Arts Education Advocacy

Why arts education matters:

Improved student outcomes

Students that participate in arts education are associated with higher grades and graduation rates, as well as greater civic engagement as adults (Worcel, Keyes, Naegle. “How the Arts Advance Student Learning”, Oregon Community Foundation, 2017). Visual arts education at all grade levels benefits Oregon schools facing poor graduation rates, behavioral issues, low attendance rates, and poor academic scores. 

Social emotional learning

  • Sequential arts education and arts integration are associated with greater motivation, engagement and self-esteem.

  • Arts participation is correlated with the development of social competencies.

  • Arts education provides a venue for students to express themselves, and ways of pursuing understanding of the world.

Academic benefits

  • Arts education contributes to habits of mind that lead to academic success.

  • More sequential arts education is associated with higher academic achievement.

  • Students who participate in arts integration have higher reading and math scores.

  • Arts education can help close the achievement gap.

Arts education teaches 21st century skills that students need

  • Observation and critical thinking which help us see and question, to be visually literate.

  • Envisioning — imagining ideas prior to creation.

  • Multiple solutions to a single problem.

  • Empathy as we examine the world through someone else’s perspective. A

  • Engagement with community, civic, and social issues.

All these skills are nurtured through the study of visual arts!

The need for arts education resources:

For too long, Oregon has lacked an equitable, well-rounded education for all students.

Consistently underfunded since the early 1980s, Oregon’s education system has let arts education disappear in many sectors. For example, in the Salem Keizer School District, all elementary visual arts positions were cut by 1990. Today, in that same school district as well as several others, visual arts is not a supported curricular subject until middle school.

This is not a minor problem.

The creative thinking skills of children atrophy without attention. According to George Land’s study on creativity,  kindergarteners work at a creative “genius level” of 98% as divergent thinkers. Ten year-olds work at 30%, 15 year olds at 12%, and adults a low 2 %. In the most recent World Economic Forum Report, the top three skills needed for 2020 are complex problem solving, critical thinking, and creativity. 

What quality visual arts education looks like in practice:

The Oregon Art Education Association is ready to work with the Oregon Department of Education to develop statewide guidelines for visual arts education. We advocate for the following best practices.

  • A continuous K-12 pathway in visual arts for all students.

    • Art instruction available in all elementary schools, middle schools, and high schools as students move through the system.

  • Standards-based coursework in the arts

  • Highly qualified and licensed visual arts teachers

  • School leadership and professional development

  • Arts and cultural partnerships

  • Dedicated spaces with access to supplies, materials, and instruments

  • Integration of the arts into other subject areas (e.g. Design Curriculum, Interdisciplinary curriculum, Discipline Diversity, Historical and Contemporary Cultures and Makers)

  • Consistent and sustainable arts funding

The Student Success Act will provide districts the opportunity to address historic inequities in these areas and ensure that kids creative skills are nurtured. After all, creative skills are sought after by employers, predictive of innovation, and a cornerstone of well-informed citizenry.

  • Inquire if and how your school district is gathering community input (e.g. community meetings or surveys). If so, participate and advocate for SSA funds to support equitable access to a visual arts education. Encourage others to do so as well.

  • Contact your school district administrators and use this advocacy statement to request additional funding for arts education from the Student Success Act. Administrators will need to complete an application for the funds. 

  • Contact Oregon Arts Education Association President, Katie Gillard, for additional resources: katieoaea@gmail.com.

How you can support arts education in Oregon:

2020 OAEA Advocacy Campaign. Artwork by Chloe E,, 12th grade student at Sprague High School, Salem-Keizer School District.

2020 OAEA Advocacy Campaign. Artwork by Ada W., 9th grade student at Sprague High School, Salem-Keizer School District.

Resources for arts education advocacy: