Mrs. Cheney a Team Member for the New State Art Standards
Last summer, Tracy Cheney, BHS art teacher, was asked to serve on a special committee for the California State Department of Education. One elementary teacher from Southern California and one from Northern California joined two high school teachers and a tech teacher from both regions of the state. Together, they were tasked to review the new national art standards, compare them to the current California art standards, and report their recommendations for adoption to the State Board of Education. The work they did will ultimately wend its way to the State Legislature. When/if it passes, their work will become the new state standards for all art teachers for the next ten to twenty years!
In 2010, the California legislature officially adopted the new national standards for English and math, which are known as the Common Core state standards. Each state vets the standards, can adopt, change, or even reject them. Then each year, other subject areas have been rolled out, written by expert educators in each discipline. This year it was the arts' turn (visual and performing arts). The CA Department of Education and Board of Education invited teams of veteran CA teachers who are passionate about their subject areas to finalize the work.
"While it was an honor to be invited to do this work," noted Mrs. Cheney. "I had to consider if I could continue on with this challenge once the school year began. It was hard for all of us, as we're all busy art teachers. The extra dimension I brought to the table was that I also teach junior high students, not just primary or high school. We were asked to come to full agreement on each standard to be adopted, which involved very animated discussions. We were brought together for some common work time, but a lot was done online and over the phone across a big distance."
"As educators, we have to love getting into the nitty-gritty of what we want students to learn in order to craft standards that will make sense to teachers for another decade all across California. The only thing we know for certain is that the work world of our students won't be recognizable to us. Still, creative thinking will play an increasingly important role, which is exciting."
"I'm sure it will be a challenge to defend the new standards," continued Mrs. Cheney. "I know teachers serving on the national committee who spent 7,000 hours writing the new standards. I'm also acquainted with teachers who wrote the state standards ten years ago, love them dearly, and don't want to see them changed. I wanted to honor their hard work and consulted with them on various points. On the other hand, when I presented these standards at a workshop at Cal State Northridge, new teachers said they didn't like the old standards and refused to use them." Making changes is never easy!
Located in Los Angeles, CA, Berkeley Hall School is a private, coeducational school for students in preschool through grade 8. Rigorous academics in a supportive atmosphere and grounded character development allow students to become fearless scholars and conscientious citizens - gain a love of learning, leadership with social responsibility, creativity with moral integrity, and self-esteem with compassion for others and the environment.