ARTS EDUCATION IN NEW YORK
Submitted by Tommer on July 6, 2009
The problem with arts education is not confined to the five boroughs. As reported in the Times earlier this month, a federal study has found that “music and art instruction in American eighth-grade classrooms has remained flat over the last decade.” The feds surveyed 7,900 eighth-graders at 260 public and private schools throughout the country last year, asking students to discuss famous paintings, identify the sound of musical instruments, and generally show a basic command of art and music concepts. The results of this study, officially known as the National Assessment of Educational Progress in Arts, were described as “mediocre” by a member of the assessment’s governing board.