Students with Special Needs

“The Core Arts Standards are designed to guide US schools’ arts curriculum, instruction, and assessment (NCCAS, n. d.). Standards writers included a review team of arts and special education professionals, led by The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, ensuring that each standard encompasses a broad range of communication and learning styles. Because the standards emphasize a process-oriented approach to arts education, Model Cornerstone Assessments (MCA’s) provide arts teachers and districts with detailed examples of assessment implementation, including strategies for embedding instruction. In addition, each MCA addresses the needs of students with disabilities through inclusion guidelines within the strategies, developed by the Kennedy Center team.” - Sharon Malley, Ed.D.

Thus begins the white paper written by Sharon Malley, Ed.D, of the Kennedy Center shown below. The guiding principles outlined in the white paper offer arts teachers a broad based description of the policies, processes and instructional approaches that include students with disabilities in the core arts standards. Students with Disabilities and the Core Arts Standards: Guiding Principles for Teachers, is available here at the link below and will be available on the final web based home of the standards. Download the full white paper along with standards aligned materials from the National Core Arts Standards website.