Creating a State Data Culture to Inform Investments in Arts Education

Session 5 of the 2019 Webinar Series.

A recording of this presentation is available here.

The last 15 years have witnessed a revolution in state education data systems that is creating new opportunities to track students’ access to and participation in arts education. Yet most states have yet to report on the arts education data they already collect, depriving policymakers and funders of information that could help them address the most pressing needs in their states and communities.

Join a webinar to examine a collaboration between the National Endowment for the Arts and Education Commission of the States to build states’ capacity to report on the arts education data they collect. The webinar will focus on the current climate for such work in states, strategies and tools for supporting state-level data efforts, and the value of incorporating arts education data into broader efforts to promote a culture of information in states.

Participants will learn about the initiative’s current and forthcoming resources, including:

• A report on arts education metrics most states can track;
• A 50-state comparison of states’ capacity to report on those metrics;
• Two future toolkits:
  • One to help stakeholders plan an arts education data initiative, offering insights on how to request, process, and report on education data;
  • Second toolkit to help arts education champions communicate about arts education data;
• Plans to provide technical assistance for select states.

Join us on June 25 to hear Ayanna Hudson, director of Arts Education at National Endowment for the Arts, and Claus von Zastrow, principal of Education Commission of the States to discuss how this work complements and reinforces ongoing efforts to track arts education data at the state level. At the end of the webinar, the audience will have the chance to participate in robust discussions about potential challenges and opportunities for advancing this work.

This webinar is brought to you by the National Endowment for the Arts and Education Commission of the States, in association with Grantmakers for Education, and Grantmakers in the Arts.

Ayanna N. Hudson is the director of Arts Education for the National Endowment for the Arts where she presides over the grant portfolio devoted to arts education, works with national service organizations on policy initiatives, and serves as the spokesperson for arts education at the federal level. Director of arts education with the Los Angeles County Arts Commission for more than ten years, Hudson developed and led the implementation of the Arts for All collaborative, ensuring equitable access to arts education for 1.6 million students in the county's 81 school districts, the largest educational system in the country. Arts for All was cited in 2008 by the RAND Corporation’s study, Revitalizing Arts Education through Community-wide Coordination, and received the Arts Education Award from the national service organization Americans for the Arts. Hudson is a sought-after expert in arts education having testified before the U.S. House of Representative's Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Subcommittee and the Aspen Institute's Blue Ribbon Committee on the impact of No Child Left Behind. She has a BA in psychology from Spelman College and a specialized master's degree in education in risk and prevention from Harvard University.

At Education Commission of the States, Claus von Zastrow oversees efforts on a range of initiatives including improving state education data and strengthening STEM education. He has held leadership positions in education policy and research for more than 17 years and has spent much of that time helping diverse stakeholders find consensus on important education issues. His reports and analysis have been cited by dozens of media outlets, including The Washington Post, The New York Times, PBS NewsHour, Politico, USA Today, and US News & World Report. Claus is dedicated to ensuring that state leaders have the information and guidance they need to make the best possible decisions affecting young people.