Applauding the Arts, Part 3
Ways of knowing what?

Arts education is best defined broadly, according to the National Coalition for Education in the Arts. This consortium of 28 national arts organizations came together earlier this decade to draw up national standards for what young Americans should know and be able to do in the arts. According to the coalition, a solid grounding in the arts teaches students to be both actor and audience, creator and critic. An arts education is "the process of teaching and learning how to create and produce the visual and performing arts and how to understand and evaluate art forms created by others."

The voluntary National Standards for Arts Education, adopted in 1994, don't spell out how results should be achieved (let alone how arts programs should be funded). Rather than laying out a curriculum, the standards provide broad educational goals intended to engage students in the processes of creating, performing, and responding. They also call for comprehensive learning, with students building on a base of knowledge and participating in increasingly rigorous work as they progress through the grades. By the time students have completed high school, according to the standards, they should be able to:

Communicate at a basic level in the four arts disciplines-dance, music, theater, and the visual arts

Communicate proficiently in at least one art form

Develop and present basic analyses of works of art

Have an informed acquaintance with exemplary works of art from a variety of cultures and historical periods

Relate various types of arts knowledge and skills within and across the arts disciplines

Such broad definition allows plenty of room for local interpretation. The paintings and plays and dances selected for classroom study can be the work of world-renowned master artists or reflect the local context of place and community. An appropriate art lesson might involve the wooden carvings of the Tlingit people of Alaska, the folk music of rural Montana, the symphonies of Beethoven, or the vibrant paintings of Seattle's Jacob Lawrence. More important than specific content is an approach to learning that is systematic, rigorous, and allows students to construct meaning for themselves.

Following the national lead, most states are developing content guidelines for the arts and a handful are establishing pilot programs to integrate the arts into the curriculum. The trend is clear: In 1980, only two states required some study of the arts for high school graduation. By last year, 32 states had arts requirements, according to the National Arts Education Association.

In the Northwest, Washington spent two years developing Essential Academic Learning Requirements in the arts as part of school-reform efforts. Benchmarks adopted in 1997 describe what students should be expected to achieve at the elementary, middle school, and high school levels. Next, legislators are expected to consider whether to add arts achievement tests. In Montana, a federally funded program to encourage innovation in education led to the Framework for Aesthetic Literacy, which has shaped the curriculum in 10 pilot schools that weave the arts across the curriculum. Oregon school reform efforts call for students to meet state content standards of knowledge in the arts by the 2001-02 school year, with local districts responsible for establishing performance standards. As part of its statewide educational reform effort, Alaska also has developed content standards for the arts, including dance, drama, music, and the literary and visual arts. An arts framework has been adopted to assist in curriculum development at the local level. Idaho developed a framework document for the arts in the mid-1990s, and requires two units (one full year of study) in the humanities for high school graduation. Students can fulfill the requirement by taking courses in the visual or performing arts.

"When you learn to move your body on a note of music, it's exciting. You have taken control of your body and, learning to do that, you discover you can take control of your life."
-Jacques d'Amboise,
dancer and founder of the
National Dance Institute

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