The National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB) unexpectedly announced a substantial change to their 10-year schedule for administering the "Nation's Report Card" in various subjects. The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is offered in a variety of subjects to collectively create the Nation's Report Card, including reading, math, U.S. history, and, until now, the arts. Their recently released calendar update terminated four subject assessments: arts, economics, geography, and foreign language. NAGB announced the termination of these four assessments without opportunity for public input, and claimed the decision was made to address expected funding shortfalls.

The Arts NAEP was administred every eight years, and assessed 8th grade students in music and visual arts. The assessment was administered only twice, once in 2008 and again in 2016.

In the days immediately following this unforeseen development, Americans for the Arts, along with other arts and arts education organizations, drafted a letter opposing this change and calling for the NAEP in the Arts to be reinstated. Supporting the NAEP, one of only two federal reports on arts education, has been included in the annual Arts Advocacy Issue Brief for several years.

The response letter to the NAGB board is available for any education/arts education organization to sign-on, asking NAGB to reinstate the National Assessment of Educational Progress in the Arts. Interested organizations may continue to sign onto the open response letter.