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The Massachusetts Drawing Act of 1870
The Massachusetts Drawing Act was enacted in 1870 and required that drawing be taught in public schools and that in towns of 10,000+ people annual technical drawing instruction is offered to those 15 and older. This act was the first to require art education in the nation and it set a precedent that has been looked up to, adopted, and adapted ever since. -
National Art Education Association(NAEA) is Formed
The association was formed in 1947 and is now the leading membership organization just for art educators. NAEA's main goal is to advance art education. They do this by providing grants, education, and community to current art educators and prospective ones. The association is a large public group that assists art educators assisting students and others around them in pursuit of knowledge and new capabilities. -
Reading Improvement Through Art(RITA)
RITA is an interdisciplinary approach to teaching literacy that integrates visual arts. This was tested in 1975-76 in New York City schools. It tested 240 students and found that they made exceptional gains that exceeded expectations. On average, students had about a year of growth in the four months of the test. This shows that learning arts can improve learning across subjects. It proves the validity of arts learning in schools. -
Discipline Based Art Education
DBAE was a term coined in the early 1980s by the J. Paul Getty Trust. It is an art education theory focusing on art production, history, critique, and aesthetics. This was a popular theory that believed that posited that art should be taught as a main component of general education. DBAE championed the arts and their place in education. -
The Goals 2000: Educate America Act
In the spring of 1994, President Clinton signed the Goals 2000: Educate America Act. Its goal was to help states establish excellence standards, implement plans to accomplish these, and raise achievement. The act outlined the arts as challenging material and required that students achieve competency in them by grades 4, 8, and 12. The act clearly recognized the arts as something important to include in the education of K-12 students.