Excellence in the Visual Arts Chrystal Henry ARE 6666 November 4, 2009

1. What Defines a School as Excellent in the Visual Arts? An Analysis of the Standards Established for the Art Education Classroom. Excellence in the Visual Arts Chrystal Henry ARE 6666 November 4, 2009

2. Presently there are several issues surrounding the criterion that defines an excellent program of the visual arts in the public schools system. As an art teacher in Brevard County, it is important to strive for the coveted Excellence in Visual Arts Award that deems ones school as an exceptional program in arts. The purpose of the following policy analysis is to investigate the following documents: Purpose, Principles, and Standards for School Art Programs written by the National Art Education Association Excellence in the Visual Arts Award established by the Brevard Cultural Alliance Arts Achieve! Model Schools Program presented by the Florida Alliance for the Arts Education National School Boards Association Award given by the Kennedy Center Alliance for the Education Network. Then further analysis will be conducted with the intent of developing a new policy that will give a clear definition of the guidelines for an excellent visual art program. The following discussion is essential in developing policies that will dictate what happens inside the visual arts classroom. Purpose Statement:

3. Interest and Question about Topic: • The primary interest in issues surrounding developing policies to meet the set standards for excellence in the visual arts stemmed from the encouragement of my school’s art department to apply for such an award. • Also it is important to answer the question of what defines a school as excellent in the visual arts. • Through this process, I’ve been motivated to research different standards available to art educators and to evaluate which standards prove to be efficient and beneficial in the classroom. • Furthermore, it is has become very apparent that it is essential with creating policies in the field of art education that such policies must be cohesive and used collectively in the profession for them to be effective. Therefore with further investigation of this subject matter, I hope to gain a better understanding of the policies needed to establish a model of an exceptional art program that can be used on all levels of art education.

4. Purpose, Principles, and Standards for School Art Programs • Purpose, Principles, and Standards for School Art Programs written by the National Art Education Association: • To establish guidelines for all art programs to be seen as an excellent school in the visual arts. • To do this, the NAEA (1999) states that the schools must provides experiences consonant with the interests and the intellectual, social, and aesthetic maturity of students. • The standards cover the following: • Organization • Curriculum development • Personnel • Time and scheduling • Facilities • Materials • budget. • Each section is broken down into what is needed in the classroom for it to be successful. • Standards are also explained on different levels of what is expected of what is seen as an adequate program in comparison to an outstanding program.

5. Excellence in the Visual Arts Award • The Excellence in the Visual Arts Award is recognized by the Brevard Cultural Alliance as promoting the outstanding visual arts programs in Brevard County. • The Brevard Cultural Alliance (2005) states that it is their purpose to recognize school art programs which are comprehensive in scope and outstanding in quality. • EVA is a program that recognizes a school on a local front by examining the following: • The quality of student work • Variety of instruction • Use of National and State Standards for Art Education in the classroom • Student opportunity for success • Qualification of educators • Determining sufficient time and suitable facilities • Demonstrates connection to the community • Shows professional development • Art program facilitates success in other subject areas. • Each of the listed criteria is presented in rubric form and describes what is expected of each applicant.

6. Arts Achieve! Model Schools • The third model for an example program is the Arts Achieve! Model Schools Program presented by the Florida Alliance for Arts Education. • The FAAE (2009) states that the program is to recognize school models that offer a comprehensive, sequential, high-quality program of visual and performing arts instruction. • The standards set in this model evaluate schools based on meeting guidelines set for all of the fine arts. • Schools that are selected must have three of the four following disciplines: dance, music, theatre, and visual arts. • The standards also specify that the administration must actively support the Arts Education programs and the program must serve a variety of the population at the school. • The FAAE award is an honor that is recognized on the state level and is held by the school for three consecutive years.

7. The National School Boards Association Award • The National School Boards Association Award is a national honor given by the Kennedy Center Alliance for the Education Network. • This award differs from the previous honors due to the fact that it recognizes the school board instead of the individual school for its contribution to the fostering excellence in the arts. • Furthermore, the NSBA award encompasses all of the fine arts, not just the visual art as its focus towards excellence. • Therefore, a school must show proficiency in the area of music, dance, visual arts, and drama/ theatre to be deemed as a school district that excels in the arts. • The Kennedy Center Alliance for the Education Network (2009) states that all districts should include exemplary programs of standards-based sequential, curriculum-based arts education and must include curriculum offerings in all of the four arts disciplines, offered as part of the school day.

8. Nashville Model—An Art Teacher in Every School • The next text that will be examined is the article called Nashville Model—An Art Teacher in Every School. • In this reading, the author observes how Dr. Pletcher campaigns for the hiring of art educators in the public school system. • Pletcher’s used the national standards and the NAEA’s standards for quality education as his platform for advocating for his profession on the basis of the educational merits of art educations to the school system. • He further indicates the importance of starting art education advocacy from the bottom up. • The article also indicates that the most successful foundation for reform must start with the teachers, administration, and the one’s local community.

9. Visual Arts Education: Setting an Agenda for Improving Student Learning • Finally the last document evaluated is Visual Arts Education: Setting an Agenda for Improving Student Learning. • This document gives a clear insight into what needs to be done to improve student learning in the visual arts classroom. • The most compelling section of this piece is the focus on the professional development of future and current art educators. • Goodwin (2001) states that teachers, like all professionals, need the support of ongoing professional development to assist in bringing about changes in their practices, in their beliefs and attitudes, and in the learning outcomes of their students. • Knowledgeable instructors who have a firm grasp about their profession are better equipped to educate and impart information to student. • Overall the main idea is to set an agenda that will lead to set standards in art education for all levels of instruction.

10. Implication for Policy and Advocacy: • After reviewing the researched material, it is evident that there is a need for a more cohesive model to define excellence standards within the visual arts classroom. • Each model provided in the review of literature has set different criteria of what defines a model art program. • With conflicting standards for excellence, the issues of the lack of cohesion of the standards in the art education classroom become a serious issue that must be addressed. • Having standards that characterized a program as excellent or excelling in the visual arts is beneficial, but to do so correctly, each program must be accessed under the same criteria. • To gain a better understanding of the criteria needed to identify the standards needed to rate a school as excellent in the visual arts, it is important to compare the information collected from each program. • Each program will be analyzed using the following categories: • Curriculum development • The quality of student work and student development • Professional development • Use of national and state standards for art education • Demonstration of connection to the community • Time, scheduling, facilities, and materials.

11. Implication Continued…Curriculum Evaluation Key 0= Not Applicable: -Program does not require the evaluated category 1-2= Fair: -Program indicates category, but lacks specification 3-4= Good: -Program requires category and gives adequate specification needed to meet requirement 5= Excellent: -Program requires category and gives excellent description of the needed specifications needed to meet requirements Figure 1

12. Quality of Student Work/ Student Development Figure 2 • Figure 2 shows that all of the programs scored at the adequate level or below for this section. • Such results lead to the conclusion that not enough emphasis is put on defining student development and establish methods to define quality art work.

13. Professional Development Figure 3 • BCA and the NAEA had specific requirements for the development of art educators. • The BCA requirements differed from the other programs in that it set standards for teachers not only to develop as educators, but also encourages instructors to continue to develop as practicing artists.

14. Use of National and State Standards for Art Education Figure 4 • Each program mentions using the some form of the standards in the classroom setting as shown by figure 4. • Yet the only program that gave specification for using both the national and the state standards is the Excellence in the Visual Arts Award. • Dr Pletcher (1997) states that by utilizing the National Standards for Arts Education and NAEA’s goals for quality education, he built a substantive base of facts and information to define the purpose of art education. • Hence, the use of the standards is important in establishing the validity of the art education profession.

15. Demonstration of Connection to the Community Figure 5 • The demonstration of connection to the community was mentioned and defined adequately in three of the four examined programs as indicated on figure 5. • A repeated theme of establishing community involvement emphasizes the need to have a resident artist. • While the EVA award further defines community involvement in terms of exhibits, community service, and promoting advocacy

16. Time, Scheduling, Facilities, and Materials Figure 6 • Unlike the other categories, Table 6 indicates that all of the programs had adequate or excellent information on the requirements needed for evaluating time, scheduling, facilities, and materials. • The NAEA format of evaluation is the most in depth example of standards for establishing the time needed for instruction, how classes should be scheduled, providing exact criteria for facilities, and the materials needed to provide students with an excellent experience in the visual arts.

17. Recommendations • The idea that a visual arts program can be classified as excellent through an evaluation procedure is a process that needs to be further evaluated. • A unified set of standards needs to be established to create a better foundation for such awards. • There should be further investigation into forming standards that can be used across the board in the visual arts profession. • Such standards can establish a better link between the K-12, undergraduate, and post graduate levels of education. • Creating cohesive standards will provide students with a sequential course of study in the visual arts that meet the high standards required to excel in their academic development. • Furthermore, it is recommended that these standards be put into rubric form with the specifications needed to meet each standard. • While evaluating these four awards, the most discouraging pattern found in these documents was a lack of information given to define requirements needed to meet each standard. • By using a rubric, criteria for each standard can be presented and also can be further defined by establishing a scale that indicates what needs improvement, what is seen as adequate, and what criteria meet an excellent rating.

18. Recommendations Continued… • Due to the lack of information given about student development and quality of work, a rubric was created to establish each needed standard. Quality of Student Work/ Student Development Rubric

19. Dissemination • The goal of creating a rubric of the standards are as followed: • To provide a clear and assessable document that can be shared digitally or in printed form and handed out effortlessly. • The intent of creating an excellence in the visual arts rubric is to create a cohesive and comprehensive resource that can be added to any district website. • As Pletcher (1997) states, grassroots advocacy is the only effective tool. • Therefore standards must be established for those who will be putting them into action and using them on a daily basis. • With that in mind, the standards should be clear and put in the suggested format so that they are understandable and can be available to all professionals in the field of art education. • As advocates, demonstrating the importance of the arts to the public school system is essential in establishing the need for visual arts in the classroom. • Changing current policy is no easy task and the effort must start with developing a clear definition of what excellence in the visual arts entails. • By creating and distributing standards for the classroom that are clear and consistent throughout every level of education, a strong link in the profession will be established. • One set program should be developed to evaluate visual art programs to further illustrate the fact that the visuals can be evaluated by standard means. • A starting point should be on the state level. • The push for a standard evaluation process for art education will require the active involvement of art educators, administration, and art advocates.

20. Conclusion • In conclusion, the need for set standards for the evaluation of the art education classroom is essential in defining an excellent program in the visual arts. • Through the process of comparing each award, strengths and weakness were found in each program. • The area lacking the most information is centered around evaluating the quality of student work and student development. • Through the development of this policy review, I’ve learned that creating new policy is a process that involves researching existing ideas and advocating for modification or changing them to enhance learning in the classroom. • Establishing standards for evaluating visual arts classrooms directly affects those who are involved in the learning process on a daily basis. • Therefore it is of great importance that all standards that are going to be put into action in the classroom be clearly defined and useable in the class setting. • The future agenda for all schools should be to have excellence programs that provide an art education that is beneficial to all students. • Consequently, it is my hope that further attention will be giving to creating and implementing evaluation standards that can be assessable to every visual arts classroom.

21. References Brevard Cultural Alliance. (2005). Excellence in Visual Arts Award. Retrieved October 6, 2009, from http://64.130.35.220/cms/files/Eva%202009%2010%20to%2013.pdf Florida Alliance for Arts Education. (2009). Arts Achieve! Model Schools Program. Retrieved October 30, 2009 from http://www.faae.org/docs/ArtsAchieveApp.pdf Goodwin, M. (2001). Visual Arts Education: Setting an Agenda for Improving Student Learning. National Art Education Association. 1-14. Kennedy Center Alliance for Art Education. (2009). National School Boards Association Award Retrieved October 30, 2009 from http://www.artsed411.org/participate/docs/KCAAEN_NSBA_AWARD_Guidelines.pdf National Art Education Association (1999). Purpose, Principles, and Standards for Schools Art Programs. Retrieved October 6, 2009, from http://www.arteducators.org/olc/filelib/NAEA/cpages/9005/Library/NAEA%20Purposes,%20Principles,%20and%20Standards.pdf Nashville Model, An Art Teacher in Every School, (1997).