Connecticut formally adopted new Connecticut Arts Standards on October 5, 2016. After a 14-month review and stakeholder engagement process involving 60+ reviewers and more than 650 survey respondents across constituencies, the State Board of Education voted unanimously to adopt the Position Statement on the Implementation of the New Connecticut Arts Standards.

The document was collectively written by the review team to capture and communicate a lens for framing the National Core Arts Standards in Connecticut. This position statement recommends local districts adopt the online platform and tools as presented on the National Core Arts Standards Web site while considering specific guidelines for implementation in Connecticut.

The Connecticut State Board of Education (CSBE) believes that arts learning should occur through education focused on the whole child in order to promote artistically literate citizens well equipped with the creativity, communication, and critical thinking skills needed to live rich, meaningful lives. The CSBE further believes that all Connecticut public schools must provide for challenging and rigorous programs of study in the arts across all grade levels.

With the goal of artistic literacy for all students in Connecticut, the Connecticut Arts Standards set the guidelines for schools, districts, teachers and communities to develop artistically literate citizens. An artistically literate citizen has the knowledge, skills, and understanding to actively engage in the arts throughout their lives. This citizen has practice in processes unique to each of the five arts disciplines: dance, media arts, music, theatre and visual arts. Although each arts discipline shares common goals written as anchor standards, the approach for each needs to include the development of discipline-specific techniques and skills through the artistic processes of creating, performing/producing/presenting, responding, and connecting.

The creation of art remains central as students focus on imagining, investigating, constructing, and reflecting on the world and their relationship to it. Engaging the arts in such a way allows individuals to develop and eventually attain their true creative potential while fostering a deeper understanding of what binds us together as human beings artistically, culturally, socially, and emotionally. Artistic literacy cultivates the crucial skills necessary for student success as Connecticut looks towards its social and economic future.