THE PRACTICE: ASSESSMENT -- Choice-based art education utilizes multiple forms of assessment to support student and teacher growth.
Content Presented By:
Teaching for Artistic Behavior Partnership

What is it?

Assessment is ongoing and continuous with students showing evidence of learning in their daily activities. Multiple, formative assessments inform teaching, resulting in materials and instruction that are closely aligned with student needs.

• Students are continually apprised of assessment purposes and are given clear and timely feedback about their progress.
• Rubrics that are negotiated between students and teachers establish the criteria for work throughout the year. Criteria should be generalized to fit all centers and affirm all levels of ability.
• Rubrics become class standards for overall performance and provide a basis for student achievement.
• Surveys, questionnaires, and group discussions can help identify student understandings in various content areas.
• Helping students to recognize their own "zone of proximal development," where their knowledge lies and where they can reach, is an important role for the teacher (Vygotsky, 1978). Students are given frequent opportunities to self-assess their progress in various ways.
• Teachers train students to perform self-assessment through introduction and modeling of various assessment tools, such as journals, artist statements, sharing sessions, and presentations.
• Students use information gained in self-assessments to build confidence and measure their progress. Teachers use information gained in self-assessments to redirect individualized and group instruction and to develop new curricula.
• Assessment is often collaborative, between students and/or student(s) and teacher.
• Collaborative assessment may take the form of peer teaching, sharing of work, curating single or group exhibits, discussions, and conferences with the teacher.
• Teachers create manageable methods for documenting student progress utilizing checklists, observations and dialogues, journals, and other self-assessment materials.
• Written evaluations reflect multiple assessments over a period of time.
• Evaluations document student understandings and abilities. In addition to skills, work habits should be acknowledged, including time management, persistence, risk-taking, and focus.
• Teachers should advocate for fair evaluation practices in their school or district, so that student progress can be articulated relative to set standards of the art program and not confined to single letter grades.

Questions to Think About

1. How can your school's current grading system be used to reflect the goals of choice and authentic assessment?
2. What sort of support will students need to help them with time management skills?
3. How can your observations of individual students help you to assess their progress and help them move forward in their learning?
4. What sorts of evaluation can be given over to the students?
5. What varieties of assessment can be integrated into your classroom (e.g., portfolios, conferences, etc.)?

This resource is developed and maintained by The Education Alliance at Brown University. Seed funding was provided by the U.S. Department of Education. Send comments to: loom@alliance.brown.edu