SRI’s Education Division is leveraging intensive research and policy analysis to frame a brighter future for arts education.
For more than two decades, SRI’s Education Division has joined a broad range of partners to produce rigorous, policy-relevant research on arts education across California. With principal support from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, SRI researchers work alongside state agencies, county offices of education, school districts, community organizations, educators, and students to understand how arts learning is funded, staffed, delivered, and experienced, and what it will take to improve and expand the impact of high-quality arts education.
Project teams have led major research initiatives across the Golden State, including statewide landscape studies, implementation research on arts education policy and funding, and analyses of the arts teacher workforce. SRI led the California-based Creativity Challenge in 2022 and An Unfinished Canvas in 2006, along with related research on the California Arts and Music in Schools Act (Proposition 28) and the broader California arts education landscape.
Recent reports & publications
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California Arts Education Landscape 2025
Abstract Commissioned by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and conducted in collaboration with Education First, this report examines how new funding and policy shifts—especially the 2022 Arts and Music in Schools…
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What the California Arts and Music in Schools Act Means for the Arts Teacher Workforce
SRI estimate of the number of new arts teachers required to fulfill the promise of California’s Arts and Music in Schools Act by region and county.
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The Role of California’s County Offices of Education and Implications for Arts Education
This study describes the COE role in arts education, examines how COE activities have shifted in response to California’s Local Control Funding Formula, and examines how these changes may affect access, participation,…
In the media
- EdSource “Amid a shortage of arts educators, a new fund launches to train teachers” (February 2026)
https://edsource.org/2026/amid-a-shortage-of-art-educators-a-new-fund-launches-to-train-teachers/750298
- EdSource “Shortage of teachers and classrooms slows expansion of arts education in Los Angeles and beyond” (November 2024)
https://edsource.org/2024/shortage-of-teachers-and-classrooms-slows-expansion-of-arts-education-in-los-angeles-and-beyond/721096
- EdSource “Arts should be part of any plans to rethink schooling and reengage students” (July 2021) https://edsource.org/2021/arts-should-be-part-of-any-plans-to-rethink-schooling-and-reengage-students/657081
Multimedia
- As a part of the Creativity Challenge study, SRI commissioned the David’s Harp Foundation’s Biz Pod Program to produce a video about the impact of arts education on justice-impacted youth.
Our team
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Katrina Woodworth
Director, Center for Education Research and Improvement, SRI Education
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Candice Benge Steele
Education Researcher, SRI Education
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Carolina Zamora
Education Researcher, SRI Education
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Qican (Sunny) Cao
Data Analyst, SRI Education
Additional team members
Dominique Baeta, Education Research Associate, SRI
