Fine Arts
The visual and performing arts are an essential part of every child’s education. Engagement in the visual and performing arts deepens students’ overall knowledge and skills, as well as their social and emotional development. Research shows that students involved in the visual and performing arts are more successful in school, more involved in their communities, and perform better on standardized tests.
The National Standards for Arts Education includes separate standards for dance, music, theatre, and visual arts. In 1997, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Arts assessment was developed with separate assessments in these disciplines. These four visual and performing arts disciplines are uniquely different from each other in literacy as well as creation and performance. Standards A and B of the Visual and Performing Arts Standards of the Maine Learning Results each include four separate strands (dance, music, theatre, and visual arts). In contrast, standards C, D, and E are representative of skills and knowledge in all four disciplines of the visual and performing arts. This format best represents both the unique and common aspects of the visual and performing arts. The decision about the breadth of the programming in the visual and performing arts resides with the School Administrative Units (SAU).
These Visual and Performing Arts Standards outline a comprehensive pathway to enable every high school graduate to exhibit proficiency in one or more of the visual and performing arts disciplines. The key to success is local commitment to the visual and performing arts. Staffing, scheduling, and resources vary from SAU to SAU. Research supports the implementation of a comprehensive visual and performing arts education curriculum to meet the learning needs of all students. Connecting the visual and performing arts with other content areas of the curriculum improves teaching and learning.
This document guides SAUs in developing comprehensive and sequential standards-based visual and performing arts curricula for student learning. The use of these standards may assist in the improvement of instruction generally, and impact student learning, not only in the visual and performing arts but in other content areas, as well.
OUTLINE OF VISUAL AND PERFORMING ARTS STANDARDS AND PERFORMANCE INDICATOR LABELS
A. Disciplinary Literacy
Dance:
1. Terminology
2. Space
3. Time
4. Energy
5. Locomotor and Non-Locomotor Movement
6. Compositional Forms
Music:
1. Music Difficulty
2. Notation and Terminology
3. Listening and Describing
Theatre:
1. Terminology
2. Production
Visual Arts:
1. Artist’s Purpose
2. Elements of Art and Principles of Design
3. Media, Tools, Techniques, and Processes
B. Creation, Performance, and Expression
Dance:
1. Communication
2. Sequencing
3. Solving Challenges
4. Technical Aspects
Music:
1. Style/Genre
2. Composition
Theatre:
1. Movement
2. Character
3. Improvisation
Visual Arts:
1. Media Skills
2. Composition Skills
3. Making Meaning
4. Exhibition
C. Creative Problem-Solving
1. Application of Creative Process
D. Aesthetics and Criticism
1. Aesthetics and Criticism
E. Visual and Performing Arts Connections
1. The Arts and History and World Cultures
2. The Arts and Other Disciplines
3. Goal-Setting
4. Impact of the Arts on Lifestyle and Career
5. Interpersonal Skills
(Maine Learning Results, 2007)