me arts ed

Standards Based Assessment in the Arts

Leah Olson, Hampden Academy Visual Art Educator

This post was written by Leah Olson, Hampden Academy Visual Art Educator and posted on her new blog called Maine Art Education 421 Skills. It is a reflection from the webinar she participated in as a teacher leader in the Maine Arts Assessment Initiative. The webinar was on Standards Based Assessment in the Arts. You can listen to the archive of the webinar by clicking here. If you have questions about the post please contact Leah at lolson@sad22.us

Three webinar topics:

1. Development within National Standards work
2. Connection to Maine Learning Results
3. Exploring Standards-Based Assessments in the Arts

The conversation revolved around three questions:

1. What is good assessment?
2. Why is this important?
3.  Where can one find resources to help guide the process?

After hearing myself speak on this webinar…….I thought, “Is THAT what I sound like?!”. Anyway, here is a sample I wanted to communicate during the webinar that has worked for me in the past.

• 1st Day -Students are given the goals of the lesson.  Students see the overall goal of a Maine Learning Result Standard in a lesson/unit and the objectives listed that help support it.
• Students see previous student work from the same lesson.
• Students point out the previous lesson work that resembles a 4,3,2 scale in skill.  They talk about the ‘evidence’ that supports their thoughts about a student work. Did they follow directions?  Did they demonstrate good craftsmanship?  Did they demonstrate unique ideas for the project? What work demonstrates that the student did not meet the standard and why?  What could they do to meet it?
• Students are then given the project rubric.  When they see that the comments they made about previous student work is in writing, they feel a bit empowered.  I let them know they can add comments on the rubric that reflect their thoughts throughout the rubric.

I use checklists a lot along the way for students to check off for time management purposes and evidence of tracking work.

The rubric for a lesson should be clear to the student.  I’m not a fan of general rubrics that scale creativity in a general way.  In my opinion, it should say, “you have met the criteria of demonstrating creativity because you………..”.  How can we expect a student who is taking our art class to meet the standard when the goal and process of meeting it is so vague?

About Involving Student Centered Learning in the Assessment Process
There are many different ways teachers can include students in the process of assessment. I have always liked this quote:

“It is better to lead from behind and to put others in front, especially when you celebrate victory when nice things occur. You take the front line when there is danger. Then people will appreciate your leadership.”
Nelson Mandela

Leading from behind has been a new philosophy I attempted about 3 years ago for a variety of reasons……but that’s another post someday.

Collaboration……..
Assessment gains the most strength when

• there is ongoing discussion about the school district’s curriculum
• the standards are guiding force of the curriculum
• assessments are ongoing and changing but never loses sight of the previous two points.
• students provide evidence that fits the above statements with self reflective comments
• teachers give feedback to a student that gives him/her choices to improve their weaknesses and acknowledges strengths

The standard is in place, you teach from a curriculum, and then you have an assessment that provides accountability of the leadership from various view points – including from a student’s perspective.  Why involve a student in the assessment?  Too much work?  Not enough time?  In my experience, the investment of this wastes less time.  Less power struggles, less discipline issues, student motivation in projects increases and quality improves.

It also means I can educate parents more about what their son or daughter is learning.  It provides more knowledge for the parent to communicate with their child about learning new things.  It provides more critical thinking skills that would allow for more involvement in their child’s education. This is powerful. As a parent, I appreciate the standards based rank card because it educates me what my children are learning.