The attraction of the arts: A study of students' retention in arts education following enrollment in an elementary arts magnet school

Across the country, magnet schools offer students an opportunity to participate in a specialized, thematic instructional program. Arts education represents a common theme for magnet campuses, attracting students with an interest in music, dance, theater or visual arts to experience a unique, arts-based curriculum. Increasingly, elementary students and parents are choosing a magnet school to access educational opportunities that may not be available at a neighborhood campus. Continuous enrollment in arts education allows students to develop cognitive and social skills that support learning across the curriculum. Yet, questions exist regarding how well elementary magnet campuses build upon students' initial attraction to the arts and entice them to remain enrolled in arts courses at secondary campuses. This study incorporated a quantitative methodology to define the extent to which elementary magnet arts students in a single urban school district had retained their participation in arts education as evidenced by their selection of arts courses in the district's five high schools. Using student information from the district's database system, the descriptive study further delineated the participating students by demographic characteristics including ethnicity, socioeconomic status and at-risk identification. Finally, magnet students were compared with students from the district's regular elementary campuses to examine variances in participation between the two populations. Results of the study indicated that magnet school students were not enrolled in secondary arts courses at a higher rate than students from the regular elementary campuses.