H.R. 2485 — Arts Education for All Act

This section amends the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990 (CCDBG)—which provides federal block grants to states for child care subsidies to low-income families and quality improvement activities—as follows: (1) revises state requirements under section 658G(b)(1)(A) to offer child care providers training, coaching, or professional development on evidence-based, developmentally appropriate strategies promoting children's social, emotional, physical, adaptive, communication, and cognitive development—including key programmatic strategies—and specialized training for providers caring for populations prioritized under section 658E(c)(2)(Q) or children with disabilities; and (2) adds a definition of "key programmatic strategies" in section 658P to include strategies related to nutrition and physical activity, recommended practices for age-appropriate screen media exposure, and integration of instructional methods across disciplines using the arts, language, literacy, mathematics, science, and social studies.

This section specifies that, except as otherwise expressly provided, all references in this title to amendments or repeals of sections or other provisions are to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965.

This section requires each state plan under ESEA Title I-A (i.e., grants to local educational agencies serving disadvantaged students) to describe how the state educational agency will support arts education to improve student achievement in core academic subjects (e.g., math, reading) by (1) encouraging arts experiences as part of the overall achievement strategy; (2) integrating arts into the curriculum; (3) increasing arts educators; (4) using partnerships with teaching artists to train teachers in creative techniques for core subjects; (5) ensuring standards-based, sequential arts instruction from early grades through 6-12; (6) increasing arts-taught classes, focusing on low-income students, students with disabilities, English learners, and students of color; and (7) supporting arts in afterschool and summer programs. It also requires each local educational agency plan to describe how it will support arts learning and its use to improve achievement consistent with the state plan requirements.

This section requires state and local report cards to include information on arts courses, including (1) the number of, range, and sequence of course offerings; (2) the average pupil-to-teacher ratio in such courses; (3) the average amount of instructional time in such courses; and (4) for each semester, the percentage (in the aggregate and disaggregated by high-poverty compared to low-poverty schools, defined as schools in the top and bottom poverty quartiles in the state, respectively) of (a) schools offering arts courses, (b) students taking arts courses, and (c) arts courses taught by arts teachers with full state certification or licensure.

This section amends state plan requirements under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act for schools identified for comprehensive support and improvement by requiring an evaluation of arts courses offered during the school day and the certification, training, and skills of staff teaching such courses—including teaching artists—and, based on that evaluation, incorporation of arts courses into the school's offerings.

This section expands permissible uses of subgrant funds under the Supporting Effective Instruction State Grants program (Title II-A of the ESEA) by adding to the list of activities "carrying out activities to increase pathways to obtain rigorous, high-quality teacher certification or licensure for individuals seeking to become teachers of the arts." The section further requires local educational agencies (LEAs) receiving such subgrants to (1) provide professional development for arts teachers, as appropriate, to meet agency and school needs; and (2) provide professional development for teachers to integrate the arts into instruction in math, reading, English language arts, science, and other core subjects (as defined in ESEA §8101(52)). (Thus, LEAs must prioritize arts integration and arts teacher preparation in professional development programs previously focused on general educator effectiveness, evaluation, and recruitment.)

This section modifies state application requirements and authorized activities under the 21st Century Community Learning Centers program (i.e., grants to communities to offer academic enrichment, youth development, and supportive services during nonschool hours, primarily for students attending high-need schools) by (1) requiring descriptions of steps to ensure effective program strategies, including coordination of professional development for staff in specific content areas, including arts education, and youth development (previously, specific content areas and youth development); and (2) adding as an authorized use of funds partnering with, integrating the services of, and utilizing offerings from arts services organizations or community-focused arts nonprofits that further creative youth development.

This section adds to state plan requirements under the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974 a new provision requiring states to describe coordination of juvenile justice and delinquency prevention services and activities with state and local agencies and organizations, including state and local arts agencies, arts organizations, and organizations that further creative youth development.

This section expands the authorized uses of grants under the adult and juvenile offender demonstration projects and State, tribal, and local reentry courts programs (i.e., Byrne Justice Assistance Grant-funded initiatives to improve offender reentry outcomes) to include arts education programs and services that facilitate reentry, reduce recidivism, and connect offenders to educational opportunities and employment after reentry into the community.

This section amends the general duties of the Research Center within the Institute of Education Sciences (IES)—the federal government's primary source for rigorous, peer-reviewed education research—by inserting a new paragraph (11) directing the Center to carry out rigorous, peer-reviewed, large-scale research on the use of the arts and arts education to identify methods that are most effective, cost-efficient, and scalable for elementary and secondary classrooms, including low-performing schools. It also adds to the Center's list of research priorities under subsection (c)(2) a new item (L) on the use of the arts and arts education in improving elementary and secondary education. (It makes conforming amendments to strike "; and" after existing paragraph (10)(D) and to redesignate existing paragraph (11) as paragraph (12).)

This section expands the general duties of the Statistics Center within the Institute of Education Sciences to include collecting, acquiring, compiling (where appropriate, on a State-by-State basis), and disseminating statistics—disaggregated by specified population characteristics—on access to, the integration of, and the inclusion of arts education at the preschool, elementary, secondary, postsecondary, and adult levels.

This section requires the Assessment Board to select the arts as a subject for assessment under the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)—the Nation's Report Card, which measures student academic achievement in grades 4, 8, and 12, among others—at the same frequency and in the same grades (at a minimum) as scheduled prior to July 24, 2021. (Thus, arts assessments occur independently of the time and resource constraints applicable to other additional subjects such as science and civics.)