NASBE Partners with AEP on Arts Education Policy Portal

Arlington, VA — The National Association of State Boards of Education (NASBE) is collaborating with the Arts Education Partnership (AEP) to create an online arts education resource designed to help state boards of education develop evidence-based policy. The initiative is funded through the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.

Under the agreement, NASBE will base the new web portal on AEP’s Arts Education State Policy Database and ArtsEdSearch, through which state board members will be able to easily access information about how the arts can support general education policy goals. For instance, if a state board is working on new high school graduation requirements, members and staff can use the web page to find research and model policies that include the arts as a critical part of a student’s education.

“The arts not only enrich our social and emotional lives, they provide rare and special avenues to develop skills we need and use every day,” said NASBE Executive Director Jim Kohlmoos. “As state boards develop new and innovative evidence-based education policies, it is incumbent on them to consider every avenue to student success. We are excited to partner with AEP to help make arts education part of those efforts.”

“Evidence and action – within policymaking – is a powerful combination in ensuring the arts remain an essential part of a complete education for every young person in America,” said AEP Director Sandra Ruppert. AEP “and NASBE’s collaboration comes at an exciting crossroads in education reform, and we look forward to helping state boards understand the role of the arts as a gateway to learning and student success.”

The webpage will be hosted on NASBE’s website, and will also be linked to AEP’s site. When the portal is completed in the second quarter of 2013, NASBE and AEP will host a webinar open to all to guide potential users through the webpage and the two databases.  For more information on ArtsEdSearch and the Arts Education State Policy Database visit http://aep-arts.org.

NASBE Report

The Complete Curriculum—Ensuring a Place for the Arts and Foreign Languages in America’s Schools: The Report of the NASBE Study Group on the Lost Curriculum

Articles from the State Education Standard: “Ensuring a Place for the Arts in America’s Schools”

Editor’s Note

Message from the Executive Director

Finding the Will and the Way to Make the Arts a Core Subject: Thirty Years of Mixed Progress

The Complete Curriculum: Ensuring a Place for the Arts in America’s Schools

For Every Child the Liberal Arts

Developing an Arts Assessment: Some Strategies

Cutting the Arts Imperils Student Achievement

Potent Partnerships: Community-Based Resources for Arts Education

Young Children and the Arts: The Uneven Road to Early Childhood Arts Standards

The NASBE Interview: State Board Member Dorie Combs on Arts Education in Kentucky