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Home > No Child Left Behind > National Landscape
Arts Education and the National Landscape: How Do Today's Tests for Accountability Affect Arts Education?
National Policy and the Classroom
For generations, your district superintendent or school board trustees shaped decision making at the local school level without much influence from national policy. Since the passage of No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) in 2002, achievement for all students has become a national priority.
Here are a few things you should know…*
- NCLB was a new title given to update a policy from the 1960s, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA).
- The stated goal of NCLB is "to increase the accountability of school districts to ensure the progress of every child, regardless of race, ethnicity, or income."
- In practice, many districts report that NCLB has pressured educators to narrow the curriculum and "teach to the test."
- Narrowing the curriculum is not just bad for students, it's a threat to educational equity. Studies have shown that high-poverty, high-minority schools narrow the curriculum far more frequently than schools serving predominantly white, middle-class students.
Speak Out Now to Keep Arts in Schools!
Whether you call it ESEA or NCLB the federal policy is now up for reauthorization. Now is a great time to talk about how important the arts are to learning and offering a quality education.
Policymakers are setting up hearings and debates to discuss the future of NCLB. The media is keeping a close watch, too.
You can:
*Sources
Center for Community Change
WA Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction
Education Week
U.S. Department of Education
Americans for the Arts
Click here to return to the 5 Things You Can Do
To view an expanded list of resources, click here.
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