GSE Faculty Member Selected for National Dance Writing Team

Barbara Bashaw, Graduate School of Education and Mason Gross School of the Arts faculty member was selected by the National Coalition of Core Arts Standards (NCCAS) to join a writing team for the next generation of arts standards project. Bashaw, coordinator of the prospective Ed.M. in Dance Education with a PK-12 certification, was selected to be part of the eleven-member team specializing in dance and dance education.

NCCAS is composed of eight national organizations working to develop new standards for arts education programs for children. The standards will be used nation-wide to help design arts curriculums, train teachers, and help policy-makers in their effort to make decisions about these programs. They will incorporate 21st-century technology to create new ways for teachers to bring the arts into their classrooms.

The project is expected to take approximately six months for a first draft, as well as time for revising the material. A paper version should become available in early 2013, with an interactive online version following shortly thereafter.

More than 360 people applied for membership to one of four writing teams of dance, music, theatre, and visual arts. Applicants were chosen for their knowledge of their field, teaching skills, and experience. The process was started at a conference January 23-24 in Virginia where each team chair and NCCAS Leadership team members worked on a framework to guide each team in drafting their set of standards.