More Schools Integrating Arts Into Core Curriculum

Education Week (11/17, Robelen) reported, "The idea of integrating the arts, including dance, into the broader curriculum is not new, but it appears to be gaining a stronger foothold in public schools, proponents say, though national data are not available." Such efforts have been taken on by educators who have seen arts programs in schools diminish "amid the financial straits facing many districts and other challenges, such as pressure to boost test scores in core subjects like reading and math." Dance, in particular, has been left out of many public schools. But Jane Bonbright of the National Dance Education Organization, said that is changing. Now dance, "first introduced in schools mainly through P.E. programs, appears to be increasingly taught as an art form, which according to Bonbright, "is an important distinction."