NCDPI's Office of Academic Standards serves as the authoritative source for the review, revision, and support for the implementation of state content standards in the North Carolina Standard Course of Study (SCOS).
During the 2024-25 school year, three content areas (Arts Education, Guidance, and World Languages) will be in the installation phase as outlined on pages 23-24 in the North Carolina SCOS Internal Procedures Manual.
The Office of Academic Standards is proud to announce the approval of the 2024 North Carolina Standard Course of Study for K-12 Arts Education and World Languages. The newly approved K-12 Arts standards aim to provide a Comprehensive Arts Education while developing students as artists in the fields of Dance, Music, Theatre, and Visual Arts and the World Languages are intended to cultivate proficiency and intercultural competence in a classical, heritage, or modern language and help develop globally collaborative students.
Key features of the 2024 North Carolina Standard Course of Study for K-12 Arts:
- ALL four arts disciplines are now aligned to the National Arts Standards strands of Connect, Create, Present, and Respond
- Continuous Throughlines ensuring vertical alignment of K-12 objectives
- To remove confusion about the “Proficient” level of the proficiency based standards and align with the National Standards this level has been renamed “Accomplished”
- In Theatre Arts, Technical Theatre Courses have been added in both non-honors and honors levels
- K-8 General Music standards are extended into high school in both non-honors and honors levels
- Five proficiency levels of Vocal and Instrumental Music have been created for students exploring band, choir, orchestra, piano, ukulele, guitar, or other instruments and ensembles
Key features of the 2024 North Carolina Standard Course of Study for World Languages include:
- Objectives organized by proficiency level using the ACTFL proficiency scale
- Streamlined strand structure and objectives, including a new Intercultural and Communities Connections (ICC) strand
- Reordered standards emphasizing target language input and output
- Inclusion of the Advanced High proficiency level increasing the rigor of student outcomes
Note: The current 2010 Arts Standard Course of Study and 2010 World Languages Standard Course of Study will remain in place for classroom instruction and assessment for the 2024-2025 school year.
Please see the Arts Crosswalks for Dance, Music, Theatre, and Visual Arts located on the Arts Education resource hub and World Languages Crosswalk for a general comparison of the current and newly adopted Standard Course of Study. They provide initial insight into similarities and differences between these sets of standards.
Public School Units (PSUs) are expected to implement the 2024 North Carolina Standard Course of Study for Arts and World Languages starting in the 2025-2026 school year. Professional learning and resources to support PSU implementation will begin to be shared in fall 2024.
The NCDPI Arts and World Languages Teams express their gratitude to the educators, language experts, and community members who contributed to the development of these standards. Their collaboration and expertise have been crucial to ensure the standards set expectations that will allow students to be innovative thinkers and competitive in post-secondary pursuits-- college, career, or military-- and throughout their lives.
For resources and more information about K-12 arts, please visit the NCDPI Arts Education webpage and resource hub or contact Brandon Roeder or Dr. Laura Stauderman, Arts Education Consultants.
For resources and more information about World Languages, please visit the NCDPI World Languages webpage and resources hub or contact Dr. Ann Marie Gunter, World Languages Consultant.
CDPI Arts Education - NCDPI Arts Education Site
@ArtsEdNC - NCDPI Arts Education X
Contact Us!
Dr. Lori Major Carlin Section Chief, Social Studies and Arts
Dr. Laura Stauderman K-12 Dance and Visual Arts Consultant
Brandon Roeder: K-12 Music and Theatre Arts Consultant
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