Pennsbury Recognized as Outstanding Visual Arts Community

The Pennsylvania Art Education Association (PAEA) is proud to rec­og­nize Pennsbury School District for its out­stand­ing com­mit­ment to visu­al arts edu­ca­tion with the endorse­ment, Outstanding Visual Arts Community 2019. PAEA empow­ers its mem­bers to trans­form their prac­tices, stu­dents, col­leagues, and com­mu­ni­ties to build a strong art edu­ca­tion cul­ture and citizenry.

“This is a fab­u­lous tes­ta­ment to our school com­mu­ni­ty and the impor­tance of visu­al arts in the lives of our stu­dents,” said Superintendent Dr. William Gretzula. “Kudos to K‑12 Art Curriculum Coordinator, Ruth Anne Schultz, and to the entire art department.” 

Districts receiv­ing this endorse­ment demon­strate the impor­tance of their visu­al arts pro­grams with:

• Rigorous and Inclusive Programs: Arts pro­grams demon­strate rig­or using standards-based cur­ricu­lum taught at every lev­el by high­ly qual­i­fied and cer­ti­fied arts educators.
• Highly Accessible Programs: Arts pro­grams are offered to all stu­dentsat every lev­el of edu­ca­tion with a sus­tain­able bud­get for the visu­al arts.
• Highly Visible Programs: Schools and dis­tricts iden­ti­fy their pro­gram­mat­ic accom­plish­ments, cur­ricu­lum for all lev­els, art staff, mis­sion state­ments, and arts events using their school web­sites and social media.

Students in Pennsbury cel­e­brate the impor­tance of a well-rounded edu­ca­tion with oppor­tu­ni­ties to engage in arts edu­ca­tion cours­es at all grade lev­els, K‑12. “The term ‘well-rounded edu­ca­tion’ means cours­es, activ­i­ties, and pro­gram­ming in sub­jects such as English, read­ing or lan­guage arts, writ­ing, sci­ence, tech­nol­o­gy, engi­neer­ing, math­e­mat­ics, for­eign lan­guages, civics and gov­ern­ment, eco­nom­ics, arts, his­to­ry, geog­ra­phy, com­put­er sci­ence, music, career and tech­ni­cal edu­ca­tion, health, phys­i­cal edu­ca­tion, and any oth­er sub­ject, as deter­mined by the State or local edu­ca­tion­al agency, with the pur­pose of pro­vid­ing all stu­dents access to an enriched cur­ricu­lum and edu­ca­tion­al expe­ri­ence.” (ESSA, Title VIII, Section 8002)

These oppor­tu­ni­ties pre­pare stu­dents with visu­al lit­er­a­cy. Visual lit­er­a­cy con­sti­tutes the new think­ing and learn­ing skills of a dig­i­tal age and a cre­ative econ­o­my. These are the types of cog­ni­tive skills young peo­ple will need to find their place in a globally-competitive work­force. Technology inno­va­tions such as big data, data ana­lyt­ics, and visu­al­iza­tion will sim­ply increase the impor­tance of visu­al and spa­tial learn­ing skills.

The Pennsylvania Art Education Association com­mends Pennsbury for its active role in pro­vid­ing arts edu­ca­tion oppor­tu­ni­ties for stu­dents and receiv­ing the endorse­ment of Outstanding Visual Arts Community 2019.