me arts ed

Institute of Education Sciences

The National Center for Education Statistics releases Statistics in Brief on Public Elementary and Secondary School Arts Education Instructors

In the 2009-10 school year, among schools that offered art instruction, higher percentages of elementary schools employed full-time arts specialists than part-time arts specialists or classroom teachers to teach both visual arts and music. “Public Elementary and Secondary School Arts Education Instructors,” a Statistics in Brief that uses data from two administrations of the Fast Response Survey System (FRSS), presents findings related to the different types of school staff (e.g., full-time staff, part time staff) used to provide arts instruction in public elementary and secondary schools; the extent to which public elementary schools used arts specialists (i.e., education professionals with a teaching certificate in an arts discipline who provide separate instruction in that discipline) to provide arts education to students; and the prevalence of arts instruction facilities in public elementary schools. Among public schools that offered art instruction:

• From the 1998-99 to the 2008-09 school years, low-poverty secondary schools reported an increase in the use of full-time staff to teach music.
• In the 2009-10 school year, compared to the Northeast, Southeast, and Central regions, higher percentages of elementary schools in the West utilized classroom teachers to teach visual arts and to teach music.
• From the 1999-2000 to the 2009-10 school years, elementary schools increased their use of dedicated rooms with special equipment to teach visual arts and to teach music.

This Statistics in Brief is a product of the National Center for Education Statistics at the Institute of Education Sciences, part of the U.S. Department of Education.

To view the full report please visit
http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2015085