Wide-Spread Arts Education Cuts in US Schools

MetLife Survey shows Arts Cuts. An Education Week blog summarizes from the newly released MetLife survey of teachers. The survey reports on the impact of budget cuts, teacher layoffs, curriculum, and parent involvement. When 1001 teachers were asked about the reducation or elimination of arts or music programs: 23% reported programs were reduced. Of that 23%, 23% taught elementary; 33% taught grades 6 - 8; and 32% taught high school. So it seems the cuts were pretty evenly spread across grade levels. Teachers also reported cuts to foreign languages and physical education programs. More than one third (36%) of teachers report that during the past 12 months there have been reductions or eliminations of arts or music (23%), foreign language (17%) or physical education (12%) programs. Overall, these reductions or eliminations are more likely to be reported among teachers in urban areas than in suburban or rural areas (46% vs. 32% vs. 32%)... Teachers in schools with more than two-thirds minority students are more likely than other teachers to report that there have been reductions or eliminations of arts or music programs at their school (30% vs. 19%). Teachers were not asked specifically about the budget impact in any other content area. The data come from the 28th annual MetLife Survey of the American Teacher.