Inside, you’ll learn how arts education can cultivate durable skills. Included are tangible examples of durable skills development within arts education and how they connect to the National Arts Standards’ anchor standards to provide educators a concrete framework to point to. The report also lays out six policy considerations to help strengthen support for arts education at the state level:

1. Develop portrait of a graduate frameworks.
2. Adopt competency-based and personalized learning.
3. Implement career-connected and applied learning.
4. Establish apprenticeship programs aligned with workforce needs.
5. Enable flexibility in student pathways to meet state requirements.
6. Build policy infrastructure to support arts learning.

Aligning arts education with durable skills education is an authentic solution to meet the everchanging needs of the future of work—a necessary, urgent and actionable priority. School, community, postsecondary and industry leaders can work collaboratively to build a coherent set of strategies centered around student interest and input to best meet the needs of young people and employers.

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About the Author

 Mary Dell’Erba

Assistant Director

As assistant director for the Arts Education Partnership, Mary oversees the development of AEP research, reports and convenings. Prior to joining Education Commission of the States, she worked in state arts education advocacy, leadership development and state government. Mary graduated from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County with a Master’s in Public Policy and she participated in the 2021-2022 cohort of the D.C. Education Policy Fellowship Program. Her work at the intersection of the arts and education policy is grounded in her lifelong love of dance, music and theatre.​