More About NAEP ArtsThe 2008 NAEP arts assessment measures students' knowledge and skills in the arts by asking them to observe, describe, analyze, and evaluate existing works of music and visual art and to create original works of visual art. The inclusion of the arts in NAEP 2008 marked the fourth time the disciplines of music and visual arts have been assessed nationally. Music was first assessed in 1972 and visual arts in 1975. They were both last assessed in 1997. In 2016, NAEP plans to assess eighth-grade students in music and visual arts, continuing this 40-year trend that examines the importance educators give to the arts. The assessment was developed by a committee of arts and measurement experts to capture the goals of the NAEP Arts Education Assessment Framework. The framework, which describes the goals of the assessment and what kinds of exercises it ought to feature, was created by the National Assessment Governing Board through a comprehensive, national process involving teachers and researchers of the arts, measurement experts, policymakers, and members of the general public. The framework specifies that students' arts knowledge and skills be measured in four arts disciplines: dance, music, theater, and visual arts. In 2008, NAEP assessed students in music and visual arts only because of budget constraints and the small percentage of schools with dance and theater programs. The 2008 assessment is based on a nationally representative sample of eighth-grade students. According to the framework, at its best, the teaching of the arts will emphasize creating and performing works of art as well as studying and analyzing existing works. Thus, meaningful assessments should be built around three arts processes—creating, performing, and responding. The 2008 assessment evaluated the responding process in music and both the responding and creating processes in visual arts.
In order to capture the processes of creating and responding, the arts assessment consisted of the following types of exercises at grade 8 (the assessment was only administered at grade 8 due to budget constraints):
NAEP also gives questionnaires to teachers, students, and schools that are part of the NAEP sample. Responses to these questionnaires give NAEP information about how teachers teach dance, music, theater, and visual arts, what kinds of arts learning students experience in schools, and what kinds of opportunities for arts education are made available by schools. Learn more about NAEP, the nation's only ongoing assessment of what students know and can do in various subject areas. View the NAEP 2008 Arts Report Card.
|
