Questions about student assessment frequently are raised in Ohio arts classrooms. Does this first- grader use a variety of media to express her ideas creatively? Does this sophomore sustain his character throughout the class play? Does this middle school student understand the role music plays in our lives and how our society is reflected in its music?

Since the publication of the Ohio Department of Education’s new curriculum framework Comprehensive Arts Education: Ohio’s Model Competency-Based Program, Ohio’s arts educators are rethinking the role of assessment in education. The model urges them to recognize that assessment is not a final activity but a component of instruction that should be intertwined with and inform instruction. The model calls for assessment of student progress in the arts and standardized administration of annual district-wide, grade-level tests. By 2000, the Ohio Department of Education will require schools to submit copies of those tests.

Thanks to a $100,000 National Endowment for the Arts grant recently awarded to the Ohio Alliance for Arts Education, in partnership with the Ohio Arts Council and the Ohio Department of Education, Ohio’s educators and school districts are beginning a three-year arts education assessment project to improve arts education through more effective assessment.

"We are very pleased that the National Endowment for the Arts, through its Education and Access Program, recognizes the importance of this project," said Corwin Georges of the OAAE. "Typically, programs are funded at 40 percent of their proposed budget. Our assessment project was funded at 70 percent, which puts it in the top five awards granted this year." The goal of the assessment project is to give educators the assessment instruments, skills and training needed to meet the Department of Education’s deadline. It will target grades four and eight because they represent developmental benchmarks and those grade levels already are designated for assessment in other disciplines. During the next three years writing teams will develop, field-test and revise assessment instruments. Later, workshop leaders will be trained to conduct regional workshops at the ODE’s Regional Professional Development Centers.

Phase one of the assessment project has begun. More than 230 educators participated in a day-long assessment forum this fall. There will be a second forum in February with nationally-recognized experts to show Ohio educators how to make curriculum and assessment work together seamlessly.