The RIG programs have become unique agents for broad-based educational change, allowing the Education Institute to strengthen its efforts to improve the quality and status of arts education in America's schools. The RIGs' grassroots network of individuals, schools, universities, museums, government agencies, foundations, and other arts and education organizations has given momentum to the reform effort and fueled a national movement for arts education reform. Their work, however, is not yet complete.

Building on the lessons learned through the evaluation, the Getty Education Institute and the RIG directors have developed a plan for the next phase of the DBAE initiative that focuses on filling two important gaps identified in this evaluation report: sequential K-12 curriculum and data on the impact of DBAE on student achievement. The plan will be carried out by the Florida, Nebraska, Ohio, Tennessee, and Texas RIGs along with the California RIG, which was established in 1994. The Minnesota RIG, which was unable to meet the Education Institute's annual matching grant requirement, is no longer a part of the RIG program.

During this phase, the RIGs will work as a national consortium of research and development sites supported by over $6 million in continuing support from the Getty Education Institute, a $4.3 million grant from the Annenberg Foundation, and other private and public dollars yet to be raised to meet Getty and Annenberg matching requirements. The Annenberg grant, part of a $500 million, five-year challenge to the nation to reform public education, is one of only three grants for reform through arts education.

From 1997 through 2001, the RIGs will work closely with thirty-six elementary and secondary schools that have made a commitment to improving student achievement by placing DBAE at the core of their curriculum and linking it to whole school reform. These Arts Partner Schools will also serve as demonstration sites and as the focus of an intensive national program evaluation and assessment of student achievement.

The schools' efforts will be supported by an annual infusion of new curriculum units, instructional resources, and professional development programs representing the "best practices" described in this report and developed by task forces with representatives from each of the six RIGs. The Arts Partner Schools will also benefit from sharing experiences, materials, and ideas with the partner school network.

To strengthen and expand comprehensive arts education programs in committed RIG partner schools and districts that are not Arts Partner Schools, the RIGs will continue to provide professional development and networking opportunities as well as the curriculum units to be developed over the next five years.

Through the RIGs, the evolution of comprehensive arts education will continue. It will be important for that evolution to be informed by changing societal, artistic, and educational conditions and by the interests of new individuals who join the ongoing task of forming and reforming DBAE.

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