Fine Arts
Our Goal as DoDEA Fine Arts is to graduate artistically literate individuals. Artistic literacy is the knowledge, understanding, and skills necessary to engage authentically in the arts.
The DoDEA K–12 Fine Arts program fully implemented the DoDEA College and Career Ready Standards for the Arts (CCRSA) in the school year 2017-2018. The central purposes of the DoDEA CCRSA are to identify the learning that we want for all our students and to drive improvement in the education system that delivers that learning. Our Arts standards, therefore, embody the key concepts, processes and traditions of study in each subject area, and articulate the aspirations of those invested in our schools: students, teachers, administrators, and the military community at large. The CCRSA integrates the processes, skills and knowledge, sample assessments, and criteria for successful learning into a single organized system that spans K–12; aligned to the philosophical foundations and lifelong goals of our students. Rooted in backward design, our outcomes-based approach to the arts curriculum and instruction emanates from four artistic processes; eleven anchor standards, and performance standards that encompass the K–12 instructional programs
The standards are organized by discipline (Music, Theatre and Visual Arts) around four artistic processes and 11 anchor standards
Creating
Creating: Conceiving and developing new artistic ideas and work.
Anchor Standard #1. Generate and conceptualize artistic ideas and work.
Anchor Standard #2. Organize and develop artistic ideas and work.
Anchor Standard #3. Refine and complete artistic work.
Performing / Presenting / Producing
Performing (Music, Theater): Realizing artistic ideas and work through interpretation and presentation.
Presenting (Visual Arts): Interpreting and sharing artistic work.
Producing (Media Arts): Realizing and presenting artistic ideas and work.
Anchor Standard #4. Select, analyze, and interpret artistic work for presentation.
Anchor Standard #5. Develop and refine artistic techniques and work for presentation.
Anchor Standard #6. Convey meaning through the presentation of artistic work.
Responding
Responding: Understanding and evaluating how the arts convey meaning.
Anchor Standard #7. Perceive and analyze artistic work.
Anchor Standard #8. Interpret intent and meaning in artistic work.
Anchor Standard #9. Apply criteria to evaluate artistic work.
Connecting
Connecting: Relating artistic ideas and work with personal meaning and external context.
Anchor Standard #10. Synthesize and relate knowledge and personal experiences to make art.
Anchor Standard #11. Relate artistic ideas and works with societal, cultural, and historical context to deepen understanding.
As DoDEA students create and present their art, or perform their talents, they learn that the arts are part of basic human communication and connect how to use the arts to respond to the world around them. Students learn to articulate specific meaning through their choices in the use of various visual art, musical, or theatrical elements.
DoDEA provides instruction for K–5 students in both art and music as two separate content areas. In Grades 6–12, instructional time is based on course enrollment, with courses that range from general arts/music/theater to specific and advanced coursework (e.g., Photography, Ceramics, Choir, Strings, and Advanced Drama) and Advanced Placement (AP).
DoDEA requires high school students to successfully complete one art credit to meet graduation requirements. High school fine arts classes give students opportunities to specialize in specific aspects of their elective arts discipline or explore general topics.
The DoDEA Fine Arts Common Assessments (FACA) are aligned with the standards, goals, and learning outcomes stated in the National Core Arts Standards (NCAS). The DoDEA FACA are embedded into the curriculum, continue over grade levels, establish authentic contexts for performance, assess understanding and transfer through performance, integrate 21st century skills, evaluate performance with established rubrics, and engage students in meaningful learning.
The DoDEA FACA were created by DoDEA Fine Arts teachers to meet the specific needs of DoDEA students. Language used in DoDEA FACA is easily transferred across different Fine Arts disciplines (e.g., drama, music, visual arts) which promote focused collaboration among Fine Arts teachers to improve student learning. DoDEA teachers utilize FACA to collect data on student growth which will allow teachers to improve their teaching. Through the DoDEA FACA, teachers can more effectively create artistically literate individuals using NCAS as a guide.
