Fine Arts Department

Education and engagement in the fine arts are an essential part of the school curriculum and an important component in the educational program of every student in Wylie ISD.

Fine arts education in Wylie ISD begins in Kindergarten and continues through the twelfth grade. In each elementary school, students K-4 are taught by certified, degreed music specialists. Beginning in grade 6, at the intermediate level, the fine arts courses become elective choices. An intermediate school student in grade 6 may choose to study courses in visual art, band, or choir. In grade 7 theater arts is added to the other choices. In high school, grades 9-12, students may choose courses in band, choir, dance, visual arts and theatre.

In the 2008-2009 school year, over 72% of all students in grades 6-12 chose and were engaged in fine arts education. This fine arts total is approximately 3,850 students out of the 5,303 that attended intermediate, junior high and high school in Wylie ISD grades 6-12. There were approximately 6,050 students in grades K-5. If you add these up, you will see that 9,900 students were enrolled and participating in fine arts programs in Wylie ISD which is over 87% of the student population

The various fine arts disciplines (art, dance, music, and theatre) are aligned in their curriculum by four strands: Perception, Creative Expression and Performance, Historical and Cultural Heritage, and Critical Response and Evaluation. The curriculum for each discipline is aligned by grade level to ensure the proper “layering” of knowledge and skill development throughout the student’s study in that particular discipline. The teaching of the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) for fine arts is required by the state of Texas and these are well defined and embedded in the Wylie ISD fine arts curriculum objectives.

Each year, students graduate from Wylie High School well prepared to enter university level fine arts courses. Many of these students also earn university scholarships to offset their college expenses. Although many fine arts students do not pursue one of the fine arts courses as a degree major, their fine arts preparation has provided each with a very strong and disciplined preparation for success in whatever his/her field of study.

The national average score for the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) is 1511. The Texas state average score is 1473. The average score of this year’s Texas All-State musicians is 1835. This is 324 points above the national average and 362 points above the Texas state average.

100% of all K-5 students (approx. 6,050) receive fine arts instruction taught by degreed, certified music specialists and art para-professionals.
72+% of all 6-12 students (over 3,850) have chosen and are actively engaged in at least one fine arts elective, receiving instruction each class day
Wylie ISD visual arts students participate in several contests/exhibits each year including: V.A.S.E. state competition, Scholastic state competition, as well as the local Wylie ISD Celebrate the Arts Show
Secondary students in band, choir, dance, and theatre (the performing arts) participate in numerous individual and organizational competitions as well as presenting concerts, recitals, and productions throughout the school year.
Each year the district hosts Celebrate the Arts, an annual series of performances and art exhibits by the students of Wylie ISD.
Each year opportunities are provided for fine arts students to study with specialists/clinicians in a variety of settings such as music ensembles, master classes, constructive evaluation, and concert settings.
A music private lessons program which serves secondary music students with weekly individual music lessons from highly qualified instructors is administered and managed through the Fine Arts Department.
The Wylie ISD Fine Arts Department is comprised of approximately 60 teachers district-wide.

Research information regarding arts education:

Please read the following information from the College Board, writers of the SAT college entrance exam, which are excerpts from their booklet, Academic Preparation for College – What Students Need To Know And Be Able To Do.

“Study in the Basic Academic Subjects provides the detailed knowledge and skills necessary for effective work in college. Students who intend to go to college will need this basic learning in order to obtain the full benefits of higher education. This learning provides the foundation for college study in those fields.”

“The Basic Academic Subjects are English, the arts, mathematics, science, social studies, and foreign language.”

“The Arts – Why? The arts – visual arts, theater, music, and dance – challenge and extend human experience. They provide means of expression that go beyond ordinary speaking and writing. They can express intimate thoughts and feelings. They are a unique record of diverse cultures and how these cultures have developed over time. They provide distinctive ways of understanding human beings and nature. The arts are creative modes by which all people can enrich their lives both by self-expression and response to the expression of others.”

“Preparation in the arts will be valuable to college entrants whatever their intended field of study. The actual practice of the arts can engage the imagination, foster flexible ways of thinking, develop disciplined effort, and build self-confidence. Appreciation of the arts is integral to the understanding of other cultures sought in the study of history, foreign language, and social sciences.”

The following data is provided by the College Board from surveys it has conducted over the past 15 years. The results provide distinct linkage between arts education and learning. This is a comparison of the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) college entrance exam scores of students who have been engaged in various arts education courses with those who have not had fine arts education in high school:

Dance students averaged score is 27 points higher
Visual arts students averaged score is 39 points higher
Theatre/Drama students averaged score is 44 points higher
Music performance students averaged score is 49 points higher

For each arts discipline, the scores significantly increased for each year the student was engaged in that course of study.

The opening paragraph of a study done by the Rockefeller Foundation supports this conclusion: “An enduring myth within the academic world is that getting into medical school is exhaustingly difficult and that doors are open only to science majors, hence the soul destroying pre-med rat race. Leaders of the medical profession themselves generally hold to this belief, yet the facts are quite otherwise. They suggest that an excellent piece of advice for an outstanding student eager to be admitted to medical schools is to be a music major.”

“The Rockefeller Foundation study states that music majors have the highest rate of admittance to medical school, a whopping 66.7 percent! Biochemistry, the subject area closest to medicine, has a rate of 59.2 percent. The humanities in general have 51.2 percent admittance rate compared to 47 percent admittance rate for the natural sciences. The credibility of these statistics and the study lies in the fact that the study was done by medical doctors involved with medical schools throughout the United States. The study not only encourages but strongly suggests that students concentrate on liberal arts and maintains that physicians with liberal arts backgrounds make better doctors.” – Les Susi

“American companies are competing in economic circumstances that are changing faster than ever before. In 1950, when I was born, the majority of people did manual work and only a minority did intellectual work, so to speak. Relatively few people wore suits to work and sat behind desks. The pace of technological and economic change is getting faster every day. Look at some of the casualties. In 1957, the S&P list of the top 500 corporations was first published. In 1997, 40 years later, only 74 of the original 500 were still on the list. Some experts believe that by 2020 about 75% of the S&P list will be made up of companies we don’t know today, some forms of business that haven’t been invented yet.

-- Foster, Richard and Sarah Kaplan, Creative Destruction, New York, NY: McKinney & Company, Inc. 2001

"Nobody has a guaranteed seat at the top anymore. They never did, of course, but the fact is if America wants to remain competitive in the global markets of the 21^st century, creativity is not a luxury. America needs a workforce that is flexible, adaptable, and highly creative; and it needs an education system that can develop these qualities in everyone." "The arts teach many of the skills, aptitudes and values that are at the heart of America’s “creative economy” and beyond. Arts education isn’t another problem that policymakers have to address but a solution they need to embrace.”

-- Robinson, K. (2005), How Creativity, Education and the Arts Shape a Modern Economy, Education Commission of the States (Sir Ken Robinson is the senior advisor for education policy at the Getty Foundation in Los Angeles, former professor of education at Warwick University in the United Kingdom, and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II.)

The arts are for everyone and are a part of everyone. The arts are what define our civilization, our culture, and our legacy.