Applauding the Arts, Part 7
A Work in Progress

Can you explain the use of perspective in a Renaissance painting? Create a rhythmic embellishment for the first bars of "Ode to Joy"? Describe how an actor's voice conveys emotion?

For many of the nation's eighth-graders, these are challenging tasks for which they've been poorly prepared, according to a major national arts assessment released in November.

The National Assessment of Educational Progress, focusing on arts education for the first time in two decades, issued an Arts Report Card that Education Secretary Richard Riley called "disappointing." He told Education Daily, "The neglect of arts education is simply inexcusable."

More than 6,660 eighth-graders in 268 of the nation's schools were assessed on their abilities to create, perform, and respond to the disciplines of visual arts, music, and theater. Not enough schools offered dance classes to generate a sufficient sample for testing.

The report noted some bright spots, such as the findings that "most eighth-graders were able to distinguish [musical] phrases as being the same or different," and that "students were able to accurately describe some aspects of artwork." Many students lacked basic art literacy skills, however. Only 32 percent could label the notes of a C major scale, and only 1 percent created collages that showed awareness of color, texture, and contrast. Girls consistently outperformed boys in the assessment.

In addition to assessing students' skills in carefully planned exercises, the NAEP also took stock of the arts resources currently available in the nation's schools. Most students, according to the Arts Report Card, attended schools in which instruction following district or state curricula was offered in music and visual arts, but not in theater or dance. Seventy-five percent of students attended schools with full-time music teachers, for instance, compared to 1 percent with full-time dance teachers. While most schools said they offered music and art classes, however, less than half of the students surveyed said they were taking them.

Copies of the NAEP 1997 Arts Report Card are free from the National Center for Education Statistics (1-877-4-ED-PUBS), or available online at http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/tables/art1997/.

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