To inform California policymakers about the status of arts education, SRI examined student access to arts education in California schools and conducted follow-up studies examining factors influencing K–12 arts education. The research resulted in a series of reports titled An Unfinished Canvas.
Policies enacted at both the state and federal levels demonstrate a commitment to arts education. In 2001, the California State Board of Education adopted content standards for the visual and performing arts. In 2002, the federal No Child Left Behind legislation, with provisions recognizing the arts as a core subject, was signed into law. Beginning in 2005–06, students seeking admission to the University of California and California State University systems are required to take one full year of arts education coursework during high school.
Despite expectations and enthusiasm for instruction in the arts, little information about California students’ access to and performance in the arts was available, and statewide information about the delivery of arts education was lacking.
To better inform policymakers and arts education funders about the status of arts education in California, The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation funded SRI International to conduct a study to examine students’ access to arts education in California schools (published in 2007), followed by a series of follow-up studies examining some of the factors influencing K–12 arts education (published in 2008 and 2009).
Our work on An Unfinished Canvas
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An Unfinished Canvas: Arts Education in California: Taking Stock of Policies and Practices – Summary Report
This first-ever comprehensive study of the state of arts education in California has sought to fill the current information gap by taking stock of arts education policies and practices.
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An Unfinished Canvas: Arts Education in California: Taking Stock of Policies and Practices – Full Report
This study has sought to take stock of California’s arts education policies and practices: understanding where schools’ arts programs are relative to state goals, assessing the strengths and weaknesses of the systemic support for these programs, and identifying ways in which state and local policy-makers might improve conditions for arts education.
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An Unfinished Canvas – Arts Education in the San Francisco Bay Area: A Supplementary Status Report
The research supporting An Unfinished Canvas was undertaken to document the status of arts education in California schools and assess the extent to which schools were meeting state goals for arts education.
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An Unfinished Canvas: Teacher Preparation, Instruction Delivery, and Professional Development in the Arts
Among the major barriers to arts education in California that An Unfinished Canvas identified is the lack of trained and qualified arts specialist teachers, particularly at the elementary school level.
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An Unfinished Canvas: Allocating Funding and Instructional Time for Elementary Arts Education
The study’s aim is to provide California policy-makers and educators with examples and lessons from other jurisdictions that have been more successful in providing all students with access to arts education.
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An Unfinished Canvas: A Review of Large-Scale Assessment in K-12 Arts Education
This paper provides a review of the status of large-scale arts assessments and current practice in statewide arts assessment for the purpose of K–12 education accountability.
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An Unfinished Canvas: Local Partnerships in Support of Arts Education in California
We highlight the ways that a sample of partnerships promotes arts education in California elementary schools to inform others who may be interested in building partnerships between school districts and arts organizations.
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An Unfinished Canvas: Fact Sheet
An Unfinished Canvas revealed that an overwhelming majority of California schools fail to meet these guidelines and that key barriers include inadequate and unstable funding, insufficient instructional time, and limited teacher capacity.
