Dance Benchmarks
Dance Making
Through sustained, sequential study and analysis, students gain performance skills and conceptual understanding in a variety of dance forms, and achieve technical proficiency in at least one style. They teach and demonstrate for peers; create improvisational problems for class exploration; develop a repertoire of their own choreography and other works; engage in all aspects of performance and production; and demonstrate the ability to self-correct without suggestion.

Dance Literacy
Through critical analysis and comparison, students gain oral, written, and practical fluency in dance styles and concepts, incorporating their understanding into their work as emerging choreographers and performers. A familiarity with both historical and current dance artists lends perspective to their critical responses to dance performance.

Making Connections
By charting the course of dance development, students understand the history and variety of theatrical dance styles, the functions of ritual and social dances, and the interplay between theatrical and non-theatrical dance forms. They engage in interdisciplinary collaborations and interactive computer programs to extend their dance expression. They maintain healthful practices in dance.

Working With Community and Cultural Resources
Students attend performances through school partnerships and independently; learn and create choreography through partnerships with professional dance artists; familiarize themselves with dance studios and programs, serve as interns to dance organizations; and take full advantage of the cultural resources New York City offers for dance study, performance, and enjoyment.

Exploring Careers and Lifelong Learning
Students initiate actions to advance their career goals, and to enhance their ability to continue to enjoy dance on many levels. They cultivate a broad familiarity with the opportunities for participating in dance in New York City. As active future members of the wider dance community, they advocate for dance orally, in writing, and by example.
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Music Benchmarks
Music Making
General Music
Through varied applied music projects, students will understand standards of quality in performance and composition, become lifelong learners of music, and have opportunities to pursue advanced, sequential musical study in preparation for college-level work and/or a career in music.
Choral/Vocal Music
Gaining new insights about the maturing voice and its artistic potential, students will begin to aspire to new levels of musical and personal expression, utilizing a wide variety of vocal techniques and repertoire.
Instrumental Music
Through increased confidence in their instrumental technique and insights about solo and ensemble playing, students will begin to aspire to new levels of musical and personal expression.

Music Literacy
General Music
Making use of a variety of styles and genres and the repertoire being studied, students will become musically literate.
Choral/Vocal Music
Making use of the performance repertoire being studied, students will: respond imaginatively to the expressive qualities of musical works; listen critically through analyzing works of music; understand and apply musical notation; understand and use music vocabulary to become literate musicians.
Instrumental Music
Making use of the performance repertoire being studied, students will: respond imaginatively to the expressive qualities of musical works; listen critically through analyzing works of music; understand and apply musical notation; understand and use music vocabulary to become literate musicians.

Making Connections
General Music
Students will make connections to the music they are performing, creating, and improvising.
Choral/Vocal Music
Students will make connections to the music they are performing, creating, and improvising.
Instrumental Music
Students will make connections to the music they are performing, creating, and improvising.

Community Resources
General/Choral/Vocal/Instrumental Music
Students will gain knowledge and make use of community and cultural resources in order to support the Music Making (I), Music Literacy (II), Connections (III), and Careers (V) portions of the curriculum.

Careers In Music
General/Choral/Vocal/Instrumental Music
Students will gain awareness of the variety of careers available in music; set goals and career plans with attention to personal, social, and professional values; and gain an appreciation of music as a source of personal enjoyment and lifelong learning.
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Theater Benchmarks
Theater Making Benchmarks
Acting
Imagination, Analysis, and Process Skills
Students increase their abiltiy as imaginative and analytical actors while continuing to participate as collaborative ensemble members.
Students demonstrate the ability to reflect on and think critically about their work.
Performance Skills
Through sequential and sustained activities in various theater forms, students improve upon and gain new performance skills.
Students model proficiency in an area of acting by leading workshops and demonstrations, and in performance.
Playwriting/Play Making
Understanding Dramatic Structure
Students develop their ability as playwrights in a variety of theatrical styles and forms.
Students explore personal voice and individual expression by applying diverse conventions of dramatic writing to their original work.
Imagination, Analysis, and Process
Student playwrights extend and revise their written work guided by peer assessments and self-assessment.
Students refine their ability as playwrights to express point of view and personal vision.
Designing
Understanding Design and Developing Design Skills
Students work in groups and independently as designers, applying a multi-faceted understanding of design concepts and processes.
Communication and Organizational Skills
Students develop the communication and organizational skills to effectively realize a design project.
Technical Theater
Understanding Technical Theater
Students demonstrate proficiency in one area of technical theater and develop working skills in another selected area.
Students apply the mathematical, organizational, safety, and analytical skills required of a theater technician.
Directing
Knowledge and Understanding
Students refine their abilities to develop, articulate, and realize a directorial concept.
Imagination, Analysis, and Process
Students develop their communicative, personal, imaginative and analytical skills while investigating the role of the director.

Developing Theater Literacy Benchmarks
Understanding Dramatic Texts
Students integrate an understanding of dramatic text and theater history in their responses to live performance.
Students engage in research and analysis as dramaturges to distinguish similarities and differences in diverse theater forms.
Understanding Theater History
Students integrate an understanding of dramatic text and theater history in their responses to live performance.
Students engage in research and analysis as dramaturges to distinguish similarities and differences in diverse theater forms.
Responding to Theater Performance
Students integrate an understanding of dramatic text and theater history in their responses to live performance.
Students develop skills as critics by analyzing the critical writings of others.

Making Connections Through Theater Benchmarks
Connecting Theater to the Arts and Other Disciplines
Students apply skills and understanding from other disciplines and art forms when analyzing and making theater.
Connecting Theater to Personal Experience, Community, and Society Through an Exploration of Themes, Culture, and History
Students demonstrate a capacity for deep personal connection to theater and a realization of the meaning and messages in theater.

Working With Community and Cultural Resources Benchmarks
Partnering With Theater Organizations Outside of School
Students invigorate and broaden their understanding of theater through collaborative partnerships with theater professionals.
Students gain an appreciation of the range of performance opportunities available to them through ongoing experiences with theater in New York City.
Working With Theater Professionals in the School
Students invigorate and broaden their understanding of theater through collaborative partnerships with theater professionals.
Students gain an appreciation of the range of performance opportunities available to them through ongoing experiences with theater in New York City.
Use Theater Archives, Online Materials, Libraries, Museums and Other Resources
Students increase their ability to use a variety of resources in researching and writing about theater.
Performing in the Community
Students share their theater learning through performances for others, including the school population, families, and community audiences.

Exploring Careers and Lifelong Learning Benchmarks
Awareness of Careers in Theater
Students identify potential career paths through an exploration of the careers in theater, associated industries, and professional unions and guilds.
Set Career Goals and Develop a Career Plan
Students become self-guided pre-professionals by identifying theater internships, college, and conservatory programs.
Theater for Enjoyment and Lifelong Learning
As theater-goers, students research options for attending theater independently and in small groups.
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Visual Arts
Art Making
In a three-year major art sequence students master various materials and techniques to develop a portfolio that reflects a personal style and the awareness of the power of art to illuminate, inform, and influence opinion

Developing Art Literacy
Students hone observation skills and discuss works of art; develop visual arts vocabulary to describe art making, the tools and techniques used to produce art, and the elements and principles of design; read and write about art to reinforce literacy skills; interpret artwork by providing evidence to support assertions; reflect on the process of making art.

Making Connections Through Visual Arts
Students recognize the societal, cultural, and historical significance of art; connect the visual arts to other disciplines; apply the skills and knowledge learned in visual arts to interpreting the world.

Community and Cultural Resources
By working with a variety of school staff, students access primary resources in the community, the borough, and the city to extend their learning beyond the classroom.

Exploring Careers and Lifelong Learning
Students gain an awareness of careers in visual arts; recognize personal, social and professional goals; develop a career plan; learn to work independently and in teams; gain an appreciation of art as a source of enjoyment and lifelong learning.
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