Over 460 full-time certified art educators reach students in all elementary, middle schools, and senior high schools.
Hallmarks of the visual arts program include the:

Competency-Based Curriculum
This comprehensive visual arts curriculum integrates ideas, skills, knowledge, values and creative ability. A variety of course offerings provides opportunities for students to develop artistic talents, aesthetic sensitivity, and encourages the pursuit of excellence in artistic self-expression.

Visual Arts Competency-based Curriculum (CBC) for grades K-12 was developed in-house by Miami-Dade County art educators. Objectives designed for the CBC reflect measurable performance behaviors in a scope and sequence that indicate a spiral curriculum. New concepts and skills at each grade level build upon and incorporate previously learned behaviors. It is expected that students will meet the performance standards. Students are encouraged to participate in interdisciplinary activities, museum visitations in conjunction with the Museum Education Program, and exhibitions that showcase student work. The curriculum reflects both the National Standards for Visual Arts and Florida's Sunshine State Standards.

This outstanding curriculum features four major components:

Aesthetic and Critical Inquiry
As a learning outcome students can:
-- use appropriate terminology in written and verbal form
-- participate in the critique process
-- describe, analyze, interpret, and judge artworks

Cultural and Historical Context
As a learning outcome students can:
-- use appropriate terminology in written and verbal form
-- understand a work of art in terms of time, place, and culture
-- understand artistic movements/periods
-- understand a work of art in terms of ethnicity/gender
-- become aware of possible career options

Studio Skills
As a learning outcome students can:
-- produce original works of art
-- manipulate a variety of media, tools, and techniques
-- apply the elements and principles of design
-- plan and organize a series of steps
-- experiment, discover, and invent
-- utilize technology and practice craftsmanship

Personal Development
As a learning outcome students can:
-- demonstrate a commitment to art
-- maintain a sketchbook/journal
-- value work and respect materials
-- work both independently and cooperatively in a studio setting
-- participate actively in art events, exhibits, and programs

Museum Education Program
Recognized by the National School Boards Association as one of the outstanding curriculum ideas in the United States, the award-winning museum program operates in 18 sites in Greater Miami and the Beaches. The President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities included the program in their 1999 report Gaining the Arts Advantage.

Jackie Hinchey-Sipes Gallery
Located in Miami's Design District, the Jackie Hinchey-Sipes Gallery at Design & Architecture Senior High is the site of Miami-Dade County Public Schools districtwide student exhibition schedule. The professional space showcases our students' best artistic efforts and recognizes their accomplishment with opening celebrations for the students, art teachers, family and friends. The original district student art gallery, ArtWorks, was opened in 1989 as a cooperative effort between the Miami-Dade County Public Schools and a local mall.

Ambitious Districtwide Exhibition Schedule
In addition to a continuous large-scale exhibition schedule at the Jackie Hinchey-Sipes Gallery, the Art Education Office coordinates visual arts exhibitions at public sites, with the corporate community and in the School Board headquarters. Art teachers districtwide have extensive ongoing exhibitions in their facilities.

ArtTreks Program
Year-round interactive museum, gallery, and cultural experiences are facilitated for thousands of exceptional education students.

Coconut Grove Visiting Artists Program
Nearly 100 professional artists traveling to Miami for the Coconut Grove Arts Festival, one of the nation's finest, visit schools one day before or after the close of the festival to provide expertise, motivate students to higher levels of craftsmanship, and promote realistic career awareness.

Sketchbook/Journal Program
The project teams a talented visual arts teacher with an equally resourceful classroom teacher at selected schools to introduce the concept of maintaining a sketchbook/journal with students. Strong reading and writing activity is allied with image-making. The pilot program operates in twelve schools with potential districtwide application.

The Scholastic Art Awards
Miami-Dade County Public Schools sponsors the regional Scholastic Art Awards on an annual basis. An independent jury selects 200 middle school and senior high student works to be displayed from approximately 1500 artworks submitted for consideration. Selected works are installed at the Miami Art Museum, which also hosts an opening reception for several hundred. Gold Key Award winners and Portfolio Finalists are eligible for an annual School Board sponsored trip to the National Scholastic Art events in Washington, D.C., or New York City.

Artistic License Workshop Series
A partnership with the Miami-Dade Cultural Affairs Council offers art teachers full day hands-on weekend workshops with professional artists in a wide range of mediums.