1. Assessing Musical Behavior
By: Meredith Jackson

2. Why Assess Students? Determine students’ achievements Gather feedback
Identify areas of additional instruction
How something is taught vs. how something is assessed
Teachers should not be motivated to “teach to” tests

3. What is Assessment? Include both measurement and evaluation
Formal and informal
Teachers assess students daily
Evaluation includes both measuring and judging outcomes of instruction
Most music education is not easily measured
How do you evaluate music instruction?

4. Some Measurement Theory
How do you get an accurate measurement of musical behavior?
So many sources of error, it’s hard to determine accurate measurement
Reliability
Concept of reliability focuses on consistency and stability of a test or scale
Three types of reliability
Validity
There are several ways to test for validity
Three categories
The Relationship of Reliability and Validity
If a test shows inconsistent results, if it’s not reliable, it’s not considered valid tests
Aptitude Tests predict future achievement
Music Aptitude Tests
Music Aptitude Profile (MAP) – Developed by Edwin Gordon and published in 1965
Primary Measures of Music Audiation (PMMA) – Developed by Edwin Gordon and published in 1979

5. Traditional Approaches to Assessing Classroom Music Achievement
Objective Testing
Subjective Testing
Multiple choice, matching, true or false, short answer
Why is this preferable?
Easier test to take
What does it test?
Large amounts of information in a shorter amount of time.
Facts
Disadvantages
Takes time to make
Focus on objectives at lower levels of cognitive processing
Essays, Short Essays
Why is this preferable?
Easier test to make
What does it test?
Critical thinking, organization, clear thoughts
Opinion
Disadvantages:
Takes a longer amount of time to grade
Various ways to assign grades
Not everybody is a writer

6. Traditional Approaches to Assessing Classroom Music Achievement
Measuring Effecting Outcomes of Instruction
Verbal measures,
Behavioral measures
Observations of several different behaviors
Likert Scale
Behavioral Assessments
Physical Signs
Expressive Movement
Physical Location
Language Behavior
Time Duration
Measuring Music Performance
Psychomotor area has least developed assessment techniques
Strategies
Comparisons
Rating scales

7. Alternative Approaches to Assessment
Educational reform of the 1980s
Similar to the Scholastic Aptitude Tests (SAT)
Combine assessments with learning
Portfolios:
Three components: Production, perception, and reflection
Process Portfolios vs. Production Portfolios

8. Program and Teacher Evaluation
Assessments schools and school systems
Traditional evaluations
Program evaluations are often done
“Connoisseurship and Criticism” Evaluation Model
MENC (aka NAFME) have 7 evaluation instruments for grades K-12
The National Assessment of Music
National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)
Grouped into five sections: Music Performance, Notation and Terminology, Instrumental and Vocal Media, Music History and Literature, Attitudes Towards Music
The First Music Assessment
The Second Music Assessment
Teacher’s attributes
“Screen” teachers’
Background checks
Entry tests
Teachers are evaluated after they secured the job
Not every teacher teaches in the same way

9. Summary
Effective teaching directly correlates to the results of not only a teacher’s evaluation, but the results of the students’ progress in a classroom or on a test. Evaluations and assessments are done to ensure objectives and goals are being reached as stated in a curriculum. It is important to have evaluations and tests to cover every aspect of music education and to provide accurate and valid results, however there is no one test that is applicable to every situation a music educator and student will face. Music teachers can use many forms of tests including multiple choice, true-false, short answer, or essay when testing a students’ knowledge, and ranking, checklists, and rating scales when evaluating a student’s music performance progress.

10. Questions?