On Wednesday, December 9, the Senate passed the Every Student Succeeds Act 85-12, on the heels of its passage in the House last week.

The bill — which the president is scheduled to sign Thursday, 12/9 — would "dump the current law’s intense focus on test scores and the well-intentioned but impossible goal of having all students reading and calculating at grade level." We're one step closer to saying a permanent farewell to the widely unpopular No Child Left Behind Act. 

This year, Americans for the Arts developed a national petition to the members of Congress serving on the conference committee to voice support for retaining arts-friendly provisions within the bill. Combined, almost 20,000 individuals signed the petition. Happily, many of these provisions made it into the final bill. Support for a well-rounded education that includes the arts, arts education funding, and thanks to the efforts of Rep. Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR) on the conference committee, the inclusion of the arts in STEM courses - are all arts education highlights. 

To read more about the positive impact this bill will have on arts education, read our Federal Arts Policy Director's ARTSBlog post from last week: "Waiving" Goodbye to No Child Left Behind.  

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Photo Credit: Politico