The arts aren’t dead . . . yet

Good news!

Rumors of the death of arts education in public schools have been greatly exaggerated, new federal findings suggest. Over the past decade, the availability of music and visual-arts instruction on average has changed little, and remains high, when compared with a decade ago, according to a major federal report on arts education issued this month.

“When I look at the big picture, … I see a good-news, bad-news story,” U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said in prepared remarks for the report’s release, noting that it was the first federal survey that “really allows us” to examine changes in arts education over time. “The good news is that the last decade has not generally produced a dramatic narrowing of the curriculum in the arts,” he said. “But there is considerable bad news in today’s report, too—and especially for disadvantaged students.”