Co-Academics

The fine arts are important to every child’s development and play a vital role in providing students with a well-rounded, world class education. Dance, Music, Theatre, and Visual Art promote academic excellence, creative problem-solving, and social emotional learning, which are essential components of college and career readiness. In order to meet the evolving needs of a 21st century learner, the fine arts focus on developing artistic literacy by engaging in the artistic processes (creating, performing/presenting, responding, and connecting) through authentic materials and techniques. The fine arts introduce students to new world views and cultures, help students to value the perspectives of others, and enable students to creatively express a personal viewpoint. Through artistic experiences, students become independent and divergent thinkers, selfmotivated workers, and innovators. All students have access to fine arts programs in middle school. In Grades 6–8, students may specialize in one or more of the fine art forms.

Visual Art 

Middle School Studio Art 1 (ART1024): Students will explore a variety of traditional student media and techniques including drawing, painting, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, and crafts to create artworks.
Middle School Digital Art and Photography 1 (ART1018): Students will utilize raster-based digital media and/or digital photography to create artworks.
Middle School Studio Art 2 (ART1025): Students will refine their ability to use traditional studio media and techniques including drawing, painting, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, and crafts to create artworks.
Middle School Digital Art and Photography 2 (ART1019): Students will design art using both vector and rasterbased software, and/or manually operate a digital camera and utilize photo editing software to create artwork.
Innovation Art Design Pathway
These year-long courses integrate visual art and computational thinking. By the end of the course, students will have mastered both the Maryland Technology Education Standards and the National Visual Art Standards. Students will investigate real-world problems, and then seek to design and create meaningful solutions via computational thinking and the artistic process.
Middle School Innovative Art & Design 1 (ART1008)
Middle School Innovative Art & Design 2 (ART1007)
Middle School Innovative Art & Design 3 (ART1016)