Realistic Assessment in the Music Classroom Making it work for you and your students

TENNESSEE THE HEART OF ARTS EDUCATION REFORM

Why Assess? To ensure that students are meeting goals Data collection informs our teaching To provide feedback for students, parents and other stakeholders To advocate for our programs Because it may be required

Assessment v. Evaluation Assessment: Measure of the learner’s performance Evaluation: Description of that performance in relation to other learners or according to a continuum of labels (grades)

Ways to assess Formative (ongoing; can be formal or informal) Summative (end of unit, grade or program; usually formal)

Changing the way we view assessment Curriculum, instruction and assessment/evaluation are inextricably woven Teachers should incorporate information from assessment into their teaching IN THE MOMENT.

Changing the way we view assessment Assessment should happen by having students perform alone, provide explanations in class, and use the information and skills they are working on by applying them in ways that have not been explicitly taught. Often. (Duke, 2009)

Changing the way we view assessment Day-to-day activities should closely resemble the assessments themselves. Objectives and assessment criterion should be the same thing! Objectives should be stated in observable behaviors “Teaching to the Test” is fine, as long as it’s a good test!

Tools for assessment Checklists Rubrics Portfolios

Obstacles to Overcome Our evaluation based culture Teacher time Student-perceived consequences of the assessment (My GPA will suffer! I’ll be grounded! I’m embarrassed! I didn’t get first chair!) Striking the “knowing v. doing” balance

Tools for assessment Checklists Used for assessing skills on a “Yes” or “No” basis or a simple Likert scale Simple and easy to collect. Can be tough to translate to a grade. No middle ground.

Sample Checklists file://localhost/Users/jonathanvest/Deskto p/CHORAL MUSIC ASSESSMENT CHECKLIST.docx file://localhost/Users/jonathanvest/Deskto p/CHORAL MUSIC ASSESSMENT CHECKLIST.docx file://localhost/Users/jonathanvest/Deskto p/RECORDER ASSESSMENT.docx file://localhost/Users/jonathanvest/Deskto p/RECORDER ASSESSMENT.docx

Tools for assessment Rubrics Used to give more detailed feedback Give students and teachers specific things to target during the lesson Easy to translate to a letter/number grade Sometimes difficult to write. Can get complicated rather quickly.

Sample Rubric file://localhost/Users/jonathanvest/Deskto p/MS Band Rubric.docx file://localhost/Users/jonathanvest/Deskto p/MS Band Rubric.docx

Portfolios Arts Education Teachers are now being evaluated on student work. Teachers are to collect artifacts from a purposeful sampling of students to be evaluated by a team of trained music educators. Teachers must show evidence of that students are:

Creating Performing Responding Connecting

How will we demonstrate this? Video and audio data of group and individual performances Written responses to music, about music and about musical choices Notated student musical work (compositions and arrangements.)

Technology in Assessment Smart Music ators/ Audacity Electronic Gradebooks

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For copies of this presentation or other questions, please me! Johnathan Vest The University of TN at Martin