Policy and Legislation Supporting Arts Integration in North Carolina

History/Background

In June 2012, Senate Bill 724: An Act to Implement Various Education Reforms (S724) was signed into North Carolina law. This law requires teacher preparation programs to ensure that pre-service elementary teachers are prepared to “integrate the arts across the curriculum.” This wide-scale legislation directs the State Board of Education to work with the Board of Governors of the University of North Carolina and the State Board of Community Colleges to ensure that programs of study for pre-service and lateral entry teachers remain current and reflect a rigorous course of study that is aligned to State and national standards. The law addresses teacher preparation across many areas, including adequate coursework and requisite knowledge in scientifically based reading and mathematics instruction, knowledge of formative and summative assessments and technology-based assessment systems, and preparation to integrate the arts across all areas of learning. More recent legislation, including House Bill 23 (which adds a digital literacy component) and Senate Bill 168 (which provides clarifying language) continue to reinforce the General Statute115C-296 arts integration legislation.

Support

The arts integration requirement of General Statute 115C-296 is an outgrowth of several years of previous legislation and collaborative effort at the state level. The 2010 Senate Bill 66: Comprehensive Arts Education Task Force (S66) resulted in a statewide vision for arts education, a definition of the components of comprehensive arts education, and recommendations for implementing comprehensive arts education in the public schools. The S724 legislation is supported by the S66 definition of a Comprehensive Arts Education, which includes:

  • Arts Education (arts as core, academic subjects),
  • Arts Integration (arts as a catalyst for learning across the curriculum), and
  • Arts Exposure (exposure to arts experiences in real-world contexts).

In May 2012, the House Bill 758 Arts Education Commission (H758) affirmed the recommendations of the S66 report for all aspects of arts education, and included a recommendation specifically relating to professional development and education in arts integration, to include training existing teachers to support standards implementation in all areas, and better equipping new teachers to integrate the arts in all disciplines, enhancing students creativity and critical thinking skills.

North Carolina has a long history of supporting arts integration, as illustrated through existing State Board Policy TCP-B-002, Standard 6 of the Teacher Specialty Standards (2009), which requires that elementary grades teacher candidates“integrate the arts throughout the curriculum.” The standards require that elementary teacher candidates are “knowledgeable in and are able to design and implement learning tasks that demonstrate: 1) a general knowledge of the fundamentals of music, dance, theatre, and/or visual arts; and 2) the ability to create interdisciplinary lessons/units that integrate the content areas with the arts to enhance classroom instruction and student learning.” Standard 5 of the Birth-Kindergarten specialty standard states that B-K teacher candidates “create and adapt environments and intentionally plan and implement an integrated curriculum that facilitates every child’s construction of knowledge and provides a strong foundation for lifelong learning.” In the Emergent Creative Arts, B-K teacher candidates must:facilitate children’s creative expression through dance/creative movement, drama, music, and visual arts; use the arts to represent ideas;help children learn about and appreciate a variety of art forms and artists; integrate the arts to support learning in all content areas (including cultural diversity); and apply creativity to problem solving, risk-taking, and critical thinking.

Additionally, the North Carolina Professional Teaching Standards and Teacher Evaluation Process (2009) include expectations that teachers “recognize the interconnectedness of content areas/disciplines,” and that teachers understand how the content they teach “relates to other disciplines in order to deepen understanding and connect learning for students.” Other standards and indicators in the evaluation instrument lend themselves well to arts integration through areas such as preparing future-ready students and using 21st century skills (including critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity), making instruction relevant to students, using a variety of instructional methods and materials, embracing diversity, bringing richness and depth to student learning, and sparking curiosity for learning beyond required coursework.

Implications

It is important to note that arts integration does not replace arts education and the roles of arts educators in the schools. North Carolina’s Basic Education Program, which was passed into law in 1985, defines arts education as part of a fundamentally complete program of education to be offered to every child in the public schools. Though this law has never been fully funded, the philosophy continues to be supported at the state and national levels, including the designation of the arts as core, academic subjects under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. The S66 Vision for Arts Education includes “dance, music, theatre arts, and visual arts, taught by licensed arts educatorsandintegrated throughout the curriculum,” as critical to North Carolina’s 21st century education, affirming the valuable roles of standards-based arts education in the development of arts literacy within each art form, as well as integrated throughout other areas of learning.

The S66 Comprehensive Arts Education Task Force Report includes recommendations specifically addressing the implementation of standards-based Arts Education in the schools and ensuring that “appropriately licensed arts educators deliver all arts education classes.” Arts Integration is a separate, yet inter-dependent, component of a Comprehensive Arts Education. Recommendations specific to arts integration include: 1) prioritization of arts integration as a primary component of education reform; 2) requiring arts integration for teacher and administrator preparation and licensure; 3) using the state educator evaluation system to assess teachers’ use of arts integration; and 4) using arts teachers as resources and consultants for arts integration within schools and across Local Education Agencies.”

One example of Comprehensive Arts Education in action is the A+ Schools Program of the North Carolina Arts Council. The A+ Schools Program is a nationally recognized, research-based, whole-school reform model that successfully utilizes arts education, arts integration, and arts exposure as part of a balanced curriculum. The A+ Schools Program views the arts as fundamental to teaching and learning in all subjects and A+ philosophy supports providing a full and comprehensive education to all students without narrowing the curriculum.

The collaborative efforts of North Carolina continue through the work of state agencies, legislators, educators,professional associations, community members and organizations, institutions of higher education, and others to drive the focus on a comprehensive arts education, to include arts education, arts integration, and arts exposure for all children. Institutions of Higher Education can learn from the policy and law, models, and recommended practices as they are preparing pre-service teachers in the area of arts integration. Continued conversations about how pre-service and existing classroom teachers are prepared to integrate the arts throughout instruction will continue to play a key role as we focus as a country on preparing students for success in today’s world.

Works Cited

  • NC Professional Teaching Standards (2009)
  • NC Professional Teaching Standards and Teacher Evaluation Process (2009)
  • Comprehensive Arts Education Plan SB66: Report to the North Carolina General Assembly. (2010)
  • Session Law 2011-301 - House Bill 758: An Act to Establish the Arts Education Commission (2011-12)
  • Session Law 2010-34 – Senate Bill 66: Comprehensive Arts Education Task Force (2010)
  • Session Law 2012-77 - S724: An Act to Implement Various Education Reforms (2012)
  • Session Law 2013-11 – House Bill 23: Digital Learning Competencies/School Employees (2013)
  • Session Law 2013-226 – Senate Bill 168 – Clarifying Education Reporting Requirements (2013)
  • General Statute 115C-296 Board Sets Licensure Requirements; Reports, Lateral Entry and Mentor Programs (2013)
  • A+ Schools Program of the North Carolina Arts Council
  • Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA)
  • General Statute 115-C-81 Basic Education Program (1985)

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NC Department of Public Instruction2013