Region 3 Arts Lead:  Maureen Gemma, Sacramento County Office of Education

This guide provides an overview of the broad purposes and guiding principles in arts education and explores the embedded value set in the approaches and their importance in the educational experience of students.  Included in this guide are viewpoints of arts theorists, past and present, descriptions of approaches and methodologies that impact delivery in our schools, and a discussion of why the arts matter to our society now and in the future.  Incorporating current brain research on cognitive development, current social “frames of mind,” standards-based education issues, and new expectations for the future “world of work,” this guide considers the many factors that influence our education world today.