The Pennsylvania Art Education Association (PAEA) is proud to recognize Abington School District for its outstanding commitment to visual arts education with the endorsement of Outstanding Visual Arts Community 2021. PAEA empowers its members to transform their practices, students, colleagues, and communities to build a strong art education culture and citizenry.
Districts receiving this endorsement demonstrate the importance of their visual arts programs with:
- Rigorous and Inclusive Programs: Arts programs demonstrate rigor using standards-based curriculum taught at every level by highly qualified and certified arts educators.
- Highly Accessible Programs: Art programs are offered to all students at every level of education with a sustainable budget for the visual arts.
- Highly Visible Programs: Schools and districts identify their programmatic accomplishments, curriculum for all levels, art staff, mission statements, and arts events using their school websites and social media.
In Abington School District, students get to experience the importance of a well-rounded education with opportunities to engage in arts education courses at all grade levels, K-12. According to the PAEA, “The term ‘well-rounded education’ means courses, activities, and programming in subjects such as English, reading or language arts, writing, science, technology, engineering, mathematics, foreign languages, civics and government, economics, arts, history, geography, computer science, music, career and technical education, health, physical education, and any other subject, as determined by the State or local educational agency, with the purpose of providing all students access to an enriched curriculum and educational experience.” (ESSA, Title VIII, Section 8002)
These opportunities prepare students with visual literacy. As reported by the PAEA, visual literacy constitutes the new thinking and learning skills of a digital age and a creative economy, and represents the types of cognitive skills young people will need to find their place in a globally competitive workforce. Technology innovations such as big data, data analytics, and visualization will simply increase the importance of visual and spatial learning skills in the years ahead.
For more information, visit: https://paeablog.org/advocacy/outstanding-visual-arts-community/
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