The Arts Education Partnership (formerly the Goals 2000 Arts Education Partnership) is a national coalition of arts, education, business, philanthropic and government organizations that demonstrates and promotes the essential role of the arts in the learning and development of every child and in the improvement of America's schools. It was formed in 1995 through a cooperative agreement between the National Endowment for the Arts, the U.S. Department of Education, the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies, and the Council of Chief State School Officers.

Since its founding, the partnership has become the primary forum and meeting ground for organizations to explore how the arts can transform American education. Partnership organizations have led the national movement to establish education standards that include the arts. They have conducted and published groundbreaking research on the impact of learning in the arts on student achievement. And they have identified the policies and practical steps that will enable schools and school districts to achieve educational excellence by incorporating the arts into teaching and learning.

Partnership teams are at work in every state. The teams consist of representatives from state departments of education, state arts agencies, and state alliances for arts education, as well as the state and local affiliates of national partnership organizations. The partnership maintains communications with a network of state and local teams and partnerships and provides training and resources to strengthen their impact.

The partnership issues reports and documentation of all of its meetings and activities.

Critical Links: Learning in the Arts and Student Academic and Social Development summarizes and discusses 62 research studies that examine the effects of arts learning on students' social and academic skills. Additional essays explore the implication of studies in each art form area as well as multi-arts. An additional essay explores transfer between arts and other learning.

Envisioning Arts Assessment: A Process Guide for Assessing Arts Education in School Districts and States draws on the lessons learned in the development and administration of the 1997 National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) arts assessment, as well as the work of the SCASS Arts Education Assessment Consortium of state departments of education, and the experiences of states currently developing arts assessments. It provides step-by-step guidance to state and local school districts on the principles and processes for creating a "large-scale" assessment.

Teaching Partnerships: Report of a National Forum on Partnerships Improving Teaching of the Arts summarizes the discussions and recommendations from a 2001 forum in New York City. The report outlines characteristics of the most promising practices in improving teaching of the arts, and provides a set of action recommendations for strengthening collaborations among schools, higher education and the arts community.

Champions of Change: The Impact of the Arts on Learning is a report that compiles seven major studies that provide new evidence of enhanced learning and achievement when students are involved in a variety of arts experiences.

Gaining the Arts Advantage: Lessons from School Districts That Value Arts Education is a report that examines 91 school districts throughout the U.S. for their effectiveness in providing quality arts education to all of their students.

Young Children and the Arts: Making Creative Connections provides guiding principles for developing arts-based early childhood programs and resources.  It also provides benchmark arts-related activities for young children ranging from birth to age eight.

Print copies of these and other publications may be purchased from CCSSO. Online versions may be downloaded and printed from the Arts Education Partnership web site.

Partnership Staff
Sandra Ruppert, Director, 202-336-7065, sandrar@ccsso.org
Teka Phan, Program Assistant, 202-326-8683, tekap@ccsso.org
Andrew Nelson, Associate, 202-312-6865, andrewn@ccsso.org

To learn more about Arts Education Partnership activities and publications, visit our web site at http://aep-arts.org.