State of the Art: Declining National Trends in Arts Access

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 28
  In Roundtable Session: The Arts and Social-Emotional Learning in Education

Abstract

The common narrative in arts education circles, is that educational field trips have steadily declined for decades. However, until now there has been little rigorous evidence to support this claim. This study reports original longitudinal K-12 field trip attendance data gathered directly from 20 leading art museums in 19 states. Additionally, this study documents the impacts of policy, pressures, and practices on field trip attendance and access in thirty-two states. I find that arts field trips have declined over time. Art museum education program administrators attribute the cause for the decline to a variety of issues, but accountability policies and the pressure of standardized testing are the most often cited.

Author

• Angela R. Watson, Johns Hopkins University