Off-campus UNL users: To download campus access dissertations, please use the following link to log into our proxy server with your NU ID and password. When you are done browsing please remember to return to this page and log out.
Non-UNL users: Please talk to your librarian about requesting this dissertation through interlibrary loan.
A study of the status of curricular theatre arts programs in selected public secondary schools in Colorado, 1989-1990
Abstract
As advocates pointed to theatre arts as a means for educating youth and retaining young people in high schools, a study of what has been taught in the public secondary schools of Colorado in the name of theatre arts became important. At the same time, a determination of factors influencing expanded curricular theatre arts programs and a comparison of the composite theatre arts programs with national and state curriculum documents was also conducted. Data from a survey of Colorado public high schools during the 1989-1990 school year was analyzed and reported. Major findings showed that: (1) Expanded theatre arts programs existed in schools where the program had been in effect longer than the teacher currently teaching in that program. (2) Most curricular theatre arts programs were included in the English department of schools, which tended to protect the programs in terms of budget reductions and/or program reductions. (3) The more extensive programs taught by the more highly trained and professionally active teachers were most likely found in schools of large enrollment in the densely populated Denver metropolitan area. (4) While the composite curricular theatre arts programs tended to parallel recommendations inherent in the national and state theatre curriculum documents, there was less agreement among the smaller-sized schools. (5) The foundation of the theatre arts curricula among all the schools tended to be some form of acting. Schools reported more acting-related courses, or units of study within courses, than any other topic of theatre arts instruction, such as technical theatre, theatre history, dramatic literature, criticism, aesthetics, and vocational and career opportunities.
Subject Area
Theater|Secondary education
Recommended Citation
Pearl, Michael Allen, "A study of the status of curricular theatre arts programs in selected public secondary schools in Colorado, 1989-1990" (1991). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI9133310.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI9133310