What does this measure?
The number of students completing at least one arts course in grades K to 12 by subject.
Why is this important?
Participating in arts allows students to explore different perspectives, reflect on emotions and foster creativity and innovation. Studies have shown that arts educational experiences can lead to more positive social and academic development outcomes among students. Taking a variety of arts courses in school allows students an opportunity to gain the benefits from arts experiences in an accessible way.
How is our region doing?
In 2023, 75.7% of students in MetroWest were taking a visual arts course, followed by music with 68.7%. Dance had the lowest percentage of students taking a course at 0.9% followed by Theatre at 4.7% and Media at 9.7%. At the state level, a lower percentage of students were taking visual arts courses (71.3%) and music courses (62.4%) than in MetroWest but a higher percentage were taking dance (2%) and theatre (6.3%).
Notes about the data
After 2019, the arts course list was updated to include a new arts subject category of "Media Arts" and several arts courses were reclassified from the "General Arts" category to "Visual Arts" to more closely align to the industry standard. In 2022, courses were no longer assigned to the "General" category.
| All Subjects | Dance | Media | Music | Theatre | Visual | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Massachusetts | 81.4% | 2.0% | 7.4% | 62.4% | 6.3% | 71.3% |
| Region | 83.0% | 0.9% | 9.7% | 68.7% | 4.7% | 75.7% |
| Middlesex County | 85.2% | 1.3% | 11.5% | 71.6% | 6.1% | 77.8% |
| Norfolk County | 78.3% | 0.0% | 6.4% | 63.6% | 2.6% | 71.5% |
| Worcester County | 83.4% | 0.2% | 6.7% | 62.7% | 0.3% | 74.2% |
| Bedford School District | 82.6% | 0.0% | 2.2% | 65.8% | 6.4% | 72.4% |
| Holliston School District | 92.2% | 0.0% | 4.3% | 76.4% | 0.9% | 85.9% |
| Hopkinton School District | 86.9% | 0.0% | 25.3% | 71.7% | 22.0% | 80.1% |
| Marlborough School District | 92.8% | 0.0% | 23.4% | 83.0% | 0.0% | 87.2% |
| Medfield School District | 88.2% | 0.0% | 9.8% | 70.5% | 0.0% | 81.2% |
| Westford School District | 85.2% | 0.0% | 4.2% | 64.2% | 8.6% | 77.3% |
| All Subjects | Dance | Media | Music | Theatre | Visual | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Massachusetts | 3,140,140 | 78,506 | 286,679 | 2,407,905 | 241,651 | 2,749,001 |
| Region | 399,148 | 4,224 | 46,543 | 330,612 | 22,828 | 364,091 |
| Middlesex County | 264,474 | 4,177 | 35,603 | 222,271 | 18,850 | 241,519 |
| Norfolk County | 117,070 | 0 | 9,530 | 95,114 | 3,906 | 106,912 |
| Worcester County | 17,604 | 47 | 1,410 | 13,227 | 72 | 15,660 |
| Bedford School District | 7,542 | 0 | 204 | 6,006 | 583 | 6,609 |
| Holliston School District | 8,978 | 0 | 414 | 7,439 | 91 | 8,360 |
| Hopkinton School District | 12,741 | 0 | 3,716 | 10,514 | 3,225 | 11,753 |
| Marlborough School District | 22,106 | 0 | 5,564 | 19,765 | 0 | 20,754 |
| Medfield School District | 7,566 | 0 | 841 | 6,047 | 0 | 6,968 |
| Westford School District | 14,179 | 0 | 701 | 10,689 | 1,426 | 12,868 |
| All Subjects | Dance | General | Music | Theatre | Visual | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Massachusetts | 79.3% | 1.6% | 62.7% | 62.3% | 7.6% | 7.8% |
| Region | 83.4% | 0.2% | 67.9% | 69.0% | 9.1% | 8.0% |
| Middlesex County | 81.9% | 0.4% | 65.8% | 68.2% | 12.2% | 9.1% |
| Norfolk County | 84.8% | 0.0% | 69.8% | 69.0% | 5.4% | 6.4% |
| Worcester County | 87.7% | 0.0% | 74.6% | 75.8% | 3.8% | 7.8% |
| Ashland School District | 87.7% | 0.0% | 65.2% | 69.2% | 19.8% | 6.9% |
| Framingham School District | 87.2% | 0.0% | 74.6% | 71.7% | 16.4% | 7.9% |
| Franklin School District | 88.7% | 0.0% | 62.4% | 61.3% | 10.8% | 7.2% |
| Harvard School District | 82.3% | 0.0% | 61.5% | 59.5% | 10.5% | 9.6% |
| Sherborn School District | 100.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 100.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| Walpole School District | 84.5% | 0.0% | 67.6% | 70.5% | 5.1% | 8.7% |
| Wayland School District | 84.3% | 0.0% | 48.2% | 76.8% | 24.2% | 26.7% |
| All Subjects | Dance | General | Music | Theatre | Visual | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Massachusetts | 3,153,116 | 63,494 | 2,491,638 | 2,475,422 | 300,559 | 311,538 |
| Region | 316,236 | 804 | 257,547 | 261,771 | 34,344 | 30,416 |
| Middlesex County | 173,758 | 804 | 139,580 | 144,692 | 25,796 | 19,324 |
| Norfolk County | 119,621 | 0 | 98,530 | 97,320 | 7,567 | 9,060 |
| Worcester County | 22,857 | 0 | 19,437 | 19,759 | 981 | 2,032 |
| Ashland School District | 9,410 | 0 | 6,991 | 7,426 | 2,126 | 741 |
| Framingham School District | 34,201 | 0 | 29,271 | 28,128 | 6,417 | 3,097 |
| Franklin School District | 18,282 | 0 | 12,876 | 12,635 | 2,237 | 1,490 |
| Harvard School District | 3,433 | 0 | 2,566 | 2,481 | 436 | 402 |
| Sherborn School District | 1,532 | 0 | 1,532 | 1,532 | 0 | 0 |
| Walpole School District | 12,425 | 0 | 9,935 | 10,375 | 754 | 1,277 |
| Wayland School District | 9,282 | 0 | 5,310 | 8,456 | 2,667 | 2,942 |
| INDICATORS | REGIONAL TREND |
|---|---|
| Arts, Entertainment and Recreation Establishments | Increasing |
| Tourism Spending | Maintaining |
| Arts, Entertainment and Recreation Employment | Maintaining |
| Arts Grants Distribution | Maintaining |
| Arts and Culture Attendance | Not Applicable |
| Arts Teachers in Public Schools | Increasing |
| Students Taking Arts Courses | Increasing |
| Students Taking Arts Courses, by Grade Level | Not Applicable |
| Students Taking Arts Courses, by Student Group | Not Applicable |
| Students Taking Arts Courses, by Subject | Not Applicable |
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