Such conviction is rare in an age when public education has become synonymous with the annual tests whose results can singlehandedly determine the fates of teachers, administrators, and students alike. Amid budget cuts and long hours of drills in reading and math, the arts have been decimated in the many of the classrooms serving the nation’s neediest students. Advocates for arts education are hopeful that the Common Core education standards adopted by more than 40 states will soon change that, as the standards and new exams that go with them emphasize critical thinking and analytical skills, which they say go hand in hand with artistic expression.

The arts have widely acknowledged benefits for education: They help create positive school climates, give kids a reason to show up to class, and inspire creativity—a trait highly valued in the workforce.

The arts most often get short shrift in high-poverty schools under intense pressure to boost academic performance. But the Common Core standards mention the arts frequently: approximately 75 times, according to Sandra Ruppert, who directs the nonprofit Arts Education Partnership. Students are expected to analyze paintings, music, and theater and create their own works of art. “The pendulum might be swinging to the idea that maybe kids actually do need a well-balanced education,” Ruppert said.

A growing number of big cities, including New York, are increasing money for their arts programs as they roll out Common Core. “This is a really interesting and great opportunity to improve and expand arts education nationwide,” said Doug Israel, the research director for New York City’s Center for Arts Education. But, he added, at his own children’s public school in the suburbs, prekindergarten classes have eliminated art. “The pressure is intense for them to know their letters and numbers at such a young age,” he said.

Few schools emphasize the arts as much as those run by Ascend, which serves 2,800 students in kindergarten through eighth grade and has a high-school expansion coming this fall. Ninety-eight percent of students are black or Hispanic and more than 80 percent of them receive free or reduced-price lunch, an indicator of poverty. They are admitted by lottery, with wait lists at every grade.

Ascend CEO Steven F. Wilson designed two middle schools to look like art galleries. He has long been appalled by the way many public schools look; he notes that while crime is down in New York City, schools still have bars on their windows. “I’ve always found it peculiar that our urban schools should so often look like the worst in our society rather than an expression of our aspirations for our children,” he said.