Division of Instruction

Instructional Resources - Art

Fine Arts Philosophical Assumptions

In Aurora Public Schools, the performing and visual arts are essential to every child’s education. As in other core content areas, arts education is based upon specific and comprehensive achievement standards at the local, state, and national levels. Challenging every student to construct meaning through performing and creating works of art requires highly qualified teachers.

In addition to studying the arts for their own sake, experiencing and creating works of art benefit students’ intellectual, personal, and social development. Research indicates strong relationships among learning in the arts, fundamental cognitive skills, and capacities used to master other core subjects.

The arts are a powerful means of communication—both verbal and nonverbal—among individuals, generations, and cultures. Through the arts people celebrate and understand themselves, others, and the world in which they live. All students benefit from art education for the reason that it develops the whole person while integrating and expanding learning across multiple areas of study.

K-12 Art Curriculum Content Continuum

The Aurora Public Schools proficiency and benchmark system has been revised to match the Colorado Model Content Standards. This document represents a compilation of the Colorado Model Content Standards and examples that illustrate specific instructional experiences. The document is organized by standards. Grade level objectives are written for each grade level or across multiple grade levels. Objectives are to be assessed by the teacher in the classroom using various types of assessments.

Click here to download/view the Fine Arts Content Continuum