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Did You Know? Celebrate Theatre in Our Schools Month with Some Fun Facts!
By: Nicole Rosky Mar. 01, 2016
Conventional wisdom accepts that Star Wars and the Super Bowl attract an audience of millions. What's less well known is that about 50 million people attend one of more than 37,000 school theatre performances annually in the United States.
The Theatre in Our Schools (TIOS) Campaign, being held in March, is an opportunity to inform them, and millions more, that the pleasure they get from seeing a show on stage is just one of many benefits that school theatre brings to all involved. A January, 2016 article in American Theatre compiled data from licensing houses to estimate the total annual school theatre audience.
Interested in some other fun facts about theatre in our schools? Below, celebrate the next 31 days of Theatre in Our Schools month with 31 factoids that you never knew!
-There are nearly 26,000 K-12 school-based theatre programs throughout the United States.
-97% of school administrators believe that theatre experiences help increase students' understanding of the world.
2012 EdTA-Utah State University Survey of Theatre Education Programs in U.S. High Schools
-High poverty students with sustained involvement in theatre show substantial improvement in reading proficiency, gains in self-concept and motivation, and higher levels of empathy for others.
Doing Well and Doing Good by Doing Art, 2009
-Only 28% of public high schools in high poverty areas offer theatre instruction.
2012 EdTA-Utah State University Survey of Theatre Education Programs in U.S. High Schools
-95% of school administrators believe that theatre experiences improve students overall academic skills
2012 EdTA-Utah State University Survey of Theatre Education Programs in U.S. High Schools
-Classroom drama games increase literacy skills in young children.
Critical Links, Arts Education Partnership, 2002
-Sustained learning experiences in theatre correlate to greater student success in math and reading and students from lower socio-economic backgrounds benefit the most.
Champions for Change: The Impact of the Arts on Learning, Arts Education Partnership, 1999
-Only 4% of all public elementary schools offer theatre instruction, down from 20% in 1999-2000.
National Center for Education Statistics, 2012
-"The study of drama, dance, music, and the visual arts helps students explore realities, relationships, and ideas that cannot be conveyed simply in words or numbers."
Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, 2011
-Training in acting classes improves language and memory skills.
Learning, Arts, and the Brain, The Dana Foundation, 2008
-Most high school theatre programs rely entirely on box office revenue to support their activities.
2012 EdTA-Utah State University Survey of Theatre Education Programs in U.S. High Schools-"Arts education isn't something we add on after we've achieved other priorities, like raising test scores and getting kids into college. It's actually critical for achieving those priorities in the first place."
First Lady Michelle Obama
-Creative drama enhances fluent and flexible thinking in young students.
-Only 32% of all public secondary schools off professional development for theatre educators.
2012 EdTA-Utah State University Survey of Theatre Education Programs in U.S. High Schools
-Students highly involved in theatre are more likely to be reading at a high level of proficiency by grade 12.
Doing Well and Doing Good by Doing Art, 2009
-82% of college theatre graduates go on to professional artist careers.
Strategic National Arts Alumni Project, 2012
-85% of suburban high schools offer curricular theatre courses, while 65% of small towns and rural areas include courses.
2012 EdTA-Utah State University Survey of Theatre Education Programs in U.S. High Schools
-95% of high schools offered theatre-related extra-curricular activities during the 2011-12 school year.
2012 EdTA-Utah State University Survey of Theatre Education Programs in U.S. High Schools
-Nearly 62% of all high school theatre educators hold graduate degrees.
2012 EdTA-Utah State University Survey of Theatre Education Programs in U.S. High Schools
-Young children taught in theatre arts integration classrooms have higher attendance rates.
2012 EdTA-Utah State University Survey of Theatre Education Programs in U.S. High Schools
-A study of Nobel Prize winners in science revealed that most have art related hobbies.
Hobbled Arts Limit Our Future, Psychology Today blog, 2009
-In 2011-12, on average, high schools spent $7,500 to produce a musical, and $2,700 to produce a non-musical play.
2012 EdTA-Utah State University Survey of Theatre Education Programs in U.S. High Schools
-Almost half of all high schools have theatre facilities that are more than thirty years old.
2012 EdTA-Utah State University Survey of Theatre Education Programs in U.S. High Schools
-Middle school students who participate in drama programs are less likely to engage in risky, delinquent, and/or violent behaviors.
Whole Brain Learning: The fine arts with students at risk, 2006
-Students with a high level of theatre involvement are less likely to drop out of school.
Critical Links, Arts Education Partnership, 2002
-Students from high-income families are twice as likely as students from low income families to participate in school plays.
Doing Well and Doing Good by Doing Art, 2009
-In 2014, students who took four years of arts classes in high school scored an average of 96 points higher on their SATs than students who took only one half year or less.
-At-risk eighth graders involved in the arts have better grades and are more likely to attend college than their friends who don't participate in the arts.
Source: Doing Well and Doing Good by Doing Art, 2009
-Young adults who had arts-rich experiences in high school are more likely to engage in public volunteerism.
National Endowment for the Arts: The Arts and Achievement in At-Risk Youth, 2011
-Nearly two-thirds of corporate executives agree that a degree in the arts is the most significant indicator of creativity.
-The arts are a core subject area under federal law, similar to math, English, and other curricular academics.
Winner of a 2015 Tony for The King and I, Kelli O'Hara, is the 2016 spokesperson for the TIOS Campaign, a program to raise public awareness of the value of theatre education and draw attention to the need for more access to quality programs for all students. The program is jointly sponsored by the American Alliance for Theatre & Education (AATE) and theEducational Theatre Association (EdTA).
Ms. O'Hara has recorded a series of PSAs. In the first being released today [watch], she tells what she learned from theatre education-a lesson more far-reaching than learning lines. To promote TIOS she, along with the members of AATE, EdTA and the 100,000 members of International Thespian Society for drama students, will be sharing them on social media.
For more information visit Theatre in Our Schools and follow #TIOS16 and #TheatreinOurSchools.
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