The Well-Rounded Curriculum

Secretary Arne Duncan's Remarks at the Arts Education Partnership National Forum If there is a message that I hope you will take away from today's conference it is this The arts can no longer be treated as a frill. As First Lady Michelle Obama has said, the arts are not !ust a nice thing to ha"e or do if there is free time or if one can afford it... #aintings and $oetry, music and design... they all define %ho %e are as a $eo$le. All of you know the history all too well! For decades" arts education has #een treated as though it was the no$ice teacher at school" the last hired and first fired when times get tough! %ut President &#ama" the First 'ady" and I re(ect the notion that the arts" history" foreign languages" geography" and ci$ics are ornamental offerings that can or should #e cut from schools during a fiscal crunch! )he truth is that" in the information age" a well*rounded curriculum is not a lu+ury #ut a necessity! I am not going to sugarcoat the tough choices that many districts are facing this year! State and local school #udgets are a#solutely strained across the country! ,any of you are fighting lonely #attles to preser$e funding for arts education! )here is no getting around that fact**and & a$$laud your commitment to fully educating America's children by engaging them in the arts. At the same time" in challenge lies opportunity! As Rahm Emanuel has said" -you ne$er want a serious crisis to go to waste!- (o%** as we mo$e forward with reauthori.ing the Elementary and Secondary Education Act**is the time to rethin) and strengthen arts education. And I ask you to help #uild the national case for the importance of a well*rounded curriculum**not (ust in the arts #ut in the humanities writ large! )he /uestion of what constitutes an educated person has #een taken up #y the great thinkers in e$ery society! 0et few of those leading lights ha$e concluded that a well* educated person need only learn math" science" and read in their nati$e tongue! As 1ames 'each" the chairman of the National Endowment for the 2umanities recently put it" a society that fails to study history" refuses to learn from literature" and denies the lessons of philosophy -imprisons 3its4 thoughts in the here and now!- A %ell-educated student, in other %ords, is e*$osed to a %ell-rounded curriculum ! It is the making of connections" con$eyed #y a rich core curriculum" which ultimately empowers students to de$elop con$ictions and reach their full academic and social potential! )he study of history and ci$ics helps pro$ide that sense of time #eyond the here and now! )he study of geography and culture helps #uild a sense of space and place! And the study of drama, dance, music, and "isual arts hel$s students e*$lore realities and ideas that cannot be summari+ed sim$ly or e"en e*$ressed in %ords or numbers. )hat comple+ity forces students to grapple with and resol$e /uestions that will not ha$e a single" correct" fill*in*the*#u##le solution!

In America" education has long ser$ed a special role It has #een the great e/uali.er! From )homas 1efferson on" America's leaders ha$e recogni.ed that pu#lic education and the study of the li#eral arts were essential to creating an informed citi.enry that could $ote and participate in ci$il society! In 5678" years #efore the 9onstitutional 9on$ention met in Philadelphia and only weeks after the war with the %ritish had ended" :eorge ;ashington sat down to write a letter to a #ookseller! %ut ;ashington did not recount the recent triumph o$er the %ritish! 2e asked for #ooks instead" #ecause" he wrote" -to encourage literature and the arts is a duty which e$ery good citi.en owes to his country!&n America, %e do not reser"e arts education for $ri"ileged students or the elite. 9hildren from disad$antaged #ackgrounds" students who are English language learners" and students with disa#ilities often do not get the enrichment e+periences of affluent students anywhere e+cept at school! President &#ama recalls that when he was a child -you always had an art teacher and a music teacher! E$en in the poorest school districts" e$eryone had access to music and other arts!)oday" sadly" that is no longer the case! And that is one reason why I #elie$e education is the ci$il rights issue of our generation**and why arts education remains so critical to le$eling the playing field of opportunity! Ro#ert ,aynard 2utchins" the former president of the <ni$ersity of 9hicago" put it well when he said that -the #est education for the #est is the #est education for all!I learned that lesson firsthand from my father" who was a psychology professor at the <ni$ersity of 9hicago and a #an(o player! 2e cared deeply a#out promoting student growth! %ut he was e$en more committed to a dual mission for teachers**to not (ust educate students #ut to help prepare them for a lifetime of learning! 0ou might say he was an amateur arts educator of sorts #ecause he worked for many years as the faculty representati$e for the uni$ersity's annual folk music festi$al! Attending the folk festi$al e$ery year growing up" my #rother" sister" and I listened to the #lues and #luegrass" African drummers and mariachi music" 9hilean" Russian" and <krainian #ands" 9eltic music and gospel! ;e were e+posed not (ust to music from across the glo#e" #ut" through music" the $astness and e+traordinary di$ersity of the world itself! I must confess that my father**at least in my case**failed to pass on his musical talents! E$en so" I did flail away for se$eral years on the drums in the middle school #and! I learned some good lessons in the process**despite my forgetta#le performance! )he fact is that most students who take the arts are not going to #e professional musicians" painters" dancers" or actors! ,et e"ery student %ho $lays in a band, acts in a $lay, dances in a com$any, or sings in the chorus can benefit from the e*$erience in ama+ing %ays.

Through the arts, students can learn team%or) and $ractice collaborati"e learning %ith their $eers. They de"elo$ s)ills and !udgment they didn't )no% they had**whether it is drumming in time or ac/uiring the knowledge to differentiate #etween Pa$arotti and the tenor in the choir loft at the Sunday ser$ice! No matter what the color of our skin or #eliefs" -all of us can draw lessons from the works of history- says President &#ama! -All of us can #e mo$ed #y a symphony" all of us can #e mo$ed #y a soprano's $oice or a film's score!- Art" that is" has a uni$ersal appeal #ecause it speaks" as the President points out" to a shared yearning -for truth and for #eauty" for connection and the simple pleasure of a good story!Now" I spent much of last year on a 'istening and 'earning )our that took me to more than => states! And I heard /uite a few stories! I spoke with thousands of students" parents" and teachers! And almost e$erywhere I went" I heard people e+press concern that the curriculum has narrowed" especially in schools that ser$e disproportionate num#ers of disad$antaged students! There is no doubt that math, reading, %riting, and science are "ital core com$onents of a good education in today's global economy. -ut so is the study of history, foreign languages, ci"ics, and the arts. And it is precisely #ecause a #road and deep grounding in the arts and humanities is so $ital that we must #e perpetually $igilant that pu#lic schools" from pre*? through twelfth grade" do not narrow the curriculum! )he case for a well*rounded curriculum #egins with a disappointing reality ,any schools today are falling far short of pro$iding an engaging" content*rich curriculum! Instead" students are often saddled with #oring te+t#ooks" dummied*down to the lowest common denominator! It is no wonder that much of today's curriculum fails to spark student curiosity or stimulate a lo$e of learning! As Ernest %oyer pointed out years ago" -,any kids drop out of school #ecause no one e$er noticed that they dropped in!0et we know from research that access to a challenging high school curriculum has a greater impact on whether a student will earn a four*year college degree than his or her high school test scores" class rank" or grades! And we know that low*income students are less likely to ha$e access to these accelerated learning opportunities and college* le$el coursework than their peers! &ne impact of the content*lite curriculum is that many Americans are appallingly ignorant of our nation's origins! 0ou will perhaps not #e surprised to hear that a recent pu#lic opinion sur$ey #y the American Re$olution 9enter found that more than 7@ percent of Americans know ,ichael 1ackson sang -%eat It- and -%illie 1ean!- %y contrast" a ma(ority of Americans #elie$e the 9i$il ;ar" the Emancipation Proclamation" or the ;ar of 575A occurred #efore the Declaration of Independence!

'ess than half of Americans today know that Balley Forge" the iconic site of :eorge ;ashington's winter encampment with the 9ontinental Army" is in Pennsyl$ania! In the coming de#ate o$er ESEA reauthori.ation" I #elie$e that arts education can help #uild the case for the importance of a well*rounded" content*rich curriculum in at least three ways! First, the arts significantly boost student achie"ement, reduce disci$line $roblems, and increase the odds that students %ill go on to graduate from college. .econd, arts education is essential to stimulating the creati"ity and inno"ation that %ill $ro"e critical to young Americans com$eting in a global economy. And last, but not least, the arts are "aluable for their o%n sa)e, and they em$o%er students to create and a$$reciate aesthetic %or)s. As the First 'ady sums up" she and the president #oth belie"e strongly that arts education is essential for building inno"ati"e thin)ers %ho %ill be our nation's leaders for tomorro%. It is not surprising that "isual arts instruction im$ro"es reading readiness" or that learning to $lay the $iano or to master musical notation hel$s students to master math. Reading, math, and %riting re/uire students to understand and use symbols--and so does assembling sha$es and colors in a $ortrait or using musical notes to learn fractions. Is it any surprise then to learn of the large impact that arts education has on student achie$ement and attainment" especially among disad$antaged studentsC Lo%-income students %ho $lay in the orchestra or band are more than t%ice as li)ely to $erform at the highest le"els in math as $eers %ho do not $lay music. In 1ames 9atterall's well*known longitudinal study" Doing Well and Doing Good by Doing Art" low*income students at arts*rich high schools were more than twice as likely to earn a %!A! as low*income students at arts*poor high schools! English language learners at arts*rich high schools were also far more likely than their peers at arts*poor high schools to go on to college! In the annals of education research" these are #ig effects**and ones we would like to see more schools replicate! Fortunately" numerous schools are #eginning to take these lessons to scale! 'ast year" I had the pri$ilege of $isiting an early learning facility" the Educare 9enter in &klahoma 9ity" which is home to one of the D@ schools in &klahoma's AE Schools network! &klahoma's AE school*network nurtures creati$ity in e$ery student**and a recent e$aluation shows not (ust that the program increases student achie$ement #ut #oosts attendance and decreases discipline pro#lems as well! ;hen I took o$er as 9E& of the 9hicago Pu#lic Schools in A@@5" a sur$ey #y the 9hicago 9ommunity )rust showed that one in se$en elementary schools in the city did not

pro$ide a single class of arts instruction a week! Fifteen elementary schools" with 6"=@@ children" pro$ided no arts instruction at all! )hrough 9APE" the 9hicago Arts Partnerships in Education" we #rought local artists and teachers into the schools to partner up on integrating arts curriculum with academic su#(ects! And follow*up studies showed that students at the 9APE schools performed #etter on standardi.ed assessment than students who attended schools that did not integrate arts and academics! I ha$e #een especially fortunate to witness the power of integrated curriculum firsthand with our son and daughter" who are now in kindergarten and second grade respecti$ely in a Birginia pu#lic school! )heir school has a science focus! -ut it is an e*traordinary music teacher, 0oe #u++o, %ho is the absolute roc) star %ith the students. 1e %rites and teaches songs to the )ids about science. Mr. #u++o has got third graders singing about gra"ity, sedimentation, roc)s, and the $lanets. .tudents sing, cla$, and dance about solids, li/uids and gases. ;hat a fun way to learn! ;hen 9olum#us Day or ,artin 'uther ?ing Day come around" ,r! Pu..o sits down and writes songs for the students a#out 9hristopher 9olum#us and ,artin 'uther ?ing! 0ears later" when students sit down to take their SA)s" they report humming ,r! Pu..o's songs to recall historical and scientific content! As a side note" I will confess that our son and daughter ha$e instructed us" in no uncertain terms" that we are to #id high in the auction this year to win an afternoon with ,r! Pu..o! Now" you all ha$e heard that ad$anced S)E, courses will #e essential to workers who want to compete in the glo#al economy! )hose claims are true! S)E, courses de$elop critical thinking and pro#lem*sol$ing skills in math and science" they spur inno$ation" and they enhance self*direction! %ut as Daniel Pink" author of A Whole New Mind" has pointed out" good arts education accom$lishes many of the same ends. The fact is that high-/uality arts and humanities instruction are almost uni/uely suited to stimulate imagination, creati"ity, and the ability to find ada$ti"e solutions. 9reati$ity" as Sandra Ruppert" AEP's Director notes" is a -precursor to inno$ation and the cornerstone of entrepreneurship!Put another way" knowledge**without imagination**is not good enough for students in today's fluid (o# market! -&magination is more im$ortant than )no%ledge, Al#ert Einstein once reminded us" #ecause -knowledge is limited whereas imagination em#races the entire world!It is no coincidence that )om Friedman" the New 0ork )imes columnist and author of The World is Flat" predicts that -the school" the state" the country that empowers"

nurtures" 3and4 ena#les imagination among its students- is going to #e the winner in the rapidly*e$ol$ing glo#al economy of the twenty*first century! Now" what can the federal go$ernment do to support high*/uality arts education and a well*rounded curriculumC 'et me answer that /uestion #y telling you first what we cannot do! ;e will not endorse or sanction any specific curricula**and the Department is in fact appropriately prohi#ited #y law from endorsing or sanctioning curricula! )he department will" howe$er" continue to fund research studies on the effecti$eness of curricula as it has in the past! And it will continue to re/uire districts to ensure that schools recei$ing federal funds through )itle I or in school turnarounds are using e$idence*#ased instructional programs aligned with academic standards! ;e are currently in the midst of conducting the first large*scale sur$ey of school principals" music teachers" and $isual arts specialists in ten years! I want to underscore that our proposal to reauthori.e ESEA goes much further than e+isting law in supporting a well*#alanced curriculum! &ur ESEA proposal will allow states to incorporate assessments of su#(ects #eyond English language arts and math in their accounta#ility systems! And we plan to in$est in the de$elopment of #etter assessments" so schools and teachers don't feel pressured to teach to low*/uality" standardi.ed tests! I will #e the first to tell you the department has not always #een seen as a proponent of a well*#alanced education! )he truth is that when I was 9E& of the 9hicago Pu#lic Schools" I did not welcome a call from the nice man or woman at the <!S! Department of Education! %ut that reluctance stemmed from the fact that the department has historically #een a compliance machine" rather than an engine of inno$ation! I want to flip that! And as many of you know" our #udget and ESEA proposals would flip that historical relationship for arts educators! ;e ha$e proposed to take the F8@ million for arts education that now goes to directed grants and a couple of small competitions with an array of applications and re/uirements" and replace it with a much #igger" competiti$e pool of FAD> million to strengthen the teaching of arts" foreign languages" ci$ics and go$ernment" and other su#(ects! E+isting arts education programs ha$e worthy goals! %ut they ha$e resulted in fragmented funding at the federal" state" and local le$el! <nder our new ESEA proposal" high*need districts" and states and non*profits in partnership with high*need districts" would #e eligi#le to apply for the grants" which place a priority on cross*su#(ect learning #ut don't mandate it! At the same time" we would increase access and funding for college*le$el" dual credit" and other accelerated courses in high*need schools to support not only a well*rounded" #ut a rigorous curriculum!

)wo of our new and most inno$ati$e programs**In$esting in Inno$ation or i=" and Promise Neigh#orhoods" loosely modeled after the 2arlem 9hildren's Gone's comprehensi$e community*#ased organi.ationHha$e the potential to support effecti$e arts education programs and partnerships as well! & don't thin) arts education should e"er be relegated to ta)ing $lace only in after-school hours. -ut arts educators can $ro"ide high-/uality instruction in after-school and e*tended day $rograms that is es$ecially critical for lo%income students. In fact" we anticipate that place*#ased Promise Neigh#orhood programs in low*income communities may include high*/uality arts instruction! Research suggests that arts education not only #oosts academic outcomes" #ut that neigh#orhood*#ased arts and cultural acti$ities can #uild stronger cities and communities! I recogni.e that our plans to shift to competiti$e funding for arts education may make some arts pro$iders ner$ous" e$en if they can potentially compete for significantly more funding than in the past! 9hange can #e unsettling! %ut I urge arts educators to ha$e the confidence of their con$ictions to compete and demonstrate the $alue of their disciplines on student outcomes! )he operati$e phrases here are -outcomes- and -high*/uality- arts instruction! 1ust as in e$ery other core su#(ect" some arts instruction is top*rate" some is mediocre! I am pleased that the arts community" for more than 5> years" has pioneered the de$elopment of $oluntary standards in dance" drama" music" and the $isual arts! Forty*nine states now ha$e esta#lished content andIor performance standards outlining what students should know and #e a#le to do in one or more art form! ,any districts" including 9hicago" now not only articulate arts standards" #ut also spell out a se/uential series of courses aligned with state standards! So" arts education is making real progress toward defining /uality and demonstrating outcomes" #ut challenges remain! A num#er of states ha$e taken steps to de$elop rigorous arts assessments! <nfortunately" those assessments ha$e faced set#acks and funding cut#acks in recent years! )oo many schools still fail to offer a standards*#ased course of study in all four arts disciplines! ;e all know that unaccepta#le disparities in arts education #etween low* income and affluent districts continue to persist! Despite these challenges" and the tough #udgetary climate" arts education must not (ust sur$i$e #ut thri$e! A well*#alanced curriculum is simply too $ital to our students and our national character to let the teaching of the arts and humanities erode! In 5JD=" shortly #efore he was assassinated" President ?ennedy spoke a#out the importance of poetry at the ground#reaking for the Ro#ert Frost 'i#rary at Amherst 9ollege where Frost had taught! And here is what ?ennedy said -&ur national strength

matters"- he declared" -#ut the spirit which informs and controls our strength matters (ust as much!Ro#ert Frost's poetry" in ?ennedy's eyes" reminded us of the limitations of power! Power might lead man toward arrogance" #ut -poetry reminds him of his limitations!- ;hen power narrows the areas of man's concern" ?ennedy said" -poetry reminds him of the richness and di$ersity of e+istence! ;hen power corrupts" poetry cleanses!It was art" ?ennedy concluded" that -esta#lishes the #asic human truths which must ser$e as the touchstone of our (udgment!I thank all of you for your tireless commitment to supporting arts education! And I urge you to continue the fight to pro$ide all of our children with a well*rounded and rigorous education! 'et the arts" as President ?ennedy said" esta#lish the #asic human truths which must ser$e as the touchstone of our (udgment! KKK