8 Assessment
Martina Vasil; Judi Reynolds; and Chris McDowell
Music assessment at the elementary level can seem quite daunting because of the number of students involved and the limited contact time. However, it does not have to be complicated! Assessment should be an integral part of your daily teaching; think of assessment as a source of information for both you and your students. Frame your assessment as “checking” versus “grading.” As Burnett said (2012, para 1):
- Checking is Diagnostic. Teacher as advocate.
VERSUS
- Grading is Evaluative. Teacher as judge.
Think of assessment as formative or summative and informal or formal.
Formative Assessment
Formative assessment is what it sounds like…it’s formative. This is the kind of daily assessment you do in the classroom as you are teaching music. Are most students singing in tune? Are they getting the rhythm right? What do I need to do to help them achieve musically? This kind of assessment is usually informal (you look and assess), but it can also be more formal.
Summative Assessment
Summative assessments in music usually looks like a final performance or composition in class, a final project, or final performance (concert). The important thing to remember is that a lot of formative assessment should be occurring before a summative assessment is used.
Informal Assessment
Informal assessment is what teachers do every single day in the classroom. They observe and assess where students are, making thousands of micro-decisions daily. Informal assessment doesn’t get written down and there’s no physical evidence of the assessment.
Formal Assessment
Formal assessment is what it sounds like, it’s more formal. Data is captured in some concrete way to do an official analysis. This can mean video taping your students, audio recording, using a rubric, or using a form to track student success over time.
School Requirements
Some schools require formal assessments and grades, but many others do not. For example, Mr. McDowell’s school does not require the special area teachers to give grades. They typically see each student once a week during a 50-minute class. Sometimes they do not see students for several weeks or months because of band, orchestra, sickness, etc. Mr. McDowell only uses informal and summative assessments in his classroom because of the lack of time with each student. Also, his special area team has chosen not to give formal assessments in their classes because the students receive constant formal assessments in their homeroom class. They have also noticed many students have developed a fear of making mistakes, but they welcome mistakes especially when these mistakes are accompanied with student effort.
Music Skill Criteria
Common skills to assess are listed below. These are the criteria Brian Burnett developed to use in his elementary school in Toledo, OH.
Assessment Tools
This section examines specific assessments you can use in the classroom. Keep in mind that these can be use for both forma