QuickFacts and Benefits of Music and the Arts in Education and Society

Student Performance

The College Entrance Examination Board found that students involved in public school music programs scored 107 points higher on the SAT's than students with no participation.
- Profiles of SAT and Achievement Test Takers, The College Board, compiled by the Music Educators National Conference (2002)

U.S. Department of Education data on more than 25,000 secondary school students found that students who report consistent high levels of involvement in instrumental music over the middle and high school years show "significantly higher levels of mathematics proficiency by grade 12."
- U.S. Department of Education NELLS88 Database

Public Support and Access

According to a 2003 Gallup survey, 95 percent of Americans believe that music is a key component in a child's well-rounded education.
- American Attitudes on Music, Music Making and Music Education, The Gallup Organization 2003

In spite of this public support and documented benefits, "only one in four eighth graders reported being asked to sing or play a music instrument at least once a week."
-1998 NAEP Assessment

Life Skills

Arts involvement teaches children many skills necessary to succeed in life, including problem solving and decision making, building self-confidence and self-discipline, the ability to imagine what might be and to accept responsibility for it, teamwork, the development of informed perception, and articulating a vision.
- Compiled from various research documents and reports

Secondary students who participated in band or orchestra reported the lowest lifetime and current use of all substances (alcohol, tobacco, illicit drugs).
- Texas Commission on Drug and Alcohol Abuse, Houston Chronicle, January 11, 1998

Scientific Research

A research team reports that early music training dramatically enhancing children's abstract reasoning skills. These findings indicate that music uniquely enhances higher brain functions required for mathematics, chess, science and engineering.
- From Neurological Research, Feb 28, 1997; Frances Rauscher, Ph.D., Gordon Shaw, Ph.D, University of California, Irvine

A two-year Swiss study involving 1,200 children in 50 schools showed that students involved in the music program were better at languages, learned to read more easily, showed an improved social climate, showed more enjoyment in school, and had a lower level of stress than non-music students.
-Weber, E.W., Spychiger, M. & Patry, J.L. (1993)

Arts and the Economy

America's nonprofit arts industry generates $134 billion in economic activity every year, including $24.4 billion in federal, state, and local tax revenues.
- Americans for the Arts

Despite this, state-level arts spending dropped from $409 million in fiscal year 2002 to 354.5 in fiscal year 2003 and declined again to $272.4 million in 2004.
- National Assembly of State Arts Agencies