UNCOVERING 21ST CENTURY ART ASSESSMENT
Uncovering 21st Century Art Assessment Kenzie McKeon University of Missouri-Columbia Illuminating Process and Product: Making Learning Visible
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The Reality Assessment in art education is unlike assessment in any other content area. The reality is, art is different than other subjects, and therefore, assessment in art education must be different too. Education in today’s society is heavily saturated with numbers. We focus on grades, test scores, and percentages in order to track data, so that we can measure growth. Then, we compare that growth to other schools, districts, and states. This leaves us with a diluted representation of student learning. However, a number cannot easily track rich, high level learning. Indeed, sometimes it seems easier to slap a numeric score on something, for “nothing feels more certain or gives greater security than a number” (Kohn, p. 47). The problem with this is that, often times, the assessment tool does not match the learning. This brings us to another reality: art assessment is subjective. A student’s artwork simply cannot be a right or wrong answer; there must be room for interpretation. Similarly, grading in general is subjective because it involves so many choices by teachers (O’Connor, p. 129). Therefore, it makes little sense to assess art in a quantitative manner. In fact, “the most valuable forms of assessment are often qualitative” (Kohn, 48). All of this leaves art educators with the daunting task of creating quality assessments that best suit the type of learning happening in the art room. Before we can conquer any of that, we must ask ourselves a giant question: what do I value art education, and what do I want my students to know? Assessing What We Value Over the past several years, art education has shifted its values. The “old school” ideals of art education were instruction driven and technique heavy. The Elements and Principles of Design laid out a specific skill set for art teachers to focus on. Therefore, teachers measured the students’ degree of accuracy when drawing a portrait in proportion, or their ability to gradually
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shade in a five-value range. With clear and specific instructions, the end result yields a compilation of highly similar artworks. Naturally artistic students succeed, while others fall below and receive average or below grades. In contrast, the “new school” approach to art education revolves around developing artistic behaviors and creative thinkers. The intention is not to only teach students how to draw or paint, but also how to think. While technique is still important to teach, students should be creating art that stems from a concept, theme, or issue. This is truly what artists do; they make art about things, not just of things. It is then our responsibility as art educators to develop lessons that enable students to think beneath surface level. When students are invested in art making because it personally means something to them, we receive genuine engagement in return. In order to foster this type of learning environment, projects will be open ended and left up to the students for interpretation. The qualities we value then shift toward idea generation, experimentation, risk taking, producing, reflecting, and critiquing. Put simply, we are now valuing the students’ process just as much as their final product. So here is where it gets messy. However, as Kohn says, “Thinking is messy. Deep thinking is really messy” (Kohn, p. 64). In order to account for all facets of this type of learning, there must be multiple forms of assessment. Which brings us to yet another question: what does this assessment look like? What Assessment Looks Like As Marzano explains in Schooling Beyond Measure, assessment is a form of feedback. It should be informative, encouraging, formative, and frequent (Marzano, p. 103). In a 21st century art class, formative assessments allow for teachers to keep track of students’ thinking and artistic process. Formative assessments are also a great way to “monitor the flow of the instructional process” (Beattie, p. 84). These types of formative assessments might include exit slips, art
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journal evidence, teacher check-ins with students, or peer feedback. By evaluating students’ progress throughout a unit, the teacher can more authentically gauge student learning. Most art educators benefit from performance-based assessment strategies that allow for “the assessment of many dimensions of student learning and complex cognitive processes” (Beattie 15). Rubrics are another assessment tool that are almost unavoidable in the art room. Before creating a rubric, it is important to ask ourselves: what is really important for me to assess? The criteria within a rubric should provide clear examples of the expectations. Anchors, which serve as units on a rating scale, should be clearly defined (Beattie, 63). Anchors may be numerical values such as 1,2,3,4, and 5, or they may be words such as “Always,” “Often,” or “Sometimes.” Rubrics, in my opinion, are most effective when students are asked self-assess themselves based on the same criteria. This allows students to begin reflecting on their work. In addition, I feel that it is crucial for students to complete some sort of written reflection upon the completion of each unit. For introductory or beginning level art courses, students can answer specific questions about their pre-thinking, process, and product. As students advance, they can formulate rich artist statements to back up their work. Lastly, class critiques can provide students with additional feedback, strengthen their ability to talk about artwork, and serve as an additional informal assessment. Conclusion Generating affective and meaningful assessments is a learning process for all art educators. Above everything else, it is important to understand our own philosophy and values in art education, and let that serve as the backbone for all our assessment strategies. We must also not forget that we are unique, and it is okay to go against the assessment norms of our colleagues in other content areas. Our authentic assessment can in turn, validate the visual art’s worth in the school system.
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References Beattie, D. (1997). Assessment in art education. Worcester, Mass.: Davis Publications. Kohn, A. (n.d.). Schooling beyond measure & other unorthodox essays about education. Reeves, D. (2007). Ahead of the curve: The power of assessment to transform teaching and learning. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree.