Assessments

Assessment

‍__What is assessment?__
ASSESSMENT DOES NOT MEAN TEST. Assessment in education is a systematic approach to finding out where students are and using that information to improve learning. Tests are one tool used in assessment, but assessment is a process that is much bigger than a test.

[|From Indiana University's Medical Sciences Program]:

The term “assessment” may be defined in multiple ways by different individuals or institutions, perhaps with different goals. Here is a sampling of the definitions you will see:

Definition of Assessment: The action or an instance of assessing, appraisal Definition of assess: 1: to determine the rate or amount of (as a tax) 2 a: to impose (as a tax) according to an established rate b: to subject to a tax, charge, or levy 3: to make an official valuation of (property) for the purposes of taxation 4: **//to determine the importance, size, or value of//** 5: to charge (a player or team) with a foul or penalty
 * Mirriam-Webster Dictionary**:

"Assessment is the systematic collection, review, and use of information about educational programs undertaken for the purpose of improving learning and development."
 * Palomba, C.A. & Banta, T.W. Assessment Essentials: Planning, Implementing, and Improving Assessment in Higher Education. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1999, p. 4**:

“Assessment of student learning is a participatory, iterative process that:
 * The Higher Learning Commission defines assessment of student learning in the following way:**
 * Provides data/information you need on your students’ learning;
 * Engages you and others in analyzing and using this data/information to confirm and improve teaching and learning;
 * Produces evidence that students are learning the outcomes you intended;
 * Guides you in making educational and institutional improvements;
 * Evaluates whether changes made improve/impact student learning, and documents the learning and your efforts.”

“We define assessment as follows: Assessment is the process of gathering and discussing information from multiple and diverse sources in order to develop a deep understanding of what students know, understand, and can do with their knowledge as a result of their educational experiences; the process culminates when assessment results are used to improve subsequent learning.”
 * University of Oregon, Teaching Effectiveness Program:**

‍__Questions to guide thinking about assessment__
The following are questions to ask yourself as you think about assessment in the arts classroom. They are meant to get teachers thinking about how and why they assess students.


 * How should we assess student learning in the arts?
 * Should we assess participation and/or skill?
 * Should we assess creativity? If so, how?
 * Should we assess knowledge or skills that cannot be or are not directly taught?
 * How should we write student learning objectives so that they are directly linked to assessment? In other words, what verbs can we use to write learning objectives so that we can observe whether or not students are meeting them?
 * Should students receive grades in the arts? Do those grades accurately reflect a child's artistic development?
 * How do teachers accurately assess students in performance-based classes?
 * Should we assess process, product, or both?

‍__Assessment in Pennsylvania__
What does the Pennsylvania Code say about arts assessment? (Click on each item to see the full text of the code)


 * [|The arts have state academic standards and MUST be assessed using a locally developed assessment system]
 * [|Students who are not proficient in the arts on the local assessment must be given opportunities for remediation]

If you're ready to create your own local arts assessment system, this workbook can help. [|Arts Assessment Workbook.pdf]


 * __Mt. Lebanon School District Arts Assessment System__**

Pennsylvania Chapter 4 regulations indicate that all content areas not assessed on the PSSA assessment system must be assessed locally by the individual school districts through the development of an assessment system showing that all students are achieving all academic standards in all content areas. In the 2005-2006 school year, Mt. Lebanon developed an arts assessment system to meet this Chapter 4 requirement.

The arts assessments will help to provide all students with equitable opportunities to demonstrate learning. These assessments will help determine the degree to which students are achieving the Pennsylvania Academic Standards for the Arts and Humanities. They are the measures selected to collect data to track student progress and to help identify areas of improvement to move all students toward meeting the target of 95% proficiency set by our school district's strategic plan.

The common assessments were developed around current curriculum, aligned to the Pennsylvania Academic Standards for Arts and Humanities and conducted as part of regular instruction during class time. The performance tasks were designed by district faculty based on those standards we determined as essential learnings. Currently we have common assessments in 3rd Grade Music, 5th Grade Visual Art, 7th grade Music, and 8th Grade Visual Art. We also developed assessments at the course level at the high school level.

For a power point presentation explaining the process used please click on this link [|Lebo Arts Assessments.pdf]For more information, please contact Mariann Fox at mfox@mtlsd.net or 412-344-2030.