Art Grades Don't Count

Mr. Hatfield is the Executive Director of the National Art Education Association

Seattle, Wash.: A report to the National Art Education Association (NAEA) Board of Directors on the use of arts grade points in the computation of the grade-point averages (GPA) reveled that many colleges and universities that compute GPAs do not include arts grades in the calculations. The report stated that 65% of the higher-education institutions reporting that they compute the GPA do not count arts (art, drama, dance or music) grades.

The U.S. Department of Education, the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, the National Association of Secondary School Principals, the National School Boards Association, the United States Conference of Mayors, and many arts education associations, groups and agencies have recommended the study of arts as part of the high school requirement for graduation.

According to the report, "it is a disservice to the nation's students to have high-school arts graduation requirements in 32 of 51 states and university arts entrance requirements when admissions policies are in place that do not include arts course grades in the compilation of the GPA or to weight grades in arts courses."

"It also seems inconsistent for institutions of higher education to circulate in recruitment literature notions of excellence in learning and intelligence, to establish arts departments and schools of the arts, to offer advance degrees in the arts, but not include an applicant's grades in the arts when grade point averages are calculated."

Major findings of the report include:

1. To what extent do institutions use the GPA as a part of the general admissions application? Of the institutions interviewed, 82% said they use the GPA as a part of the general admissions application policy. Eighteen percent of the institutions said they do not use the GPA as a part of the admissions policy.
2. If the institution does use the GPA who does the computation? The admitting institution? Or is the GPA accepted from the applicant's high school or school district? Of those institutions that do include the GPA as a part of the admissions policy, 32% calculate the GPA themselves. Sixty-eight percent (68%) of the institutions accept the calculation submitted on the high school transcript.
3. If the institution computes the GPA, are all high school courses included or counted? Of the institutions reporting that they calculate the GPA, 35% reported they include all courses. Sixty-five percent (65%) reported they specifically omitted arts courses.
4. If all courses are included, are some courses given greater or lesser weight than others? Of those institutions that include all courses to be counted in computing the GPA, 4 reported they do weight arts courses, and 5 reported they do not weight any courses.

According to Elliot Eisner, professor of education and art at Stanford University, said in a recent article about that university, "[When] the admission process does not include the applicant's grades in the arts when grade point averages are calculated ... an important but largely covert effect is administered through the conception of intelligence implicit in the values they make public, in the language they use to describe what college preparation should entail, in the way they assess the value of transcripts, and in the information they publish to recruit students from the lower schools. A student with a life-long interest in the arts was fortunate enough to attend a high school in which four years of the arts are offered, who enrolls in those courses, and who receives As in every one of them will not have those grades included when grade point calculations are made. This, I submit, is not an example of educational equity. Work in the arts is not the equivalent of a course in typing, yet the two are treated the same."

"One of the important but largely covert effects of universities is their impact on elementary and secondary schools. This impact is administered through the conceptions of academic achievement universities embrace and transmit to the lower schools. Universities have a frightening degree of autonomy in determining the kind of education elementary and secondary students should have. This influence is conveyed de-facto, if not de-juris."

The National Art Education Association has published goals for quality art education since 1985 which recommend visual arts as a part of the high school graduation requirements and as a requirement for college/university entrance. According to NAEA's (1997) Status of the States Report, 63% of the state boards of education reported the inclusion of the arts as a part of the high school graduation requirements.

For a copy of the 18 page GPA Arts Report write to NAEA at 1916 Association Drive, Reston, VA 21091.

About NAEA

The National Art Education Association is the world's largest professional art education association and a leader in educational research, policy, and practice for art education. NAEA's mission is to advance art education through professional development, service, advancement of knowledge, and leadership.

Membership includes elementary and secondary art teachers, artists, administrators, museum educators, arts council staff, and university professors from throughout the United States and several foreign countries. It also includes publishers, manufacturers and suppliers of art materials, parents, students, retired art educators, and others concerned about quality art education in our schools.

Web site: http://www.naea-reston.org

Original CAN/API publication: September 1999