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Prescribed learning outcomes, expressed in observable terms, provide the basis for the development of learning activities, and assessment and evaluation strategies. After a general discussion of assessment and evaluation, this appendix uses sample evaluation plans to show how activities, assessment, and evaluation might come together in a particular dance, drama, music, or visual arts program.
Student performance is evaluated from the information collected through assessment activities. Teachers use their insight, knowledge about learning, and experience with students, along with the specific criteria they establish, to make judgments about student performance in relation to prescribed learning outcomes.
Students benefit most when evaluation is provided on a regular, ongoing basis. When evaluation is seen as an opportunity to promote learning rather than as a final judgment, it shows learners their strengths and suggests how they can develop further. Students can use this information to redirect efforts, make plans, and establish future learning goals.
Evaluation may take different forms, depending on the purpose.
Criteria are the basis of evaluating student progress; they identify the critical aspects of a performance or a product that describe in specific terms what is involved in meeting the learning outcomes. Criteria can be used to evaluate student performance in relation to learning outcomes. For example, weighting criteria, using rating scales, or performance rubrics (reference sets) are three ways that student performance can be evaluated using criteria.
Samples of student performance should reflect learning outcomes and identified criteria. The samples clarify and make explicit the link between evaluation and learning outcomes, criteria, and assessment. Where a student's performance is not a product, and therefore not reproducible, a description of the performance sample should be provided.
| Criterion-referenced evaluation may be based on these steps: | |
| Step 1 | Identify the expected learning outcomes (as stated in this Integrated Resource Package). |
| Step 2 | Identify the key learning objectives for instruction and learning. |
| Step 3 | Establish and set criteria. Involve students, when appropriate, in establishing criteria. |
| Step 4 | Plan learning activities that will help students gain the knowledge or skills outlined in the criteria. |
| Step 5 | Prior to the learning activity, inform students of the criteria against which their work will be evaluated. |
| Step 6 | Provide examples of the desired levels of performance. |
| Step 7 | Implement the learning activities. |
| Step 8 | Use various assessment methods based on the particular assignment and student. |
| Step 9 | Review the assessment data and evaluate each student's level of performance or quality of work in relation to criteria. |
| Step 10 | Where appropriate or necessary, assign a letter grade that indicates how well the criteria are met. |
| Step 11 | Report the results of the evaluations to students and parents. |
Consistent feedback is particularly important to the successful development of the knowledge, skills, and positive and enthusiastic attitudes that will enable students' lifelong involvement in the fine arts. Students particularly benefit when they participate in developing the assessment criteria. Helping students set goals and objectives for their own artistic growth, physical development, and lifestyle choices, and then working with them to monitor their progress, are important responsibilities for all teachers.
Challenging oneself personally and exploring new ideas and learning styles are essential factors in artistic development. While students should be encouraged to take pride in their artistic products, the creative problem-solving process is equally importance to the resulting product. Much of the daily work in fine arts education should emphasize the process of exploration. To enable students to move beyond the familiar and safe, teachers need to ensure that these explorations are valued as much as public presentations. Although not all work will result in a public presentation, whenever students' work is to be presented, it is important for students to be involved in the selection and decision-making process.
Tools and techniques for assessment in the fine arts include:
A portfolio is a purposeful collection of a student's work that shows the student's effort, progress, and achievement over time. Portfolios can be designed for a variety of purposes. They can motivate students, encourage parental participation, and provide direct evidence of student progress. Portfolios provide evidence that students are challenging themselves personally, exploring new ideas, and developing as artists.
Before using a portfolio approach to evaluation, the teacher should consider the following questions:
Journals (including sketchbooks, learning logs, and reflective daybooks) are a valuable tool for instruction and assessment in the fine arts classroom, and provide a chronological record of students' development. Journals are a powerful means of encouraging students to reflect on their experiences and provide a bridge between creative thought and presentation. Student journals may be fairly structured, or they may be a general review of a given period of time in that subject area. Entries may comment on a specific activity or topic, or may broadly reflect on progress or an issue. Through their journals, students can explore a variety of ideas, themes, feelings, and emotions to gain a greater understanding of themselves and their cultural environment. Working in journals can help students make connections among what they know, what they are learning, and the personal dimension of discovery and reflection.
The journal can take many forms. It may be used for reflecting on activities within a class or for looking at an issue of importance to students. It can be a reflection of the work in dance, drama, music, or visual arts classes, or an exploration of the world of around them through which fine arts experiences take meaning. Students may keep one journal for all their school work, or may keep separate journals for the different subject areas. Journals can contain dated recordings, videos, sketches, songs, notation, word maps, prose, poetry, or anything that reflects students' thoughts or feelings about themselves and their work. For students in the primary grades, in particular, it is important to allow a range of options in the medium of expression used.
The use of questions can focus journal activities to assist students' understanding of their experiences in the fine arts, and encourages students to assess their own work and growth. Questions could include any of the following:
Conferences can provide valuable insight into students' understanding, thoughts, and feelings about their experiences in dance, drama, music, and visual arts. Conferences may give the student an opportunity to reflect on the area of study and the teacher a chance to gather information about the student's knowledge and attitudes, as well as to diagnose student needs. Conferences may take the form of a planned sequence of questions that lead to an open-ended discussion, or they may require independent completion of specific questions. Informal conferences between the teacher and students should take place on a regular basis throughout instruction.
Observation sheets may be used to assess students during individual or co-operative activities. Teachers should focus their assessment by selecting only a few attributes for each observation. This information is useful when reporting on individual student progress.
Setting individual and group goals for progress is an important assessment strategy. Planning and goal-setting worksheetsincluding reflections on interests and abilitiesand specifying both short- and long-term goals can be a basis for students' progress in the various units of a dance, drama, music, or visual arts program.
Checklists allow the teacher to observe individuals or the entire class "at a glance." They provide a quick reference for keeping track of specific information about student attitudes, knowledge, and skills. Checklists allow the teacher to create an individual record-keeping system organized in a variety of ways. Information might include date, skill-proficiency legends, or a simple check mark identifying a yes or no. Checklists can be useful in developing a learning profile of a child that indicates growth over time. Checklists may be created to gather information about student co-operation, participation, attitude, leadership, or skill development.
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Revised: July 8, 1998
