1. College-level Standards and Expectations for Arts Education

2. College Standards for Arts Education
Purpose of Research: The revised National Standards for Arts Education will extend to grade 14 rather than grade 12. The purpose of this research is to gather resources and material that may inform the writers’ process as they develop grade standards for the first time.
Slide about WHY this research was undertaken

3. College Standards for Arts Education
Research Goal: To understand current expectations for college-level instruction in the arts affecting students who are arts majors as well as non-majors.
In other cases we’ve been able to review and summarize recently-revised state standards, or media arts standards, and it’s been a direct correlation to your work as writers in revising the standards. In the case of college-level work, though, there are no nationally-set existing standards, so this research wasn’t about analyzing agreed-upon standards but rather the goal was to try to identify what commonly-held expectations of students are – what are the closest things we have to standards? Are there any expectations and benchmarks that seem to be shared across the board, especially for students who are not arts majors?
Aiming to find out what is currently being taught – not to make a “to-do list” that the standards need to adhere to and not to note all the places where college practices should change, but just to get a feel for the most common content and practices, especially for non-specialist students.

4. College Standards for Arts Education
Phase I of the research on college level standards and expectations involved the following components:
Textbook analysis
Analysis and summary of accreditation standards
Reviews of AP course goals and course descriptions
In looking for standards at the college level, the short answer is that there aren’t any, so this research has been an analysis of all of the next closest things that we have:
Textbook analysis: we collected descriptions and reviews of about 20 textbooks in each of the arts disciplines and analyzed them in terms of course content – identifying how many dealt with technique, analysis, criticism, history (western/non-western) etc – to get an idea of what the most common threads of college course material in the arts are
Analysis and summary of accreditation standards – looking at similarities and differences in accreditation standards, specifically the parts that relate to course content and requirements for BFA or two-year degrees in the arts. Not looking at the standards that relate more to institutional-level practices.
Reviews of AP course goals and course descriptions – AP course descriptions and guidelines are developed after extensive research into current best practices and common curricular themes in introductory college courses, so this may be the closest information we have to content-level standards for college-level arts courses. Of course, we only have data related to Studio Art, Art History, and Music Theory to draw upon here.

5. College Standards for Arts Education
Part I: Review of Accreditation standards
Reviewed the accreditation standards of NASAD, NASD, NASM, NAST. These are mostly institutional-level guidelines and recommendations, but a section of each document of standards relates specifically to course content and student expectations for 2-4 year degrees in the arts, so these guidelines were the focus of our study.
** mention that accreditation standards are broad for a reason: they want to allow a large amount of autonomy to the schools themselves.

6. Accreditation Standards
College Standards for Arts Education Phase I Findings: Accreditation Standards
Accreditation Standards
Performance/Production/Studio
Progressively building skill in at least one area
Area of concentration within the discipline
Familiarity with elements, principles, and discipline-specific techniques
Performance, exhibition, critique
History and theory
Basic knowledge of history and repertoires
Skills of analysis and evaluation
Ability to place work in historical, cultural, and stylistic contexts
Teaching
Included in dance standards only
Technology
Working knowledge of technology related to area of specialization
Synthesis
Students should be able to work independently, drawing on their knowledge of performance, technique, analysis, and history
Results
Professional, entry-level competence
Ability to form and defend value judgments
Recommendations
Understanding of the nature of professional work in the field
Exploring areas of individual interest
Business or entrepreneurial skills
Review of accreditation standards
The first part of the first report is an examination of accreditation standards. These are published by four related organizations: the National Association of Schools of Dance, National Association of Schools of Art and Design, National Association of Schools of Music, and National Association of Schools of Theatre.
Their full handbooks are available online, listing accreditation requirements in detail. Most of these are institutional-level standards, oriented towards how schools of the arts are organized and run. Within that, though, there are recommendations about the content of degree-granting arts programs. And it’s that content that’s represented on this chart.
There are standards for the creation of work, to varying degrees of specificity for each discipline.
All disciplines acknowledge the importance of studying history and theory
Dance alone addresses teaching
Technology standards exist, but that single sentence is the extent of them.
Results refer to the result of a full course of study, and the kinds of abilities students should have as a result
The “recommendations” section is about further recommendations for study, for inclusion in the study of the arts. The content mostly revolves around real-world experiences, developing personal areas of interest and concentration, and business skills.
On the whole, the accreditation standards are very general documents in their recommendations.

7. College Standards for Arts Education Phase I Findings: AP Course Goals

8. College Standards for Arts Education Phase I Findings: AP Course Goals
AP Studio Art: Course Goals
Encourage creative and systematic investigation of formal and conceptual issues
Emphasize making art as an ongoing process that involves the student in informed and critical decision making
Help students develop technical skills and familiarize them with the functions of the visual elements
Encourage students to become independent thinkers who will contribute inventively and critically to their culture through the making of art.
We also summarized AP course goals and descriptions, since AP course content is developed as a result of extensive research into introductory-level college courses. So we have these materials to reference in art and music, since there are AP courses in studio art, art history, and music theory.
The first slide here is a very general outline of AP Studio Art course goals – there are four overarching goals – and then student performance is measured by their portfolio, which is divided into three sections: Quality, Concentration, and Breadth. So reviewers look for evidence of the broad course goals, as well as more specific technical criteria, in the portfolio submissions.

9. College Standards for Arts Education Phase I Findings: AP Course Goals
AP Studio Art: Course Goals
Encourage creative and systematic investigation of formal and conceptual issues
Emphasize making art as an ongoing process that involves the student in informed and critical decision making
Help students develop technical skills and familiarize them with the functions of the visual elements
Encourage students to become independent thinkers who will contribute inventively and critically to their culture through the making of art.

10. College Standards for Arts Education Phase I Findings: AP Course Goals
AP Studio Art Portfolio
Quality
Works that demonstrate mastery of [2-D design, 3-D design, or drawing] apparent in the composition, concept and execution of the works.
Concentration
A concentration is a body of work unified by an underlying idea that has visual coherence.
Coherence and/or development — is the work presented actually a concentration?
Quality of the concept/idea represented — is there evidence of thinking and of focus?
Degree of development and investigation that is evident in the work — including the amount of work or number of pieces represented
Quality of the work in both concept and technique
Breadth
A variety of works demonstrating understanding of the principles of design.
Look for engagement with a range of design principles:
Unity/Variety Balance/Emphasis/Contrast
Rhythm Repetition
Proportion/Scale Figure/Ground Relationship

11. College Standards for Arts Education Phase I Findings: AP course goals
AP Art History
Course Objectives
Ability to apply art and art historical terminology
Appreciation for process of making and displaying art
Understanding of purpose and function of art
Ability to analyze works of art in historical and social context
Understanding of cross-cultural and global nature of art
Ability to perform higher order thinking skills and articulate visual and art historical concepts in verbal and written forms
Here are the AP Art History goals. Again, the course strikes a balance between requiring students to have the historical knowledge, but also being able to apply it in meaningful ways. Balance of information and cognitive skills.

12. College Standards for Arts Education Phase I Findings: AP course goals
AP Art History
Course Objectives
Ability to apply art and art historical terminology
Appreciation for process of making and displaying art
Understanding of purpose and function of art
Ability to analyze works of art in historical and social context
Understanding of cross-cultural and global nature of art
Ability to perform higher order thinking skills and articulate visual and art historical concepts in verbal and written forms

13. College Standards for Arts Education: Phase I Findings: AP course goals
AP Music Theory
Skill
Method
Aural skills
Listening exercises
Sight-singing skills
Performance exercises
Writing skills
Written exercises
Compositional skills
Creative exercises
Analytical skills
Analytical exercises
Content and concepts:
The AP Music Theory description is the most detailed in terms of outlining skills and concepts to be mastered – offering guides for types of exercises that align with types of skills – but analysis plays a heavy role here as well.
Pitches
Intervals
Scales and keys
Chords
Meter
Rhythm
Melodic and harmonic dictation
Composition
Harmony
Realization of a figured bass
Analysis of repertoire
Sight-singing

14. College Standards for Arts Education: Phase I Findings: Textbook Analysis
Textbook recommendations were gathered from a number of sources:
Researched bestselling textbooks online
Gathered recommendations from NCCAS members and other colleagues
AP-recommended textbooks in the areas of studio art, art history, and music theory, located on apcentral.collegeboard.com
The next phase was an analysis of college course textbooks in the arts.
We surveyed professors of the arts and looked at lists of bestselling textbooks to get an idea of what types of resources are most widely used. We also looked at recommendations for textbooks that are used in conjunction with AP courses in the arts. We ended up with about textbooks in each discipline.
Most of the textbooks fit into one of these categories...

15. College Standards for Arts Education: Phase I Findings: Textbook Analysis
Most textbooks for each arts discipline fit into one of four categories:
Technique
History
Theory
Criticism and Analysis

16. College Standards for Arts Education: Phase I Findings: Textbook Analysis

17. College Standards for Arts Education: Textbook Analysis Findings: DANCE
Of the 24 recommended textbooks, 10 aligned with one or more of the technique categories. Of these, three covered
concepts/fundamentals, six addressed dance creation and performance, and two included teaching.
10 textbooks included content that fell into one or more of the history categories. Nine included surveys of dance
history (making this the category with the greatest representation in the dance survey), six included specifically Western
content, and three included non-Western examples.
There were three results in criticism and analysis category. It is interesting to note that in these cases, the books’
content is not geared towards teaching students strategies for analyzing dance performance themselves; rather, they
are collections of essays and analyses written by dance professionals.
In particular, the content in the dance creation category varies widely, ranging from straightforward dance technique
Instruction to memoirs and essays by well-known dancers and choreographers.
Overall, there was a fairly even divide between books that fell into technique and history categories. There were no
instances of overlap between the two; books related to dance technique did not appear to cover historical content, and
vice versa.
Dance was the only discipline to include books on teaching in its review. This inclusion is especially interesting,
considering that the accreditation standards for dance are the only ones that require courses in teaching as well.
History
Technique
Criticism/Analysis

18. College Standards for Arts Education: Textbook Analysis Findings: MUSIC
Of the 26 recommended textbooks, 21 aligned with one or more of the music theory categories. Of these, 20 covered
fundamentals, seven addressed sight singing, nine featured information on composition, and 19 included listening and
analysis.
Thirteen textbooks included content that fell into one or more of the history categories. Twelve included surveys of
music history, seven included specifically Western content, and two included non-Western examples.
There were no results in performance category. This is in line with a trend across the survey of textbooks in all four arts
disciplines, of very few textual resources for the creation and performance of works of art, as opposed to the
appreciation, history, and analysis of the arts.
Overall, the most general categories, including music theory fundamentals and music history survey, had the greatest
representation, which is not surprising, given that these are the categories that probably have the greatest
representation in college course offerings. In the entire analysis, there are more textbooks associated with music theory
topics than with music history, analysis, or performance. This may be an accurate representation of college music
textbooks as a whole, or it may be attributed to the fact that so many of the recommendations were garnered from AP
Music Theory resources.
Within the larger analysis of textbooks in all four arts disciplines, music was the only category to have textbooks with a
marked overlap between history and theory content. There were eight instances of textbooks that covered music
fundamentals and also had music history content (particularly survey content). Similarly, nine of the 19 books that
involved content in listening and analysis also had music history content; presumably, students are listening to and
analyzing great works from music history. It appears that, more than in other disciplines, music theory is taught by
incorporating music history, and there is a less pronounced divide between history and practice into the study of music.
Music Theory
History
Performance

19. College Standards for Arts Education: Textbook Analysis Findings: THEATRE
Of the 17 recommended textbooks, three aligned with the acting category of the technique section. None of the texts
appeared to offer instruction on writing or directing. This aligns with findings in all other disciplines, wherein there was
less information on artistic technique than history, theory, or analysis.
Six of the featured textbooks were aligned with theatre appreciation content, covering fundamentals of theatre from an
audience member’s perspective.
Nine textbooks covered content related to theatre history. All nine were general in nature, aligning them with the
survey category, making this this the most popular category, again aligning with findings in other disciplines. Of these,
six could be determined to include Western content (although the true number is probably higher; some textbook
descriptions did not get into specifics of their historical content), and four addressed non-Western material.
Four of the 17 textbooks offered material that fit into the analysis category, offering techniques and guidelines for
responding to performances.
In general, theatre textbooks did not span more than one theme or topic; for example, technique-related books did not
cover history or analysis. In an instance of overlap among similar categories, however, two theatre appreciation
textbooks also contained content that fit into one or more of the history categories.
History
Analysis
Technique (Acting)

20. College Standards for Arts Education: Textbook Analysis Findings: VISUAL ART
Of the 30 total textbooks, eleven addressed topics in the technique category. Of these, four addressed drawing content,
three dealt with other 2-D techniques, three addressed sculpture techniques, and five offered instruction in
photography and digital media.
Three textbooks were aligned with the elements and principles category. Of these, two titles simultaneously aligned
with the survey category, suggesting that in some cases, historical content is being used to illustrate or encourage
understanding of art-making fundamentals. These were the only examples of overlap between history and technique
categories within single texts.
Sixteen textbooks included content that fell into one or more of the history categories. Eleven included surveys of art
history, twelve included specifically Western content, and six included non-Western examples.
Six titles fell into the analysis category – all of these aligned with one or more of the history categories as well.
A category that was unique to the visual art textbook analysis was creativity, offering techniques and methods to
encourage creative thought and divergent thinking among students. Three titles aligned with this category.
Elements/Principles
History
Technique
Analysis

21. College Standards for Arts Education: Phase I Findings: Textbook Analysis
Overall findings:
More resources in the history category than for any other
Fewest textbooks in categories related to artistic production
With the exception of music theory, studies of history and practice in the arts appear to be dealt with entirely separately.
The findings gave us very general information about the types of course content that is most widely offered on college campuses.

22. College Standards for Arts Education
Phase II of the research on college standards will include an analysis of foundation-level college arts curricula, developed by surveying and interviewing college arts educators and administrators nationwide.
We found that Phase I was a useful starting place, but the information gathered was very basic, so we’ve come up with a plan and are getting started on Phase 2, which goes a little deeper into looking at college curricula in the arts and holding interviews with department heads in colleges who are making these decisions about what is being offered or not, and why.

23. College Standards for Arts Education: Phase II: College Curriculum survey
Research question:
What specific habits, skills, and abilities associated with the standards framework of creating, performing, responding, and connecting are most often emphasized in introductory-level college coursework in the arts?

24. College Standards for Arts Education: Phase II: College Curriculum survey
Survey details:
Surveys will be sent to department heads of schools per discipline, including small and large public and private schools
Surveys are discipline-specific

25. College Standards for Arts Education: Phase II: College Curriculum survey
The first section of the survey will collect general program information:
Program size
Types/numbers of courses offered
Student population – arts majors vs. non- majors
Slide about how we are beginning by trying to figure out some basic information about program size, # of students, majors vs. nonmajors, etc.,
Trying to get a sense of the focus of that arts program, and who their audience is most broadly, to get the beginning of a sense of what they are aiming to do – what the goals of the program are.

26. College Standards for Arts Education: Phase II: College Curriculum survey
Put entire framework here.

27. College Standards for Arts Education: Phase II: College Curriculum survey

28. College Standards for Arts Education: Phase II: College Curriculum survey
On a 1-5 scale, to what extent are the following skills or content emphasized in your department’s foundation-level course of study :
1. Developing technical skills in one or more areas of specialty
2. Creating a coherent body of work
3. Developing and investigating one’s own ideas
4. Thinking critically about one’s own work and the work of others

29. College Standards for Arts Education: Phase II: College Curriculum survey
What are you, as writers, most interested in finding out about current foundation-level arts offerings and expectations in colleges nationwide? What types of information would be the most useful to your process?

30. Find College Board/NCCAS research online
The College Board: Arts at the Core
National Coalition for Core Arts Standards
Amy Charleroy, Associate Director, Office of Academic Initiatives
Nancy Rubino, Senior Director, Office of Academic Initiatives