New+Assessments

=Examples and Evaluations of New Assessments=

These are new types of assessments that I chose to use from Donna Kay Beattie's book, __Assessment in Art Education__. After reading and discussing Chapter one from this and our other art assessment book, Leslie asked us to read on our own these four chapters and pull one technique from each chapter to try in our classrooms.

I'm really glad I did this in this way. While __Assessment in Art Education__ is a very helpful resource, it is also a bit overwhelming to me. It is so full of ideas and things to try that I didn't know where to start. Having sorted out some of my own ideas about assessment, I could look at these chapters and more readily decide what could work for me. Picking just one to start with really helped. After using them and seeing how well my students responded across the board, I am encouraged to experiment even more.

Chapter Three: Judging Credibility Questions (talking about American art)
I decided to use this with some of my younger students as a way to look at and talk about art as a game. I selected several works of American art and art historical interpretations of them from the //Picturing America// series produced by the National Endowment for the Humanities. I also chose other unrelated art historical interpretations of other works. Each student had two cards, one labeled "Good Interpretation" and one labeled "Undetermined Interpretation." Each card also had either a smiley face (good) and a check mark, or a flat face (undetermined) and a question mark. As we looked at a poster reproduction of each artwork, I read and displayed one of the interpretations using the digital projector. Students had to respond to the interpretation by holding up one of the cards. We then discussed why they thought it was either good or undetermined.

//Picturing America// series from the National Endowment for the Humanities: []

View the Google Presentation of art historical statements here: []

View a response to this lesson by a student here:

media type="youtube" key="3AqaMOvdDrU" height="344" width="425"

I found that this way of dialoguing with students about artworks was easy for them to understand and fully participate in, and that they enjoyed learning more about art in this way.

Chapter Four: Checklists for characteristics present in an art product or steps in an art process (Roy G. Biv paintings)
I used a checklist to assess first grade students' understanding of using primary colors to mix secondary colors and painting in spectral order. After we made our paintings, I asked students to identify certain characteristics in their own paintings, "Point to the green you made. What colors are on either side of the green?" so students could evaluate their own level of understanding. This exercise really made it clear who had learned about mixing colors and the spectral relationship. I was able to reteach some concepts during the discussion so even if the student's product did not necessarily demonstrate full grasp, they had the opportunity to relearn and verbally demonstrate their learning. Some students who had been absent from the previous art class were able to absorb the essential color relationships just from our discussion and eagerly contributed after they grasped the concepts.

View the checklist assessment tool as a part of the lesson plan here: []

View students talking about their paintings here: media type="youtube" key="kKNO5nS1-K0" height="344" width="425"

Using a checklist is more appropriate to assess whether evidence of learning is present or not following practicing a skill or a process. For example, the checklist I used to assess this project referred to students being able to mix primary colors to create secondary colors, which is a process.

Chapter Five: Cooperation assessment (sixth grade commercials)
This cooperative assessment sets groups up as small businesses with the members being employees. Each group appoints a "Quality Control Spokesperson" to report to the teacher about ongoing group dynamics. If a member is not performing, they are to receive written notice of their unsatisfactory performance, followed by a period for corrective action. Lacking that, they can be released from the group. They then have to apply to another group for a job.

I used this assessment with a group project in the sixth grade. Students learned about eco-friendly products, then created and filmed a commercial for an eco-friendly product using the Vado. The product could be an existing product or one they invented or improved. During the course of the project, groups solved problems on their own and came to many different types of solutions: making models, costumes, props, backdrops, etc.

View this video taped after a class in which an "employee" was given notice: media type="youtube" key="b9eNLRyBg-0" height="344" width="425"

The assessment technique significantly improved my own and my students' experience of group work. The students really enjoyed having a way to keep their fellow students responsible without just complaining at them. I found that it really did inspire communication and improved group dynamics. I think it also teaches students a valuable lesson about what happens when we do and don't communicate our expectations of one another.

Chapter Six: Analytic scoring rubric for summative task (sixth grade commercials)
After becoming more familiar with analytic scoring rubrics during the writing of the standards-based unit, I decided I wanted to use these more with older students. In order to introduce this to my students, I asked them to describe the criteria we should use to evaluate our work after I had introduced a new task. I polled each class through the week and complied their responses on a Google Doc. After we had begun the project, I briefly reviewed the criteria with them, noting which criteria had the highest frequency of occurrence across groups. Together we decided which could be combined and which were necessary and then came to agreement on a list. We referred to these often as we worked on our projects.

View the Google Doc with a list of criteria compiled by students here: []

View the revised list of criteria here: []

As we worked, we refined the list into a working rubric. View the final version here: []

View a response to the use of the rubric here: media type="youtube" key="zQJpuOVPl8Q" height="344" width="425"

I found that active involvement by students in creating scoring criteria helped them more fully engage in the learning process, challenged them to think of assessment, and spontaneously self-assess during work on the project.