Americans for the Arts is now a part of the leadership team for the National Coalition for Core Arts Standards (NCCAS) a group of organizations revising the K-12 learning standards for dance, media arts, music, theatre, and visual arts.
Substantive portions of the draft high school national core arts standards for dance, media arts, music, theatre and visual arts can be reviewed from September 30–October 28, 2013, an extension of the original deadline. The music portion will include draft high school music standards for the strand of secondary ensembles as part of the review. Anyone with an interest is welcome to participate in the public review.
The Next Steps
Public review of the comprehensive draft PreK-12 standards, including examples of model cornerstone assessments, will begin in January, 2014, with a projected release date for the finished standards in March, 2014.
During the public review of the draft PreK-8 standards was completed in this past summer, with more than 3,000 arts administrators, parents, educators, teaching artists, and community arts providers reviewing the work.
NCCAS is the coalition of national arts and education organizations and media arts representatives that are developing the 2014 National Core Arts Standards. The new, voluntary grade-by-grade web-based standards are intended to affirm the place of arts education in a balanced core curriculum, support the 21st-century needs of students and teachers, and help ensure that all students are college and career ready.
The arts standards emphasize “big ideas,” philosophical foundations, enduring understandings/essential questions, and anchor/performance standards, all of which are intended to guide the curriculum development and instructional practices that leads to arts literacy for all students.
A Broad Coalition of Stakeholders
Americans for the Arts is the latest organization to join the broad coalition of stakeholders developing the new standards. The group hopes to create a product that will reflect and encompass the most current research in the arts education field, national and international developments in education, and policy directions, including Common Core State Standards and the drive to develop 21st century skills. Other NCCAS leadership organizations include:
- American Alliance for Theatre and Education
- The College Board, National Art Education Association
- National Dance Education Organization,
- Educational Theatre Association
- National Association for Music Education
- State Education Agency Directors of Arts Education
- Young Audiences
- Arts educational leaders in the field of media arts.
The Music Writing Team
NAfME has actively participated in the development of the music portion of the National Standards. The Music Writing Team Co-Chairs are: Scott Shuler, Past President, National Association for Music Education and Richard Wells, Simsbury Public Schools (retired) and Music Chair for the Connecticut Common Arts Assessment Project.
Other team members are:
- Richard Baker, Louisiana State Department of Education, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
- Bob Cooper, South Kitsap School District, Port Orchard, Washington
- Thomas Dean, Mount Pleasant High School, Newark, Delaware
- Armalyn De La O, California State University-San Bernardino and San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools Office, San Bernardino, California
- Terry Eder, Plano Senior High School, Plano, Texas
- Barbara J. Good, Clark County School District, Las Vegas, Nevada
- Michael Jothen, Towson University, Phoenix, Maryland
- Carolynn A. Lindeman, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, California
- Johanna J. Siebert, Webster Schroeder High School, Webster, New York
- Robyn Swanson, Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, Kentucky
Additional information about participating in the review process
Roz Fehr, NAfME Managing Editor for News, September 30, 2013. © National Association for Music Education
