A Quartile Analysis of Selected Variables From the 2008 NAEP Visual Arts Report Card

Abstract

This article reports the results of a quartile analysis of the 2008 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Visual Arts Report Card. The analysis was made from original datasets supplied by the National Center for Education Statistics. It focuses on 8th-grade students who were currently taking art or recently had taken art. Fourteen Responding and Creating variables are reported in this article. Of the 14 variables, four Responding variables and four Creating variables were found statistically significant. Three Responding and Creating variables were mutually significant. Statistically significant results were found, including Painting and Drawing, Making Art from Clay, Weekly Homework, and Visiting a Museum or Gallery. The analysis suggests that studio production remains a strong component in the art curriculum, and homework assignments and museum visits also can contribute to students’ art education. Several areas where students never or hardly ever have experiences are also identified. Comparisons are drawn between the findings from the 2008 NAEP Visual Report Card (Keiper, Sandene, Perskey, & Kuang, 2009b) and the expectations of the 2014 NCCAS National Core Art Standards for the future.