artists-in-residence, and to link communities and schools in creative partnerships."

The arts research agenda is designed to stimulate discussion among researchers and the broader community about the best direction for arts education research and will provide educators with information on curriculum and instruction, student assessment and program evaluation, and teacher education.

Researchers will also consider current trends that may affect teaching and learning in the arts, such as greater student diversity, emerging national standards that seek higher levels of performance, and the use of media and technology in schools.

The Goals 2000: Educate America Act, presently awaiting final conference committee approval, includes the arts in the third National Education Goal as a core subject in which all students should be competent. A final draft of voluntary national standards that describe the knowledge and skills students should have in the arts will be available shortly.

A 12-member steering committee, established by the two federal agencies in 1992, guided development of the research agenda, commissioning background papers and convening a national conference that opened a dialog on research across the arts disciplines and among practitioners, researchers and administrators.

Among issues raised in the research agenda:

how to develop comprehensive, cohesive curricula and how to allocate instructional time;
whether to integrate teaching of the arts with other subjects or teach each discipline separately;
how school and community partnerships contribute to learning in the arts;
how teachers should be trained, and who should teach the arts in elementary schools -- arts specialists or general classroom teachers; and
what are students learning in the arts and how is that learning assessed.

Later this year, the two agencies will conduct a national survey on the status of arts education in American schools. A national assessment of student achievement in the arts is planned in 1996.

NOTE TO EDITORS: Copies of Arts Education: Research Agenda for the Future are available by writing New Orders, Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, P.O. Box 371954, Pittsburgh, Pa. 15250-7954 or call the GPO Order Desk at (202) 783-3238. The stock number is 065-000-00629-4 and the price is $3.25.