ARTS EDUCATION TEACHER HANDBOOK

INTRODUCTION TO CLASSROOM ASSESSMENTS

Assessment is an integral part of instruction. A combination of teacher, peer, and self-assessment should be employed in the arts education classroom. The method of assessment used will depend on the purpose of the assessment.

The following are some types of assessments that may be used in the arts education classroom:

Selected response

In selected response assessments, students must choose the most appropriate response for the matter being assessed. Examples of selected responses include multiple-choice, matching, and true-false items.

Written response

The use of written responses can be informal or formal and may take many forms. Examples of written responses that may be used for assessment include student drawings, compositions, etc; open-ended questions; journals and learning logs; short answer items; discussion questions; essays; research papers; and reports or reviews.

Performance

Performance assessment is often used in arts education. Examples of performance assessments include performance tasks, oral presentations, and projects or products.

Conversations

Conversations may provide the teacher with insight into student learning and understanding. Examples of conversations that may be used for assessment include interviews; informal discussions; oral questions posed to the whole class or to individuals; Socratic seminars; and student conferences.

Observations

The arts educator is a master at using observation to diagnose, monitor and summarize student learning. Because the arts involve "doing," it is typical for students studying the arts to receive constant feedback and make refinements and adjustments according to observations and feedback provided from peers, teachers and themselves. Observations may be of formal, prompted behaviors or informal, unprompted behaviors. Methods of documenting observations for assessment include checklists, anecdotal records, matrices, and other written documentation.

Portfolios

Portfolios may contain many different types of documentation for what students know and are able to do. Items in a portfolio may be teacher-selected, student-selected, or a combination of these.

Teachers are encouraged to have their students create and maintain portfolios, which may contain a combination of their written, audio, or visual examples of work. Students may monitor their personal progress through the creation and ongoing use of a portfolio. Additionally, portfolios may be used across several grade levels or courses to show student progress and growth.

Appropriate assessment must be authentic and linked to learning targets that are identified in the North Carolina Standard Course of Study. The assessment process is ongoing, as part of the teaching and learning cycle, and should be used to diagnose, monitor, and summarize student learning.

For more information on classroom assessment, please see: Classroom Assessment: Linking Instruction and Assessment, available through NCDPI Publications (www.ncpublicschools.org).

Assessment Items in the Teacher Handbook

The assessment items contained in the Teacher Handbook were developed for teachers by teachers. You may access assessment items by grade span and by individual items within each span. This database of assessment items may be added to as further items are developed. Those interested in contributing assessment items to the Teacher Handbook should contact Bryar Ted Cougle, Arts Education Consultant, NCDPI, at 919.807.3855 or tcougle@dpi.state.nc.us.

The assessment items developed are organized in the following format: Title; Grade Level or Course; Targeted Goals and Objectives from the 2000 North Carolina Arts Education Standard Course of
Study and Grade Level Competencies, K-12; Link with Other Subject Areas; Type of Assessment; Type of Item; Alignment with the NC High School Exit Exam; Assessment Item; Scoring Information; Teacher Notes, and Other Related Items. Some assessment items are linked to particular lesson plans. These items are noted in the table of contents and within the items themselves.

The assessment items are not designed to be used as a step-by-step "cookie cutter" approach to assessing objectives from the SCS, but rather as a starting point to help teachers see how particular goals and objectives from the SCS may be assessed in the classroom. Perhaps a teacher reading through one of the items may use the assessment as a place to begin with when designing his/her own assessments for students. Assessment Items should be modified to meet the individual learning needs of students within the classroom.

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