The purpose of New Jersey's Visual and Performing Arts Standards is to improve student achievement in arts education, not arts-as-entertainment, not art-assembly projects, not art-as-activity. An education in the arts requires curricular scope and sequence and the intellectual rigor of experiential learning. The Visual and Performing Arts Standards require that all students at the elementary level experience arts education in all four arts disciplines: dance, music, theater, and visual arts. As students become selective in their preferred form of artistic expression at the middle and high school levels, they are expected to gain expertise. The intent of this Framework is to support the educational content reform in arts education that was initiated by the "New Jersey Visual and Performing Arts Core Curriculum Content Standards" and to generate higher levels of achievement for all students in arts education. Following an Introduction, the Framework is divided into the following chapters: (1) "Cognitive Skills Development in the Arts"; (2) "The Arts and Workplace Readiness Standards"; (3) "Activities Section" ("Dance"; "Music"; "Theater"; "Visual Arts"); (4) "Design: The Art of Work"; and (5) "Instructional Adaptations for Students with Diverse Needs" ("Instructional Adaptations for Students with Disabilities"; "Instructional Adaptations for Exceptionally Able Students"; "Instructional Adaptations for Students with Limited English Proficiency"). The names of contributors to the Framework are appended. Includes 2 figures and 14 tables. (Author/BT)