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Educators are reporting back to school this month to begin the 2022-2023 school year. To see also : HD 45 Republicans offer a variety of shades of political anger against Disney. With an ever-changing learning landscape, EducationNC wanted to know how school leaders felt about the state of arts education.
In the spring, we reached out to superintendents, assistant superintendents, and other leaders to ask them to complete this survey. We want to understand how the pandemic affected arts education across our state and how those impacts created challenges and opportunities. (If you want to participate, the survey link is still open.)
Sixty-five leaders representing 60 school districts participated. Here are some of our results as of Wednesday, August 10, 2022.
The first question was: “Did you have to cut back on the arts during the pandemic? If so, why?” Statewide leaders cited many in-person district events being canceled. Challenges include distance learning, availability of teachers, vacancies and funding.
But some leaders highlighted the pivots made because of the COVID-19 restrictions. A school’s performing arts department organized a drama club via Zoom, chose a new play that could be adapted for the Internet, and performed it live on YouTube. These modifications still allowed three students to qualify for an international competition.
Finding creative ways to deliver arts education was key during social distancing. One respondent said: “I consider arts education to be core along with other more traditional areas. If we want to educate for the future, creativity will be central. The arts are innately creative.”
In light of the Leandro case, we asked, “Do you think providing exposure to the arts should be part of our state’s constitutional requirement to provide every child with a solid basic education?” Of the 47 respondents to our question, 42 answered yes.
Arts are often considered electives and are not part of the core curriculum essential to a student’s education. While arts educators and leaders advocate for the arts to be considered as important as other areas of focus, the pandemic highlighted this issue.
For the question “Are you prioritizing other learning over the arts as we emerge from the pandemic?” we heard from numerous leaders that remediation and learning loss were an equal or greater concern than the arts. While schools want to continue to provide equal opportunity for academics and the arts, trying to minimize the impact of COVID-19 and this loss of face-to-face instruction has been a challenge.
“Up to a certain point. Since the start of the pandemic, there has been a big push for social-emotional learning, which is inherently included in the arts curriculum. However, time in electives/arts is sometimes adjusted to participate in tutoring core classes.”
However, the vast majority of respondents said their district does not prioritize other learning over the arts. Our next question about funding also had an overwhelming consensus.
Of the 59 respondents to this question, 52 said no. Two said they receive enough state funding and five chose other.
Of those who feel they don’t have enough funding for art education, many said their art teachers have to travel between schools or rotate during the year, meaning art isn’t available all the time. Some districts rely on local money or grants to hire arts educators.
“We must ensure artistic education in each school without having to share personnel resources. The legislation aims to support the arts with separate funding. In reality, the current funding structure provides a quick method to eliminate categorical funding.”
“More state funding for arts education needs to go toward materials and supplies specifically targeted at all arts education teachers. Currently, state and local funding is not evenly distributed across schools, so there is a huge equity gap in materials and supplies.”
“Small rural school districts need more funding to give kids exposure to the programs that larger school districts offer. We appreciate everything we get and the county is a low tax base county and can’t afford to allocate only what they can. Funding from lawmakers would be the right thing to do if we’re serious about a strong basic education.”
Another respondent said, “We see our arts classrooms as a vital sanctuary for our students.” They continued: “Additional funding is critical because our arts teachers can, on a daily basis, help students overcome the chaos they’ve experienced during the pandemic, that sense of loss, and give those experiences some structure and meaning. A lot of our students who are performing in the hallways, let’s get them performing on stage.”
One respondent noted that the change in legislation negatively affected their ability to offer the arts. “We had more flexibility to fund these positions before the class size law was changed several years ago,” they said. “The new formula does not generate the number of positions we had before the law change.”
Finally, we asked ourselves “What are the right questions for EdNC about our ability to provide arts education in North Carolina schools?”
Our respondents are concerned about college pathways and the teacher preparation pipeline, alternative licensure programs to fill vacancies, equitable access and, most importantly, funding. Here are some of your questions:
Are the funding formulas used for enhancement places appropriate for arts education? What associations are there to support arts education in rural communities? How does a rural school system access partnerships that are often more common in larger cities across the state?
How do we foster understanding of the relationship between arts education and the social-emotional support that our students have always needed, especially at this critical time?
How many art teachers may retire in the next 5 years and how are universities recruiting students into the profession? It has been difficult for us to find teachers to fill the vacancies. What role do the arts play in our schools, and how can we measure student success without measuring the arts?
What infrastructure/personnel changes are needed to provide arts in each school? How will NC artists and government entities work to support the next generation of young arts supporters? Why are the arts, even with all the research done on the positive effects of arts education, still treated as second-rate subjects?
Is art education equitable across the state? Do all students have the opportunity to participate in Arts Education, regardless of the demographics of their school system? What additional funds are needed to provide additional arts education?
An emphasis on how the arts affect attendance, behavior, engagement, and positive self-esteem? Does the General Assembly recognize the impact that arts education has on other academic areas, mental health, self-esteem, and student success?
Caroline Parker is a multimedia storyteller for EducationNC. Covers rural North Carolina stories, the arts, and STEM education.
