Focus on Leadership: Re-Visioning our Focus

by Mariann Fox, 2005
Leadership Academy GraduateMy action plan as a result of attending the 2005 Leadership Academy was the creation of an arts assessment system. What ensued was a massive operation.  The life of this undertaking spans from grass roots research to a flourishing assessment that has endured 16 terms of evolution. Thorough debate and collaboration have established perspective on many questions: 

• What is the difference between classroom assessments and an assessment system? 
• What types of assessments are reliable and valid to demonstrate proficiency in the arts? 
• Are there other school districts or states that already have arts assessment systems? 
• Can the creation of a system and its parts honor the creative individuality that is so precious to the Arts? 

After gathering as much information as possible, I approached my fine arts faculty with enthusiastic hopes that they would share my goal.  They agreed to learn and work with me.  We are currently in our 5th year of this process and our middle school art teachers have added layer after layer into their assessment, the latest being technology.
 
“Re-visioning a Memory” focuses on a prompt-based mixed-media composition.  Students use their creativity to develop a unique work of art that is inherently personal, visually well-balanced, and representative of their media repertoire. Students take digital photographs of their artwork in various stages to exhibit and record their learning process. Once their work is complete and organized it is uploaded and presented through Microsoft Photo Story 3 for Windows.  The student records their own spoken words to narrate their artist statement, which is the product of multiple drafts of pre-writing and editing.

The art teachers gather to commonly score the student work at the end of the quarter. The original artwork and written artist statement shown through its documentation and narrated Photo Story are a much celebrated culmination of student success. It has been an incredible journey to see how far we have come.  I know the future will continue to inspire me as I work with the faculty to improve our assessments.

Topic for Conversation:

Can the creation of an arts assessment system that is valid and reliable also honor the creative individuality that is inherent and essential to the arts? Post your reactions or thoughts on the AEC Message Board.