The New Jersey State Board of Education (NJSBOE) initiated the adoption process for the revised New Jersey Student Learning Standards in the Visual and Performing Arts. The revised arts standards were presented to the State Board of Education today at their monthly meeting. This begins the final chapter of what has been a more than five-year process to update the visual and performing arts standards. Department of Education staff further outlined the timeline and process for the adoption of all standards.
The new arts standards were warmly received by all. Several members of the NJSBOE commented on the quality of the draft Arts Standards and mentioned the importance of arts education for all students. Commissioner of Education Lamont Repollet took this occasion to trumpet New Jersey's role as the first state to document universal access to arts education for all students. NJSBOE member Ron Butcher invoked the name the late Don Gephardt (former member of the Arts Ed NJ Steering Committee) when commenting on the importance of this work and shared his concern that there needs to be more focus on how district are actually implementing programs to meet the standards. NJSBOE President Kathy Goldenberg mentioned how the arts can be used to connect with STEM subjects and encouraged the state to focus on STEAM.
What happens next? Here is the key dates in the formal adoption process.
Feb 1, 2020 - Registration Opens for Public Hearings
Feb. 10, 2020 - Arts Standards Published for Public Comment
Feb. 24, 2020 - Public Hearing, Warren County Technical School
Mar. 4, 2020 - Public Hearing, NJDOE Building
Mar. 10, 2020 - Public Hearing, Camden County College
Apr. 10, 2020 - End of Public Comment - Feedback Incorporated
May 6, 2020 - Revised Standards Presented to NJSBOE
June 3, 2020 - NJSBOE Formal Adoption of New Arts Standards
Sept., 2020 through June 2022 - District Curricular Revisions
September 2022 - All Districts Complete Curricular Alignment to New Standards
Arts Ed NJ will provide additional updates and action steps for the field so everyone may have the opportunity to review and comment on the standards, register and attend public hearings and other ways to engage in the process. In addition, Arts Ed NJ, in collaboration with the professional arts education associations, will develop a series of presentations and training sessions to aid in the adoption of the standards.
Lastly, the Social Emotional Learning (SEL) and the Arts Taskforce convened by Arts Ed NJ and SEL4NJ will be completing their work on aligning the new Arts Standards and the SEL Competencies and will be released as a companion product to assist arts educators and administrators with the intentional inclusion of SEL within the arts education practices.
The entire arts education community owes a debt of gratitude to Dr. Dale Schmid (NJDOE) and the members of the Arts Standards Revision Team. The team members are: Latasha Casterlow-Lalla, Deborah Cella, Lisa Conklin, Laura Craig, Cindy Domino, Mary Collen Foley, Ellen Hargrove, Ron Heller, Kenneth Hess, Kacie King, Jennifer Khoury, Julianna Krawiecki, Jason Leshowitz, Pamela Massimini, Christina Marte, Kelli McGovern, Danielle Miller, Bob Morrison, Amanda Nagy, Daniel Paolucci, Meagan Ruland, Michelle Sayh, Jeff Santoro, Kerri Sullivan, Andrew Teheran, Lisa Vartanian, and Adam Warshafsky.
Watch this space for further updates.
