Kenneth Elpus—University of Maryland
This study was designed to understand the uptake of arts education at schools authorized to offer the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Programme (DP). The study involved analysis of de-identified administrative data from the IB Information System (IBIS) on arts course and examination registrations between 2010 and 2017, as well as a survey of DP coordinators about the status of arts education at their school. Findings indicated that, over the time period examined in this study, 26% of full DP students and 11% of course students elected to take a DP arts (group 6) course. Additionally, approximately 25% of IB World Schools authorized to offer the DP do not have an opportunity for students to participate in a group 6 course as part of their programme. In the survey, IB coordinators reported that, for the most part, the arts are valued within their schools. However, they also identified several key hindrances to increased uptake of the arts, including the optionality of the arts within the DP model, low perceived status of arts coursework in university admissions, and a lack of adequate school resources for the arts.
