“Ingenuity Inc., an organization that works to improve and expand arts education in Chicago, released its annual progress report surveying arts education in Chicago Public Schools,” writes Stephen Raskauskas on Monday (11/28) at Chicago classical radio station WFMT. “Considering that earlier this year, Illinois’ public school districts were $20 billion in debt, Ingenuity’s findings may surprise you…. Ingenuity reports that that more than two-thirds of Chicago Public Schools students attend a school ‘strong’ or ‘excelling’ in the arts…. An elementary school that is considered excelling provides 120 minutes of arts instruction to every student every week, and has an arts instructor to student ratio of 1:350. A high school that is considered excelling offers arts education in three different disciplines, and has an arts instructor to student ratio of 1:350. The five arts disciplines defined by CPS are dance, drama, music, visual art, and media arts.… 96% of elementary school students have access to arts instruction, while 59% of schools provide students with 120 minutes of weekly arts instruction. Almost all schools—96%—benefited from community partnerships with professional arts organizations such as the Joffrey Ballet and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra…. Ingenuity collected data from 88% of 660 schools.”
Posted November 29, 2016
