Art Education in the Marketplace

Twilight in the Valley of the Sun: Nonprofit Arts and Culture Programs in Arizona's Public Schools Post—No Child Left Behind

“…When pressured to define the impact of arts and culture programs on students, however, organizational personnel too often overstate program effects that they cannot back up with data. In this era of accountability and evidence, hard data are necessary because organization personnel must compete for scarce resources (Rowe et al 2004;Siegesmund 2002;Strauch-Nelson 2006).…”

“…The arts are offered to some extent in all public schools (NCES 2007), but they are further compromised by inadequate resources and facilities (the "arts in a cart" trend ;NCES 2002;Strauch-Nelson 2006;Welch 2006). The arts have never been adopted in schools as equal partners with core curriculum subjects (Chapman 2005a;Hanley 2003), and their displacement has become worse since the passage of NCLB (Nichols and Berliner 2005;Mishook and Kornhaber 2006).…”

“…Professional researchers might help organization personnel plan programs, collect data, evaluate programs, and use data to further market the organizations' programs, especially if funds are not available for a marketing staff. Such data would be crucial to sustain funding and gain additional support, and, of course, to fine-tune and improve educational programs and dissolve ineffective programs more efficiently (Burnaford 2007;Chapman 2005a;Clark 2002;Constantino 2003;Hanley 2003;Mishook and Kornhaber 2006;Rademaker 2003;Rowe et al 2004;Siegesmund 2002;Strauch-Nelson 2006;Welch 2006;Winner and Hetland 2001).…”