High-quality assessments are an integral part of measuring and monitoring student growth and informing classroom instruction. Arts educators are often left on their own to develop assessments and identify student growth measures, often without adequate assessment literacy. Research indicates that a large percentage of arts teachers do not believe they’ve been adequately prepared to develop arts assessments, feel they do not have time to revise and improve their assessments, and typically work in isolation to find or create whatever assessments they do use.
To address these needs, The Ohio Arts Assessment Collaborative (OAAC), a consortium of Hamilton Local School District, West Muskingum Local School District, Cincinnati Public Schools, the Ohio Alliance for Arts Education, Battelle For Kids, and the Ohio State University, has created an innovative suite of authentic, performance-based arts assessments to measure student growth for K-12 dance, drama/theatre, music, and visual arts.
These new arts assessments:
- Align with arts education standards in Ohio
- Were field-tested for validity, reliability, and ease of implementation
- Are available with professional learning resources such as scoring rubrics, administration guides, and examples of student work, developed to build the assessment literacy of arts educators
- Help capture the growth of students in subjects like dance, theatre/drama, music, and visual arts
Developed for Educators by Educators
More than 100 urban, rural, and suburban K-12 arts teachers, higher education faculty, and arts education professionals from across Ohio collaborated to develop, field-test, and provide feedback to inform the final version of the assessments. These individuals were identified by Ohio school districts Hamilton Local, West Muskingum Local, and Cincinnati Public, and the Ohio Alliance of Arts Education.
The 45 arts assessments were developed by grade band as established in Ohio’s new fine arts learning standards for grades K-2, 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12. The breakdown of the assessments includes 13 for visual arts, 13 for music, nine for drama/theatre, and nine for dance.
From the homepage (BattelleforKids.org/OhioArts), you will be able to access the following materials and information:
- Information about how the assessments were developed, and what organizations were involved.
- Assessments for K-12 visual arts, theatre, dance, and music.
- Administration materials, including administration and scoring guidelines, data collection sheets, and student performance examples.
- Learning resources for professional development.
PLEASE NOTE: Much of the website is accessible to the general public. The individual assessments are only available to educators who have registered with Battelle for Kids. Users who have previously used Battelle for Kids online solutions should use their existing login information here. First time users will need to create a new registration. Registration requires a district or school-specific access code. Your principal can provide you with your school’s access code, or you can look it up via the website by using your Educator State ID.
Ohio Alliance for Arts Education 