The National Core Arts Standards
In 1994, a group of arts educators worked with the U.S. Department of Education, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Humanities to develop standards across several areas of the arts. These standards—and the expanded standards that have been written since then—have defined what quality arts programs should include. The standards also established that the arts should be considered an essential part of a full and rigorous K–12 education. The arts have shaped every culture since the beginning of humankind, and they provide important ways of thinking that are just as disciplined as math, language, and other core subjects.
The National Core Arts Standards are organized into four domains that are common to all areas of the visual and performing arts:
Creating
Creating involves gathering the vocabulary, skills, and practices to build a foundation for exploring the arts, and then using this foundation to think up and develop new artistic ideas and work.
#1: Generate and conceptualize artistic ideas and work.
Creativity and creative thinking are essential life skills that can be developed.
#2: Organize and develop artistic ideas and work.
Artists and performers work hard to understand the skills and processes of creating.
#3: Refine and complete artistic work.
Artists and performers can become excellent through practice and reflection.
Performing, Presenting, or Producing
Performing, Presenting, or Producing involves performing (in dance, music, and theater), or presenting and producing (in visual arts and media) to gain experiences and to understand the role of an audience.
#4: Analyze, interpret, and select artistic work for presentation.
Artists and performers have to think about how to best present their work.
#5: Develop and refine artistic work for presentation.
Artists and performers need to edit, change, and solve problems before presenting their work.
#6: Convey meaning through the presentation of artistic work.
Artists and performers present their work to communicate ideas to their viewers or their audience.
Responding
Responding includes learning how to look at, listen to, and experience the arts. These skills allow students to enjoy and appreciate visual art, storytelling, creative movement, and music and to understand why people react emotionally to these forms of expression.
#7: Perceive and analyze artistic work.
Learning to analyze artistic works helps us to appreciate ourselves, others, and the natural world.
#8: Interpret intent and meaning in artistic work.
We gain a better understanding of the arts when we know how to interpret their relevance and meaning.
#9: Apply criteria to evaluate artistic work.
We can evaluate artistic work by using certain criteria and standards.
Connecting
Connecting is about seeing how the arts relate to other academic subjects and how they teach us about history, culture, and human nature. “Connecting” also applies to encouraging a student to connect the arts to their own lives and helping them make sense of their world.
#10: Synthesize and relate knowledge and personal experiences to make art.
Creating and performing increases our knowledge, raises our awareness, and helps us explore our ideas.
#11: Relate artistic ideas and works with societal, cultural, and historical context to deepen understanding.
Creating and performing helps us develop our own sense of meaning and also helps us to understand more about societies and cultures, past and present.
For more information, we invite you to visit the National Core Arts Standards website at www.nationalartsstandards.org
National Core Arts Standards © 2014 National Coalition for Arts Standards. Rights administered by Young Audiences, Inc. New York, NY.