• What Students Should Know and be able to do in the Arts
     
    There are many routes to competence in the arts disciplines. Students may work in different arts at different times.
    Their study may take a variety of approaches. Their abilities may develop at different rates. Competence means
    the ability to use an array of knowledge and skills. Terms often used to describe these include creation, performance, production, history, culture, perception, analysis, criticism, aesthetics, technology, and appreciation. Competence means capabilities with these elements themselves and an understanding of their interdependence; it also means the ability to combine the content, perspectives, and techniques associated with the various elements to achieve specific artistic and analytical goals. Students work toward comprehensive competence from the very beginning, preparing in the lower grades for deeper and more rigorous work each succeeding year. As a result, the joy of experiencing the arts is enriched and matured by the discipline of learning and the pride of accomplishment. Essentially, the Standards ask that students should know and be able to do the following by the time they have completed secondary school:


    • They should be able to communicate at a basic level in the four arts disciplines--dance, music, theatre, and the visual arts. This includes knowledge and skills in the use of the basic vocabularies, materials, tools, techniques, and intellectual methods of each arts discipline.
    •  They should be able to communicate proficiently in at least one art form, including the ability to define and solve artistic problems with insight, reason, and technical proficiency.
    • They should be able to develop and present basic analyses of works of art from structural, historical, and cultural perspectives, and from combinations of those perspectives. This includes the ability to understand and evaluate work in the various arts disciplines.
    • They should have an informed acquaintance with exemplary works of art from a variety of cultures 
    • They should be able to relate various types of arts knowledge and skills within and across the arts disciplines. This includes mixing and matching competencies and understandings in art-making, history and culture, and analysis in any arts-related project. 


    As a result of developing these capabilities, students can arrive at their own knowledge, beliefs, and
    values for making personal and artistic decisions. In other terms, they can arrive at a broad-based,
    well-grounded understanding of the nature, value, and meaning of the arts as a part of their own humanity.
     
     

    Taken from: Summary Statement: Education Reform, Standards, and the Arts. MENC   

     

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Bqjgl6XvQ8