Vertical Teaming and Higher-Order Thinking
Bloom's taxonomy -- a model for evaluating thought processes -- should be familiar to all educators. In its hierarchy, the fine arts have an inherent head start: All art educators know we live in a world of creative problem solving and skills application. However, we often overlook the aspects of an artist's abilities that separate the wheat from the chaff and Bob Ross from Basquiat.

Artists know that it is not the technical ability that makes an artist. Although, in my opinion, art suffers tremendously without it, technical ability is simply the skill with which an artist can use physical tools. It is the underlying message of the art and the creative application of those tools that make an artist great. Real, creative application cannot occur until the artist is able to function consistently in Bloom's upper levels.

In the eyes of this art-educator-turned-administrator, this is the goal of vertical teaming in the visual arts. Preparation for and work in the upper levels of Bloom's taxonomy should be the goal of any curriculum, and art is no exception. Most curricula do an incredible job of addressing and teaching the methodology of visual arts. However, this means that the curriculum, the guide from which teachers structure their lessons, the document that contains the goals for the learner, is lacking in a major way. If a curriculum does not address Bloom's higher levels, if it does not include higher-order thought processes, then it does not do its part to prepare students for what we hope will be an advanced experience in the visual arts by the time they get to high school.

Mapping the Curriculum
With this idea in mind, we revise the curriculum in reverse. That is, we first decide what we want the high school student to be able to do when he or she finishes an AP® portfolio program. We then define what we want that student to be able to do at each step of the way, from the end to the beginning. These steps include both an evaluation of the student's control of media and an evaluation of his or her ability to deal with abstract thought processes in the application of the media. As educators, we know that children develop both mentally and physically as they mature. This is common sense. Nowhere are these two strands of development more apparent than in the arts. What makes evaluation of these two strands of development tricky is the difficulty of correctly judging what a student is capable of and at which grade level.

This is where the rubber really hits the road in vertical teaming. This is where the real discussions about students and learning happen. These discussions will mostly revolve around three questions: "What can the students do now?" "What are our goals?" and "What has to be done to get them to reach those goals?"

Of course, these difficult conversations will only produce results if the teachers buy into a focus on abstract thought in the application of media. In order to succeed, the teachers must also have a shared, collegial approach to their discussions so that the group can reach a consensus on what constitutes realistic expectations for their K-12 students. Without consensus, the creation and implementation of the curriculum becomes, at best, a little more difficult; at worst, the process comes to a screeching halt.

There is another reason that acceptance must happen: teachers are professionals. They are the people who know their students best. There is no more powerful school improvement element than a group of good teachers having deep discussions about teaching and learning.

Assessment
Once identification of learning levels has taken place and grade-level expectations have been identified, a method for assessment has to be created. Assessment in fine arts occurs in many ways. Good teachers assess not only physical ability (how good students' drawings are) but also background knowledge (what students know about art) and understanding (whether students can explain and critique artwork).

Those elements are brought together in benchmark assignments. Ideally such an assignment is exactly the same for all grades but is administered and assessed differently, according to age level. One would obviously not want to have the same expectations for a fourth-grader as one would for a senior portfolio student.

The students' work on the benchmark assignment is evaluated by a group of teachers that represents various schools in the district and the full range of grade levels. Here hard, honest conversations can take place, and teachers can compare their success with the success of other teachers. In this environment, teachers can trade ideas and coach one another in ways that can improve student instruction. This is the goal: for each student in the school to be capable of entering and being successful in an upper-level course.

This cycle of performance (benchmarks), assessment (respectful critiques), and immediate feedback (collegial coaching) is perhaps the most powerful element of the vertical-teaming process. Through this cycle, the curriculum comes to life and continues to evolve. The curriculum becomes more than a book that sits on a shelf while we teach two-point perspective houses over and over again. It becomes a living document that, along with collegiality, drives instruction and student achievement.

Advocacy and Results
The process of vertical teaming creates an interesting dynamic for the administrator. As an administrator, I am a true Missourian in that I want someone to "show me." I think most administrators are. We want to see results. If all of the elements needed in the teaming process can be breathed into existence and kept alive, advocacy will be their offspring. The best way to preserve the arts is to use them to make a real difference in the school environment and the lives of the children who experience them. If the kids love art and the art classes really produce what we have always said they produce (higher-order thinkers), art will become an integral part of the success of the school. That is advocacy. It is the kind of advocacy administrators love: results.

Here is an outline of how we are approaching lessons and the curriculum in the St. Joseph, Missouri, studio art classrooms.

Studio Art Vertical Outline for Curriculum
St. Joseph School District