Clustering California: Unpacking Arts Education Policy, Data Plausibility, and District Performance

• In Event: AER Roundtable Session Friday 1:45 pm - Gold 4
  In Roundtable Session: Data Use: For Whom and For What?

Abstract

California’s Proposition 28, the Arts and Music in Schools Funding Guarantee and Accountability Act (AMS) seeks to equitably expand access to arts education. However, implementation remains controversial, with allegations of misuse (e.g., in Los Angeles Unified School District) and mixed effectiveness. Using public-use data from the California Department of Education, this explanatory mixed methods study groups school districts (n = 931) by shared characteristics, identifies top performers in AMS implementation, and examines reporting issues. Hierarchical clustering on principal components and consensus clustering grouped districts into eight clusters. Top districts within clusters varied by performance metric. Considering reports’ mixed plausibility, top performance results are interpreted cautiously. This study offers preliminary insight to inform future arts education policies in California and beyond.

Authors

• Lindsey Kunisaki, University of California - Los Angeles

• Vinh Quang Tran, St. John's University

• Gulnur Ozbek, St. John's University