Different Ways to Authentically Assess Students in Art

Different Ways to Authentically Assess Students in Art Deanna Filiault, MEd Debby Mc. Gann, Ed. D

Outline - Brief intro about ourselves - Authentic art assessments? What is that? - Importance - Different types of authentic assessments - Try it out! - Share - Conclusions

About Deanna ● Current Ph. D Art Education student at FSU ● B. S. and M. Ed. in art education from UCF ● Taught elementary art for four years ● What got me interested in art assessments? ○ During the summer before the start of my 3 rd year teaching art, I was told I would have to give my k-5 students a mandated, district created assessment. The assessment was all multiple choice and this, in my opinion, was not an effective way of representing and measuring the learning that occurred in my art classroom. ○ I discovered authentic assessments during my time at UCF and have carried that interest into my doctoral studies.

About Debby UCF - Lecturer and Art Education Program Coordinator Ed. D, Master’s & Bachelor’s in Art Education Teaching Experience (25 th year) - ES (12), MS(2), HS(8) & University (this is my 3 rd year at UCF). Interest in Assessment - My ultimate goal is to improve teaching instruction and student performance. My dissertation and research focuses on assessment.

Authentic Assessment: What is it & Why? ● ● ● Our school system is built around a competitive race (Eisner, 1998). Students are compared to each other through standardized assessment measures rather than assessed in an authentic manner that acknowledges unique differences. In the art classroom, students engage in multiple forms of learning and their assessments should reflect this as well. Paper-and-pencil assessments focus on reproducing knowledge whereas authentic assessments focus on constructing knowledge (Koh, Tan, & Ng, 2012). Authentic assessments require students to construct their own meaning about what is learned. Authentic assessments simultaneously allow students to relate and discover real world problems. Authentic assessments allow students to hypothesize as routes to solve problems, create meaning, and draw conclusions rather than that of traditional assessments, which typically demand that students regurgitate facts.

Traditional vs. Authentic Assessment Traditional ----------------------- Authentic Selecting a Response ------------------ Performing a Task Contrived -------------------------------- Real-life Recall/Recognition ---------------- Construction/Application Teacher-structured ------------------- Student-structured Indirect Evidence ---------------------- Direct Evidence (Mueller, 2011) http: //jfmueller. faculty. noctrl. edu/toolbox/whatisit. htm (Fractus Learning, 2017)

Why is Assessment important? Assessment. . . 1. Helps studentsbecome more aware of expectations 2. Helps them understand their grades 3. Provides specific parameters for students to work within 4. Helps students understand assignments and thereby, improve their work 5. Increases student motivation and provides accountability 6. Allowsteachersto know whether goals and objectives for the program are being met 7. Helps teachers know how to proceed further with appropriate strategies 8. Improves teaching strategies and makes teachers more introspective. 9. Provides more credibility for the art program. 10. Increases respect from administrators and others. (Dorn, Madeja & Sabol, 2004)

8 Criteria Needed in Assessment Creation in Order to Make Assessments More Authentic: 1. Assessment measurements should reflect what students will face in the real world 2. Tasks should not solely focus on the correct answer, but on how students solve problems 3. Tasks should represent the values of the intellectual community, resulting in an aesthetic achievement 4. Assessment endeavors should be collaborative, not singular 5. Assessments more than one possible answer 6. Assessments should be relevant to the taught curriculum, but not the sole purpose 7. Assessments should focus on the process, not just the product 8. Students should be able to select which form of representation they want to use in their assessment process (Eisner, 1998)

Types of Assessments Assessment is one of the least well-developed and most misunderstood parts of art education Informal Assessment (formative) - Most assessments in the art classroom are conducted informally such as noting which students are engaged and which are not. ● Ongoing conversations about work in progress is one of the most common ways teachers assess student progress. ● Art teachers may offer encouragement or redirect students when they did not understand the concept presented. Formal Assessment (summative) – Formal assessments may include giving traditional tests, assessing student artwork using rubrics, and assessing a body of work in portfolios. (Hurwitz & Day, 2012)

Informal Assessments Exit Slips Rubrics to be used with teacher observations of students while working https: //www. theowlteacher. com/informal-assessments-list-ideas/ Formal Assessments: NAEP: https: //nces. ed. gov/nationsreportcard/arts/ https: //www. nagb. org/content/nagb/assets/documents/publications/frameworks/arts/ 2016 -arts-framework. pdf

Exit Slip – Please Put in Basket before you leave Name: 1) Draw a sketch of your finished combination pot on the back of this slip >>> 2) Which 3 tools did you use to create three different textures on your combination pot? a. b. c. 3) Write the color scheme and names of the glazes you will use to glaze your pot: 4) What do you like most about your pot and what would you change about it?

Visual Art Rubric Comments Category 4 3 2 1 Basis for score Preparation/Planning Research Sketches Craftsmanship Technique Neatness/Unity Creativity Original idea or changed significantly Avoids cliché Effort/Participation Engaged/Uses time wisely Citizenship Cleans workspace daily Total Score: ____/20

Try it out! Pick a benchmark and think of an authentic way to assess your students : ) Kindergarten 6 th-8 th grade 9 th-12 th grade VA. K. C. 2. 1: Describe personal choices made in the creation of artwork. VA. 68. O. 1. 4: Create artworks that demonstrate skilled use of media to convey personal vision. VA. 912. F. 2. 1: Examine career opportunities in the visual arts to determine requisite skills, qualifications, supply-anddemand, market location, and potential earnings. VA. K. H. 2. 1: Compare selected artworks from various cultures to find differences and similarities. VA. 68. H. 3. 1: Discuss how knowledge and skills learned through the art-making and analysis processes are used to solve problems in non-art contexts. VA. 912. S. 3. 6: Develop works with prominent personal vision revealed through mastery of art tasks and tools.

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Conclusion We as art educators can begin to make a difference in our own classrooms by providing students with a more well-rounded approach to assessment using authentic assessments, thereby showing students that they can be assessed in ways that enable them to construct what is learned rather than repeat what is memorized.

Deanna Filiault Debby Mc. Gann E-mail: djf 16 c@my. fsu. edu E-mail: debra. mcgann@ucf. edu Website: https: //deannajeanfiliault. wixsite. com/arted

References Dorn, C. M. , Madeja, S. S. , & Sabol, F. (2004). Assessing expressive learning: A practical guide for teacher-directed, authentic assessment in K-12 visual arts education. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. Eisner, E. W. (1998). The kind of schools we need: Personal essays. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. Fractus Learning. (2017). Bloom’s taxonomy verbs: Free classroom chart. Retrieved from https: //www. fractuslearning. com/2016/01/25/blooms-taxonomy-verbs-free-chart/ Hurwitz, A. , & Day, M. (2012). Children and their art (9 th ed. ). Boston, MA: Wadsworth. Koh, K. H. , Tan, C. , & Ng, P. T. (2012). Creating thinking schools through authentic assessment: The case in Singapore. Educational Assessment, Evaluation and Accountability, 24(2), 135 -149. doi: http: //dx. doi. org. proxy. lib. fsu. edu/10. 1007/s 11092 -011 -9138 -y Mueller, J. (2011). Authentic assessment toolbox. Retrieved from http: //jfmueller. faculty. noctrl. edu/toolbox/whatisit. htm