Meaningful Assessment in the Music Classroom

Assessment for Learning (Formative Assessment)

Assessment for learning is ongoing assessment that allows teachers to monitor students on a day-to-day basis and modify their teaching based on what the students need to be successful.

This assessment provides students with the timely, specific feedback that they need to make adjustments to their learning.

After teaching a lesson, we need to determine whether the lesson was accessible to all students while still challenging to the more capable;

what the students learned and still need to know;

how we can improve the lesson to make it more effective; and,

if necessary, what other lesson we might offer as a better alternative.

This continual evaluation of instructional choices is at the heart of improving our teaching practice.

Assessment of Learning (Summative Assessment)

Assessment of learning is the snapshot in time that lets the teacher, students and their parents know how well each student has completed the learning tasks and activities.

It provides information about student achievement. While it provides useful reporting information, it often has little effect on learning.

Comparing Assessment for Learning and Assessment of Learning

Assessment for Learning(Formative Assessment)

Assessment of Learning(Summative Assessment)

Checks learning to determine what to do next and then provides suggestions of what to doteaching and learning are indistinguishable from assessment.

Checks what has been learned to date.

Is designed to assist educators and students in improving learning.

Is designed for the information of those not directly involved in daily learning and teaching (school administration, parents, school board,) in addition to educators and students.

Is used continually by providing descriptive feedback.

Is presented in a periodic report.

Assessment for Learning(Formative Assessment)

Assessment of Learning(Summative Assessment)

Usually uses detailed, specific and descriptive feedbackin a formal or informal report.

Usually compiles data into a single number, score or mark as part of a formal report.

Is not reported as part of an achievement grade.

Is reported as part of an achievement grade.

Usually focuses on improvement, compared with the student's previous best (self-referenced, making learning more personal).

Usually compares the student's learning either with other students' learning (norm-referenced, making learning highly competitive) or the standard for a grade level (criterion-referenced, making learning more collaborative and individually focused).

Involves the student. Does not always involve the student.

Assessment as Learning

Assessment as learning develops and supports students' metacognitive skills.

This form of assessment is crucial in helping students become lifelong learners.

As students engage in peer and self-assessment, they learn to make sense of information, relate it to prior knowledge and use it for new learning.

Students develop a sense of ownership and efficacy when they use teacher, peer and self-assessment feedback to make adjustments, improvements and changes to what they understand.

Essential Assessment Vocabulary

Formative assessment any assessment where the results

are used to improve performance rather than for grading

Examples classroom feedback, private lessons

Summative assessment assessment where results are used to grade, mark, rank, rate, or place students

Examples chair placement, quarter exams, juries

Diagnostic Assessment primarily used in the classroom setting to determine problems (error detection); followed by formative assessment

Essential Assessment Vocabulary

Criterion referenced - all students judged against same standard

Norm referenced students compared to each other

Reliability a particular test is reliable if multiple judges come up with the same result

Validity a test is valid if it measures what it intends to. Including behavior, attendance, and late penalties leads to an invalid assessment of student skill or knowledge.

Purposes of assessment

Rate or rank students If all we give are grades, all students care about are grades

Give parents feedback on their childs performance If we only give numbers/letters, we tell them very little about

what the student actually knows or can do.

Provide feedback to instructors on their effectiveness If test data is analyzed correctly

Provide feedback to students about their progress Dont punish kids for their practice students must have

opportunities to practice new material and need feedback during that process

4 types of musical behaviors: Types of assessment

1. Responding

2. Creating

3. Performing

4. Listening

1. Rubrics

2. Playing tests

3. Written tests

4. Practice sheets

5. Teacher Observation

6. Portfolios

7. Peer and Self-Assessment

Assessing Musical Behaviors: The type of assessment must match the knowledge or skill

Non-Musical Behaviors

If grades are to truly represent student mastery of musical skills and knowledge, non-musical factors cannot be included.

No studies support the use of low grades as punishments. Instead of prompting greater effort, low grades more often cause students to withdraw from learning. (p. 34)

---Guskey, Thomas and Jane Bailey (2001). Developing Grading and Reporting Systems for Student Learning. Corwin Press: Thousand Oaks, CA.

Responding Best Assessment

Students need to be able to speak about music using correct terminology. This is a perfect way to elicit higher order thinking skills from students.

(This is in the Aesthetic

Perceptions strand of the GLEs)

Short constructed response

Essay questions

Less effective, but possible:

Likert scales

Multiple Choice

Musical Behaviors Responding to Music

Making Teacher Observations Valid

Skill to be performed must have some criteria

Generally 2 to 3 steps, procedures, or components

Example: Singing Skills

While singing, the student demonstrates:

Good Posture

Adequate Breath Support

Proper Vocal Production

Focus on one aspect of quality at a time

Assessing Through Teacher Observation

While singing Chicken on a Fencepost, the student demonstrated the ability to:

Sing with good tone quality

Accurately perform eighth-note and sixteenth-note combinations

Sing with proper vocal production

Find learning activities that address each objective to the left.

Under the rhythm objective (the second one to the left), students will play the rhythm game Blackout which follows

Create a checklist with student names to track each objective

Rhythms for Chicken On A Fencepost

Assessing Musical Behaviors - Performance

Best done with a checklist for skills or a rubric

State Festival Adjudication sheet is a rubric

Frequency several times a quarter depending on how many students

Keep assessment valid only include performance criteria

Make assessment match objective

If objective is to use advanced technique, dont include tone quality

Using Rubrics

Edward Asmus (1999): Rubrics provide specific

advantages when used to assess music

performances.

1. Adjudicators are provided with clear descriptors

outlining graduated levels of performance

achievement.

2. Performers are provided with specific feedback

concerning their performance and useful information

needed to improve future performances.

3 Features of a Useful Rubric

Evaluative Criteria: Factors to be used when judging the quality of a students

response

Quality Distinctions: For each criterion, different levels of quality in a students

work must be described

Application Strategy: Users of the rubric are told whether a students response is to

be judged using the evaluative criteria or on a criterion-by-criterion basis (holistic vs. analytic)

From Popham, W. James (2006). Mastering Assessment: A Self-Service System for Educators. Routledge: NY

A Rubric to Assess Rubrics

Evaluative Criteria:

1.Significance. Is the skill being assessed a genuinely

worthwhile one?

2.Evaluative Criteria. Have the rubrics scoring criteria been selected so they are few in number, and instructionally

addressable?

3.Quality Distinctions. Are degrees of excellence

satisfactorily described for each of the rubrics evaluative criteria?

4.Concise Clarity. Is the rubric presented in a sufficiently

succinct and lucid manner so that it is likely to be used?

Is This Rubric Reliable or Valid?

COMPONENTS ADVANCED PROFICIENT PARTIALLY P NOVICE

A) Posture 90%-100% 80%-89% 60%-79% 59% & below

B) Breathing 90%-100% 80%-89% 60%-79% 59% & below

C) Tone Quality 90%-100% 80%-89% 60%-79% 59% & below

D) Intonation 90%-100% 80%-89% 60%-79% 59% & below

E) Interpretation 90%-100% 80%-89% 60%-79% 59% & below

F) Technique 90%-100% 80%-89% 60%-79% 59% & below

Better Holistic Rubric for Scales

4 points Required scales are performed smoothly and accurately as eighth notes, at a tempo of quarter note = 144 bpm

3 points Required scales are performed smoothly and fairly accurately as eighth notes, at a tempo of quarter note = 120 bpm. Errors are present, but fewer than 1 per scale

2 points Required scales are not performed smoothly, with multiple errors per scale

1 point Key signatures for required scales are not known. Student is unable to complete scale without repeated corrections

Assessing Large Numbers of Students

Frequency vs. Impact

FREQUENCY

CONTENT

Frequency vs. Impact

The more frequently you assess, the less material you can include

Consider shorter, focused assignments

EX: Use prompts like How can a composer use dynamics to create excitement?

Short note-naming or rhythm counting worksheets

Assess what is important creating, responding, and performing

Focus on one aspect of quality at a time

Benefits of Individualized Student Assessment Using Digital Recordings

Students practice assignments as many times as they need until they get it right.

Immediate formative feedback for the student

Audio example for parents

Reduces assessment time by eliminating practice tapes

Digitized accompaniments provide rhythmic and melodic assistance to students

Eliminates fear of playing in class (even though students should still play for others in class)

Thank You!