The Opportunity
According to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), the national averaged freshman graduation rate (AFGR) for public school students was reported as 78.2% (approx. 3.1 million students) for the class of 2009-2010. This means that there were approximately just over 870,000 students that did not graduate on time or at all. The statistics are even more startling, when you start to do a breakdown analysis by racial-ethnic groups and regionally-specific geographical locations. With prevailing statistics such as these, we need to get smart and creative about how we choose to educate and develop our youth to ensure that we empower well-rounded individuals, cultured communities and a globally competitive nation. We can do so by leveraging our resources and more intentionally tapping into the arts.
Many bright and gifted students today, particularly from underserved communities are battling a multitude of issues at their age that go way beyond popularity contests in elementary, middle and high school. They are faced with the challenges of difficult familial backgrounds, social irregularities, susceptibility to criminal activity, poverty and much more than most adults could bear to handle; social and societal factors that unfortunately allow our students to slip through the cracks and fall behind in school at an alarming rate. It is for reasons such as these that we feel it is imperative that children, our youth are exposed to not only what is defined as “core” academia, but various facets of the arts as early as possible, as well.
In research, we find that schools, community agencies and students that invest in the arts have an increased chance of identifying untapped passions, cultivating new skills, and embodying a level of confidence that helps them in all critical areas of their young and adult lives: socially, personally and professionally.
