Benefits of Arts Education for At-Risk Youth

Posted by on April 23, 2012

Not ‘extra’, but essential

A new report from the National Endowment for the Arts examines academic and civic-behavior outcomes of teenagers and young adults who have engaged deeply with the arts in or out of school. The report finds that teenagers and young adults of low socioeconomic status (SES) who have a history of in-depth arts involvement show better academic outcomes than do low-SES youth with less arts involvement. Arts-involved students earn better grades and demonstrate higher rates of college enrollment and attainment. High school students earning few or no arts credits were five times more likely to not graduate than students with many arts credits. Both 8th-grade and high school students with high levels of arts engagement were more likely to aspire to college than students with less arts engagement. Young adults with intensive arts experiences in high school were more likely to show civic-minded behavior than young adults without, with comparatively high levels of volunteering, voting, and engagement with local or school politics. The report concludes that at-risk teenagers or young adults with a history of intensive arts experiences show achievement levels closer to, and in some cases exceeding, the levels shown by the general population studied.

See the report: http://www.nea.gov/news/news12/Arts-At-Risk-Youth.html
Related: http://www.miller-mccune.com/education/arts-involvement-narrows-student-achievement-gap-40745/