NEA GRANT FUNDS EDUCATION  ASSESSMENT PROJECT 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 project to improve arts education through more effective curriculum and skills assessment. 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 re-thinking the role of assessment in education. The model urges them to recognize that assessment is	Based on data from the U.S. Department of Commerce Bureau of Economic Analysis, consumer expenditures for admission to performing arts events in 1996 amounted to $9 billion or about 1.5 times more than spending on admissions to motion pictures or spectator sports.
	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. "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 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. "Ohio students, communities and taxpayers will all benefit from the cooperative relationship developed among the Department of Education, OAEE and the Arts Council for this project," Gorges said. "Our common goal is to develop and implement objective measures of teaching success." Phase I of the Assessment Project has started. More than 230 educators participated in a day-long assessment forum last fall and another in February. Nationally recognized experts showed Ohio educators how to make curriculum and assessment work together seamlessly.	This newsletter aims to keep Ohio's decision makers informed about the work of the state's arts agency. vWe'd like this to be a two-way street. If you have comments about the OAC's involvement in your District or area of expertise please send them to Beth Fisher at the address below. Thanks for reading. The Ohio Arts Council, a state agency established in 1965, builds the state through the arts - economically and culturally - preserving the past, enhancing the present and enriching the future for all Ohioans. The Council believes the arts should be shared by the people of Ohio. The arts arise from public, individual and organizational efforts. The OAC supports those efforts. Ohio Arts Council 727 E. Main Street Colbumus, OH 43205-1796 614/ 466-2613