Arts Education Policy

Arts education policy refers to the decisions that legislators, funders, and administrators make with respect to teaching and learning in the arts. Policies on arts education address not only in-school course work in art, music, drama, and dance, current attention is also aimed at out-of-school arts programming offered by community organizations and arts providers. In the last two decades, proactive policy related to arts education has become increasingly important as accountability and high-stakes testing prompt mandates for school learning that exclude time for the arts.

This entry looks at the primary policy issues facing arts education in four topic areas: (1) equity in access and opportunity for the arts in diverse communities; (2) preparation and training for in-school arts teachers, visiting teaching artists, and performing artists ...