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Assessment is more than a way of measuring; it is a vital tool that allows a teacher to communicate achievement and standards to the individual student, administration and greater community. The National Standards for Visual Arts grades 9-12 expresses, “They [the students] grow more sophisticated in their employment of the visual arts [as they go] to reflect their feelings, emotions, and continue to expand their abilities to evaluate the merits of their efforts.” This implicates the most important sentiment regarding assessment. Self-assessment is vital to student learning. Finding meaning through understanding progression is completely vital for student learning and continuing education
Assessment also needs to be a language of communication that can show progress clearly and effectively to the communities involved outside of the classroom. The greater community of parents, teachers, administrators, local community members, as well as state and national community members need clear communication of measured learning because of the school’s role as a public institution. At the center of all assessment lay the most important factor, the student. Clearly understood measurement of baseline and potential for improvement starts with the student’s understanding and participation. That is why all of the assessment designed within this curriculum has continual steps of student reflection and self-measurement.
Each method of assessment must meet two “umbrella” goals. The first goal is the assessment must communicate progress in a language that is clearly understood by the greater community outside of the classroom. The second goal is that each method of assessment will help keep track of a baseline measurement that is determined between the educator and the student.
Within the visual arts it is hard to assess how and where a student can excel above his baseline of potential based on the product. That is why the product will not be as evaluated as heavily or weighted as the steps the student needed to take in order to get there. These steps include weekly assessments of effort towards time management, respect to others, respect to space, effort towards learning, and class attendance. During projects assessment will be focused on time management, planning, critiques and journaling. This will not only be jointly assessed by the student and teacher, but also documented within a comprehensive portfolio.
Assessment however is not the center of learning, but merely a vital aid to reflection of progression within learning. The center of learning is the cultivation of the student’s desire to learn and manipulate meaning in the quest for wisdom. Assessment is the record of that quest.
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Portfolio Content
1. Philosophy of Education
2. Sample Unit Plan
3. Sample Lesson Plan
4. Daily Plan for Course Introduction
5. Assessment Statement
6. Assessment Examples
