What should I assess? How often should I assess? Is assessment really THAT important? Does my principal expect me to assess? Are these kids really learning anything? What do other music teachers do for assessments in their classroom? Am I using every music standard effectively in my lessons, or just some of them? These are just a few of the questions that run through my head while doing weekly lesson plans. I could not wrap my head around what constituted as too much assessment or too little, as well as if I was incorporating every music standard into my lessons successfully. For my graduate project, I first researched the history of teacher accountability, as well as the implementation of the common core standards. I also looked into the background and importance of assessment, then I decided to find out what other elementary music teachers were doing in their own classrooms regarding assessment and standards.

Teacher Accountability

Teacher accountability is not new to the education realm. It has been a pressing issue for practicing teachers for decades. Information gained from this tracking of student growth is also then used to "determine whether a teacher is effective at his or her job" (Perrine, 2013, p. 40). Teacher accountability in regards to standards-based assessment has been in the spotlight since the mid-1990s. The United States Congress has been implementing and revising new acts in regards to assessments and standards since that time. These acts include the Improving America's School Act (1994), the Goals 2000: Educate America Act (1994), the Higher Education Act (1998), the No Child Left Behind Act (2001) which also included Adequate Yearly Progress, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (2009) which also included the Race to the Top program, and the new Every Student Succeeds Act (2016).

Arts and the Common Core

Music standards were implemented in the music education realm in 1994 as a result of Goals 2000, and were revised twenty years later and released in 2014 as the National Core Arts Standards. These new music standards were written to align better with the Common Core Standards for English Language Arts and Mathematics, which were released in 2010. The goal of the Common Core State Standards is to show students a clear understanding of what they are expected to learn. They are designed to be relevant to the real world and prepare students for college and their future careers (College Board, 2012). The new National Core Arts Standards were released publically on June 4, 2014 and had not been revised since the initial National Standards for Arts Education were released twenty years earlier. The National Core Arts Standards are organized by grade levels and includes a set of eleven anchor standards that apply to all arts disciplines (dance, media arts, music, theatre, and visual) at all grade levels (College Board, 2014). This year, Kansas adopted the Core Arts standards for music as the framework for a new set of state music standards. Though many districts have not yet implemented these new arts standards, music educators of all grade levels will need to align their standards with the new standards and connect music learning to other content areas.

Assessment in Music

Two of the most basic types of assessment are formative and summative assessments. Summative assessments are used at the end of an instructional unit, while formative assessments are used throughout the instruction unit. Formative assessment can be used formally and informally in classrooms (Marzano, 2010). Scott Schuler (2011) explains that there are several important reasons to assess in the music classroom, such as improving effectiveness as teachers, improving student learning, and for advocating for excellent music programs. The primary purposes of assessment in music include improving student learning, improving teaching, improving programs, and informing stakeholders, such as students, parents, and policy makers. Schuler notes, however, that the most important reason to assess is to improve student learning (Schuler, 2011).

Assessment can be a challenge for music teachers because of uncontrollable factors, such as the type of class (chorus, band, orchestra, or general music), the class size, the age and musical knowledge of the students, as well as the time and resources available (Lehman, 1998). Numerous music teachers may realize that their schedule does not allow for extensive assessment of all the National Standards. In elementary music classrooms, popular assessment methods include evaluation sheets, or seating charts used as score sheets (Lehman, 1999).

Project

For my graduate project, I asked elementary music teachers (N= 45) about what was taking place in their classrooms. In this qualitative study, I asked what kind of assessments they were using and how often they performed them. I asked what they liked and didn't like about performing assessments in their classrooms. I also asked them about the music standards and how often their students performed each standard and how they felt regarding each standard. The data provided from these music teachers was very interesting and similar to how I felt about my classroom regarding assessments and standards.

Most of the elementary music teachers who participated in my project suggested that they felt they did not have enough time to successfully provide meaningful assessments, or that their class sizes were too large to do so. One participant indicated, "I can do quick assessments to see who is generally getting it, but time and size make it difficult to assess," while another indicated, "I am constantly assessing my students. That is how I decide what curriculum they are ready for and what I need to re-teach. What I don't have time for is formal assessments that are written down and documented. To do formal, written assessments takes more class time that I don't want to give up."

I also asked participants in my project what they thought were the main pros and cons of assessment in the music classroom. Most thought that assessments are a good way to check for understanding, to use for grades, and to track student progress throughout the years. The one common con expressed by participants was time. One participant's comments resonated with me, and I felt that I could relate to their idea that, "Assessing the students is never the issue in my classroom, but the hurdle is time commitment in organizing all of them. The organization of data is overwhelming. I try to assess informally and formally everything that I teach within my classroom and feel that everyone should."

Standards

I asked participants about their use of the 1994 National Music Standards in their classrooms. A survey conducted by Susan Byo in Florida public elementary schools examined teacher perceptions about factors that affected the successful teaching of the National Standards for Music Education (Byo, 2000). Byo's study found that composing and improvising were the most difficult standards to implement into their classroom. Interestingly, the results of my project were very similar to those of Byo's study. My project also indicated that composing and improvising standards were the least implemented into their classroom.

My project used the 1994 National Standards for Music Education, as the 2014 National Core Arts Standards had not yet been released when the research began. Since then, the new National Core Arts Standards have been released, and states are reviewing them to be implemented into their curriculum. The National Core Arts Standards can be found at www.nafme.org/my-classroom/standards/. The new Kansas Music Standards can be found at www.ksde.org.

Summary

Assessments most commonly used are summative and formative assessments, but they serve different purposes. Summative assessments, which are most often formal assessments, should be used at the end of an instructional unit, while formative assessments can be used throughout the unit. Formative assessments can be both formal and informal. The primary purpose of assessments in music classrooms is to improve teacher effectiveness and student learning, as well as advocate for excellent music programs. Of additional importance with assessments is the need to communicate assessment data with stakeholders, students, parents, and policy makers.

Assessment should include more data than just attendance, effort, behavior, and attitude. However, from my research it seems as though greater emphasis is being placed on this type of non-achievement criteria, instead of on student achievement and objectives. It is important to take time constraints, class sizes, and available materials into consideration when planning the best assessment method for each music teacher. There is no right or wrong way to assess students' performance and musical knowledge. It may take many different approaches and techniques to decide what the most effective method of assessment is right in each music teacher's classroom. You won't know what works best for your needs until you try it!

References