The Arts are Essential

Learning and participation in music, dance, theater, and visual and media arts are vital to the development of our children and our communities and have a dramatic impact on overall academic achievement.

With the passing of the Goals 2000: Educate America Act, the arts were written into federal law as a core academic subject in K–12 public schools. The arts maintain their status under the No Child Left Behind Act. Like all academic areas, the arts are standards-based. The Minnesota Academic Standards in the Arts provide a common language and shared expectations about what all students should know and be able to do and apply to real-life experiences.

Minnesota Academic Standards in the Arts

The arts are one of five-core learning areas of the Minnesota Graduation Standards that every student must meet in order to graduate. The standards outline basic arts learning, benchmarks and outcomes. Arts standards are organized into four grade spans: primary K-3; intermediate 4-5; middle 6-8; and high school 9-12. Standards are created for the following strands: artistic expression (primary, intermediate), artistic interpretation (middle), artistic creativity and performance (middle), analysis and interpretation (high school), and creation and performance  (high school). Substrands for K-8 are dance, music, theatre and visual arts. Substrands for 9-12 are dance, media arts, music, theater, visual arts and creative writing. 

Required course Offerings

Elementary and middle schools must offer at least three and require at least two of the following:  dance, music, theatre and visual arts. High schools must offer at least three and require at least one of the following: media arts, dance, music, theatre and visual arts. Every high school student must take an arts course for a minimum of one year. Arts courses must be taught by educators licensed in the specific arts area.