What should elementary school children learn about music? How can that learning be assessed? These are two important questions to be asked by any teacher working with children in a school setting. If elementary school children are to be sensitive to the power of music and to grow musically, then careful planning and meaningful assessment of music learning must be at the top of a teacher's instructional agenda.
Learning and evaluating plans are often stated in the form of goals and objectives. Once goals and objectives have been prepared, instruction can then be planned, and the educational processes and products assessed. Student learning should be measured using methods that are reliable, valid, and performance-based, such as those used in authentic assessment.
Planning requires teachers to consider carefully what will be learned and how . Assessment necessitates examining how well or to what degree students have learned what was planned. These learning and evaluation plans are most often stated in the form of goals and objectives.
Goals are broad, general statements, usually few in number, that indicate long-range outcomes and reflect the philosophical basis for the curriculum and program.
Such statements are central to curriculum planning and development. Goals are articulated in state curriculum frameworks and for a school district's music program (K through 12). Goals may even be stated specifically for the elementary school music program. An example of a goal for a school district's Kindergarten through Grade 12 music program is to help students understand the role music has played and continues to play in the lives of human beings.
Objectives relate directly to the long-term goals and are simply more precise statements to make the goals operational.
Objectives are specific statements of what the students will learn as a result of music instruction and should be easily measurable.
Objectives are stated for immediate music-learning experiences, such as weekly or daily lessons as well as monthly or yearly plans. Again, state and district curriculum frameworks often articulate monthly or yearly objectives as well as goals. Teachers most often are responsible for preparing objectives for weekly or daily lessons.
Numerous books, articles, learning kits, and other materials are available to assist in the writing of objectives. The approaches and terminology vary, but the common denominator in most sources is that an objective should specify how the learner will demonstrate learning ( observable behavior). The verb chosen to specify desired behavior must connote observable activity. Action verbs such as sing, move, play, and clap clearly indicate how students will demonstrate their music learning. Verbs such as recognize, understand, and know do not connote observable activity and should be avoided.
Once objectives have been formulated, immediate learning experiences can be created that align with the goals. And once the learning experiences become operational, the assessment process begins. In this text, each model experience (an immediate learning experience) includes a stated objective indicating what students should know and be able to do as a result of that particular musical experience. An example of an objective for Model 19 ("Chinese Dance" from The Nutcracker Suite) specifies that students should be able to "identify aurally the high-pitched and low-pitched phrases that recur and to demonstrate that recognition by raising hands and cards during the phrases."
Note how students will demonstrate learning in this objective—raising hands and cards to show aural perception of the high and low phrases. This observable behavior allows teachers to easily assess student learning.
In addition to an objective stated in each model experience, a performance standard from the National Core Music Standards is also specified. Notice in the example below how closely the performance standard matches the stated objective. Again, the alignment between the objective and the standard are important for the next step—assessing student learning. An example of the standard (both in performing and connecting) for the same second-grade music lesson (Model 19) noted above indicates that students should be able to "demonstrate (by raising hands/cards) understanding of the music concept (high-pitched and low-pitched phrases) in an instrumental music selection" (MU:Re8.1.2a).
Finally, a clear statement of how to assess whether students have met the objective as well as the standard is also included in each model experience. The sample assessment for the second-grade music lesson (Model 19, p. 162) states, "Observe how successful students are in demonstrating and describing the differences between high and low phrases in similar compositions."
This assessment articulates that in order for students to show their understanding, they must be able to transfer what they have learned to other similar pieces of music.
Once goals, objectives, and standards have been stated and instruction has taken place, it is important to determine if and how well the objectives have been met. The first step in assessment should be to determine how well the short-term plans lead to long-range goals. This review may suggest that the learning experiences be revised or modified. See the cyclical process as illustrated in the following five steps for planning and assessing music learning.
Teachers must assess student learning in a reliable, valid, systematic way. Therefore, assessment in music cannot be limited to multiple-choice or paper-and-pencil tests. Techniques must be used that require students to demonstrate a particular musical behavior or skill. This type of assessment—one that requires actual performance in an authentic setting—is known as authentic assessment. Techniques for authentic assessment in music try to measure student progress in each of the artistic processes of performing, creating, and responding (Brophy, 2000: 19).
Fortunately, technology-aided methods have been developed to join the older, but still valid paper-and-pencil method of assessment. For example, one teacher describes using the Educreations whiteboard app to have her young students record themselves tapping on the screen to a steady beat. Later she reviews their performance and determines if they have met the proficiency level expectation. Another elementary teacher uses Google Forms for creating quizzes and placing them on iPads for children to individually work with. Using the iPad's camera for video recording and GarageBand for audio recording of student work is yet another of the many options for using technology in assessing music learning (Criswell, 2017: 32).
Assessment is an integral part of the National Core Music Standards (2014). In fact, the standards were created to be measurable and to offer valid and reliable ways to assess student progress. Model Cornerstone Assessments (MCAs) have been developed by the National Association for Music Education to provide methods for assessing each music standard. There is an assessment for every single performance standard at all levels. The MCAs are models to illustrate authentic assessment and are not created to dictate curriculum. However, they can serve as a guide for devising assessments. A list of the model cornerstone assessments may be accessed at www.nafme.org/my-classroom/standards/mcas.
Table 7.1 Guidelines for assessment
| 1 | Assessment should be standards-based and should reflect the music skills and knowledge that are most important for students to learn. |
| Assessment of student achievement should not be based on the skills and knowledge that are easiest to assess nor on those for which ready-made assessment devices are available. Instead, it should be based on the extent to which each student has met the standards established, and it should reflect the priorities of the instructional program. | |
| Assessment should not be based primarily on where the student ranks relative to a particular class or group. It should be based on whether or not the student has met specific criteria. | |
| 2 | Assessment should support, enhance, and reinforce learning. |
| Assessment should be viewed by both students and teachers as a continuing, integral part of instruction rather than as an intrusion into—or interruption of—the process of learning. The assessment process should itself be a learning experience, and it should not be conducted or viewed as separate from the learning process. | |
| Students should regard assessment as a useful tool rather than as a source of fear or anxiety. They should use it as a means of further learning and as a means of measuring their own progress. When assessment tasks are designed to provide information concerning the extent to which students meet standards that have been established for them, teachers can adjust their instructional programs so as to be more effective. | |
| 3 | Assessment should be reliable. |
| Reliability refers to consistency. If an assessment is reliable, then another assessment of the same skills or knowledge will produce essentially the same results. For assessment to be reliable, every student must be assessed by identical procedures and the assessors must share the same levels of expectation so that a student's score does not depend on who is doing the scoring. | |
| 4 | Assessment should be valid. |
| Validity means that the assessment technique actually measures what it claims to measure. The mental processes represented by the scores correspond to the mental processes being assessed. No measurement instrument should be used to measure something that it was not designed to measure. If there is a mismatch between assessment strategies and the objectives of the curriculum, the assessment strategies are not valid for that curriculum. | |
| 5 | Assessment should be authentic. |
| Authentic assessment means that assessment tasks reflect the essential nature of the skill or knowledge being assessed. The student should actually demonstrate a music behavior in an authentic or realistic situation rather than merely answer written questions about it. For example, the ability to play the recorder should be assessed by having the student play the recorder, not by having the student answer test questions concerning fingerings, hand position, phrasing, and note-reading. | |
| Assessment does not need to be based on multiple-choice tests or even on paper-and-pencil tests, though those techniques have their uses. Portfolios, performance-based assessment, and other techniques of authentic assessment have been used successfully by music educators for many years; however, these techniques cannot by themselves solve the assessment problems facing educators. A portfolio is simply a collection of samples of a student's work taken periodically for a specific purpose throughout the instructional process. Those samples must still be assessed, and the assessment requires not only careful thought about what should go into the portfolio, but also great care in developing suitable assessment strategies and appropriate scoring procedures. | |
| Assessment should be based on a holistic view of music learning. It should not concentrate on isolated facts and minutiae but should deal with broad concepts, "whole" performances, and complete works of music. Authenticity, like reliability, is a prerequisite to validity. | |
| 6 | The process of assessment should be open to review by interested parties. |
| Although assessment of music learning can best be carried out by qualified music teachers, it is important that students, parents, and the public be provided with sufficient information and help that they too can make judgments about the extent to which music learning is taking place in their schools. If their evaluations are faulty, it should be because of their lack of professional qualifications and not because of lack of information concerning the assessment process. It is especially important that students know what they are to be assessed on, how they are to be assessed, and what criteria will be used to judge their achievement. When appropriate, they should be allowed to participate in developing the criteria by which their work will be assessed. |
"Guidelines for Assessment" reprinted from Performance Standards for Music, PreK-12: Strategies and Benchmarks for Assessing Progress toward the National Standards. ©1996. MENC: The National Association for Music Education. Used by Permission.
No matter what method is used for assessing student learning, the assessment has to be valid, reliable, and performance-based. Table 7.1 presents six important guidelines for assessment. Teachers need to consider each as they plan and assess student learning.
Brophy, T.S. (2000). Assessing the Developing Child Musician: A Guide for General Music Teachers. Chicago: GIA Publications, Inc.
Criswell, C. (2017). "Using Technology in Assessment." Teaching Music, 24(3): 22-33.