The 8th-grade math assessment on the 2019 National Assessment for Education Progress (NAEP) asked 8th-grade students whether they were taking an art class during the current school year, and the Education Commission of the States has published the data.
Among students taking the exam, 37% said they took an art course. White students (42%) were more likely to answer yes than Black students (34%), Asian/Pacific Islanders (34%), Hispanic students (32%), and American Indian students (32%). And girls (40%) were more likely than boys (35%) to do so. Students in urban communities (35%), were less likely than students in rural and suburban communities and towns (38%) to have taken an art class. And students who were eligible for free and reduced-price lunch (34%) were less likely than students who were not eligible (40%) to have taken an art class.
The ECS report by Claus von Zastrow breaks all of these data down by state, showing which states had the highest and lowest percentages of students taking art courses and showing the gaps between student groups in each state.
Source: von Zastrow, C. (2019). New data: Who is taking art classes? Denver, CO: Education Commission of the States.
