State of the Arts in Chicago Public Schools
Over the past 12 years, the annual State of the Arts (SOTA) in Chicago Public Schools has presented data that tracks student access to arts education in Chicago Public Schools (CPS) while also identifying areas for improvement and opportunities for growth. Each April, the State of the Arts is published and reports on data from the prior school year. The State of the Arts centers around reporting data and trends from the Creative Schools Certification, offering a detailed view on school-level access and conditions for arts education as well as data on arts partnerships.
The data for these reports come from CPS administrative sources, from CPS schools via the annual Creative Schools Survey, and directly from arts partner organizations that support CPS students. See the Creative Schools Certification for data and methodology. Since 2016-17, over 90% of all 600+ CPS schools have annually submitted comprehensive arts education data annually.
For the 2022-23 SOTA, Ingenuity introduced a new SOTA Dashboard to allow stakeholders to explore the data with customizable filters. For the 2023-24 SOTA, Ingenuity introduced the SOTA Toolkit to equip school leaders, arts organizations, and funders with tailored talking points and call to action. The insights derived from this data have helped transform CPS arts education and can ensure that every student, in every grade, in every CPS school experiences the transformative power of the arts.
State of the Arts 2023-24
The 12th annual State of the Arts (SOTA) Report is a powerful reflection of both remarkable progress and the opportunities that remain for arts education in Chicago Public Schools (CPS). In a historic milestone, 99% of all 649 CPS schools submitted arts education data. A new section Advocating for Equity in Arts Education answers the following question: who has access to arts education? The SOTA Dashboard provides an interactive platform to explore the data through customizable filters, and the SOTA Toolkit is introduced for the first time to equip stakeholders with data-informed insights and a clear call to action. Together, these form a powerful trio of tools – built to inform, inspire, and ignite data-driven strategies and advocacy.
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State of the Arts 2022-23
The 2022-23 State of the Arts report shows clear trends of recovery since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, there are disparities in arts access by school governance structure (district-managed, charter, contract, etc.) and by student demographics. The SOTA Dashboard was created for the first time to allow stakeholders to explore the data and download a custom PDF summary report based on specific filters.
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State of the Arts 2021-22
This report provides updates on how CPS schools and the arts partner community fared in bringing the arts to CPS students in the 2021–22 school year, highlighting the first full year of data collected after in-person learning resumed since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Data reveals the progress that arts programs in CPS schools have made – and the challenges that continue to remain.
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State of the Arts 2020-21
This report reveals both the resilience of and struggles within school communities during the 2020-21 school year, the first full year of data collection during the COVID-19 pandemic. Schools had some success in maintaining access to the arts at levels similar to what was seen in 2019–20, with small drops across most measures, and struggled to sustain their performance in measures of the quality of the arts programs they offered.
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State of the Arts 2019-20
The 2019-20 State of the Arts reports on data from the updated Creative Schools Certification 2.0 rubric across arts education access and quality indicators. Access metrics remain similar to the first iteration of the rubric and measure staffing, percent access, minutes of instruction, and breadth and depth of artistic disciplines offered. Quality metrics have been expanded and measure more resource-neutral items, including arts learning standard usage and instructional approaches.
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State of the Arts 2018-19
The 2018–19 State of the Arts Report reflects immense progress in arts education since Ingenuity first began collecting data in 2013, and it also serves as a call to action. The data this year shows that despite significant growth—including a 97% increase in the number of students with regular access to arts instruction over seven years—the arts education gap persists.
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State of the Arts 2017-18
This report outlines the collective progress made during the 2017-18 school year toward ensuring all 350,000 students in Chicago Public Schools have access to high quality arts education. Over the past six years, there has been a 117% increase in total CPS schools offering robust, impactful arts programs along with a 33% growth in the number of active arts partners working in CPS schools.
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State of the Arts 2016-17
After five years of implementation of the Arts Education Plan, Chicago Public Schools have reason to celebrate. According to the State of the Arts Report, principals and educators across the city are not only embracing the arts as a “nice to have,” but as a “must-have” in their school day. 97% of CPS schools participated in the survey, the highest participation rate to date.
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State of the Arts 2015-16
Ingenuity’s 4th annual State of the Arts in Chicago Public Schools progress report shows an increase in the number of elementary schools meeting weekly instructional minutes and the number of schools Strong or Excelling in the arts across nearly every network last school year. These latest findings make it clear that schools have made significant progress in expanding and incorporating arts in the school day over the past four years since CPS put the Arts Education Plan into action.
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State of the Arts 2014-15
The State of the Arts details the arts assets available to CPS students in the 2014-15 school year. According to data provided by 571 schools representing 90% of CPS students, over 30,000 students have greater access to arts staffing and instruction than the previous school year.
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State of the Arts 2013-14
Ingenuity’s second State of the Arts in Chicago Public Schools report details the progress made in the 2013-14 school year on the goals and recommendations set forth in the City’s first-ever CPS Arts Education Plan which was approved by the Chicago Board of Education in November of 2012. CPS schools have increased arts instruction, staffing, partnerships and funding during the second year of implementing the CPS Arts Education Plan.
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State of the Arts 2012-13
Ingenuity’s baseline State of the Arts in Chicago Public Schools report details the level of arts-related instruction, staffing, partnerships, and funding in Chicago Public Schools (CPS) during the 2012-13 school year.
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