Assessment in art education is important on many levels, not the least of which is proving that our content area is making a difference in the lives of our students. Last week's homework examined advocacy and all of us elaborated at length about the strengths and benefits of art education and why it MUST be a integral part of the education of all students. Assessment is the critical aspect of our profession that provides the proof that what we say about our content is, in fact, true and that what we say is true continues to be so. In addition to generating this evidence, assessment helps us know what our students know and can do, it helps us to continually refine our practice to ensure that they know & can do, and when they don't know and can't do, it helps us identify deficits and misunderstandings and guides our remediation to ensure their mastery of artistic skills and thinking.
I particularly like Beattie's mention of assessment as an empowerment mechanism. Beyond the classroom doors, there will not always be an external assessor to inform out students of their achievement. Classroom experiences with self and peer assessments, however, will help them develop the knowledge, sensibilities, and dispositions of critical artists, consumers, and art patrons as well as the confidence in their personal assessments and judgments.
I also liked that Beattie mentioned "interest and motivation" as art assessment benefits. Formative feedback scaffolds student understanding and skills development which is encouraging. It is important, though, that such assessment stress what students are doing RIGHT and how they have grown. Acknowledgement of progress toward a summative goal is encouraging and surely keeps students interested in the process and motivated to achieve.
I think we have all experienced those courses, even art courses, where assessment was a mystery. Submitting an assignment was a roll of the dice and even if we did well, we weren't completely sure why. It is our duty as competent art teaching professionals to ensure that this doesn't happen for our students. We do this by keeping our students "in the loop" with clear communication of of our assessment purposes and rationales, by being clear about assessment procedures, strategies, and tasks, and by making our scoring and judging clear, transparent, and understandable. Integrating opportunities for students to assess themselves and one another will also keep assessment criteria accessible and comprehensible.
One of the most successful assessment strategies I have witnessed as a learner was actually during my first doctoral course one summer ago. We were asked to propose our summative project; to demonstrate what we had learned and what it meant for our practice during the course of "Curriculum in Art Education." I proposed an altered book, which I had never done before. The learning curve was, therefore, steep. As I was preparing the book, I realized that I was not only learning on multiple levels but reviewing and reflecting on course content and art skills in general. I was surprised at how metacognitive my thinking was as I prepared each page; how I was not only reflecting upon the learning, but translating it in a visually meaningful way for myself. As I was doing this, I was also cognizant that it needed to communicate my thinking and reflections to others as well. As I worked on that book, I was keenly aware as I employed tradition and post-modern principles. I was continually making connections between authors and information sources studied in the course and in so doing, was actually reinforcing the learning for myself. It was one of the most rigorous and, at the same time, insightful LEARNING experiences I've ever had! Who would have thought? The assessment had actually taught me something, not just recorded what I already knew!
Application of multiple assessment strategies while teaching art is imperative because of the complexity of art learning itself. Content, procedural, and conditional knowledge are so integrated into art content learning and art production, that a single strategy simply won't suffice. If a summative evaluation is the only assessment used, we deprive our students of instruction that diagnoses their needs, recognizes their strengths, and guides them toward success. We also deprive ourselves of learning from our own doing as educators. Multi-layered assessment increases the likelihood of quality instruction and students who feel increasingly confident, successful, and engaged as learners.
Successful learning is that which meets students where they are coming into a lesson, unit or course. It creates what I like to call "manageable units" of instruction where student experience intermediary reinforcements and successes along the way. Students know not only what they are doing, but why they are doing it; their work is meaningful to them as individuals and yet feel part of a community of learners. I think successful learning is co-learning as well; where both student and teacher emerge from the lesson wiser, more confident, and more competent in their diverse roles.
Beattie (1997) states that ,"Properly handled assessment does not interrupt instruction, but blends seamlessly with the teaching process for the purpose of learning" (p. 3). If we are regarding assessment as the vital aspect of art teaching that it is, we will be constantly watching, discussing, reflecting, revising, questioning, encouraging, empowering, motivating, and checking for comprehension and growth throughout the precious instructional time we have with our students. And both teacher and learner will be better for it!
I particularly like Beattie's mention of assessment as an empowerment mechanism. Beyond the classroom doors, there will not always be an external assessor to inform out students of their achievement. Classroom experiences with self and peer assessments, however, will help them develop the knowledge, sensibilities, and dispositions of critical artists, consumers, and art patrons as well as the confidence in their personal assessments and judgments.
I also liked that Beattie mentioned "interest and motivation" as art assessment benefits. Formative feedback scaffolds student understanding and skills development which is encouraging. It is important, though, that such assessment stress what students are doing RIGHT and how they have grown. Acknowledgement of progress toward a summative goal is encouraging and surely keeps students interested in the process and motivated to achieve.
I think we have all experienced those courses, even art courses, where assessment was a mystery. Submitting an assignment was a roll of the dice and even if we did well, we weren't completely sure why. It is our duty as competent art teaching professionals to ensure that this doesn't happen for our students. We do this by keeping our students "in the loop" with clear communication of of our assessment purposes and rationales, by being clear about assessment procedures, strategies, and tasks, and by making our scoring and judging clear, transparent, and understandable. Integrating opportunities for students to assess themselves and one another will also keep assessment criteria accessible and comprehensible.
One of the most successful assessment strategies I have witnessed as a learner was actually during my first doctoral course one summer ago. We were asked to propose our summative project; to demonstrate what we had learned and what it meant for our practice during the course of "Curriculum in Art Education." I proposed an altered book, which I had never done before. The learning curve was, therefore, steep. As I was preparing the book, I realized that I was not only learning on multiple levels but reviewing and reflecting on course content and art skills in general. I was surprised at how metacognitive my thinking was as I prepared each page; how I was not only reflecting upon the learning, but translating it in a visually meaningful way for myself. As I was doing this, I was also cognizant that it needed to communicate my thinking and reflections to others as well. As I worked on that book, I was keenly aware as I employed tradition and post-modern principles. I was continually making connections between authors and information sources studied in the course and in so doing, was actually reinforcing the learning for myself. It was one of the most rigorous and, at the same time, insightful LEARNING experiences I've ever had! Who would have thought? The assessment had actually taught me something, not just recorded what I already knew!
Application of multiple assessment strategies while teaching art is imperative because of the complexity of art learning itself. Content, procedural, and conditional knowledge are so integrated into art content learning and art production, that a single strategy simply won't suffice. If a summative evaluation is the only assessment used, we deprive our students of instruction that diagnoses their needs, recognizes their strengths, and guides them toward success. We also deprive ourselves of learning from our own doing as educators. Multi-layered assessment increases the likelihood of quality instruction and students who feel increasingly confident, successful, and engaged as learners.
Successful learning is that which meets students where they are coming into a lesson, unit or course. It creates what I like to call "manageable units" of instruction where student experience intermediary reinforcements and successes along the way. Students know not only what they are doing, but why they are doing it; their work is meaningful to them as individuals and yet feel part of a community of learners. I think successful learning is co-learning as well; where both student and teacher emerge from the lesson wiser, more confident, and more competent in their diverse roles.
Beattie (1997) states that ,"Properly handled assessment does not interrupt instruction, but blends seamlessly with the teaching process for the purpose of learning" (p. 3). If we are regarding assessment as the vital aspect of art teaching that it is, we will be constantly watching, discussing, reflecting, revising, questioning, encouraging, empowering, motivating, and checking for comprehension and growth throughout the precious instructional time we have with our students. And both teacher and learner will be better for it!
