In the past few decades, a lot of time and resources have been spent trying to find out what allows some schools to have higher graduation rates than others.  It doesn’t seem to matter where the schools were located or even what the ethnicity of the majority of students was; there are some schools that consistently have higher rates than others.  After extensive research was conducted by the New York City Department of Education, it was found that the schools with the highest graduation rates offered students the arts programs that kept them in school and encouraged them to get good grades.

The extensive research found that the high schools that were commonly in the top third of graduation rates had around 40% more certified arts teachers per student than the schools that were in the lower third.  In addition, those same schools with the higher graduation rates had 40% more physical spaces that were designed for the arts than the schools found in the bottom third.The numbers continue to show that the high schools in the top third of graduation rates had 40% more classrooms that were equipped with all the necessary items for the arts than those in the lower third.  In addition, the high schools that were consistently in the top third of graduation rates were engaging students by offering them the opportunity to attend theatre performances, museums, dances, or other arts related activities.

When you look at all these statistics, it becomes easy to see that the accessibility of arts instruction in the school has a direct correlation to higher graduation rates.  Many students who were asked why they continued to stay in school said they did so because they wanted to be involved in the arts program of their choice.  On the other hand, children who stopped attending school noted that none of their classroom instruction seemed relevant or was completely uninteresting to them.

The bottom line, according to the research by the New York City Department of Education, is that children consistently do better in an educational environment that offers arts programs or opportunities to get involved in the arts.  According to the research, educational institutions that invest in simply having one artistic outlet is enough to prompt most students not only to attend school regularly enough to graduate, but to do well enough to pass most, if not all their classes leading up to graduation.