District Arts Assessment

Districtwide arts assessment, as in any other content area, can be used to inform and improve instruction as well as to provide accountability. The arts offer many diverse and authentic opportunities to assess student learning. Districtwide assessment can utilize traditional assessments such as paper-and-pencil tests; however, the wide variety of assessment choices makes authentic assessment viable.   

Following are three examples of arts assessment that can be conducted on a large scale, such as across an entire district. The first two examples include a curricular unit in which the assessment is embedded. Mary Stokrocki, in Arts Education Policy Review in 2005, noted that large-scale assessment “needs to provide good examples of instructional activities with related assessment devices that lead to deep understanding of the arts and inquiry skills” (p. 20).

Example 1. Farmington (Connecticut) Public Schools uses a variety of methods districtwide to assess their students’ learning in the arts. Fifth graders in the district complete a visual art processfolio over the year. All fourth, seventh, and eleventh graders complete an in-class visual art assessment that includes drawing and written reflection. This assessment also includes scoring criteria for the teacher to assess student work habits. This assessment activity is based on the Arts PROPEL model developed at Project Zero at Harvard University.

Example 2. This example, from the Maryland State Department of Education, is a detailed eighth grade visual art and science unit that embeds the assessment process. This unit offers several things as a district assessment tool. First, the unit is laid out with detail and standardization so that multiple teachers could utilize it as a summative assessment across classrooms and schools. Second, all of the assessment components, such as student instruction and the scoring instructions, are included and clearly delineated. Lastly, it is a demonstration of how to use assessment in an integrated arts project. 

Example 3. Another example of authentic assessment can be found in the Advanced Placement program. The A.P. Course in Studio Art culminates not in a traditional test but in a portfolio of student work. More information, including scoring criteria of student portfolios, is available on the College Board’s Web site.

Additional Large-Scale Assessment Resources

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Assessment of Arts Education is conducting assessment in music and visual arts with eighth graders in 2008. These results will be available in 2009. The previous assessment was conducted in 1997 and assessed eighth graders in music, theatre, and visual arts. A brief overview of the 1997 NAEP Arts Education assessment is available in PDF format.

The NAEP has a Web report entitled Developing An Arts Assessment: Some Selected Strategies, which offers strategies for performance assessment in the arts.  

Some states are currently developing or implementing statewide testing in the arts. For example, South Carolina is testing all four of the arts in a Web-based format. Kentucky conducts statewide standardized testing in all four arts in fifth, eighth, and eleventh grades. In 2008 Florida began statewide assessment in music for fourth graders. The California Department of Education does not currently test in any of the arts content areas. To learn more about statewide arts assessment, the Maryland Assessment of Fine Art Education is a thorough literature review of all the states conducting arts assessment in 2001.