Art Education Mission
The Art Education Department embraces the dynamic relationship between artist and educator as a lifelong learning practice. Our program prepares socially-conscious art educators through theoretical knowledge, pedagogical approaches, creative thinking skills, and professional dispositions. We strive for our graduates to be global-minded agents of change who value, honor, and celebrate a diverse student population and their visual cultures.
Art Education Program Description
Teaching artists share their expertise, knowledge, and skills to motivate others to learn about, think about, and create art. The Art Education program at RMCAD is designed to develop a strong artist practice in unison with effective and appropriate education techniques and knowledge. The program is offered in both ground and online modalities.
RMCAD Art Education students understand young people’s experiences in relation to society and advocate for the arts as a literacy that contributes to the development of the global community. Art Education majors develop their ability to communicate ideas, experiences, and events at a sophisticated level through an undergraduate education focused on creativity, innovation, leadership, conceptual thinking, and technical expertise.
RMCAD Art Education graduates are leaders, innovators, and thinkers poised to enrich the profession. They can inspire young learners to become communicators, critical thinkers, researchers, problem solvers, group contributors, and responsible artists who consciously consider personal and societal values.
Educated to be lifelong learners, graduates are conversant with the role of education with technology; contemporary art; the language, concepts, and skills of art; the history of ideas and events; and they believe that everyone should have the opportunity to explore ideas and meaning in and through the arts. Additionally, the strong studio art backgrounds the graduates have gained at RMCAD help to inform their teaching and personal art practices.
Accreditation + Licensure
(updated September 2024)
The RMCAD Art Education teacher preparation program is approved by the Colorado Department of Education (CDE) and the Colorado Department of Higher Education (CDHE). RMCAD graduates in Art Education are prepared to apply for a K-12 teaching license in Art with the Colorado Department of Education. The program is designed in accordance with CDE and the Teacher Quality Standards for Colorado Teachers and knowledge of: literacy, mathematics, standards and assessment, content standards, classroom and instructional management, individualization of instruction, technology, democracy, educational governance, and careers in teaching.
The RMCAD Art Education program is offered in both ground and online modalities. On-ground and online courses use the same Course Learning Outcomes and Program Learning Outcomes for a consistent learning experience across modalities.
RMCAD’s Art Education BFA program allows graduates to become licensed to teach K-12 visual art in the state of Colorado. Students interested in licensure outside of Colorado refer to the Disclosure for Professional Licensure on RMCAD’s website: https://www.rmcad.edu/policies-and-guidelines/disclosure-for-professional-licensure-program/
Complaints to External Agencies
Several external agencies are also available to students who have exhausted all other opportunities for complaint resolution.
The Colorado Department of Higher Education regulates Colorado institutions of higher education. Their complaint policy may be found here.
Complaints regarding the institution’s ongoing ability to meet the criteria of institutional accreditation may be directed to the Higher Learning Commission. Their complaint policy may be found here.
A list of agencies, by state, to whom students may file a complaint can be found at RMCAD_AE_Complaint_Contact .
Program Requirements
Students enrolled in the RMCAD Art Education program must complete an FBI fingerprint-based background check and submit the results to the Placement Coordinator. If a student has an offense on their record, they may be asked to research the background check requirements for the state of Colorado, their state of residence (if different than Colorado), and school districts for their observation hours. After conducting this research, students may be asked to complete additional fingerprint-based background checks to submit to the Departments of Education in Colorado and their state of residence to receive clearance to enter K-12 schools. Ultimately, the state teacher licensing departments will decide if the student is cleared to enter K-12 schools in their area and is cleared for the background check portion of their licensure application. Students who do not have fingerprint background checks on file with RMCAD and who have not received clearance from the Departments of Education in Colorado and their state of residence for their observation hours and teaching placements, or as requested by the Placement Coordinator, will receive a registration hold for art education courses (except for AE1113, AE1160 and AE1170) until requirements are complete. Students must also inform the program of any changes in their background checks that could impact their eligibility for teacher licensure.
During the degree program, students will complete 800 hours of observation hours in local art classrooms in K-12 schools, with 200 hours earned before student teaching. Students are required to accurately record their observation hours on their RMCAD Observation Log Sheet and share it with the Placement Coordinator. Students who have not completed the required 200 observation hours prior to AE4256 will have a registration hold placed on their account and will not be able to register for AE4256 until the requirement is fulfilled.
Students in online courses will be asked to establish a relationship with a local school or schools in order to complete their observation hours in person and during school hours. Additionally, teacher candidates must be prepared to student teach in person for 16 weeks (8 weeks during Term A and 8 weeks during Term B) during their final term at RMCAD, which may not coincide with the RMCAD academic calendar. Finally, the PRAXIS test must be taken and passed by the teacher candidate before s/he can apply to CDE for teacher licensure.
All full-time and part-time Art Education students must achieve a minimum cumulative grade point average of 2.5 in order to graduate from the Art Education degree program.
Art Education Program Learning Outcomes
Art Education Program Learning Outcomes Rubric
The Art Education Department uses the Colorado Department of Education (CDE) Educator Preparation Standards, which include Educator Preparation Teacher Quality Standards (5.0 - 5.04), Educator Preparation English Language Learner Standards (EL), and the Visual Arts Standards (Grades K-12) (4.04).
| CDE Defining Practices in the Visual Arts |
RMCAD Program Learning Outcomes |
| Arts-Based Research Arts: Arts-based research practices include inquiry that is part of artmaking and research approaches that are artistic in nature. Pedagogical strategies guide students into forming a question, finding resources, making, analyzing the results, and looking at the next steps is aligned with established research forms. Arts-based research is able to address complex issues to deepen understanding and engage empathy. |
Apply art-based research techniques in instruction.
Implement various pedagogical approaches that best support learning through arts instruction.
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| Agency: Artistic agency is the acknowledged ability to make choices and create change. |
Develop lessons and instruction that represent the importance of making choices and creating change through art. |
| Instructional Practices: A “master” educator is one who is continuing to learn and improve. “Mastery” can be seen as engagement in processes of continual learning. Art teachers can actively construct learning experiences that build off of students’ prior understanding and support growth. |
Utilize various forms of feedback and learning experiences to support continuous development as educators. |
| Assessment Practices: Assessment in the arts classroom involves a variety of practices to monitor and track student learning through describing, collecting, recording, scoring, and dialogue. Effective assessment techniques can improve classroom instruction, empower students, heighten student interest and motivation, and provide the teacher with continuous feedback on student progress. |
Apply a variety of assessment practices in order to develop and support classroom instruction, motivation, and continuous feedback on the learning process. |
| Artistic Praxis: Artistic praxis encompasses various reciprocal relationships that occur when learning by making art. The making may precede the forming of a concept. It includes relationships between critical reflection and action, material and envisioned image, and lived experience and final product. |
Connect personal art-making processes to development as educators. |
| Synthesis/Creative Thinking: Synthesis is the combination of parts or elements to form a whole. It includes the creative processes of finding visual problems and creating unique solutions by combining multiple ideas, and influences. |
Explore issues, ideas, artifacts, and events to apply creative thinking while producing work.
Create assumptions, contextualize information, identify problems, and conceptualize responses.
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| Professional Practices: Teachers demonstrate professionalism through ethical conduct, reflection, and leadership. |
Demonstrate professionalism in the field through ethical conduct, reflection, and leadership. |
| Composition: Teachers demonstrate professionalism through their attention to composition in works produced or created. Artists/Educators seek to be models of high standards in art and education. |
Produce quality work that meets high expectations regarding structure, grammar, and attention to detail. |
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