Award Date

1-1-1978

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Department

Secondary Education

Number of Pages

159

Abstract

Because of current prevailing educational and negative financial trends, a concern for the place of the fine arts in the curricula of the nation's public schools has been evidenced among various writers and curriculum experts. Music, visual arts, drama, and dance classes were being indiscriminately eliminated from educational instructional programs throughout the country. Remedial courses were taking the place of electives. Fine arts educators, among others, were also being assigned to teach in areas outside their major subject expertise. Many of these happenings came about because of newly mandated competency testing and back-to-basics instruction. Competency-based testing and instruction were mandated by the Nevada legislature in 1977. Subtle changes had been taking place within education. Fine arts courses, as well as other electives, were being affected negatively within the state. The level of support from political policy-makers (legislators) and educational experts for arts education was central to this study, because these individuals influenced education in Nevada in a number of ways. Since there were questions in Nevada about the strength of advocacy for fine arts education, it was felt that a study of the attitudes of several groups of key political and educational figures towards fine arts education would provide a predictor for the future of fine arts programs in the state. The opinions of these individuals were vital to ascertain the support for fine arts education in Nevada. Thus, an analysis of the attitudes towards fine arts education of Nevada state Senators, Assemblymen, Lobbyists, Superintendents, School Board Trustees, Principals, Fine Arts Educators, and Other Educators in Nevada's public schools was undertaken. The findings from this study revealed that the degree of support for arts education among these key persons was generally high; the respondents agreed that fine arts education can be successfully intermingled with academic instruction to provide a basis for producing a well-rounded student; the answers given led to the concept that competency-based testing for the arts would be an impractical measuring device; and that arts education could and should be considered basic to the general public school curriculum.

Keywords

Analysis; Arts; Attitudes; Board; Coordinators; Curriculum; Education; Educators; Fine; Legislators; Lobbyists; Nevada; Other; Principals; Public; School; Schools; State; Superintendents; Toward; Trustees

Controlled Subject

Art--Study and teaching

File Format

pdf

File Size

3368.96 KB

Degree Grantor

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Language

English

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