Massachusetts+(Martha)

**In dance, music, theatre, and the visual arts, people express ideas and emotions that they cannot express in language alone. In order to  understand the range and depth of the human imagination , one must have knowledge of the arts.
 * C** **ORE** **C** **ONCEPT**

G** **UIDING** **P** **RINCIPLES** I. An effective arts curriculum provides a sequential program of instruction in dance, music, theatre, and visual arts for all students beginning in preschool and continuing through high school. II. An effective arts curriculum emphasizes development of students’ skills and understanding of creating, performing, and responding. III. An effective arts curriculum promotes knowledge and understanding of the historical and cultural contexts of the arts. IV. An effective arts curriculum uses a variety of assessment methods to evaluate what students know and are able to do. V. An effective arts curriculum provides opportunities for students to make connections among the arts, with other disciplines within the core curriculum, and with arts resources in the community.

//Masssachusetts Arts Curriculum Framework October 1999// 1

I like the guiding principles stated in the Massachusetts standards. Written over 10 years ago but still relevant.

The dance standards are okay but are pretty ambitious and broad in scope. That is what I have found of the current FL SSS. I noticed the music ones were more straight forward. This is the only one I found that included the technology piece we need to add. This could go under our last Big Idea, I think...
 * Students will describe and analyze how performing and visual artists use and have used materials, inventions, and technologies in their work. ||

[Massachusetts includes a list of dance terminology. They also have basic study 9-12 and extended study 9-12]

**Rigor** **—**What is the intellectual demand of the standards? They are written as K-12 so the degree of rigor is not addressed for skills at least. **2. Coherence** **—**Do the standards convey a unified vision of the discipline, do they establish connections among the major areas of study, and do they show a meaningful progression of content across the grades? yes **3.** ** Focus —**Have choices been made about what is most important for students to learn, and is the amount of content manageable? Concepts, but not skills really. **4.** ** Specificity —**Are the standards specific enough to convey the level of performance expected of students? They are pretty vague.

**5.** ** Clarity/Accessibility —**Are the standards clearly written and presented in an error-free, legible, easy-to-use format that is accessible to the general public? Yes

**6.** ** Measurability —**Is each standard measurable, observable, or verifiable in some way? yes * Adapted from the Criteria and Definitions used by Achieve to review the 2006 Florida Reading Language Arts Standards