State Standards on the Arts


During the 1990's various plans surfaced on how to implement changes in education as part of George Bush's America 2000 plan. Instead of pursuing National Education Standards, it was left up to each state to formulate their own curricula in each of the major subjects of study, including the arts. Arts Education was advanced even further when the No Child Left Behind Act of 2002 included the arts as one of 10 core academic subjects, leaving scores of superintendents across the country scrambling to include more arts-oriented activities into their already crowded school year.
My state, New York, established the New York State Learning Standards on the Arts in 1996. Homeschoolers of course don't really have to follow any of their state's learning standards (as far as I know) on the arts or any other subject, but as I write out study guides for teachers to incorporate our productions into their classrooms and use these standards fairly regularly, I thought it might be interesting reading to other homeschoolers as well. From what I can see, ours are pretty similar to other states' Learning Standards on the Arts:
  • Standard 1: Creating, Performing, and Participating in the Arts
    Students will actively engage in the processes that constitute creation and performance in the arts (dance, music, theatre, and visual arts) and participate in various roles in the arts.

  • Standard 2: Knowing and Using Arts Materials and Resources
    Students will be knowledgeable about and make use of the materials and resources available for participation in the arts in various roles.

  • Standard 3: Responding to and Analyzing Works of Art
    Students will respond critically to a variety of works in the arts, connecting the individual work to other works and to other aspects of human endeavor and thought.

  • Standard 4: Understanding the Cultural Contributions of the Arts
    Students will develop an understanding of the personal and cultural forces that shape artistic communication and how the arts in turn shape the diverse cultures of past and present society.

According to the Americans for the Arts website, “Thirty percent of American voters are not only dissatisfied with public education’s narrow focus on the ‘so-called’ basics but that they also believe developing the imagination is a critical, but missing, ingredient to student success in 21st century schools and moving students beyond average.” The pollsters say that this voting cohort—which is being called the “Imagine Nation” - is of a scale rivaling “soccer moms.”

  • 69 percent of American voters believe that, when compared to other nations, America devotes less attention to developing the imagination and innovation.

  • 86 percent of voters believe that encouraging children to be creative and develop their imagination is necessary to maintain our competitive edge and ensure we do not fall behind other countries.

  • 83 percent of voters believe that a greater focus on the arts—alongside science, technology, and math—would better prepare students to address the demands of the 21st century.
Wow! We already know how important the arts are to developing our children's intellects. Studies have proven this time and again (see my previous posts on arts education). However, just as more national attention is being given to insure that American children receive more instruction in the arts, actual data show that other pressures are effectively crowding out time for the study of the arts. Increased time in Language Arts and Math instruction reduced teaching time for other studies - and a whopping 72% of school districts reported that the arts curriculum was what suffered.
Now, I totally understand that, and have been guilty of the same. There are only so many hours in a day, and only so much of me to go around. What I have done, more or less successfully last year, and plan to do again this year, is to "double dip" my artsy curriculum into my other subjects:
  • Shakespeare's Julius Caesar is being read in history, aloud (a la Reader's Theater), along with Caesar's own Gallic Wars, and comparisons are made between the two

  • Nature Notebooks are covered under both drawing and science

  • The creation of various art projects for holy days count toward religion as well

  • Shakespearean monologues are memorized and count toward the study of literature or poetry

I know that this is not news to most of you, but I still want to try to encourage all of us to "double dip" the arts into as many subjects that we teach as possible. Not only does it make our homeschooling days much more fun to both students and the teacher, studies have proven that this is the way to help our children learn more..... much more than just what our daily planner can record.



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