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Digest of Education Statistics
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Table 224.10. Average National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) arts scale score of 8th-graders, percentage distribution by frequency of instruction, and percentage participating in selected activities, by subject and selected characteristics: 2008
[Standard errors appear in parentheses]
Selected characteristic Average score Percentage distribution of students by school-reported frequency of instruction Percent of students reporting participation in musical activities in school
Music,1 responding scale score (0 to 300) Visual arts2 Music Visual arts
Respond-ing scale score (0 to 300) Creating task score (0 to 100) Subject not offered Less than once a week Once or twice a week At least 3 or 4 times a week Subject not offered Less than once a week Once or twice a week At least 3 or 4 times a week Play in band Play in orchestra Sing in chorus or choir
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
All students 150 (1.2) 150 (1.2) 52 (0.6) 8 (2.0) 8 (2.0) 27 (3.1) 57 (3.2) 14 (2.4) 10 (2.5) 30 (3.5) 47 (3.9) 16 (0.9) 5 (0.5) 17 (1.2)
Sex                                                        
Male 145 (1.3) 145 (1.4) 49 (0.7) 9 (2.1) 8 (2.1) 27 (3.1) 56 (3.2) 14 (2.6) 10 (2.5) 30 (3.6) 46 (4.1) 18 (1.0) 3 (0.5) 9 (1.2)
Female 155 (1.4) 155 (1.2) 54 (0.7) 8 (2.0) 7 (1.9) 28 (3.2) 57 (3.2) 13 (2.3) 10 (2.5) 29 (3.3) 48 (3.8) 14 (1.0) 6 (0.6) 26 (1.8)
                                                         
Race/ethnicity                                                        
White 161 (1.3) 160 (1.2) 55 (0.5) 6 (2.5) 8 (2.5) 29 (4.0) 57 (3.6) 11 (2.6) 11 (3.4) 34 (4.4) 44 (4.6) 19 (1.2) 5 (0.6) 19 (1.6)
Black 130 (2.0) 129 (2.4) 43 (1.5) 10 (2.9) 8 (4.5) 26 (5.5) 56 (7.0) 18 (4.9) 10 (4.9) 24 (4.5) 49 (5.7) 13 (1.2) 4 (1.0) 21 (1.9)
Hispanic 129 (1.9) 134 (1.9) 46 (1.1) 14 (4.3) 6 (2.3) 21 (4.1) 59 (4.5) 17 (4.5) 5 (2.0) 23 (4.7) 56 (6.0) 8 (1.2) 3 (0.6) 10 (1.6)
Asian/Pacific Islander 159 (4.7) 156 (4.2) 54 (2.0) 7 (4.1) 8 (3.4) 25 (6.6) 60 (8.7) 5 (2.5) 11 (4.6) 29 (6.0) 54 (8.4) 21 (3.5) 6 (2.1) 16 (2.9)
                                                         
Free or reduced-price lunch
     eligibility
                                                       
Eligible 132 (1.3) 132 (1.4) 46 (1.0) 10 (2.1) 6 (2.1) 26 (3.4) 58 (3.9) 18 (3.4) 9 (3.2) 26 (3.7) 47 (4.7) 12 (1.2) 3 (0.6) 15 (1.4)
Not eligible 161 (1.4) 161 (1.2) 55 (0.6) 8 (2.6) 8 (2.6) 26 (4.0) 59 (4.0) 10 (2.4) 10 (3.2) 30 (4.1) 50 (4.6) 19 (1.0) 5 (0.6) 19 (1.6)
Unknown 156 (5.6) 156 (5.9) 57 (2.6) 4 (†) 19 (8.7) 54 (11.5) 23 (10.5) 16 (10.3) 13 (8.4) 47 (13.6) 24 (10.6) 14 (6.3) 5 (2.3) 13 (2.0)
                                                         
Control of school                                                        
Public 149 (1.3) 149 (1.2) 51 (0.7) 8 (2.1) 7 (2.1) 24 (3.2) 61 (3.5) 13 (2.4) 10 (2.7) 26 (3.5) 51 (4.2) 17 (0.9) 5 (0.5) 18 (1.3)
Private 163 (2.8) 159 (5.2) 60 (1.3) 10 (6.0) 15 (6.9) 71 (8.8) 3 (†) 17 (8.2) 10 (6.1) 70 (10.2) 3 (0.9) 9 (1.9) 1 (0.4) 13 (2.1)
                                                         
School location                                                        
City 142 (2.0) 144 (2.1) 49 (1.2) 13 (4.0) 10 (3.8) 24 (5.7) 52 (5.6) 12 (2.6) 9 (3.5) 24 (4.9) 55 (5.4) 14 (1.0) 4 (0.6) 13 (1.3)
Suburban 155 (1.9) 155 (1.8) 54 (0.7) 3 (2.2) 7 (3.5) 32 (5.6) 57 (6.3) 10 (3.1) 10 (4.6) 33 (6.4) 46 (6.1) 14 (1.5) 6 (1.0) 16 (1.6)
Town 156 (3.5) 149 (2.8) 50 (1.2) 4 (1.0) # (†) 18 (9.0) 78 (9.0) 16 (8.4) # (†) 23 (9.2) 60 (10.5) 23 (3.0) 4 (1.3) 23 (3.4)
Rural 150 (2.6) 151 (3.0) 52 (1.5) 13 (5.0) 8 (4.8) 29 (5.7) 50 (7.7) 20 (7.3) 17 (6.8) 35 (7.8) 28 (6.7) 18 (2.5) 3 (1.0) 21 (3.4)
                                                         
Region                                                        
Northeast 154 (3.1) 160 (2.3) 52 (0.9) 10 (5.3) 13 (5.8) 40 (9.0) 37 (8.6) 5 (3.3) 5 (†) 50 (6.2) 39 (9.3) 16 (2.7) 6 (0.9) 17 (2.6)
Midwest 158 (2.9) 155 (2.3) 53 (1.3) 12 (6.6) # (†) 25 (7.2) 63 (5.8) 9 (2.0) 15 (7.7) 26 (6.7) 50 (7.3) 22 (2.1) 6 (1.3) 24 (3.1)
South 147 (1.9) 147 (2.2) 51 (1.0) 6 (1.8) 10 (4.0) 25 (3.9) 59 (5.7) 19 (5.3) 9 (3.8) 26 (5.0) 46 (6.4) 16 (1.2) 4 (0.6) 16 (2.0)
West 144 (2.0) 143 (2.1) 51 (1.1) 8 (3.7) 8 (3.5) 24 (6.9) 60 (5.4) 15 (4.9) 9 (4.0) 25 (9.0) 51 (8.2) 9 (1.2) 3 (0.6) 12 (1.7)
                                                         
Frequency of instruction                                                        
Subject not offered 139 (6.3) 138 (4.2) (†) (†) (†) (†) (†) (†) (†) (†) (†) 17 (4.0) 4 (1.5) 11 (2.1)
Less than once a week 149 (6.4) 154 (5.3) (†) (†) (†) (†) (†) (†) (†) (†) (†) 11 (2.4) 4 (1.5) 10 (2.0)
Once or twice a week 152 (2.8) 154 (2.6) (†) (†) (†) (†) (†) (†) (†) (†) (†) 12 (1.7) 3 (0.8) 17 (2.2)
At least 3 or 4 times a week 149 (1.8) 149 (1.8) (†) (†) (†) (†) (†) (†) (†) (†) (†) 17 (1.4) 5 (0.7) 20 (1.6)
—Not available.
†Not applicable.
#Rounds to zero.
1 Students were asked to analyze and describe aspects of music they heard, critique instrumental and vocal performances, and demonstrate their knowledge of standard musical notation and music’s role in society.
2 The visual arts assessment measured students' ability to respond to and create visual arts. Responding questions asked students to analyze and describe works of art and design, while creating questions required students to create works of art and design of their own.
NOTE: Excludes students unable to be tested due to limited proficiency in English or due to a disability (if the accommodations provided were not sufficient to enable the test to properly reflect the students' music or visual arts proficiency). Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding. Race categories exclude persons of Hispanic ethnicity. Totals include other racial/ethnic groups not shown separately.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 2008 Arts Assessment, retrieved June 30, 2009, from the Main NAEP Data Explorer (http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/naepdata/). (This table was prepared June 2009.)

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