Methodology
The following methodologies were used to conduct research and collect data:
Secondary Research
To understand the local, regional, and national landscape, secondary research was conducted with a focus on:
Quality and Quantity of Arts Education
- The Gold Standard
- Arts Education vs. Arts Exposure
- Arts Education Throughout California and Other Cities
Surveys
Quantitative surveys (with qualitative elements) were designed and deployed to two separate audiences to fully assess K-6 arts education in schools:
- K-8 Principals from Five School Districts
- District superintendents from Sacramento City, Elk Grove, Twin Rivers, Robla, and Natomas, were engaged to distribute the surveys to school principals. A letter from the Mayor’s office accompanied each survey, underscoring the importance of participation and completion. Following the survey distribution and close of survey, superintendents were given the opportunity to provide context for their campus arts education.
- Note: While the project scope is an assessment of K-6 students, K-8 principals were surveyed.
- Non-profit Arts Organizations
- Leveraging the Sacramento Region Community Foundation’s database, a survey was deployed to individuals listed as “Executive Director” of arts organizations in Sacramento County. The goal of the data was to capture a complete picture of arts opportunities in the region. This would include an assessment of schools that do and do not maximize outside arts education, and the reasons.
Design Thinking Session
The design-thinking ideology asserts that a hands-on, user-centric approach to problem solving can lead to innovation and building effective solutions. This hands-on, user-centric approach is defined by the design-thinking process and comprises six distinct phases:
- Empathize
- Define
- Ideate
- Prototype
- Test
- Implement
More than 60 people were invited to a Design Thinking session, held on Saturday, April 22, 2017, led by Human Centered Design expert, George Claire (The Shop @ VSP Global). Attendees included representatives from various groups, including: students, educators, arts educators, and artists. The group was tasked with the challenge question, “How might we bring art to every child?”