Benefits of Arts Education
Benefits To Taking Arts Classes
U.S Department of Education data on more than 25,000 secondary school students found that students who report consistent high levels of involvement in instrumental music over the middle and high school years show "significantly higher levels of mathematics" - U.S. Department of Education NELLS88 Database
Multiple independent studies have shown increased years of enrollment in arts courses are positively correlated with higher SAT verbal and math scores. High school students who take arts classes have higher math and verbal SAT scores than students who take no arts classes. - 2005 College-Bound Seniors; Total Group Profile Report
Schools with music programs have an estimated 90.2% graduation rate and 93.9% attendance rate compared to schools without music education, which average 72.9% graduation and 84.9% attendance. - The National Association for Music Education. "Music Makes the Grade." The National Association for Music Education. Accessed February 24, 2015.
Music education improves average SAT scores. - Arts Education Partnership, 2011
Students who take music in middle school score significantly higher on algebra assignments in 9th grade than their non-music counterparts. - Helmrich, B.H. (2010). Window of opportunity? Adolescence, music, and algebra. Journal of Adolescent Research. 25 (4).
Research reveals strong connections between rhythm skills and pre-reading abilities in toddlers, - Woodruff Carr K. W-S, T., Tierney A., Strait D., Kraus N., Beat synkchronization and speech encoding in preschoolers: A neural synchrony framework for language development., in Association for Research in Otolaryngology Symposium. 2014; San Diego, CA.
Secondary students who participated in a band or orchestra reported the lowest lifetime and current use of all substances (alcohol, tobacco, drug abuse). - Texas Commission on Drug and Alcohol Abuse Report. Reported in the Houston Chronicle, January 1998.
In the past, secondary students who participated in a music group at school reported the losets lifetime and current use of all substances (tobacco, alcohol, and ilicit grugs). - 5 VH1: Save the Music. "The Benefits of Music Education." VH1: Save the Music. Accessed February 24, 2015.
Arts and music education programs are mandatory in countries that rank consistently among the highest for math and science test scores, like Japan, Hungary, and the Netherlands. - "Lessons from PISA for the United States, Strong Performers and Successful Reformers in Education", OECD Publishing, 2011. Web accessed February 28, 2014.
Multiple studies have concluded that curricular and extracurricular art studies activities help keep high-risk dropout students stay in school. - National School Boards Association. "Prediction: Identifying potential dropouts."
83% of Americans believe that arts education helps teach children to communicate effectively with adults and peers. - 2005 Harris Poll.
Music Education enhances fine motor skills. - Arts Education Partnership, 2011.
Infants recognize the melody of a song long before they understand the words. They often try to mimic sounds and start moving to the music as soon as they are physically able. - (C) 2015 Program for Early Parent Support (PEPS), a 501(C)(3) nonprofit organization.
Music enhances fine motor skills, or the ability to use small, acute muscle movements to write, use a computer, and perform other physical tasks. - Forgeard, 2008; HyMusic education enhances fine motor skills. de, 2009; Schlaug et al. 2005. "The Effects of Musical Training on Structural Brain Development A Longitudinal Study, "The Neurosciences and Music III: Disorders and Plasticity: Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci. 1169: 182-186 (2009).
North Carolina Legislation on Arts Education
On July 2, 2020 Governor Roy Cooper signed Senate Bill 681 into law which, among other things, created an Arts High School Graduation Requirement in North Carolina. Arts NC had worked for this vital arts education legislation for over a decade and fully supports this major breakthrough for equitable access to quality arts instruction as part of a well-rounded education for every North Carolina student. Now, according to NC State Law:
A student must complete ONE arts credit (music, visual art, theatre arts, dance) between Grade 6 and Grade 12 in order to graduate from high school, beginning with those students entering Grade 6 in 2022.
The NC State Board of Education will define the standards of the arts credit and to plan for its phased-in implementation.
The NC State Board of Education would report to the Joint Legislative Oversight Committee on or before December 15, 2022 about the implementation of this high school graduation requirement and of the three components of Comprehensive Arts Education (arts education, arts integration, and arts exposure)