Dance Education in New York City Charter Schools

ABSTRACT

The aim of this empirical study was to develop a portrait of and investigate dance education programming in the New York City charter sector. Despite operating within an arts-focused, culturally rich metropolis, the state of arts and dance education in NYC charter schools has yet to receive the attention needed to flourish alongside traditional public and private schools. Data was collected quantitatively by administering electronic survey questionnaires to leadership teams of the 337 NYC-based charter schools authorized and operating during the 2018–2019 academic year. The survey questionnaire data suggested the existence of a variety of both curricular and extra-curricular dance offerings led primarily by full-time dance teachers. Trends emerged in leadership teams’ perceptions of the rewards of offering dance, while a lack of physical space and competing curricular programming emerged as the most commonly cited frustrations from schools already offering dance instruction and challenges from schools not offering dance, respectively.

KEYWORDS:

• Dance education
• dance
• charter schools
• dance teachers
• art education
• urban schools

Notes

1. A detailed description of each section included in the survey questionnaire, as well as the complete survey questionnaire itself, is available from the author upon request.