As of June 2014, the new National Standards were completed and are available on the NAfME websiteⁱ. The structure of the new standards was developed by the National Coalition for Core Arts Standards and based on artistic processes inherent to all of the arts: Creating; Presenting/Performing; Responding; and Connecting. This approach embraces the former national standards through the processes engaged by students as they experience music in our programs. Each student's musical experience, supported with instruction guided by these artistic processes, can be broadened and deepened through expanded learning opportunities.

Three Artistic Processes

The standards were developed by the profession for the profession, written by a team of professional music educators and vetted through a two-year inclusive public review process. "The goal of the new standards is not to impose restrictive rules governing what to do or how to teach, but to provide voluntary and pragmatic flexible processes and strategies that can be welcomed, implemented, and assessed in every American school district."ⁱⁱ

The primary difference seen in the new standards is that they emphasize conceptual understanding integrated in the process of creating, performing, and responding to music with knowledge and skills as a means to the greater end, instead of the end in and of itself. By reflecting the processes in which musicians engage, students will be enabled to understand music as it relates to their personal experience. Each of the three artistic processes are divided into a sequence of component performance standardsⁱⁱⁱ.

• Presenting/Performing: select, analyze, interpret, rehearse, evaluate, refine, present;
• Creating: imagine, plan, make, evaluate, refine, present
• Responding: select, analyze, interpret, evaluate

When viewed individually, this appears to be a long list of performance standards. In reality, each sequence reflects a step taken by musicians in a singular process that we desire for our students to engage. So instead of considering these as 17 independent performance standards, they are part of three processes students take in feelingful musical experiences. The exciting aspect of these new standards is that one or more of these artistic processes can be applied into any music classroom or performance setting, and are applicable at every developmental level. These standards are not limited to traditional music education settings, but encourage an education in music for a variety of students. If embraced by music teachers, they will provide a framework that closely matches the goals unique to specialized classes as well as traditional music courses. For this reason, the new standards are presented in a grade-by-grade sequence from pre-K through grade 8, and discrete strands associated with middle and high school music classes, such as Traditional Ensembles, Emerging Ensembles, Harmonizing Instruments, Music Composition/Theory, and Technology.

Cornerstone Assessments

The other significant difference associated with the new National Standards in Music is the accompanying Model Cornerstone Assessments (MCAs) currently being developed and piloted across the country. Documentation of student learning is an expectation of 21st century education and in many states, a requirement for teacher evaluation. In education, what is assessed signals what is valued. To address the current expectations and to assist music teachers, the music standards writing team invited Dr. Frederick Burrack from Kansas State University and Dr. Kelly Parkes from Virginia Tech to assemble a team of assessment specialists to create Model Cornerstone Assessments that will accompany the new voluntary music standards. Their role was to develop and field test MCAs in K-12 schools across the United States. Cornerstone assessments serve as more than just a means of gathering assessment evidence. They embody valuable learning goals and worthy accomplishments of students becoming increasingly sophisticated across the grades. These assessments also provide a basis for collecting the benchmark student work that illustrates the nature and quality of student achievement envisioned in the standards.

Pilot Study

The pilot is intended for public school teachers to identify usefulness of the assessments and provide suggestions that can enhance their applicability and effectiveness. As student achievement scores are amassed and examples of student work are collected, this pilot will provide evidence of the extent to which the MCAs are capable of being reliably administered, if they authentically reflect student learning and achievement, and the extent that they can reasonably be integrated into current music teaching.

The National Association for Music Education has put forward a call to all members and researchers who would like to be involved in piloting the new standards and the Model Cornerstone Assessments in K-12 settings^iv. The Model Cornerstone Assessments for the process standards for Presenting (performing) are ready for a Fall 2014 pilot with Creating and Responding to be added during Spring 2015. In the pilot, teachers will administer the Model Cornerstone Assessments in their classes. Some of the assessments will include video/audio recorded performance of students in grades 2, 5, & 8 general music, performance courses in all grades, and specialized courses. Student scores (rubrics evaluating musical performances, assignments from in class work, test scores) will be submitted to the researchers for aggregate data analyses. Each teacher will provide one anonymous example of student work in the following achievement levels: Emerging; Approaching standard; Meets standard; and Exceeds standard. Following the scoring, the selected student work will be used for benchmarking purposes and as illustrative examples.

In addition to the national pilot, Dr. Burrack, joined by Dr. Oare of Wichita State University, will be providing additional pilot opportunities for Kansas' music teachers. They will collect student achievement scores and illustrative examples of student work specifically focused on expectations of Kansas' music programs. You are encouraged to participate by completing this interest survey https://kstate.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_6ofT98LqKfDQnid.

Music teachers across the country, as well as in Kansas, are being required to provide valid and reliable testing of student learning. If the Model Cornerstones Assessment can be documented as validly assessing student learning authentic to music education in America's schools and reliably administered with consistency in assessing student achievement, then the new National Standards and Model Cornerstone Assessments will be able to fill an important role in the continuing enhancement of music education.

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