The California Arts Education Strategic Task Force has met to begin the process of developing recommendations to provide quality arts education in schools statewide.

“California is the center of some of the world’s finest visual and performing arts institutions,” said Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell, co-chair of the task force. “We know that instruction combined with art supports learning while developing creative thinking and problem-solving skills.”

The California County Superintendents Educational Services Association and the California Alliance for the Arts sponsored the formation of the new group aimed at improving arts education. The task force was developed in the wake of the report from the Stanford Research Institute, which showed California schools are failing to offer a rigorous arts curriculum to meet the statewide standards.

The governor has put forward more than $605 million to begin the process of restoring the arts to California’s schools. Over the past decade, the state has developed and adopted world-class standards for music, visual arts, dance and theater, and curriculum frameworks for visual and performing arts also have been developed.

The 13-member task force includes representatives of the Legislature, the PTA, and major education organizations including ACSA, the California Teachers Association and the California School Boards Association. The task force is funded by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation through a grant awarded to CCSESA.

Members of the task force were slated to meet April 9 and will do so again April 30, when they will hear testimony from selected statewide experts. The task force is charged with developing an agenda designed to bring full and comprehensive education, including instruction and experience in the four disciplines of the arts, music, visual arts, dance and theater, into schools. The task force is expected to submit a report with three to five recommendations in mid-May.

“Today, we are seeing a new landscape around arts education in California,” O’Connell said. “A landscape that is rich in creativity and deep in instructional opportunities. Our critical next step is to work together to provide meaningful arts education to every student in California public schools.”