The arts constitute a fundamental component of basic education whose primary purpose in the schools is to develop intuition, reasoning, imagination, and dexterity into unique forms of expression and communication. Arts education benefits both student and society. It benefits students because it cultivates the whole child, gradually building many kinds of literacy. This process requires not merely an active mind but a trained one. Arts education also helps students by initiating them into a variety of ways of perceiving and thinking.

The arts cultivate the direct experience of the senses; they trust the unmediated flash of insight as a legitimate source of knowledge. Their goal is to connect student and experience directly, to build the bridge between verbal and nonverbal, between the strictly logical and the emotional - the better to gain an understanding of the whole. Both approaches are powerful and both are necessary; to deny students either is to disable them.

An education in the arts also benefits society because students of the arts disciplines gain powerful tools to:

• Respect the types and forms of dance, music, theatre, and visual art from various time periods,
• Expand the role of fine arts in our own society and in other cultures, the interrelationships among the arts, and the relationships of the arts to other disciplines,
• Improve the processes of analysis and evaluation of products of the visual and performed fine arts,
• Integrate the principles and elements of art forms,
• Acquire the vocabulary to express and clarify perceptions and opinions of works in dance, music, theatre, and visual arts,
• Demonstrate the basic process and techniques in production, exhibition, or performance in one or more of the fine arts.

Perhaps as important, the arts have intrinsic value. They are worth learning for their own sake, providing benefits not available through any other means. To read Schiller's poem "Ode to Joy," for example, is to know one kind of beauty, yet to hear it sung by a great chorus as the majestic conclusion to Beethoven's Ninth Symphony is to experience beauty of an entirely different kind, an experience that for many is sublime. Because these experiences open up this transcending dimension of reality, there can be no substitute for an education in the arts. They provide bridges to things we can scarcely describe, but respond to deeply. In the simplest terms, no education is complete without them.

The arts also make a contribution to education that reaches beyond their intrinsic value. Because each arts discipline appeals to different senses and expresses itself through different media, each adds a special richness to the learning environment. An education in the arts helps students learn to identify, appreciate, and participate in the traditional art forms of their own communities. As students imagine, create, and reflect, they are developing both the verbal and nonverbal abilities necessary for school progress. At the same time, the intellectual demands that the arts place on students help them develop problem-solving abilities and such powerful thinking skills as analyzing, synthesizing, and evaluating. Further, numerous studies point toward a consistent and positive correlation between a substantive education in the arts and student achievement in other subjects and on standardized tests. A comprehensive, articulated arts education program also engages students in a process that helps them develop the self-esteem, self-discipline, cooperation, and self-motivation necessary for success in life.

The arts help all students to develop multicapabilities for understanding and deciphering an image- and symbol-laden world. Thus, the arts should be an integral part of a program of general education for all students.

The Fine Arts Framework is based on the premise that becoming culturally educated is even more important in today's complex world. It describes quality fine arts education curriculum that will help students develop a life-long commitment to the arts.

It focuses on educating students regarding the importance of fine arts in our global society. It encourages the integration of all subject matter throughout the curriculum. It also focuses on the individual by addressing the creative nature of all students by addressing critical thinking, decision-making and problem-solving skills.

While this framework addresses the fine arts (dance, music, theatre, visual arts), it is not meant to imply that one is more important than the other. All fine arts share common purposes and various content-area emphases as seen in the four strands; history, criticism/analysis, aesthetics and product/performance. They also provide all students with unique and fundamental knowledge, behaviors and skills necessary for tomorrow's world.

The most recent research, including the national Standards For Arts Education: What Every Young American Should Know and Be Able to Do in Arts developed by the Consortium of National Arts Education Associations (American Alliance for Theatre and Education, Music Educators National Conference, National Art Education Association and the National Dance Association), as well as documents from other states, was used to develop this document. This framework is not a curriculum but a "bridge" to aid local districts to help align their own curriculum to the Show-Me Standards.

Because having a common vocabulary is necessary for any communication, we list and explain here those technical terms that are basic to dance, music, theatre, and the visual arts.

Defining Elements - Major ideas for what students should know in the content area and be able to do in the skill areas. (Spiraling Curriculum)

Grade Ranges - What students should know and be able to do is specified not for specific grade levels, but for the grade ranges of K-4, 5-8, and 9-12 in order to allow for flexible decision making at the local level.

Rationale for the Strand - The "rationale" for a strand is a justification of the strand, a statement of its importance. It serves as an organizational structure around which to assemble and align big ideas within and across curriculum.

Sample Performance Activities - Sample Performance Activities provided in this framework are activities that are designed to engage students in ways that are challenging and directly related to Missouri's Academic Performance Standards.

Strand - The fine arts framework is organized around four fundamental areas that are common to all the fine arts: history, criticism/analysis, aesthetics, and product/performance.

The arts play a valued role in creating cultures and building civilizations Although each arts discipline makes its unique contributions to cultures, society, and the lives of individuals, their connections to each other enable the arts disciplines to produce more than any of them could produce alone. Knowledge of history in the fine arts involves the study of historical and cultural settings for the arts, including socioeconomic, political, ethnic, religious, and philosophical considerations. Students will, in part, recognize significant works from the past and in the present; comprehend how and why different cultures produce different arts; communicate knowledge about the role of the arts in cultures, and develop an understanding of cultures and ethnic diversity.

Younger elementary students learn about art heritage in terms of contemporary times and places. Learning about artists, their contributions, and ways of communicating cultural values and beliefs of people through the visual and performing arts (dance, music, theatre, and visual arts), are essential areas of study. Older elementary students add to their general knowledge of art heritage by learning that each culture has its own aesthetic values. The creative arts effort of a culture (the painting, dances, plays, music, architecture, ritual artifacts, etc.) are objects used in daily life, and are influenced by the culture's aesthetic values as well as by social, political, and economic factors. An important result of this learning should be a deeper appreciation of their own aesthetic values and those of other people and cultures.

A study of art heritage should give students in grades 5-8 deeper insights into the role that the fine arts have played in development of cultures throughout the world.

In grades 9-12, students learn to clarify their aesthetic values and appreciate differences that the values of other people with specialized art interests have made. The development of style by individual artists is representative of content to be studied.

The arts have both intrinsic and instrumental value; they have a worth in and of themselves and can also be used to achieve a multitude of purposes (e.g., to present issues and ideas, to teach or persuade, to entertain, to design, plan, and beautify). Learning in the fine arts involves the development of an understanding of the qualities of an art form through analysis of how the student communicates through recognizing, understanding, and applying the correct terminology or vocabulary of the arts.

In order to develop criticism/analysis, younger elementary students need consistent instructional opportunities to examine a wide variety of forms that are natural and of human origin. As they interact with these forms, students reflect upon and talk about their observations and feelings, thereby becoming more perceptive of critical qualities. Through these encounters, the range and the amount of critical responses are increased and enriched. Older elementary students participate in a wide range of experiences designed to develop and extend their abilities to identify characteristics and symbols of works of art, natural events, and objects within the total environment that are appreciated in and for themselves.

Students in grade 5-8 refine their critical judgments. They extend their ways of seeing by learning to select, analyze, and enjoy qualities within works of art, nature, and objects in the total environment. This process of selecting, analyzing, and enjoying forms the basis for making critical judgments.

In grades 9-12, students extend their critical judgments by selecting, analyzing, and evaluating complex critical qualities in works of art, nature, and objects in the total environment. Through this process of selection and analysis, they learn to make informed critical judgments which is the basis for making aesthetic judgments.

Openness, respect for work, and contemplation when participating in the arts as an observer or audience member are personal attributes that enhance enjoyment and should be developed.

Because the arts offer the continuing challenge of situations in which there is no standard or approved answer, those who study the arts become acquainted with many perspectives on the meaning of "value." Students develop the ability to make informed judgments regarding the arts through comparing and contrasting; interpreting and finding meaning; articulating, identifying, defining and defending criteria for one's preferences and judgments; and by asking and answering the "what" and "how" questions.

Aesthetics involves learning to see in the manner of the artist, through direct interactions with the environment, popular and serious works of art, and objects used in daily living. Students in the early grades develop aesthetics by learning to use such thinking skills as observation, visual discrimination, comparison, contrast, and creativity. Classroom instruction in these early aesthetic interactions provide a base for making informed judgments.

Developing the ability to make aesthetic responses requires consistent interaction with works of art, nature, and objects in the total environment. Students need opportunities to build their capabilities in learning to analyze, compare, and search for relationships as a means of continually learning to make more informed judgments. Learning to talk about works of art requires opportunities and encouragement to use language in expressive ways in grades K-4.

Students in grades 5-8 develop a degree in learning to make informed aesthetic responses. They should work in greater detail with questions of meaning as they interact with their own art and works of art by professional artists.

In grades 9-12, students' interest in individual artists and their art forms should be encouraged and shared so that insights into aesthetic responses are broadened and enhanced.

The arts are a way of knowing. Students grow in their ability to appreciate their world when they learn the arts. As they create dances, music, theatrical productions, and visual artworks, they learn how to express themselves and how to communicate with others. This, in part, involves the development of skills to express, produce, and communicate through the arts, and particularly, it involves ways to develop manipulative and organizational skills through active engagement in the fine arts.

Younger elementary students who are engaged in the fine arts are actually involved in the process of selecting, arranging, and decision making. Students, therefore, need a variety of experiences with fine arts media. Older elementary students, as they continue to work with a variety of media, increase their skills in expressing their ideas, feelings, and concepts. Originality/interpretation should be an essential requirement. Information on careers in the fine arts should be introduced.

Fine arts experiences for students in grades 5-8 include opportunities to broaden special arts interests and to continue the process of transforming personal experiences into art forms. Students also continue to develop knowledge related to careers in the fine arts.