Landmark Minnesota K-12 Arts Education Report To Be Released

WHAT: Perpich Center for Arts Education will release the results of the first comprehensive study of K-12 arts education in Minnesota.

WHEN: 11 a.m., Thursday, October 11, 2012

WHERE: Minnesota State Capitol Senate Conference Room 15G

75 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. , St. Paul MN 55155

WHO: Sue Mackert, executive director, Perpich Center for Arts Education

Robert B. Morrison, Quadrant Arts Education Research

WHY: This report provides a never-before-available picture of arts education in the state and establishes a baseline for tracking and measuring future progress. The study answers the need to provide data to decision makers, schools and the public about this critical area of K-12 education. Increasing numbers of national studies show again and again a significant positive relationship between arts study and overall academic achievement, especially in schools with high populations of at-risk students. This study confirms those findings. Minnesota needs to ensure that equity and access to arts education is available to all Minnesota students. This report is the state’s roadmap for that effort.

The Minnesota State Legislature funded the study through its Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.

About Perpich Center

Perpich Center for Arts Education is a state agency serving all school districts in Minnesota. Created in 1985 by the Minnesota State Legislature, the agency seeks to advance K-12 education throughout Minnesota by teaching in and through the arts. Perpich staff and faculty experts provide outreach, professional development, research, curriculum and standards development, a statewide arts education library and a public arts high school that serves students from around the state.