State Policymakers Hear Strong Case for Arts Education

Denver

The No Child Left Behind Act has focused educators on improving student achievement reading and mathematics. But one state group is reminding them: Don’t forget that teaching the arts is a vital part of any curriculum and may even be helpful in improving test scores in the three R’s.

The Education Commission of the States’ annual conference here last month included a variety of plenary sessions in which the group’s leaders and other speakers advocated ways for policymakers to integrate the performing and other arts into efforts to improve learning.

The state legislators, commissioners of education, and other policymakers heard from Piedad F. Robertson, who became the group’s president in February, about the importance of using creativity to lead schools and other organizations. They also learned about the opera-in-schools program in Washington and Los Angeles led by the...