• VISUAL & PERFORMING ARTS (VAPA)

  • Vision

    All Portland Public School students will be creative, collaborative, and artistic individuals prepared for deep engagement with the world through exploring, understanding, and mastering the arts.

  • Populations Served

    K-12 Dance, K-12 Music, K-12 Theatre, K-12 Visual Arts.

  • Locations

    All of ½ûÂþÌìÌÃ.

  • Platform Use

    Music - Quaver & SmartMusic

    Visual Arts - Art of Education
  • Student dancers dancing behind yellow background

  • Key Instructional Resources

    VAPA School Start-Up Guide, Dance Standards Progression, Music Standards & Skills Progression, Music Assessments & Rubrics, Theatre Standards Progression, Visual Arts Standards & Skills Progression, VAPA Lesson Plan Templates, Visual Arts Sketchbooks & Starter Kits, Music Method Books (6-8), VAPA Curricular Evaluation Tools.

  • Standards for Program

    National Core Arts Standards.

  • Student in top hat and tuxedo dancing

  • Goals

    • Establish district-level policies and practices that ensure equitable, comprehensive, and high-quality arts learning throughout every student’s pre-k through 12th grade experience, and create conditions that utilize dance, music, theatre, and visual arts to support student success in alignment with the ½ûÂþÌìÌà Graduate Portrait.
    • Establish a standards-based, culturally sustaining scope and sequence for visual and performing arts courses delivered by certified arts educators through sequential k-12 programs of study aligned to the ½ûÂþÌìÌà Instructional Framework.
    • Implement effective and relevant professional development to support new and established teachers, administrators, and community arts organizations in the service of meaningful and equitable student learning in and through the arts.
    • Curate relationships with and between internal stakeholders (including teachers, administrators, and school communities) and external arts partners to create deep learning experiences for students while serving district initiatives with a focus on racial equity and social justice.
    • Engage in continuous cycles of inquiry and data analysis to improve practice and advocate for district-level and school-specific policies and practices that support arts education.
    • Ensure that the funding for arts education is adequate, sustainable, and equitably distributed to support schools.