Mission and Core Principles
The arts are an integral part of a comprehensive curriculum and are essential for learning in the 21st century. All California students—from every cultural and linguistic background, geographic region, and socio-economic level—deserve quality arts learning in dance, media arts, music, theatre, and visual arts as part of a well-rounded curriculum.
Rich & Affirming Learning Environments
Create a safe, affirming, and enriched environment for participatory and inclusive learning in and through the arts for all students.
Empowering Pedagogy
Use culturally and linguistically sustaining pedagogy that maximizes learning in and through the arts, actively accesses and develops student voice, and provides opportunities for leadership for all students.
Challenging & Relevant Curriculum
Engage all students in a comprehensive, well-articulated, and age-appropriate arts curriculum aligned to the California Arts Standards for Public Schools, Prekindergarten Through Grade Twelve that also purposefully builds a full range of language, literacy, and other content area skills. This curriculum is cognitively complex, coherent, relevant, challenging, and culturally inclusive.
High Quality Instructional Resources
Provide and utilize standards-aligned arts instructional resources that provide all students with equitable access to well-rounded curriculum and academic language in the classroom, school, and community.
Valid & Comprehensive Assessment
Build and implement valid and comprehensive arts assessment systems designed to promote reflective practice and data-driven planning in order to improve academic, linguistic, and sociocultural outcomes and develop artistic literacy for all students.
High Quality Professional Preparation & Support
Provide coherent, comprehensive and ongoing arts professional learning and support programs based on well-defined standards of practice. Create professional learning communities of administrators, teachers, and other staff to implement a powerful vision of high-quality arts instruction for all students. Support and guide best practices for arts education leaders at the district and county levels.
Powerful Family/Community Engagement
Implement strong family and community engagement programs that build leadership capacity and value and draw upon community funds of knowledge to inform, support, and enhance arts teaching and learning for all students.
Advocacy-Oriented Administrative/Leadership Systems
Build capacity for advocacy-oriented administration and leadership to design and expand arts education programs and institute system-wide mechanisms that focus all interest holders on the diverse assets and learning needs of students. These systems structure, organize, and coordinate, to ensure access to dance, media arts, music, theatre, and visual arts programs and include strategic planning to respond to evolving needs.
Be a Leader for Arts Education ADVOCATE FEARLESSLY
Share how arts education benefits all students! One of the best ways to promote arts education is to take every opportunity to let people know of its benefits.
Arts education:
- Stimulates and develops the imagination and critical thinking and refines cognitive and creative skills.
- Has proven to help level the “learning field” across socio-economic boundaries.
- Strengthens problem-solving skills, adding to overall academic achievement and school success.
- Develops a sense of craftsmanship, quality task performance, and goal setting.
- Teaches children life skills such as developing an informed perception; articulating a vision; learning to solve problems and make decisions; building self-confidence and self-discipline; developing the ability to imagine what might be; and accepting responsibility to complete tasks from start to finish.
- Nurtures important values, including team-building skills; respecting alternative viewpoints; and appreciating and being aware of different cultures and traditions.
