THE UNCOMMON CORE Academy for the Performing Arts, Huntington Beach, CA

A BRIEF HISTORY Early 1800’s: Arts education took a formal place in American schools 1964: The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) was designed to address problems of educational equity, especially for high-poverty students 1994: Passage of the Goals 2000: Educate America Act and the release of the first National Standards for Arts Education 2001: No Child Left Behind Act 2005: Standards for Learning and Teaching Dance in the Arts 2012: Common Core State Standards (CCSSS) for English Language Arts and Math 2013: National Core Art Standards built around evidence

THE GAP

ARTS AS A CORE SUBJECT As students study and create in the arts, they use the potential of the human mind to its full and unique capacity. The visual and performing arts are a vital part of a well-rounded education for all students. “To compete in the global marketplace, I need employees who are well-rounded and have the skill sets that they have learned from the arts.” Ric Gallaher, Senior Engineer, Boeing

NATIONAL CORE ARTS STANDARDS The new National Core Arts Standards (Sept 30, 2013) are built around evidence—not just evidence of student learning, but also research- based discoveries that helped guide writers and reviewers in determining best practice methods for the presentation of standards as well as content. The new standards matrix integrates the process, skills and knowledge, sample assessments and criteria into a single organized structure that span preK-12 and aligned with lifelong goals.

NATIONAL CORE ARTS STANDARDS MATRIX

MOST VISUAL AND PERFORMING ARTS STANDARDS ARE CONTENT BASED Example: California State Standards 1.0 Artistic Perception—processing, analyzing and responding 2.0 Creative Expression-creating, performing and participating 3.0 Historical and Cultural Context— understanding contributions 4.0 Aesthetic Valuing—responding, analyzing and making judgments 5.0 Connections, Relationships, Applications—connecting and applying what is learned to other art forms and subject areas

COMMON CORE STATE STANDARDS AND VISUAL AND PERFORMING ARTS STANDARDS State/National Standards are still in place In the Common Core, the Arts are considered a “Technical” Subject Common Core Standards in the Technical Subjects is an “overlay” onto the Visual Performing Arts Standards that informs instruction Arts teachers should be teaching art through Common Core, not the Common Core through the arts If state standards are the “What” then CCSS are the “How”

COMMON CORE STATE STANDARDS PRESENT OPPORTUNITIES Utilize the arts to teach the literacy skills outlined by the new standards. This should be done in addition to, not instead of, teaching the arts for their own sake Under Common Core, text is not just words Definition of “Text” 1. Works of art can be read 2. Text can be visual art, musical notes and choreography 3. In the arts, we will instruct for visual literacy and musical literacy, etc.

READING THEATRE By nature of its proximity to English Language Arts, Theatre may make the easiest transition. Reading works of drama is the most common arts reference in the CCSS, garnering mention at all grade levels in over 25 standards total. In addition, an entire production can be viewed as a text. Students may analyze concept, performance, design, tone, and other elements in order to discern meaning.

READING ART “In an age when literacy dominates public discourse on education, we must begin to think more broadly about what students read. Sure--- the new Common Core State Standards support the “reading” and scrutiny of other forms of high- quality text. Works of art can, indeed should, be “read” in a very similar way to a poem by Shakespeare or a speech by Winston Churchill.” Lynne Munson

READING DANCE Dance is often used to tell a story or convey a message. Like a story or a book, each dance has a beginning, middle and an end. Dance is made up of “movement materials” connected into “phrases” and put together into a complete dance.

READING MUSIC Music can annotate notes for define markings, highlighted articulations and dynamics, musical mood, melody and imagery. It may also use verse for vocabulary, content, description, questions, meaning and opinion.

READING STANDARD 1 LITERACY IN TECHNICAL SUBJECTS GRADES 7-8: Cite textual evidence to support analysis of technical texts. GRADES 9-10: Cite textual evidence to support analysis of technical texts, attending to the precise details of explanations or descriptions. GRADES 11-12: Cite textual evidence to support analysis of technical texts, attending to the precise details of explanations or descriptions the author makes and to any gaps or inconsistencies in the account.

BREAKOUT GROUPS:  DANCE & VISUAL ART  THEATRE  MUSIC & MUSICAL THEATRE “There are 2 ways of being CREATIVE. One can sing and dance. Or one can CREATE AN ENVIRONMENT in which singers and dancers flourish.” Warren Bennes

PROFESSIONAL LEARNING MODULES LEGISLATION Develop a curriculum, instruction, and assessment system to implement the common core state standards (CCSS) that intentionally does the following: Focuses on integrating 21 st century skills, including critical thinking, problem solving, communication, collaboration, creativity and innovation, as a competency-based approach to learning in all core academic content areas, including English language arts, mathematics, history-social science, science, health education, the arts and world languages.

THANK YOU FOR JOINING US! Huntington Beach Academy for the Performing Arts Diane Makas, Artistic Director: Tim Nelson, Musical Theatre Chair: Andrea Taylor, Dance Chair: Alexis Karol, Bolsa Grande H.S. Theatre Dept.: