Jeff Poulin, bloggint at ARTSblog:
On Wednesday, June 4, 2014, the Coalition for Core Arts Standards held a virtual event celebrating the launch of new standards. Whether you participated or not, you may have some questions about them. Here is your key to understanding what’s going on.
Why are arts standards important? For several reasons:
- The arts are core subject areas. Education experts and policymakers consistently identify the arts as core subjects – i.e., subjects that all students need to study. Every school has a responsibility to ensure that all of its students master a core curriculum that includes the arts.
- Arts standards identify what is important for students to know and be able to do in the artistic disciplines of dance, media arts, music, theatre and visual arts. Practicing arts educators wrote the standards, with input from researchers and professional artists. This blend of classroom-based wisdom and scientific method enabled writers to craft challenging but developmentally appropriate standards for students at each grade and level.
- Arts standards identify pathways for students to become creative thinkers, creative makers and creative responders to the world around them. As corporate leaders and policymakers demand a more creative and effective workforce, new arts standards define processes that cultivate our students’ problem-solving skills for success in career, college, and life.
- Arts standards emphasize the collaborative nature of artistic production. Teaching the Core Arts Standards develops collaboration and communication – key components of the 21st Century skill set desired by employers and higher education.
- Arts standards reaffirm the importance of a comprehensive education that extends beyond reading and math. While federal and state education policy supports a broad definition of education that includes the arts, narrow accountability systems too often shrink the scope of children’s education to “basics.” Arts standards support the comprehensive education that students need for a successful life and career.
Why new arts standards? Since their initial publication in 1994, our nation’s first standards for arts education have guided improvements in the design, delivery, and assessment of arts education. Recent surveys of states and other nations reveal that education policy priorities as well as arts educators’ instructional resources and practices have evolved significantly during the past two decades. The new arts standards are designed to help arts educators provide the high-quality curriculum, instruction, and assessment that students need to succeed in today’s schools and tomorrow’s careers.