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Arts enrollment rises under new graduation requirement; district flags participation gaps
Summary
Officials reported that a new graduation requirement is increasing cultural-arts participation but data show underrepresentation of Hispanic, ML and EC students and modest gaps in academic outcomes at middle levels; arts students had fewer discipline referrals and tardies on average.
Ashboro City Schools officials said Monday that a state graduation requirement for arts coursework has increased participation in cultural-arts classes but revealed persistent gaps in who enrolls.
Deanna Wilds, director of curriculum and academic program support, told the board that arts enrollment at the secondary level is up partly because this year’s ninth-grade cohort is the first required to take at least one arts course for graduation. "Sometimes students are placed in arts courses even if it wasn't their first choice," she said, noting scheduling constraints can drive placement as well as student interest.
Wilds' analysis found Hispanic students and multilingual (ML) and exceptional-children (EC) populations are underrepresented in arts coursework compared with district demographics. She also said female students are more likely to participate in arts classes and that arts students show lower rates of office-discipline referrals and fewer tardies on average.
At the middle-school level, the presentation showed arts-enrolled students have slightly lower ELA and math outcomes compared with non-arts peers, while at the high school level arts students had a slightly higher GPA. Wilds cautioned that the secondary arts data mix required coursework and electives, which can affect comparisons with student-athlete data or voluntary enrollment groups.
The district highlighted extracurricular and enrichment opportunities tied to arts programming — from elementary club drumming and chorus festivals to middle- and high-school honors ensembles and musicals — and said those activities remain central to the district’s broader effort to expand equitable participation.
Board members asked for further parsing of the data to separate students who voluntarily chose arts courses from those placed by scheduling; Wilds said staff will explore finer-grained analysis.
