The Department of Education has announced that the Fine and Performing Arts Standards, which have been in revision for the past three years, are now up for public comment. They are accepting comments from any interested person. The Fine and Performing Arts Standards guide instruction in the public schools by

•  providing information on what students should know and be able to do at 4th, 8th and 11th grade; and
• setting performance standards that help teachers know how to assess students knowledge and skills.

There are significant recommended changes. A quick overview of them includes:

• Rewrite of Standard 4, previously Applications to Life, to Artistic Connections
• The development of separate benchmarks for Dance, Music, Theatre and Visual Arts
• New Performance Descriptors

The current and revised Standards are posted on the Department of Education's webpage. Click on the small arrow to the left of Fine and Performing Arts.

To comment, scroll up on the same page, and click on Request for Public Comments regarding Proposed Chapter 10 Rules. Comment is being accepted through January 11, 2013.

In addition to the standards revisions, the following changes are also being proposed:

• Removal of Wyoming Content and Performance Standards from the Chapter 31 Rules and renamed in their own chapter (Chapter 10);

• Including a date of full implementation for each newly adopted standard;

• Renaming Chapter 31 Rules to Wyoming Graduation Requirements;

• Renaming Section 10 of Chapter 31 Rules to “District Assessment System”; and,

• Explicitly stating that the District Assessment System applies to grades nine (9) through twelve (12).