Arts Assessment Resource Guide Produced by: San Diego County Office of Education Project Coordinator: Ron Jessee

Before we open up the Arts Assessment Resource Guide, let’s take a few minutes to look at some thinking that went into the guide. Learning in the arts can be assessed in meaningful ways that are valuable to students, teachers, schools and districts. The Visual and Performing Arts Framework for California Public Schools: Grades K-12 provides the standards for arts assessment. Arts assessment is an authentic, ongoing classroom process and can also be used for school or district-wide purposes. Powerful assessments demonstrate what students know and can do in the arts.

Pause to reflect… Is there a statement on the previous slide that you strongly agree with? Is there a statement that you disagree with? Do you have a burning question about any of the information presented? Take a moment to process and discuss. Here are the statements again…

Some assumptions that guided this document: Learning in the arts can be assessed in meaningful ways that are valuable to students, teachers, schools and districts. The Visual and Performing Arts Framework for California Public Schools: Grades K-12 provides the standards for arts assessment. Arts assessment is an authentic, ongoing classroom process and can also be used for school or district-wide purposes. Powerful assessments demonstrate what students know and can do in the arts.

Now let’s open up the Arts Assessment Resource Guide and take a look at the table of contents on page 6…

Our work today will focus on the center section of the Arts Assessment Resource Guide

Here’s a quick preview of those three sections. Please follow along in your copy and quickly scan the contents for big ideas. Four Myths About Arts Assessment, pp Myth #1: Success in the arts is subjective. In actuality, there are many aspects of arts education that can be assessed within state or national standards. a. Each art form has content. b. Each art form employs technique. c. Each art form encourages intellectual behavior.

Four Myths About Arts Assessment, pp Myth #2: It is all about the end product. Arts teachers assess a variety of process-related criteria in their student (and) identified the following criteria as the five they used most commonly to assess students in visual arts. a)Effort b)Problem-solving ability c)Improvement or growth d)Classroom behavior e)Self-motivation or initiative

Four Myths About Arts Assessment, pp Myth #3: Teachers can just tack on assessment to their arts instruction. Professional development in arts education assessment is a need that extends to all teachers who use and teach the arts. Myth #4: Assessment is contradictory to the artistic process. Assessment and art making are inextricably linked. Assessment can come from the artist as self- assessment and it come from external sources, such as the public or arts critics. We commonly think of these types of assessment as critiques.

Now let’s turn to… District Arts Assessment, pp District-wide arts assessment, as in any other content area, can be used to inform and improve instruction as well as to provide accountability. Example 1: Visual arts assessment by portfolio at grade 5 and by performance task/reflection at grades 4, 7, 11. Example 2: Integrated arts assessment at grade 8 Example 3: Advanced Placement Studio Art

Finally, let’s take a look at… Planning an Arts Education Assessment System in Your District, pp Nancy Pistone in Envisioning Arts Assessment (2002) identified steps for a school district to take to create an arts assessment system. Step 1: Assemble a planning committee.. Step 2: Be clear about what you want to accomplish with assessment in the arts. Step 3: Establish parameters for your assessment system. Step 4: Create a timeline for implementation.

Now it’s time to dive into the Arts Assessment Resource Guide! And discover how learning in the arts… can be assessed authentically to inform teaching practice.

And why is that important? I wonder…

This presentation was created by Robert Bullwinkel, VAPA Coordinator for the Fresno County Office of Education. This work was funded by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation through a grant to the California County Superintendents Educational Services Association’s Arts Initiative. All images used in this work are non-restricted. This work may be used free of charge for all non- commercial applications. Please give appropriate credit as listed above.

Arts Assessment Resource Guide Produced by: San Diego County Office of Education Project Coordinator: Ron Jessee