A Delphi Study to Determine if SCANS Workplace Know-How Can Be Developed through the Achievement of National Standards for [Visual] Arts Education

The purpose of this study was to provide a basis for understanding among Tech Prep and School-to-Work change agents, and educational leaders, of the role that Discipline-Based Art Education (DBAE) can perform as a part of the core curriculum, within the framework of these reform movements. The literature indicated that the federally supported Tech Prep and School-to-Work reform movements were not acquainted with DBAE reform initiative which were supported by the Getty Education Institute for the Arts through the work of Regional Institutes. Therefore, they had no ideas about the possible worth of art as an education core component. Also, DBAE was not acquainted with Tech Prep and School-to-Work and therefore had established no common terminology to communicate the power of what they do in a manner which was relevant to that audience. The DBAE Regional Institutes provided individuals to assist in the development and validation of the study tools, and to participate in the pilot study. The Regional Institutes also identified the 10 Discipline-Based Art Education experts who composed the national Delphi panel for the study. The findings were reported according to research questions. They show the national Delphi panels' perceptions of which SCANS skills can be developed by Content Standards and Performance Standards from the National Standards for [Visual] Arts Education. The study concluded that: 1) there is a relationship between the Content and Performance Standards taken from the National Standards for [Visual] Arts Education and the SCANS skills; 2) SCANS Basic skills, Thinking skills, Resources skills, Information skills and Systems skills could be developed through the achievement of the Performance Standards of the National Standards for [Visual] Arts Education; and 3) the relationship between the SCANS Workplace Know-How skills and the National Standards for [Visual] Art Education was validated by a national Delphi panel. Recommendations were made for DBAE, Tech Prep and School-to-Work, and Future Studies