Art Credits, Standards and Effective Learning

Minnesota has recently adopted new and revised state arts education standards that will be going into effect in the 2010 - 2011 school year.  Since the demise of the Profile of Learning a couple of years ago and the lack of willingness by the state to mandate anything  beyond standardized tests as the measure of student learning, there has been a steady slide in the progress that the arts had enjoyed statewide in the building of a process by which all K-12 students were to be effectively introduced to and taught the arts. As there is presently no system in place for monitoring the instruction or implementation of those art curricular areas, or examining the results being generated by discipline and grade level from district to district, many other classes in various curriculum areas have been awarded the capacity to be defined as being an arts credit across the state.

It is hoped that the new standards will provide a framework for understanding what specific learning in mandated in an arts course so that the current practice of abuse in defining what constitutes an art credit is brought to a halt. 

I am guessing that the misunderstandings of just what a standards-based art credit consists of is not simply a problem that is specific to my state, but is probably one that surfaces across many districts and states across the country. As such, the following examination of some of those issues as they have been defined in my district (on the northwestern corner of the Twin Cities metro area and the largest district in the state), may be helpful to structuring a conversation elsewhere in regards to what considerations need to be explored in keeping the arts an important, central and viable component in K-12 education.

Here are some points to consider in regards to the alignment of art credit and art standards:

• As regards standards and credits, all Anoka-Hennepin School District secondary art classes have standards embedded in them which then constitutes course outcomes and specific learning skills. Classes that are not delivering those art standards ought not to be getting art credit if they are not incorporating those specified standards.
• The Minnesota Board of Teaching is quite clear about the necessity of having highly qualified teachers teaching the courses in public education. Highly qualified is defined as having the specific area of licensure that is deemed necessary to teach a specific curriculum area and grade level.
• The newly revised MN State Arts Standards have been approved and signed off on by the State of Minnesota.  Those standards and the new structure that they are now a part of have been applied to the Anoka-Hennepin School District’s secondary art curriculum.  We are now in the process of identifying the Essential learning Outcomes which are the standard benchmarks, and aligning them to the various approved visual art classes. The arts standards are written to the specific art areas (Visual Art, Music, Theater, Dance and Media), and are not a part of any other curricular discipline. 
• The Media Arts standards are both an outgrowth of the Visual Arts standards as well as having additional media arts language that addresses the elements of Media Arts (which specifically revolve around video art).  While there is no specific license attached to it, a certification process is in the process of being developed.  Additionally, in order to meet the media arts standard, however, much of the skill sets identified as being necessary to learn the material, are based on the understanding of artistic principles and additional concepts that are based in visual art.
• Jeremy Holien, the Visual and Media Arts Curriculum Specialist at the Perpich Center for Arts Education, the arm of the State government concerned with arts education, would be a good resource person to help walk us through this process of reworking our current laundry list of non arts area classes that also do not have the necessary standards embedded in them, purporting to deliver the arts credit.  His contact information is: Jeremy.Holien@pcae.k12.mn.us, 763-591-4776.

A downloadable listing of the revised Minnesota Arts Standards may be found by clicking here. 

Kevan Nitzberg
Art Dept. Chair
Anoka H.S.