Today I’m a performing arts teacher at KIPP Comienza Community Prep (KCCP) in Los Angeles, where I teach kindergarten through fourth grade. Over the past decade, teaching cultural performing arts has helped me transform my classrooms into engaging, communal spaces where students become critical thinkers and culturally competent leaders.

My experience has taught me that if students do not believe their school is invested in activities and programs that reflect their community and culture, they will not feel a sense of belonging in the classroom, which will negatively impact student engagement and their ability to understand and appreciate cultural differences among one another.

Unfortunately, not every school believes the performing arts are worth the investment; if anything, the trend of school funding in the performing arts has been in sharp decline for some time. While student engagement continues to be a significant issue for classrooms across the country, I believe the performing arts can be an opportunity for schools to reimagine community engagement in schools and get students back on track.

Evidence shows that arts education builds empathy, promotes healthy social development and helps students engage with others, but unfortunately, not all students have access.

Before becoming a performing arts educator, I wore many hats in education: instructional assistant, ELL interventionist, bilingual service provider and afterschool teacher, to name a few. The various schools I worked in didn't offer arts education, and most of them had the same reason, namely that there was not enough staff to manage the program and there were not enough interested students to justify hiring full-time performing arts teachers.

Over the years, I saw how this harmed students and families. Some lost the chance to participate in school plays and performances. Others were denied opportunities to develop their artistic self-expression and learn about different histories and cultures through art.

When I began teaching at KCCP, I decided to build a new performing arts program aligned with the California Arts Standards and focused on community experiences and the cultural identity of my students. Developing the program has been a journey, and I learned that managing a performing arts program is unsustainable without financial support and commitment from school leadership.

Although I don’t believe the performing arts will cease to exist, we all could do better to invest in school-based performing arts programs and better yet, seek to create performing arts programs that reflect the diversity of our students and their families.

Read the full article about cultural performing arts in schools by Christopher Sandoval at EdSurge.