Workgroup Leaders:

Marty Henton, Community Leader
Jack Wilson, Facilitator
Lisa Deffendall, Project Coordinator
Patti Bingham, Staff Leader

Why Consider the Arts?

• Arts education builds a school climate of high expectation, discipline, and academic rigor, strengthens student problem-solving and critical thinking skills and provides another opportunity for family, community, and business involvement with schools, including arts and humanities organizations.
• Research has linked experiences in the arts with higher achievement in reading, math and science, more regular attendance, lower dropout rates, decreased delinquent behavior, increased involvement in community service and the development of leadership skills.
• Arts education makes a tremendous impact on the developmental growth of every child and has proven to help level the learning field across socio-economic boundaries.
• Quality classroom experiences in the arts have been shown to narrow the academic achievement gap between low-income children and their more affluent peers.