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to be lengthy; in fact, shorter but more frequent assessments may provide a more accurate picture of student success.


Implementation


Once you’ve planned out the number and types of assessments to use you’ll be ready to create your own assessments or obtain examples from reliable sources such as textbooks or published works. This would be a good time to consult with assessment or evaluation specialists within your district for feedback on the reliability and validity of your assessment tools.


Your final task is to administer the assessments, then document and analyze the results. Whenever possible try to embed assessment within your teaching. Laminated seating charts for recording performance data allow you to record information without interrupting active teaching and learning. When recording results, simplify the number of times a grade or assessment is recorded by entering data directly into your computer. This is a perfect rationale for requesting your own iPad!


Analyzing results from assessments will depend in part on whether the data collected was quantitative (a score) or qualitative (written documentation). It’s relatively easy to compute simple scores into averages; however, if you intend to use scores from pretest/posttest assessments to show growth, you should consider consulting an expert in assessment and evaluation. If you are using qualitative data, for example students’ written evaluations of a concert performance, you could submit a range of samples from each grade to show evidence of growth. Presumably evaluations by older or experienced students will show a more sophisticated understanding of performance criteria.


One last word of advice, when interpreting results from student assessments it’s important to know how the results will be used to make decisions about your effectiveness as a teacher. When comparing results to other teachers or districts, it’s critical that all other variables (number of students taught per week, teacher/student ratio, demographics and prior experience of students, available resources, etc.) are common between the comparison schools/teachers. This is a conversation you will want to have with your principal or supervisor before you begin planning your assessments.


Teacher evaluation based on student learning is and should be a valid measure of one’s effectiveness as a teacher. Outstanding teachers have always monitored student learning, using the results to inform and improve their teaching. The challenge for our profession is to provide more transparent evidence of what successful music teachers have been doing all along.


(Endnotes)


1 Part II of this article will appear in a future edition of the Michigan Music Educator and will address specific strategies for evaluating choral student’s skills, knowledge and understanding within the context of the ensemble setting. n


27


NAfME Chapter of Excellence Award for Western Michigan


University Keith Kelsey, WMU NAfME Colegiate President Rachel Gasper, WMU NAfME Collegiate Past President


The National Association for Music Education recently honored Western Michigan University’s Collegiate NAfME Chapter with the prestigious Chapter of Excellence designation. The honor is granted to twelve chapters nationally each year, three chapters in each of four categories of achievement: Music Programs, Professional Development, Recruitment, and Service. Selection criteria encompass chapter participation, commitment, creativity, impact, organization, uniqueness, and visibility.


Western Michigan University’s Chapter earned Chapter of Excellence distinction in the recruitment category because of the chapter’s recruitment event hosted at the beginning of the fall semester of 2011. At the beginning of the academic year, returning chapter members invited all music students to attend an informational meeting with free pizza and soda. Flyers advertised the event throughout the school of music and members of the Executive Board individually e-mailed all incoming school of music students to invite them to the event. Approximately 30 students attended, over double that of each of the previous four years!


The evening began with a half hour of pizza and fellowship in which returning and prospective NAfME Collegiate members mingled. After this, the Executive Board members presented information about the benefits of joining the collegiate NAfME chapter including the list of presentation scheduled for the year. Chapter Advisor, Dr. John Lychner, also addressed those gathered about involvement in the WMU Collegiate NAfME chapter. The evening concluded with a drawing for door prizes of classroom posters and recent music education periodicals. Prospective members left with handouts including information on joining NAfME and the fall event schedule. As a result of the recruitment event, chapter involvement more than doubled from the previous academic year.


The WMU Collegiate NAfME Chapter is the first chapter in Michigan to receive the honor in recent memory. For more information about the Chapter of Excellence award, visit http://www.nafme.org/gp/menc-collegiate-recognition- program n


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