# Arts Education for All Act: What It Actually Does

This bill aims to make arts education—like music, visual arts, theater, and dance—a more regular part of what students learn in school, from early childhood through high school. Right now, many schools have cut back on arts programs due to budget constraints, and this bill tries to reverse that trend by requiring schools and states to plan for and support arts education as part of their overall educational strategy.

The bill works on multiple levels. For young children in daycare and preschool, it requires providers to get training on how to use arts-based teaching methods to help kids develop socially, emotionally, and intellectually. For K-12 schools, states must now explain in their education plans how they'll expand arts offerings, hire more arts teachers, and make sure arts classes are available to all students—especially those in low-income schools and students with disabilities. Schools also have to report data about how many arts courses they offer, how many students take them, and whether the teachers are properly certified. The bill encourages schools to use arts as a tool to improve performance in other subjects like math and reading, and it supports afterschool and summer programs that include arts activities.

The bill also addresses students in the juvenile justice system, requiring that arts education and creative programs be part of rehabilitation efforts for young people in the system. Additionally, it funds research to figure out which arts education methods actually work best and can be expanded to more schools. Finally, the bill requires the National Assessment of Educational Progress—the national test that measures student achievement—to include arts as a subject being assessed, similar to how it tests math and reading.

Arts Education for All Act

Bonamici, Suzanne

Arts Education for All Act This bill expands arts education and programming for children in early education, K-12 students, and juveniles and adults in the criminal justice system. Specifically, the bill allows Child Care and Development Block Grant funding to be used for additional activities, including arts programming. Additionally, the bill addresses arts programming in elementary and secondary schools by <ul> <li>directing each state educational agency to include information on arts programming in its state plan, including how it will integrate arts education instruction into the curriculum and increase the number of arts teachers in schools;</li> <li>requiring state report cards to include information on arts courses;</li> <li>requiring local educational agency (LEA) plans to describe how the LEA will encourage the use of arts education to improve student achievement; and</li> <li>allowing certain funds to be used for professional development for arts teachers. </li> </ul> The bill directs the National Center for Education Research to carry out research on the use of arts and arts education in elementary and secondary schools, including in low-performing schools. Further, the National Center for Education Statistics must compile data on arts education. The National Assessment of Educational Progress must include a specified arts assessment. The bill requires a state's juvenile justice and delinquency plan to describe how the state will coordinate services and activities for juvenile justice and delinquency prevention with arts agencies and arts organizations. Additionally, grants for adult offender reentry demonstration projects may be used for facilitating arts education.