Reflecting on Assessment
As I write this article, people everywhere are reflecting and giving thanks for their blessings. Lately I have been thankful for assessment. “What?” one might say, “How can you be thank- ful for assessment?” Te fact remains that in our culture, assessment has been given a bad name. Teachers presently are forced to administer state- wide assessments and prove their worthiness by showing student growth. Tis is not the assess- ment for which I am giving thanks. Te assess- ment I am giving thanks for is the assessment that informs my teaching. Te assessment that tells me the ‘next steps’ to take with my students. Te assessment that reveals to me the students who are excelling and need more challenge, as well as reveals the students who are struggling and need support. Assessments where the results become planning and measurement tools that help me move my students farther ahead in their musical journey.
Over the past 4 years I have had the amazing op- portunity to work with the Michigan Arts Educa- tion Instruction and Assessment (MAEIA) group. Te work this group has been doing has had an incredible impact on arts assessment throughout the state. Te work is sponsored by the Mich- igan Department of Education, Te Michigan Assessment Consortium, Te Data Recognition Corporation and the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs. Trough their website,
maiea-artsednetwork.org, they offer several tools for program evaluation, student assessment and educator effectiveness. Tey also have been of- fering professional development opportunities to teachers in the Arts across Michigan. Leadership fellows have been traveling throughout the state sharing tools and assessments to support teachers in their classrooms. Included in the website are free webinars on how to use the materials as well as advocacy videos to share with administrators.
Te catalog of assessments includes assessments for elementary through high school music, visual arts, dance and theater. Te assessments come in two formats, events and tasks. Events can last one to two class periods, where a task can last over a number of class periods. Te assessments include a teacher booklet with suggested material. However, teachers are encouraged to change the material or directions within the assessment to fit within their individual program. Te assessments were designed by teachers, and piloted by teach-
Holly Olszewski
ers. Within the catalog some exemplars, videos and artifacts of student work, have been included to illustrate the dimensions of the rubric. Each assessment has been rated for Educator Effective- ness. Tere are three categories. Te items rated with a “1” are assessments that can be given twice, in a pre-test and post-test fashion. Items rated with a “2” are items that can be given in one year, and then repeated a following year. Finally the items rated with a “3” can be given once as an end of unit assessment. Te website has an entire page dedicated to educator effectiveness, complete with supports for how to move through this process.
Te assessments can be bundled and used to guide curriculum development. Tere are 90 music assessments. Essentially the teacher would choose 4 to 5 assessments, depending on total class meeting time. Te teacher would then create a Student Learning Outcome (SLO) document or Unit Design for each of the items with activ- ities and lessons preparing the students for the assessment. Tese 4 to 5 units or SLO’s would make up the curriculum for the year. Tere is plenty of variety among the tasks and events that would easily make a wonderful year filled with new experiences.
Troughout this year music and art teachers are participating in a collaborative scoring project where student work is uploaded into a database and then scored by other teachers of the same discipline across the state. Te data from this year long project will help the group develop credibil- ity in teacher scored assessments as well as create future opportunities for collaborative work.
I am thankful for assessment and the work that is being done to make assessment in the arts an authentic process. I continue to be thankful for the work that is being done by teachers across the state to advocate for quality assessments that help students succeed in the arts. Finally, I am thankful for funding and support for the Arts in our state, period. Tough there can always be more support, I am thankful for what support we do have. Please join the conversation at
maeia-artsednetwork.org.
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General Music
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