The arts standards reflect the innate creativity and rigorous cognition required to produce a work of art all students deserve to experience. The standards challenge the elitist perception sometimes associated with the arts, asking all students to stretch their thinking and participate in the creative process inherent in each arts discipline (Know/Comprehend, Create, Perform/Present, and Refine/Critique).

Visual

The Colorado Visual Arts Standards provide teachers a framework to engage students in the complex learning that occurs in the art classroom. The standards define a cyclical and interconnected creative process. A student may be utilizing the skills defined by all four standards simultaneously in one learning experience. The four standards of the visual arts are:

1. Observe and Learn to Comprehend

Artists make art from what they see, know and are curious about. As students create new artworks they synthesize interdisciplinary learning, social and cultural norms, personal narratives and the influences of visual culture. This standard includes research activities such as examination of details in the environment, noticing overlooked aspects of one’s surroundings, telling stories before, during and after making art, and using academic and informal learning to form new ideas. It includes viewing and researching the work of artists to broaden perspectives.

2. Envision and Critique to Reflect

Artists think with intention and purpose about what they want to express and evaluate the effectiveness of what they are making during the creative process. The interplay of ideas, materials, and skills makes art challenging and rewarding. This standard recognizes that the intention of the maker and the interpretation of the viewer are both valid as part of the work of art. Learning experiences may include preparatory sketches, personal reflection while working, group critique, inquiry, writing personal philosophies and artist’s statements, and analysis or interpretation of historical and contemporary artwork and ideas.

3. Invent and Discover to Create

Artists learn by making art. They ideate and employ skills to generate works of art for functional, expressive, conceptual, and social/cultural purposes. Making can involve prototyping, building, crafting, inventing, assembling, programming, fashioning and other ways of bringing visual form to ideas.

4. Relate and Connect to Transfer

Artists make new connections to their own environments, cultures, and stories through the process of making art. They integrate learning from various disciplines and philosophies and formulate questions to study. Learning experiences include exploring creative careers, applying artistic processes to everyday challenges, studying and responding to historical and contemporary art, and applying interdisciplinary content.

Dance & Drama/Theater

Standards in Dance

Standards are the topical organization of an academic content area.

The four standards of dance are:

1. Movement, Technique, and Performance

The goal of this standard is to develop students’ competence and confidence during a performance. In exploring movement vocabulary and developing skill and technique, students gain a better understanding of their bodies in relation to space, time, and energy. Technical expertise and artistic expression through reflective practice, study, and self-evaluation of one’s own abilities and the abilities of others is essential to developing movement skills for performance.

2. Create, Compose and Choreograph

Creating in dance involves using the dance elements of space, time, and energy to explore, improvise, and develop movement phrases, sequences, and dances. Choreography is the art of dance making using meaning, intent, and principles of structure and design. In dance, there are a number of levels or stages in the creative process that define and are involved in solving artistic problems in order to present a completed work of art. These stages include: observing or studying the stimulus or intent, becoming engaged with that intent; tapping into feelings, memories and the imagination that relate to the intent, problem solving by creating a shorter dance study or longer dance, and using critical thinking skills to analyze and evaluate the finished product.

3. Historical and Cultural Context

This standard focuses on understanding the global and cultural relevance of dance. The goal is to understand how dance shapes and reflects cultures and history over time, and acknowledge dance in society as creative, expressive, communicable, and social.

4. Reflect, Connect, and Respond

This standard focuses on reflecting upon dance, connecting it with other disciplines, responding to it to discuss and analyze dance as art. Critique and analysis of new dance works, reconstructions, and masterworks allows for distinguishing and understanding of aesthetic values and artistic intent.

Standards in Drama and Theatre Arts

The Drama and Theatre Arts standards are organized and divided into three broad domains of a cyclical artistic process. The three standards of drama and theatre arts are:

1. Create

The creation of drama and theatre is a demonstration of learned skills in forming new theatrical works, interpreting theatrical works for performance and design, and developing characters and analyzing roles brought to life through investigating various perspectives and connecting ideas to self.

2. Perform

The theatre process becomes most tangible through staging ideas for an intended audience; the knowledge and essential skills gained in the study of theatre toward the expression of the human experience in story, movement, and speech result in a connectivity of both ideas and dialogue within and for community.

3. Critically Respond

An informed literacy, thoughtful critique, and cultural research are key aspects of theatre arts study. Critical response focuses on the artistic and scientific knowledge of conventions, cultures, styles, genres, theories, and technologies needed to better the individual and collective choices and best practices.

Music

The Colorado Academic Standards in music are the topical organization of the concepts and skills all Colorado students should know and be able to do throughout their preschool through twelfth-grade experience.

Expression of Music

The expression of music is the process of practice, refinement, and performance/demonstration of acquired musical knowledge and skills to communicate a range of thoughts and emotions.

Creation of Music

The creation of music is the demonstration of learned skills in the composition, improvisation, and arranging of music, using, but not limited to, written notation, iconic symbols, or graphic and electronic representations.

Theory of Music

The theory of music is the understanding of the distinctive language, conventions, mechanics, and structure of organized sound present in all cultural musics. Investigation of cultural music theory allows for a more complete understanding of all aspects of the musical process.

Response to Music

Respond to music focuses on the knowledge and perspectives needed to make informed evaluations and critiques of music. It also addresses the historical, cultural, and societal contexts which are often the beauty, heart, and soul of music.

Comprehensive Health & Physical Education

The comprehensive health and physical education standards focus on personal decision-making around emotional and social well-being, positive communication, healthy eating, physical activity, tobacco, drug and alcohol abuse prevention and violence prevention. The standards underscore important skills for navigating today’s society with its complex and often confusing messages around health, beauty and happiness.

Standards are the topical organization of an academic content area. The four standards of comprehensive health and physical education are:

1. Movement Competence and Understanding

Includes motor skills and movement patterns that teach skill and accuracy in a variety of routines, games, and activities that combine skills with movement; demonstrates the connection between body and brain function; and creates patterns for lifelong physical activity.

2. Physical and Personal Wellness

Includes physical activity, healthy eating, and sexual health and teaches lifelong habits and patterns for a fit, healthy, and optimal childhood and adulthood; examines society, media, family, and peer influence on wellness choices; practices decision-making and communication skills for personal responsibility for wellness; and identifies the consequences of physical inactivity, unhealthy eating, and early sexual activity. Includes health promotion and disease prevention, and teaches responsibility and skills for personal health habits as well as behavior and disease prevention; sets personal goals for optimal health; examines common chronic and infectious diseases and causes; and recognizes the physical, mental, and social dimensions of personal health.

3. Social and Emotional Wellness

Includes mental, emotional, and social health skills to recognize and manage emotions, develop care and concern for others, establish positive relationships, make responsible decisions, handle challenging situations constructively, resolve conflicts respectfully, manage stress, and make ethical and safe choices; examines internal and external influences on mental and social health; and identifies common mental and emotional health problems and their effect on physical health.

4. Prevention and Risk Management

Includes alcohol, tobacco, and other drug prevention; violence prevention; and safety; teaches skills to increase safe physical and social behavior in at home, in school, in the community, and in personal relationships; provides specific knowledge on avoidance of intentional and unintentional injuries; and practices decision-making and communication skills to avoid drug use, bullying, and dating violence.

The four standards are organized across comprehensive health and physical education in the following manner:

Comprehensive Health standards:

Physical and Personal Wellness
Social and Emotional Wellness
Prevention and Risk Management

Physical Education standards:

Movement and Competence Understanding
Physical and Personal Wellness
Social and Emotional Wellness
Prevention and Risk Management

General Considerations for Physical Education:

There has been a shift in the focus of physical education instruction in the last few years. In the past, physical education was very much focused on team sports, athlete success, teacher-directed lessons, and little cognitive rigor. The new face of physical education instruction is an inclusive environment where all students have the opportunity to succeed. Physical education focuses on life-long health and wellness with connections to personal fitness, connections to lifetime activities, enhancing leadership qualities and strategic thinking, and having students take ownership of their learning. Ultimately, the standards focus on the development of physically literate students and lifelong movers.

In revising the physical education standards, the committee referenced national recommendations for minutes of elementary and high school physical education, national physical education standards, national reviews, and public feedback. The committee fully acknowledges that local school districts may need to make modifications based on local courses, infrastructure, and available resources. The standards and evidence outcomes are intended to guide the physical education experience of students in grades preschool through Grade 12 and are not intended to be a checklist, but instead are used to frame objectives for a standard and to provide guidance in teaching the appropriate skills/concepts. Standards should be addressed in a comprehensive high-quality physical education program. Standards and Grade Level Expectations have been revised to meet the current needs of Colorado students. The high school evidence outcomes have been restructured into levels (Level 1 or Level 2) to differentiate rigor for beginning and advanced learning of skills and concepts.

Computer Science

The computer science standards focus on high school-level computer science principles, such as computation thinking, coding, systems hardware and software, and ethical use of technology. The implementation of these standards is voluntary for districts.

The Colorado Computer Science High School Standards are voluntary and focused on grades 9-12 as a continuous experience rather than specific grade levels.

Standards are the topical organization of an academic content area. The three standards of computer science are:

1. Computational Thinking

Includes concepts related to the use of algorithms and data in different ways to generate new knowledge and articulate solutions to real world problems.

2. Computing Systems and Networks

Includes concepts related to the development and communication between software and hardware, and systems thinking around data protection and recovery.

3. Computer Programming

Includes concepts related to creating computer programs and applications, working collaboratively to engage in client-based problem solving, and internet security.

Mathematics

The math standards compel us to make math relevant to students by moving beyond mere answer and instead getting to do the work of mathematicians. The standards emphasize the development of students’ abilities to use math to represent their lived experiences and to simplify and explain complex phenomena.

The Colorado Academic Standards in mathematics are the topical organization of the concepts and skills every Colorado student should know and be able to do throughout their preschool through twelfth grade experience. The standards of mathematics are:

1. Number and Quantity

From preschool through high school, students are continually extending their concept of numbers as they build understanding of whole numbers, rational numbers, real numbers, and complex numbers. As they engage in real-world mathematical problems, they conceive of quantities, numbers with associated units. Students learn that numbers are governed by properties and understand these properties lead to fluency with operations.

2. Algebra and Functions

Algebraic thinking is about understanding and using numbers, and students’ work in this area helps them extend the arithmetic of early grades to expressions, equations, and functions in later grades. This mathematics is applied to real-world problems as students use numbers, expressions, and equations to model the world. The mathematics of this standard is closely related to that of Number and Quantity.

3. Data Analysis, Statistics, and Probability

From the early grades, students gather, display, summarize, examine, and interpret data to discover patterns and deviations from patterns. Measurement is used to generate, represent and analyze data. Working with data and an understanding of the principles of probability lead to a formal study of statistics in middle in high school. Statistics provides tools for describing variability in data and for making informed decisions that take variability into account.

4. Geometry

Students’ study of geometry allows them to comprehend space and shape. Students analyze the characteristics and relationships of shapes and structures, and engage in logical reasoning. Students learn that geometry is useful in representing, modeling, and solving problems in the real world as well as in mathematics.

Reading, Writing & Communications

The science standards reflect a new vision for science education that connects scientific knowledge in authentic ways to solve real-world problems and innovate. The standards’ forefront scientific practices go beyond the inquiry process to arrive at reasoned and justifiable rationales for interpretations of phenomena/events.

The Colorado Academic Standards in reading, writing, and communicating are the topical organization of the concepts and skills every Colorado student should know and be able to do throughout their preschool through twelfth-grade experience. The four standards of reading, writing, and communicating are:

Oral Expression and Listening

Learning of word meanings occurs rapidly from birth through adolescence within communicative relationships. Everyday interactions with parents, teachers, peers, friends, and community members shape speech habits and knowledge of language. Language is the means to higher mental functioning, that which is a species-specific skill, unique to humans as a generative means for thinking and communication. Through linguistic oral communication, logical thinking develops and makes possible critical thinking, reasoning, development of information literacy, application of collaboration skills, self-direction, and invention.

Oral language foundation and written symbol systems concretize the way a student communicates. Thus, students in Colorado develop oral language skills in listening and speaking, and master the written language skills of reading and writing. Specifically, holding Colorado students accountable for language mastery from the perspectives of scientific research in linguistics, cognitive psychology, human information processing, brain-behavior relationships, and socio-cultural perspectives on language development will allow students to master 21^st century skills and serve the state, region, and nation well.

Reading for All Purposes

Literacy skills are essential for students to fully participate in and expand their understanding of today’s global society. Whether they are reading functional texts (voting ballots, a map, a train schedule, a driver’s test, a job application, a text message, product labels); reference materials (textbooks, technical manuals, electronic media); or print and non-print literary texts, students need reading skills to fully manage, evaluate, and use the myriad information available in their day-to-day lives.

Writing and Composition

Writing is a fundamental component of literacy. Writing is a means of critical inquiry; it promotes problem solving and mastering new concepts. Adept writers can work through various ideas while producing informational, persuasive, and narrative or literary texts. In other words, writing can be used as a medium for reasoning and making intellectual connections. As students arrange ideas to persuade, describe, and inform, they engage in logical critique, and they are likely to gain new insights and a deeper understanding of concepts and content.

Research Inquiry and Design

Effective researching involves critical thinking, thoughtful inquiry, and consideration of multiple points of view on a given topic. Students will generate engaging research questions and gather data, expert testimony, and information to support their analyses and conclusions.

Individually and in collaboration with others, students will learn the skills necessary to consider biases, evaluate sources, synthesize information, and defend their positions. In addition, as students’ progress, they will consider opposing perspectives and address counterarguments to their claims and the evidence they provide in support of their argument.

CDE icon for literacy transparency with an open book and text Colorado READ Act

Collaborative Literacy Curriculum K-5

The Colorado Reading to Ensure Academic Development Act (Colorado READ Act) focuses on early literacy development for all K–3 students. The Colorado Department of Education (CDE) provides districts with the READ Act Advisory List of Instructional Programming, which is rigorously vetted for alignment with the Science of Reading and evidence-based practices in literacy instruction.

Center for the Collaborative Classroom is proud to have Being a Reader and SIPPS (Systematic Instruction in Phonological Awareness, Phonics, and Sight Words) on the CDE’s READ Act Advisory List of Instructional Programming.

From: https://www.collaborativeclassroom.org/colorado-read-act/

Science

Standards are the organization of an academic content area. Our standards consist of three dimensions that combine to form evidence outcomes at each grade level. The three standards of science are:

Disciplinary Core Ideas

Physical Science: Students know and understand common properties, forms, and changes in matter and energy.

PS1 Matter and Its Interactions

PS2 Motion and Stability: Forces and Interactions

PS3 Energy

PS4 Waves and Their Applications in Technologies for Information Transfer

Life Science: Students know and understand the characteristics and structure of living things, the processes of life, and how living things interact with each other and their environment.

LS1 From Molecules to Organisms: Structures and Processes

LS2 Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics

LS3 Heredity: Inheritance and Variation of Traits

LS4 Biological Evolution: Unity and Diversity

Earth and Space Science: Students know and understand the processes and interactions of Earth's systems and the structure and dynamics of Earth and other objects in space.

ESS1 Earth’s Place in the Universe

ESS2 Earth’s Systems

ESS3 Earth ad Human Activity

Social Studies

The social studies standards guide students to develop the knowledge and skills to make sound judgments, understand historical and contemporary experiences/events, analyze interpersonal and global tensions and actively participate in the complex world in which they live. The standards support the use of reasoned and reflective thinking to engage and collaborate with others in an increasingly diverse and interdependent world. These standards include expectations for personal financial literacy.

The Colorado Academic Standards in social studies are organized by content area. The five standards of social studies are:

1. History

History prepares students to develop critical thinking skills in an effort to explain the human experience through events of the past. History develops an understanding of perspectives, defines identity and creates insight into how social, political, and economic factors can change, while building inquiry, judgment and decision-making skills. History enhances the ability to read varied sources and develop the skills necessary to analyze, interpret, evaluate, and communicate.

2. Geography

The study of geography creates an informed person with an understanding of spatial perspective and technologies for spatial analysis; and an awareness of the interdependence of the world regions and resources, and how places are connected at the local, national, and global scales. Students understand the complexity and interrelatedness of people, places, and environments. Geography helps students appreciate the dynamic relationships and complexity of the world.

3. Economics

Economics teaches how people allocate scarce resources for production, distribution, and consumption, both individually and collectively; how people make decisions, how people interact in the domestic and international markets, and how forces and trends affect the economy as a whole. The two branches of economics are microeconomics and macroeconomics. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and the Consumer Price Index (CPI) are widely used economic indicators.

4. Civics

Civics teaches students the complexity of the origins, structure, and functions of governments; the rights, roles, and responsibilities of citizenship; the importance of law; and the skills necessary to participate in all levels of government. Civics is a foundational component of the educational experience and critical to the continued success of our society. A democratic and free society relies on the skills, knowledge, engagement and virtue of its citizens.

5. Personal Financial Literacy

Personal financial literacy applies the economic way of thinking to help individuals understand how to manage their own scarce resources using a logical decision-making process of prioritization based on analysis of the costs and benefits of every choice. Personal financial literacy teaches students an understanding of concepts like saving, investing, and debt that leads to an overall sense of financial well-being. Skills such as budgeting, paying for college, setting short and long-term financial goals, and money management are integral to the financial health of all students.

World Languages

The world language standards guide students to develop the knowledge and skills necessary to progress through various levels of language proficiency.

Standards are the topical organization of an academic content area. The four standards of World Languages are:

Communication

Communicate effectively in more than one language in order to function in a variety of situations and for multiple purposes.

Cultures – Intercultural Communication

Interact with cultural competence and understanding.

Connections

Connect with other disciplines and acquire information and diverse perspectives in order to use the language to function in academic and career-related situations.

Comparisons

Develop insight into the nature of language and culture in order to interact with cultural competence.