CALL FOR WRITERS & DISCIPLINE LEADS

Application deadline: October 18, 2026

Starting Date: January, 2027

Every student deserves a complete, arts-rich education, and you can help ensure the national standards remain relevant, equitable, and responsive to today's learners.

This National Arts in Education Week, the National Coalition for Arts Standards (NCAS) is inviting dance educators to help shape the future of our field. Volunteer applications are now open for the National Arts Standards review and revision process!

We are seeking up to 12 dance Writing Team members and 1 Discipline Lead to bring their unique voices and lived experiences to this vital project. Whether you teach early childhood or higher ed, in public, private, or community settings, your voice matters here.

Past participants call this process one of the most transformative professional development experiences of their lives, offering a chance to contribute to the advancement of dance education for all.

Writing Team Members serve as reviewers, revisors, writers, and initial editors for revisions to the standards in their art form, reporting to their respective Discipline Lead for National Arts Standards review and revision. This role requires exceptional organizational and writing skills, excellent communication and collaboration skills, and experience with PreK–12 arts education, curriculum design, and standards-based work.

Discipline Leads serve as the coordinators for their art form, leading a discipline-specific writing team of up to 12 individuals and reporting to the Project Manager. This leadership role requires expertise in arts education, standards development, collaborative leadership, and project management throughout a three-year review and revision process.

Learn More & Apply Here

Contact: contact@nationalartsstandards.org.

About NCAS: The National Coalition for Arts Standards (NCAS) is an alliance of national arts and arts education organizations dedicated to supporting and promoting sequential, standards-based arts education as part of a well-rounded curriculum that ensures artistic literacy for all students. The coalition formed in 2011 for the purpose of creating and supporting national arts standards. To learn more, visit https://www.nationalartsstandards.org.

Congratulations to our 2026 Awardees! Our National Award Recipients were selected from a nomination process, and reviewed by our Awards Committee. 

To view our 2026 awardees please click here. 

Announcing Janine Campbell as NCAS Standards Review Project Manager

The National Coalition for Arts Standards (NCAS) is excited to introduce Janine Campbell as its new Standards Review Project Manager.

As the central coordinator for the full National Arts Standards Review across arts disciplines (Dance, Media Arts, Music, Theatre, and Visual Arts), Janine will work with NCAS to helm the multi-year review and revision process.

Janine brings more than twenty years of experience in arts education, with an extensive background in standards and assessment development as well as demonstrated success leading complex, multi-stakeholder initiatives at the local, state, and national levels.

During National Arts in Education Week (September 13-19, 2026), NCAS looks forward to announcing an important next step in the National Arts Standards Review process, including opportunities for members of the field to get involved. Please stay tuned for details.

About Janine: 

Since graduating from the University of Michigan-Flint in 2004 with a Bachelor of Science in Art Education, Janine has focused on engaging students with innovative classroom practices. She has taught Visual Arts in middle school classrooms since 2004 and currently teaches 7th and 8th grade students at Byron Center West Middle School. She has also served as adjunct faculty for Western Michigan University, Michigan State University, and Ferris State University. Her students' work has been featured in notable publications such as SchoolArts Magazine and the MACUL Journal.

Janine has been a featured or keynote speaker for Elevating and Celebrating Effective Teachers and Teaching Conference, the Association of Middle Level Educators National Conference, the Art Education Association of Indiana Conference, and the Ohio Art Education Association Conference. She regularly presents at the Michigan Art Education Association Conference, the Michigan Computer Users in Learning Conference, and the National Art Education Association Annual Convention. Her classroom has received local and national recognition, including the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards and various grants. Notably, she was honored as the 2015 Michigan Art Education Association Middle Level Educator of the Year, the 2015 National Art Education Association Western Region Middle Level Educator of the Year, and the 2020 MACUL Innovative Teacher of the Year Award.

Before becoming the project manager for the National Coalition for Arts Standards, Janine was the Visual Arts team leader for the Michigan Arts Education Instruction and Assessment project and served as a Connected Arts Network Professional Learning Community Teacher Leader for NAEA. Learn more at about her here.

About NCAS: The National Coalition for Arts Standards (NCAS) is an alliance of national arts and arts education organizations dedicated to supporting and promoting sequential, standards-based arts education as part of a well-rounded curriculum that ensures artistic literacy for all students. The coalition formed in 2011 for the purpose of creating and supporting national arts standards. To learn more, visit https://www.nationalartsstandards.org/.

Contact: contact@nationalartsstandards.org

Register Now to Enhance Your Dance Education Knowledge!

Starting Monday, September 7th: 

• OPDI-112: Implementing The National Core Arts Standards in Dance
• OPDI-117: Developing Strategic Leadership in Dance and Life
• OPDI-M38: Social and Emotional Learning in Dance Practice
• OPDI-M37: Choreography for the Screen

The full schedule for the 2026 NDEO Conference in Albuquerque, NM is now available! Take a look and start planning your conference now! Click here to view the schedule.

Not registered yet? There's still time to register before the September 1st Regular Registration Deadline! Click here to register and here to book your hotel.

August 31st, 2026 from 7:30-8:30pm ET - Register Here

Join NDEO's Executive Director (Ray Schwartz) and Board President (Julie Pentz) for a Listening Session and Annual Member Meeting. We will open with a short look back at the year and a look ahead, then spend the rest of the time in conversation. This meeting will also feature a presentation of the 2026 President and Executive Director Awards.

Dance does not live in one person's hands. We may name a choreographer, but the work still needs everyone in the room. We want to hear how all of this looks from where you stand. 

Three questions we will bring with us:

• What does dance education make possible that people outside the field tend to miss?
• Where do you feel NDEO present in your work, and where does it feel absent?
• What shifts in the field deserve more of our attention?

Things to Note: 

• This event is free for NDEO members - please sign in to your membership in order to register.
• You will receive a Zoom Link via email a few hours before the event begins.
• This session will have Al live captioning, ASL interpreters, and will be accessible to audio-only

Reminder: Times are all Eastern Time

Tending the Field - Caring for Dance Education, so the Work We Do Can Nourish Us All

From the Executive Director, Ray Schwartz 

For 28 years, NDEO has been an ensemble: teachers and teaching artists, researchers and students, studio owners and professors, working together for dance education. The last few years brought real change. Long-standing staff and leaders moved on. New voices joined the table. Public funding and education policy shifted under us. The field faces structural problems and structural openings at the same time...

Read Full Letter Here

Interested in College Credits for OPDI Online Courses for Dance Teachers?

Learn all about how this opportunity from NDEO and Oakland University works at our upcoming information sessions!

There are 2 opportunities to join us for a Virtual Information Session with representatives from Oakland University and NDEO's OPDI program to learn more about earning college credits for OPDI courses. Listen, learn, and ask questions.

1. Wednesday, July 29th at 6:30 PM ET - Register Here
2. Monday, August 10th at 6:30 PM ET - Register Here

The meetings will be recorded and emailed to all registrants after the event. Please register for the event even if you are unable to attend. 

Early access registration for NDEO membership opens TODAY, July 17th.

Non-member registration will open on Friday, July 24th. 

You can view and register for our upcoming Fall Courses here. 

NDEO members are invited to submit memorials on behalf of recently deceased members of the dance community by August 9th, 2026.

Learn more and submit memorials here.