Education Policy

From the Trenches: Déjà Vu All Over Again

New music/arts standards will drive education for the next decade… or longer

In March of 1994, 20 years ago this month, two of the most historically important efforts to advance music and arts education came to fruition:

1. The codifying of the arts as a core subject with the passage and signing of the Goals 2000 Educate America Act (the Clinton Administration’s name for the Elementary and Secondary Education Act that governs all of public education in this country) and,

2. The release of the National Standards for Arts Education.

These two events, culminating simultaneously, set the stage for the future growth, and defense of, music and arts education.