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Met deze toolbox willen onderzoekers van de Karel de Grote Hogeschool (KdG) (taal)leerkrachten ondersteunen om formatieve evaluatie te integreren in de klaspraktijk.

De gestructureerde fiches, achtergrondinformatie en praktijkvoorbeelden uit de lessen Engels en Frans vormen een inspiratiebron voor alle (taal)leerkrachten die meer tussentijds willen evalueren om zo het leren van hun leerlingen zichtbaar te maken en bij te sturen.

De toolbox geeft bovendien een overzicht van belangrijke randvoorwaarden om te komen tot leren in een veilig en stimulerend leerklimaat.

Je vindt de verschillende fiches via het overzicht, via de zoekfunctie of via de submenu's waarbij je kan swipen of doorklikken tussen de fiches.

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Kwaliteitsvol evalueren in ontwerp- en kunstonderwijs

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Kwaliteitsvol evalueren in ontwerp- en kunstonderwijs

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Frits Evelein

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Suite aux différentes discussions sur le fil #edmus, il m'a paru intéressant de proposer un outil d'évaluation et de conceptualisation pour le projet musical. L'idée est de proposer un outil commun à l'élève et à l'enseignant. À la manière d'un plan de travail, ce document a été construit dans l'objectif d'une approche libre qui permettrait à chaque élève de choisir ses propres objectifs.

Construit à partir d'échelles descriptives, j'ai réexploité les 5 compétences clés du projet musical en les organisant autour de 3 champs :

Définir les caractéristiques du projet (zone bleue)

Pratiquer le projet défini (zone beige)

et enfin, point d'aboutissement, Interpréter le projet et justifier les choix effectués (zone grise). Cette dernière partie sous-entend que l'élève ait déjà réfléchi aux deux premiers champs.

Cet outil peut avoir plusieurs usages :

Phase d'évaluation, d'autoévaluation

Possibilité que l'élève crée son propre plan de travail au début de chaque séquence (" je souhaiterais progresser dans telle ou telle compétence ")

Suivi de la progression de l'élève et donc de l'évaluation de cette progression

etc.

Remarque : Je tiens à signaler que le travail de Rémi Massé sur le sphérier va encore plus loin dans cette démarche. L'intelligence de sa proposition est remarquable et ouvre des portes encore plus larges qu'une simple vision par échelles descriptives.

Enfin, j'ai conçu un document vierge qui pourrait servir de base de réflexion quant à la réalisation du projet. Le document ci-dessous peut être distribué directement à un ilot dans le cadre d'un travail en collaboration, ou bien à un élève dans le cadre d'un travail plus personnel. Grâce à cette production écrite, les élèves seront amenés à justifier les choix d'interprétation par la suite.

Bien évidemment, il s'agit de propositions. Il n'y a rien de figé derrière ces documents. Certains points sont nécessairement discutables, alors n'hésitez pas à partager votre point de vue.

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Suite aux différentes discussions sur le fil #edmus, il m'a paru intéressant de proposer un outil d'évaluation et de conceptualisation pour le projet musical. L'idée est de proposer un outil commun à l'élève et à l'enseignant. À la manière d'un plan de travail, ce document a été construit dans l'objectif d'une approche libre qui permettrait à chaque élève de choisir ses propres objectifs.

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Plickers est une application gratuite qui permet d'évaluer facilement et rapidement les élèves. Le professeur entre sur le site ou dans l'appli les questions et choisi les réponses possibles, en proposant jusqu'à 4 réponses possibles ou " vrai/faux " .

Les cartes sont numérotées et sont attribuées à un élève, un jeu de carte peut servir pour toutes les classes. Il est possible de les plastifier.

En classe, les questions sont affichées en direct et les élèves choisissent la bonne réponse puis le professeur scanne avec un smartphone ou une tablette connectés à internet les cartes obligatoirement en portrait.
Il est possible d'afficher ou non les réponses des élèves
Les réponses sont gardées sur l'application.

Intérêt pédagogique

Evaluer rapidement

Permet une remédiation immédiate

Gagner du temps

Guider l'écoute et les réponses des élèves

Description
Application QCM sur smartphone/tablettes et en ligne.
Chaque élève a une carte avec un code qui lui est assigné sur laquelle 4 réponses sont possibles. Les questions sont projetées au vidéoprojecteur en direct et le professeur ou un élève scanne les cartes. Les réponses peuvent être affichées.
Une application très intéressante notamment pour les évaluations diagnostiques et formatives mais également sommatives pour tout ce qui est reconnaissance d'extraits sonores.

Ecoute d'extraits sonores : reconnaître un élément, une famille, un genre musical, mode de jeu....
Evaluations de connaissances : trouver la bonne définition, le terme qui correspond...

Limites Conditions de mise en oeuvre

Nécessité de cibler clairement la compétence travaillée/développée. Nécessite de concevoir des énoncés clairs et explicites pour l'élève

Doit être combiné à d'autres situations d'apprentissage

Matériel adéquat nécessaire

Donne des solutions avant la réflexion des élèves.

Restreint les solutions envisageables.

Ne permet pas de distinguer de manière précise... Hasard ...

Ne suffit pas à construire/valider une compétence.

Convient à une phase limitée d'apprentissage.

Nécessite une connexion internet de l'appareil mobile.

Avantages

Permet une évaluation très rapide des élèves, que ce soit diagnostique ou formative, éventuellement sommative pour des extraits sonores.

Évite les réponses confuses dues, non pas à un problème de perception, mais d'expression.

Permet une remédiation immédiate.

Permet de voir l'évolution et les progrès des élèves.

Permet une remédiation par les pairs.

Gain de temps.

Plaisir et implication des élèves.

Contexte d'application : Ecoute guidée, évaluations diagnostiques, formatives et sommatives

Déclinaisons possibles : Questionnaire fait par les élèves.

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Plickers est une application gratuite qui permet d'évaluer facilement et rapidement les élèves. Le professeur entre sur le site ou dans l'appli les questions et choisi les réponses possibles, en proposant jusqu'à 4 réponses possibles ou " vrai/faux " . Les cartes sont numérotées et sont attribuées à un élève, un jeu de carte peut servir pour toutes les classes.

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Introduction

This free course, Assessment in secondary music, explores assessment in music education. You will consider issues around the purposes of assessment in music, the forms that it takes, how you can ensure that these forms of assessment are appropriate and perceived as legitimate, and how young people can be fully involved in the assessment of their work, including making decisions about what is assessed and how it is assessed. Most of all, however, the course will have at its heart considerations of how music assessment can be musical.

The course identifies and explores some of the key issues and debates around assessment and music in secondary schools. Through coming to understand these issues and debates you will be able to reflect upon and develop your assessment practice. In particular, you will gain greater understanding of how assessment can support the development of young people's musical understanding.

Now listen to an introduction to this course by its author, Gary Spruce:

Download this audio clip. Audio player: nc3002_2016_pgce_assessing-music.mp3

Introduction to Assessment in secondary music by Gary Spruce

My experience of teaching in secondary schools taught me that assessment is one of the most difficult tasks for music teachers. Often what you want and need to assess in music does not map well onto the general school assessment systems. And the demands of these systems can lead to assessment which is inherently unmusical. For me it is important then that music teachers understand what assessment in music education is for and how it is best carried out in the classroom.

Music teachers need to make the case for approaches to assessment in music that support young people's musical development and that assess musical learning through musical means. Some creativity is needed in crafting these assessment systems.

This course is aimed at beginner teachers of music in secondary schools. It starts by looking at different forms and functions of assessment, what teachers should be assessing in music, how to make assessment musical. From there it identifies key approaches to assessment in the music classroom which will support young people's musical development and the key aspect here is involving young people themselves in the assessment processes.

Finally, the unit explores how assessment can be used to help teachers plan for further musical development, not to mention fostering a better understanding of the young people we teach.

Assessment is important and this approach should stimulate your thinking around this tricky area of teaching.

End transcript

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As you work through the activities you will be encouraged to record your thoughts on an idea, an issue or a reading, and how it relates to your practice. Hopefully you will have opportunity to discuss your ideas with colleagues. We therefore suggest that you use a notebook - either physical or electronic - to record your thoughts in a way in which they can easily be retrieved and re-visited. If you prefer, however, you can record your ideas in response boxes within the course - in order to do this, and to retrieve your responses, you will need to enrol on the course.

This OpenLearn course is part of a collection of Open University short courses for teachers and student teachers.

Learning outcomes

After studying this course, you should be able to:

recognise the purposes and forms of assessment and their application in, and implications for, music education

understand what to assess in music education

promote assessment for learning in music education

understand how to use assessment to plan for further learning.

1 Key issue 1: What is assessment for?

Assessment is typically categorised into two main types:

formative - assessment for learning

summative - assessment of learning.

Table 1 Types of assessment

Informal assessment

Formal assessment

Formative assessment:

Summative assessment:

performance examination

written examination

aural examination

end-of-term project

portfolio assessment

questioning

feedback

target setting

discussing criteria with learners

'closing the gap' activities

self-assessment, e.g. in relation to performance and composition

portfolio assessment

1.1 Summative assessment

Traditionally, one of the primary purposes of summative assessment has been for selection. Many will associate assessment in music education with formal examinations, such as A Levels or GCSEs, or instrumental and vocal grade examinations or, perhaps, music competitions and auditions. The results of these assessments were then used by others, either directly (for example in the case of auditions) or indirectly (in the case of examination marks/grades) to decide who should gain entry to bands, choirs, colleges or universities, etc.

These examinations/auditions, along with assessments such as end-of-term 'tests' and end-of-year examinations or assessment at the end of particular projects or modules, are all examples of summative assessment or 'assessment of learning' (AoL). Summative assessment is used to provide a snapshot of what a student has achieved in their learning (at its best it will show what they know, understand and can do) at a particular point in time in relation to specific and pre-defined criteria. It is assessment that looks back over what has been achieved.

1.2 Formative assessment

The main differences between summative assessment and formative assessment is that formative assessment is an ongoing process, looks forward and focuses on the development of musical learning. Its primary purpose is to help the teacher to gain an understanding of the young person and the young person to gain an understanding of themselves as a musical learner. It helps to identify any difficulties or misconceptions that the young person might be experiencing as well as where the young person is achieving particularly well.

An important aspect of this form of assessment is that it will involve the young person in the assessment of their learning - often through focused questioning - and thus support them in coming to an understanding of that learning. For example, verbal feedback for Teresa Green could be:

'Assessment for learning' (AfL) by its very nature focuses not only on a young person's learning but also on a teacher's teaching. Teachers who use AfL most effectively - and who are often the most successful teachers - are those who reflect upon the information gained from AfL and ask themselves the question, 'So what does this mean for my teaching?' They use AfL as a means to evaluate their own teaching and then draw upon this evaluation to inform their planning.

1.3 Evaluating assessment

Both summative and formative assessment represent different ways of getting to know students as musicians and musical learners. However, they are not mutually exclusive. As Fautley and Savage (2008) have pointed out, aspects of, and information from, summative assessment events can be used formatively (Figure 4). Equally, the evidence gained cumulatively from ongoing, formative assessment can also be used in a summative way and for selection.

The main focus in this course will be on the way in which assessment opportunities and information can be used to support students' progressive development as musicians and to inform teachers' planning for musical learning.

Activity 1

Timing: Allow about 1 hour

2 Key issue 2: What are we assessing in music and how should we assess it?

There are three kinds of musical knowledge:

Knowledge 'about' music: the 'facts' of music, such as the number of strings on a violin, who had the Christmas number one in 2015, what an 'ostinato' is, etc.

Knowledge of the 'how' of music: for example how to maintain a regular pulse or how to be able to play scales correctly.

Knowledge 'of' music: gained from immersion in musical experience and activity and leading to an understanding of music's unique expressive character - much in the way that one would know a person.

The last of these types of knowledge is the reason why we engage with music; it is that unique individual and collective relationship that we have with it. The other kinds of knowledge can support and enrich our knowledge of music but they are never sufficient of themselves and consequently should not be taught or assessed in isolation.

However, knowledge of music provides significant challenges for developing assessment strategies for music learning. It is much easier to pin down knowledge 'about' or knowledge of 'how', which is why music assessment has often focused on these types of knowledge: because of their ease of assessment not because they are more valuable or legitimate.

Year 7 End-of-term test (Knowledge 'about')

Q1: How many strings does a violin have?

Q2: Here is a Gamelan. Name the different instruments.

Q3: To what notes are the guitar strings tuned?

Year 8 Test (Knowledge 'how')

Q1: Write out a C major scale and indicate where the tones and semitones occur.

Q2: What instrument is playing at the beginning of this extract of music that you will now listen to?

Q3: Write out this four bar phrase in the alto clef.

Some of these examples are somewhat extreme (however, they are all taken from actual examples of music assessments) and it is the case that 'knowing' these things can be useful. However, the usefulness of such knowledge is limited if it is abstracted from a musical context where knowledge 'of' music might be developed. It then becomes potentially damaging if used exclusively (or even primarily) as a means of assessing musical understanding and assessment. However, the responses are easy to mark!

2.1 How do we best assess musical learning and understanding?

If developing young people's knowledge of music is to be at the centre of your teaching, it should also be at the centre of both the way in which you assess and what you assess. In this section we set out seven principles that we believe should underpin all so that it supports the development of knowledge of music.

First, and foremost, assessment should be musical. It should, over a period of time, encompass the full range of what it is to be musical and reflect the many ways in which people engage with music across a range of styles, traditions and cultures. For example, teaching and assessment that focuses exclusively or primarily upon performing and composing using notation provides a narrow musical experience and an inadequate basis upon which to assess musical understanding and achievement. These assessments should provide opportunities for all young people in a class or group to demonstrate their musical understanding and achievement.

Second, assessment should be integrated into teaching and take place through and within music-making and responding to music. Young people should be assessed as they engage in activities that would be recognisable as musical ones outside the context of formal music education.

Third, assessment should focus on developing the quality of young people's musical work. This then moves the emphasis of assessment away from the musical object - the composition, the performance, the listening test - to the learning student; how they demonstrate engagement with music across a range of musical activities and experiences. Assessments that depend on a single musical event or example of work will by definition be inadequate as they will not give a true picture of the young person's attainment and consequently fail to provide the formative support they need to move forward.

Fourth, assessment criteria should be specific to the project or topic being studied and the context of the musical activity and assessment should grow from this context. For example, it would be inappropriate to assess the performance of a song from Wicked by the same criteria as a folk song or an aria from a Mozart opera. Equally, one would not assess a minimalist composition by the same criteria as a reggae song. The starting point for assessment criteria is the music: what is important and of value within the particular musical tradition or culture within which the young person is working.

Fifth, assessment processes and criteria should be open to 'unexpected' learning that has not been planned for as well as to learning that is brought into the classroom from musical learning beyond the school. Teachers should try to avoid assessment 'myopia' by only recognising learning they had planned for and expected!

Sixth, assessment should involve young people in assessing their own work and that of others through discussion and self and peer assessment. Discussion between the teacher and young person is particularly important so that the teacher can gain an understanding what the young person is trying to achieve and also what they think they have achieved. This points up the importance of agreed and shared criteria and, as the young people develop into agentive musicians, criteria that is negotiated between them and the teacher.

Seventh, assessment done well will help teachers to evaluate the effectiveness of their teaching and support them in future planning for young people's musical learning. We cannot say that teaching has occurred if there is no evidence of musical learning. As Jo Glover (2008, p. 1) says, 'The connection between teaching and learning is not hard wired - we cannot say "I teach therefore you will learn".'

If these principles are followed, then assessment has a good chance of providing feedback and information that supports young people in reflecting upon their learning and developing understanding of what they need to do to improve.

Activity 2

Timing: Allow about 90 minutes

3 Key issue 3: How do we promote assessment for learning?

Black et al. (2003) identify four main ways in which assessment for learning can be promoted:

through questioning

through feedback

through sharing criteria

through self and peer assessment.

You will explore each of these in turn and then briefly examine the importance of talking with young people about their assessment and their music-making.

3.1 Questioning

As we have noted, one of the main purposes of assessment is to help us to come to know our students better as musicians. Questioning in the widest sense of the word is a key way to achieve this. Traditionally, questioning has been used primarily to test understanding of propositional knowledge; for example:

How many strings does a violin have?

What does pianissimo mean?

Who shot John Lennon?

These are what are known as 'closed questions' and tend to focus on knowledge about music. They are questions that are rooted in 'facts' about music and there is a tendency when asking such questions to require instantaneous or near-instantaneous responses - a kind of musical pub quiz.

However, questioning can be used in much more subtle and enriching ways to engage young people in their learning, to find out what they are trying to do in their music, and to encourage them to reflect upon and critically evaluate their work. Such questioning encourages young people to think about their music-making and what they are trying to achieve.

Black et al. suggest that in order to ensure that questioning is at its most effective, teachers should:

spend effort framing questions that are worth asking, i.e. questions which explore issues and which develop students' understanding

allow young people the time to think and expect them to contribute to the discussion

plan follow-up activities to check that the question has had impact upon learning and teaching.

(Adapted from Philpott and Spruce, 2007, p. 213)

Examples of questions that explore a child's engagement with music and their understanding of its expressive power (their 'knowledge of' music) might be:

That piece you have just played, what feeling or mood did you want the music to express?

How would you change the way you played it if you wanted it to express the opposite feeling or mood?

If you were composing some music to create these feelings what would you do?

Examples of questions that you might use to ensure that you and the young people have a common understanding of what they and you are trying to achieve and which explore 'success criteria' might include:

What are we learning today?

What are we going to do [musically] to help us to learn this?

How will you know if you've learned this?

However, if such questions are to be effective then they need to be used in a thoughtful way and not mechanistically.

Activity 3

Timing: Allow about 45 minutes

3.2 Feedback

Feedback is critical in ensuring that young people make progress in their musical learning. Feedback can take a number of forms. Occasionally it may be written but more often it will be verbal feedback that is rooted in dialogue between teacher and pupil. Feedback should identify what has been done well, what can be improved and ways in which such improvements can take place.

To be effective, however, feedback also needs to be detailed and undertaken sensitively and at appropriate times and places. Feedback should provide a basis for moving forward. It should be rooted in what the child can do and offer a clear way forward for taking the 'next steps' in their learning. These steps should be negotiated, clearly defined, achievable and engaging.

The point at which a teacher intervenes to give feedback is important and goes to the centre of the creative process. Most models of creativity are predicated on the idea of the creative process being one of the stages of engagement with musical materials and ideas. Young people need to be given the space in order to develop at their own pace and engage with music in their own way. As Philpott says, 'suggestions and interventions in what is already a successful creative process can breed resentment and alienation' (Philpott and Spruce, 2007, p. 215). Interventions might be used for the following reasons:

to praise and reassure the young people that what they are doing is on the right track

to suggest and discuss musical ideas with the young people

to refocus young people back onto the aims of the lesson when their concentration has slipped.

In all of this, however, we must not lose sight of the fact that it is possible to 'feedback' musically - through music. This can be done simply by performing to the young person another way of playing a phrase (many instrumental teachers do this) or by demonstrating what the addition of a particular dynamic nuance could add to their composition. It could also be through a form of musical dialogue, perhaps within the context of an improvisation.

Activity 4

Timing: Allow about 1 hour

3.3 Sharing criteria

We identified the importance of shared criteria in one of key principles for music assessment that were discussed in the previous section.

It is important that the teacher and young people have a shared understanding of what the criteria for success might be, whether this is negotiated or imposed. If what the young people are trying to achieve and the criteria that are being used to assess the effectiveness of their work do not correspond, then it is unlikely that the assessment process will be seen by the students as relevant or legitimate, or provide meaningful information about their musical learning.

Sharing criteria is, as we have suggested, a potentially much richer process than simply devising criteria (however laudable these might be) and then simply informing the students what these are - 'sharing' in the sense of 'telling'. Shared criteria can form the basis of pupil-teacher dialogue, which can result in students feeling they have a stake in the assessment process rather than it simply being an externally driven force that is being done to them.

An important part of this dialogue is negotiating with students the criteria by which their work is to be assessed. This may involve, as Gipps says, 'extended interaction between pupil and teacher to explain the task' (in Spruce, 2002, p. 127) and the basis for what the teacher counts as success either in their own terms or in terms of an externally imposed set of criteria such as examination criteria. Young people are then in a position to apply such criteria in an informed way to their own and others' work.

Young people can also be involved in defining the terms of assessment and the criteria for success. As Ross and Mitchell argue:

the teacher's assessment [needs] to take full account of the pupil's subjective world - that world where her particular aesthetic projects are conceived and her unique aesthetic judgements are made.

(Ross and Mitchell, 1993, p. 100)

In other words, an important part of assessment is to ascertain what it is that the pupil is trying to achieve and express; 'teachers and young people should sit down together in regular shared acts of assessment through talk' (Ross and Mitchell, 1993, p. 100). Talking with students enables teachers to understand what it is that the young people are trying to achieve and to ensure that this is taken into account in the assessment of their work.

Activity 5

Timing: Allow about 1 hour

3.4 Self-assessment

Self and peer assessment is a key element in enabling students to engage critically with their own work and that of others. Through doing this they can identify their strengths and plan how to move forward in their musical learning. Self and peer assessment encourages young people to actively engage in their own learning and to gain ownership of that learning. However, if self and peer assessment is to work well it needs to be carefully planned. It needs to be seen by the students as of value by complementing and adding to assessments carried out by the teacher or other external authority.

Dialogue between teacher and pupil(s) also forms an important part of self and peer assessment and is linked to the sharing (in the true sense of the word) of criteria discussed in the previous section. Criteria that are negotiated, agreed and founded on a shared understanding of what is to be achieved and how that achievement is to be valued allows for:

a dialogue about assessment between pupil and teacher based upon a common and agreed understanding

young people evaluating how well they have achieved against the learning objectives and outcomes. This results in greater learner autonomy and independence, which leads to...

the knowledge and understanding that allows young people to decide (with the support of teachers) what it is they need to do next to develop their musical learning.

Activity 6

Timing: Allow about 45 minutes

4 Key Issue 4: How do we use assessment evidence to plan for learning?

In this final section you will consider the ways in which assessment information can be used to enable a teacher to evaluate and reflect upon their own assessment and teaching in relation to their students' learning. We pose a series of questions and discussion points to enable you to structure your thinking when planning for teaching, learning and assessing in the music classroom. We ask you to consider issues relating to evaluating and reflecting upon your own teaching under three main headings:

1. Assessment: a question of value

2. Teacher as observer

3. Teacher as musical critic.

4.1 Assessment: a question of value

In this section you will focus on the extent to which assessment is of 'value' to the teacher and their students. Questions relate to the assessment's fitness for purpose, how it is planned for and the appropriateness of what students are being asked to do.

Table 5 The evaluation of assessment

Questions to consider

Related issues

Am I focusing sufficiently upon the musical quality of the students' work?

How do I define musical quality, ensuring that I take into account what this means across the full range of musical activities and in the context of different musical styles and traditions?

Am I making assessment an integral part of the lesson structure?

Is the work of interest and relevance to students?

Does what the young people are being asked to do build on what they have done before?

How do the lesson planning and assessment aid progression?

4.2 Teacher as observer

This second section identifies the things a teacher should be considering and the questions they should be asking of themselves as they observe the young people working in their lessons. These questions add a qualitative dimension to the assessment process that focuses upon students' engagement with their musical learning.

Table 6 Observing activities

Questions to consider

Related issues

Are the students working effectively on the task?

What is the quality of the young people's musical engagement?

Are you using assessment to support the differing needs of all your young people?

How are different young people's needs defined and how does the assessment meet their needs?

Are students developing ideas as well as skills?

When planning and assessing, how do I balance the need for the development of ideas to be supported by skills?

4.3 Teacher as musical critic

In this final section, you will consider the questions teachers might ask when evaluating the extent to which their assessment approaches support young people's musical learning.

Table 7 Assessment of young people's work musically

Questions to consider

Related issues

What are the criteria for musical success in the tasks I have set for the young people?

How can I demonstrate to young people the musical possibilities of the task they are undertaking?

How might I use my own musical skills to demonstrate what I want the young people to achieve?

Is the young people's work musically coherent and interesting?

4.4 Your assessment practice

These two final activities are designed to bring together your learning from this course and to encourage you to reflect on your assessment practice.

Activity 7

Timing: Allow about 45 minutes

Activity 8

Conclusion

In this free course, Assessment in secondary music, you have looked at assessment in music from a range of perspectives. You began by looking at the broad differences between formative and summative assessments and their workings out and implications for music education. You then learned about some key principles for ensuring that assessment in music education is always musical assessment. From there, you moved on to look at the different ways in which assessment for learning might be promoted in the musical classroom. The course concluded by considering ways in which assessment can be used by music teachers to support their planning.

References

Black, P., Harrison, C., Lee, C., Marshall, B. and Wiliam, D. (2003) Assessment for Learning, Milton Keynes, Open University Press.

Fautley, M. (2008) 'Assessment for learning and teacher education', drfautley [online]. Available at https://drfautley.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/fautley_afl_mmwebsite.pdf (accessed 6 June 2016).

Fautley, M. and Savage, J. (2008) Assessment for Learning and Teaching in Secondary Schools, Exeter, LearningMatters.

Glover, J. (2008) Planning for a Musical Approach to Teaching and Learning, Music Key Stage 2 CPD Course, Milton Keynes and London, The Open University and Trinity College of Music.

Philpott, C. and Spruce, G. (2007) Learning to Teach Music in the Secondary School: A Companion to School Experience, Abingdon, RoutledgeFalmer.

Ross, M. and Mitchell, S. (1993) 'Assessing achievement in the arts', The British Journal of Aesthetics, vol. 33, no. 2, pp. 99-112.

Spruce, G. (2002) Teaching Music in Secondary Schools: A Reader, Abingdon, RoutledgeFalmer.

Acknowledgements

This free course was written by Gary Spruce.

Except for third party materials and otherwise stated (see terms and conditions), this content is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 Licence.

The material acknowledged below is Proprietary and used under licence (not subject to Creative Commons Licence). Grateful acknowledgement is made to the following sources for permission to reproduce material in this free course:

Every effort has been made to contact copyright owners. If any have been inadvertently overlooked, the publishers will be pleased to make the necessary arrangements at the first opportunity.

Course image

© courtesy Jason Kubilius

Figures

Figure 1: courtesy of Gary Spruce

Figure 4: Fautley, M. and Savage, J. (2008) Assessment for Learning and Teaching in Secondary Schools, Exeter, LearningMatters

Figure 5: Redsnapper/Alamy
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assessment in secondary music: view as single page

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This free course, Assessment in secondary music, explores assessment in music education. You will consider issues around the purposes of assessment in music, the forms that it takes, how you can ensure that these forms of assessment are appropriate and perceived as legitimate, and how young people can be fully involved in the assessment of their work, including making decisions about what is assessed and how it is assessed.

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A dual approach to assessment, involving classroom-based assessment across the three years and a final externally-assessed, state-certified examination can enable the appropriate balance between preparing students for examinations and also facilitating creative thinking, engaged learning and better outcomes for students.

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Below are links to view and download the assessment criteria for each standard area. Rubrics are provided in both the full version (excerpted directly from the text of the National Standards) and a simplified "student-friendly" language.

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Assessment Rubrics - Music at Otto Petersen Elementary

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Below are links to view and download the assessment criteria for each standard area. Rubrics are provided in both the full version (excerpted directly from the text of the National Standards) and a simplified "student-friendly" language.

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This is a very useful tool to gauge participant feeling on a range of issues. On a large piece of paper or flipchart, draw the shape of a dartboard, as shown below. Decide on what aspects of the event you wish to be evaluated (you could also ask participants to suggest what aspects they would like to evaluate). Participants should make a mark in each segment of the dartboard according to their level of satisfaction. The nearer the mark is to the middle of the board (the 'bull's eye'), the higher the satisfaction. The further away from the middle, the lower is their satisfaction. After participants have placed their marks, you can discuss with them about the result. This method provides a snapshot of feelings. It can be used either at the end, or during a training event or workshop. However, it is not very useful for evaluating processes.

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This is a very useful tool to gauge participant feeling on a range of issues. On a large piece of paper or flipchart, draw the shape of a dartboard, as shown below. Decide on what aspects of the event you wish to be evaluated (you could also ask participants to suggest what aspects they would like to evaluate).

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Werryblog

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Explore the common themes that link artworks across time periods in American history. What might a portrait from the 18th century have in common with a 20th century multi-media sculpture? Examining artworks thematically allows for the examination and development of these subjects that transcend historical eras. Themes enable students to understand that certain topics are not wholly obscure and can be as relevant today as they were two hundred years ago. These themes are especially useful for Language Arts educators, who are looking to use an artwork to address a literary theme. Click on a theme to discover the related artworks that address the theme.

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Explore the common themes that link artworks across time periods in American history. What might a portrait from the 18th century have in common with a 20th century multi-media sculpture? Examining artworks thematically allows for the examination and development of these subjects that transcend historical eras.

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Assessment in the music classroom can be tricky. Many music teachers only see their students once a week-and sometimes even less-so fitting in quality curriculum, engaging songs and dances, games, books, and more needs to be balanced with assessing students' musical growth. Today I'm writing about seven things to consider when assessing in the music classroom.

Why am I assessing?

Your first response might be, "Because I have to!" Many of us do have to report grades, but what if you didn't have to? Why would you do it? Your answer might be because it provides you with data about students, it helps improve your own teaching, it helps improve their learning, it helps you differentiate, etc. There are a lot of valid answers, but it's still valuable to think about it.

Which assessments will I use?

This will vary from year to year and marking period to marking period. Will you listen to students sing individually? Will you have them dictate rhythmic patterns with dry erase boards and markers? Will you have them compose their own piece with known solfa and rhythms? Whatever the answer is, it's helpful to plan ahead for those assessments so you can make sure your students are prepared. I write my assessments into my year plan (for more info on a year plan, see this video). Although I might change the assessments I've planned, it at least gives me a starting point.

Which standards will I assess?

If your standards are like my state standards, there are a lot of them! You may have heard of the term "power standards," which refers to the standards that you consider the most important. When deciding on assessments, it's helpful to start with power standards and branch out from there. Assessing power standards first doesn't mean that you won't teach or assess the other standards, it simply puts importance on the standards which are the most necessary for students to understand.

How will I keep track of the data?

In the past, I've used everything from printed out class lists (like the ones found in this set), to iDoceo, to Numbers. This year, my district is now using Powerteacher. Although it's taken a while to learn the program (as I have to learn it well enough to train the staff at my school), it's been a really awesome way to input grades, as it pushes all the grades to the report card. Such a time saver!
I do sometimes use the Powerteacher app on my iPad to enter grades on the spot, but I've also loved using this small little notebook to write down observations, grades, notes, etc. So helpful for when I sit down to input grades!

I put the teacher's name and the assessment on the top of each page, then write down whatever I need to. Once I record the data into Powerteacher, I put a diagonal line on the page so I know the information has been recorded.

Will the assessment be formative or summative?

Some assessments will help guide your instruction and the students' understanding, while others will be used as a "final grade," or a grade to report to parents. Decide which assessments will be formative and which will be summative before assessing, and this will greatly help your thought process. You might adapt as you go-I've decided to change some summative assessments to formative once I realized that students weren't grasping the concept as well as I thought they were, so that I could provide more practice.

How will I grade the assessment?

Whether you use a plus, check, or minus system, or a detailed rubric, you'll want to consider how the assessment will be graded. I often use a 1-4 rubric, and either have the rubric attached to the lesson, or included in the lesson procedures. If you're looking for sample rubrics for the music room, check out this set.

How will I help those students who are struggling?

In past years, I simply helped kids by mostly targeting weaknesses in a whole group setting. However, over the past few years, I've really tried to focus on providing individual intervention whenever I can, typically during centers. I wrote this blog post about providing intervention to students struggling with rhythm. I will soon be doing this with third graders struggling with reading re patterns on the staff, and am looking forward to the one-on-one time with students to help improve their understanding.

What other issues do you consider when assessing students? Feel free to comment below, and thanks for reading!

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Assessment Strategies - Mrs. Miracle's Music Room

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Assessment in the music classroom can be tricky. Many music teachers only see their students once a week-and sometimes even less-so fitting in quality curriculum, engaging songs and dances, games, books, and more needs to be balanced with assessing students' musical growth. Today I'm writing about seven things to consider when assessing in the music classroom.

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Additional Strategies for Formative Assessment from The Music Crew

Part Check - Groups of 3-4 students sing or play their part together. Use VIDEO as a tool to speed up the performance process, and to allow you multiple views, if needed to determine an accurate score.

Exit Slips - Quick, formative assessments on lesson objectives Many in The Music Crew have great resources for implementing exit tickets in your classroom.
Music With MissW Floating Down the River
SillyOMusic - Free time signature exit ticket

Google Forms - With more and more schools providing computers or iPads for students, using Google Forms for quick assessment is very simple. The form could be a simple, electronic version of an exit ticket, or a longer quiz with various question types.
Sally's Sea of Songs
Station Activities - Teacher sits with small groups to assess. This is a great suggestion from Sandra at SingPlayCreate.

Peer Assessment - Students use a kid-friendly rubric to assess partner and give feedback.

Self Assessment - Students give themselves a 4-3-2-1 rating using a generic rating scale.

SingToKids - iCan Marzano Scale

Performance Assessments - Additional strategies for using performance assessments.

Organized Chaos - Assessment in General Music - Performance Assessments

Written Assessments - Sometimes you just need to have a paper/pencil record of students' learning!

The Yellow Brick Road - Assessment Bundle for Music

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Formative Assessment Strategies for the Music Classroom

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How difficult it is to assess music skills when we have hundreds of students! We are all familiar with the traditional analytic rubric

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BANDCHECK een digitale tool voor spelers in bands of andere kleine instrumentale ensembles http://bandcheck.nl/#/band/login

Bandcheck is het resultaat van een ontwikkelonderzoek naar een beoordelingsinstrument voor muziek. Het is een digitale tool voor zelfreflectie van spelers in bands of andere kleine instrumentale ensembles. De tool is ontwikkeld voor het gebruik in het VO met als doel zelfbeoordeling te faciliteren en daarbij handzaam, makkelijk en efficiënt te maken. Doordat leerlingen met de tool op het eigen functioneren reflecteren wordt deze zichtbaar en bespreekbaar.

De tool richt zich op de onderlinge muzikale communicatie van de spelers. Leerlingen beoordelen zichzelf aan de hand van rubrics in drie categorieën: horen, zien en bewegen. Het resultaat wordt getoond in een totaal scherm voor de hele band. Doel is dat de spelers van verschillende niveau's hun vaardigheden bewuster ter ondersteuning van elkaar en daarmee van het resultaat gaan inzetten. Het achterliggende idee is dat bij een goede (gelaagde) muzikale communicatie het totale resultaat beter is dan de som van de individuele spelers.

Als docent kunt u zelf het gebruik van de tool invullen en inpassen in de opzet van de les waarbij opdrachten gegeven kunnen worden voor zowel zelf- als peerreflectie en na te streven progressie.

Zelfreflectie: Door het (deels)invullen van de rubrics door de leerlingen.

Doelen stellen: Aan de hand van de ingevulde rubrics.

Vergelijken: Het (samen)spelen aan het begin en aan het einde van de repetitieserie of het spelen op verschillende instrumenten.

Peerreflectie: Invullen van rubrics over een andere speler/instrumentVergelijken met de zelfreflectie.

Bandreflectie: De sterke en zwakke input in het band spelen vaststellen. Met de leerlingen overleggen over het gebruiken van de sterktes en ondersteunen van de zwaktes.

Het instrument is een digitale webtool die werkt op zowel Google Chrome als Safari en is bedoeld voor het gebruik op beeldscherm of tablet.

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BANDCHECK een digitale tool voor spelers in bands of andere kleine instrumentale ensembles http://bandcheck.nl/#/band/login Bandcheck is het resultaat van een ontwikkelonderzoek naar een beoordelingsinstrument voor muziek. Het is een digitale tool voor zelfreflectie van spelers in bands of andere kleine instrumentale ensembles. De tool is ontwikkeld voor het gebruik in het VO...

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Samenvatting

Breed evalueren hoort bij een sterke onderwijspraktijk. Evaluatie maak je breed door verschillende bronnen te verzamelen, door te werken met verscheidene beoordelaars die op verschillende tijdstippen en in diverse contexten het leren evalueren. Breed evalueren betrekt de lerende sterk bij zijn eigen leerproces. Op deze manier ondersteunt breed evalueren het leren.

In deze publicatie passen we breed evalueren toe binnen het leergebied muzische vorming. Veel leraren ervaren muzische activiteiten als erg geschikt om de eerste stappen in breed evalueren te zetten. De eigenheid van muzische vorming stuurt inderdaad sterk aan op het gebruik van bredere evaluatievormen. Maar de uitgangspunten en de concrete brede evaluatiewerkvormen die je in deze publicatie vindt, zijn ook transferabel naar andere leergebieden

Deze ringmap bestaat uit twee delen: een informatief deel en concrete evaluatiewerkvormen.

In de informatieve handleiding krijg je een uitgebreid begrippenkader, een overzicht van domeinspecifieke criteria, suggesties voor een sterke evaluatie en meer duiding bij het breed rapporteren.

Het tweede en grootste deel van de publicatie bestaat uit concrete evaluatie- en reflectiewerkvormen:

6 fiches specifiek om met kleuters muzische activiteiten te evalueren en erover te reflecteren & 29 fiches om met leerlingen van de lagere school muzische activiteiten breed te evalueren.

Aan de hand van pictogrammen kan u op de fiche onmiddellijk informatie krijgen over de tijdsduur van de activiteit, de groeperingsvorm, de moeilijkheidsgraad, de leeftijd, de evaluator en of er ook kopieermateriaal voorzien wordt in de map.

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Breed evalueren hoort bij een sterke onderwijspraktijk. Evaluatie maak je breed door verschillende bronnen te verzamelen, door te werken met verscheidene beoordelaars die op verschillende tijdstippen en in diverse contexten het leren evalueren. Breed evalueren betrekt de lerende sterk bij zijn eigen leerproces. Op deze manier ondersteunt breed evalueren het leren.

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Volgens dit artikel zijn er 3 onderzoekers (Bill Lucas, Guy Claxton en Ellen Spencer) die onderzoek hebben gedaan naar hoe je de ontwikkeling van creativiteit bij leerlingen van 6 tot 16 jaar kunt meten. Zij ontwikkelden, samen met docenten en scholen, een methode van formatieve toetsing. Deze methode hebben ze vervolgens uitgeprobeerd op twaalf basisscholen en middelbare scholen in Engeland.

Het model bestaat uit 5 kenmerken op basis van houding en gedrag. Deze kenmerken geven een beeld van de creatieve ontwikkeling van de leerlingen. Deze kenmerken kun je hieronder kort op een rijtje zien:

1. Nieuwsgierigheid
Deelkenmerken: vragen stellen, onderzoeken, kritisch zijn over aannames.

2. Doorzettingsvermogen
Deelkenmerken: niet opgeven bij moeilijkheden, anders durven zijn, onzekerheid verdragen

3. Verbeeldingsangst
Deelkenmerken: spelen met mogelijkheden, verbindingen leggen, intuïtie gebruiken

4. Samenwerken
Deelkenmerken: producten delen, feedback geven en ontvangen, wanneer nodig goed samenwerken

5. Discipline
Deelkenmerken: technieken ontwikkelen, kritisch reflecteren, maken en verbeteren.

Per kenmerk kun je ook verschillende ontwikkelingsniveaus onderscheiden, van kleine ontwikkelingen tot grote ontwikkelingen. Ook heb je nog een aantal deelkenmerken, deze zie je onder het kenmerk staan. Per deelkenmerk kun je weer onderscheid maken sterkte, breedte en diepgang.

Dit model moet ingevuld worden door zowel de leerling als de leerkracht. De resultaten worden dan samen besproken. Zo kunnen zij allebei inzicht krijgen in verschillende niveaus van creatieve ontwikkeling.

Waarom wordt dit model eigenlijk gebruikt?
- leerlingen ontwikkelen hun creatieve vermogen door met dit model te reflecteren op hun eigen leeractiviteiten;
- de docent geeft feedback aan de leerling door middel van een gesprek aan de hand van de resultaten;
- de docent reflecteert met dit model op het effect van zijn of haar lessen en de gebruikte leermiddelen.

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Volgens dit artikel zijn er 3 onderzoekers (Bill Lucas, Guy Claxton en Ellen Spencer) die onderzoek hebben gedaan naar hoe je de ontwikkeling van creativiteit bij leerlingen van 6 tot 16 jaar kunt meten. Zij ontwikkelden, samen met docenten en scholen, een methode van formatieve toetsing.

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In een vorig artikel gingen we dieper in op de vraag ' wat is creativiteit? '. Daar kwamen we er achter dat er eigenlijk geen eenduidige definitie te vinden is van creativiteit. Maar, we ontdekten ook dat er verschillende manieren zijn om creativiteit te kunnen meten. In dit artikel geven we 2 manieren waarop je creativiteit meten kunt.

De twee hieronder besproken manieren hebben wel elk hun eigen doel en manier van meten, namelijk:

1. Meten hoe creatief een persoon is (het Guilford model)

2. Meten hoe creatief het werk is (de taxonomie van creatief ontwerp)

1. Het Guilford Model

De psycholoog J.P.Guilford richt zich met zijn onderzoek en model vooral op divergent denken. Volgens hem is dit goed meetbaar, en kunnen leerlingen (en docenten ook natuurlijk!) zich verbeteren op de verschillende onderdelen door veel te oefenen. Zijn methode van creativiteit meten gaat uit van vier verschillende punten:

Originaliteit en fantasie (gekke, rare, unieke ideeën)

Vlotheid (de hoeveelheid ideeën in een bepaalde tijd)

Flexibiliteit (hoe makkelijk je van 'plan' kan veranderen)

Complexiteit (de hoeveelheid details, het herkennen van patronen)

Deze punten zijn dus vooral goed toepasbaar bij een opdracht waar er gevraagd wordt om een grote hoeveelheid aan antwoorden. Een bekende werkvorm die hierbij past is de oefening 'Wat kun je allemaal maken met een paperclip?'. Leerlingen die hoog scoren op het eerste punt zullen vooral met unieke en bijzondere ideeën komen, en leerlingen die hoog scoren op het tweede punt zullen vooral veel verschillende ideeën hebben, enzovoorts.

Creatieve leerlingen zouden volgens deze test dan over het algemeen hoog moeten scoren: dus én veel ideeën, én veel verschillende ideeën én veel details. Dit geeft ook meteen de zwakte aan van de test: het zegt niets over de relevantie of waarde van wat er gemaakt is.

2. De Taxonomie van Creatief Ontwerp

Een andere manier van het meten van creativiteit meten is het meten van het uiteindelijke product. Peter Nilsson ontwierp hiervoor de taxonomie van creatief ontwerp. Hij gebruikt hierbij een eenvoudig te begrijpen afbeelding om te bekijken of een product qua vorm en inhoud creatief is. Hoe hoger de score, hoe creatiever het product is. In de volgende afbeelding is dit duidelijk zichtbaar gemaakt:

Zoals te zien is in de afbeelding gaat Nilsson hierbij uit van 5 verschillende punten:

Imitatie: Het ontwerp is hetzelfde als iets wat al bestaat.

Variatie: Er is een kleine verandering in het ontwerp, maar is het nog steeds duidelijk waar het ontwerp op gebaseerd is.

Combinatie: Het ontwerp is een combinatie van twee of meerdere andere dingen, zodat je kunt zeggen dat het iets nieuws is maar wel duidelijk gebaseerd op andere werken.

Transformatie: Het is een nieuwe creatie, met elementen van ander werk maar wel origineel genoeg om op zichzelf te kunnen staan.

Originele creatie: Het ontwerp is uniek en staat compleet op zichzelf. Het heeft nauwelijks tot geen verbanden met wat er al eerder gemaakt is.

Natuurlijk zijn dit ingewikkelde punten, en hangt het daarbij af van welk niveau je uitgaat. Het is dus aan de docent om dit goed in te schatten. Aan de andere kant biedt het wel een duidelijk en logisch overzicht, waarbij er verschil is tussen de inhoud en de vorm. Het is wat dat betreft ook een fijn instrument om van te voren te bespreken met leerlingen, zodat ze zelf bewust kunnen sturen op een creatief product.

Wat kun je er nu mee?

We weten nu wat er verstaan wordt onder creativiteit, en dat er daarnaast verschillende manieren zijn om het te kunnen meten. In een volgend artikel gaan we aan de slag met oefeningen en activiteiten die je kunt gebruiken om de creativiteit van leerlingen te verbeteren. En natuurlijk kun je het ook voor jezelf gebruiken!

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Creativiteit meten: zo kan het! - Vernieuwenderwijs

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In een vorig artikel gingen we dieper in op de vraag ' wat is creativiteit? '. Daar kwamen we er achter dat er eigenlijk geen eenduidige definitie te vinden is van creativiteit. Maar, we ontdekten ook dat er verschillende manieren zijn om creativiteit te kunnen meten.

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Het project ontwikkelde praktijken om artistieke competenties op een professionele én haalbare manier te evalueren.

De vier principes van artistiek evalueren drukken we uit a.d.h.v. vier V's:

De afgelopen jaren ontstonden er interessante nieuwe evaluatiepraktijken:

evalueren vanuit het gemeenschappelijke kader van de rollen;

samen met een team de kernen van je vak benoemen;

de eindverantwoordelijkheid over de evaluatie aan de leraar geven;

evaluatiefiches met het accent op verwoorde feedback;

externen en collega's inschakelen als feedbackgevers i.p.v. puntengevers:

vorming feedback;

...

Onze kijk op artistiek evalueren kan je lezen in het boekje evaluART.

In de brochure juryleden voor artistieke competenties vertellen we aan juryleden hoe ze met goede feedback echt het verschil kunnen maken.

Een palet evaluatiefiches uit de pilootacademies vind je in evaluatiefiches.

De overheid stuurde in 2014 en bij de invoering van de nieuwe structuur DKO de regelgeving evaluatie DKO bij. Deze aanpassingen liggen helemaal in de lijn van artistieke competenties. Deze veranderingen zijn hier op een overzichtelijke manier samengebracht.

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Het project ontwikkelde praktijken om artistieke competenties op een professionele én haalbare manier te evalueren. De vier principes van artistiek evalueren drukken we uit a.d.h.v. vier V's: Voedend: elke evaluatie versterkt de goesting om zich verder artistiek en veelzijdig te ontwikkelen. Evaluaties bieden voeding om een volgende stap in de eigen ontwikkeling te zetten.

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My resource for Music Teacher magazine on assessing without levels has recently been published (July 2014), and it describes in detail an assessment system my colleagues at Hayes School and I have been developing over the last seven or eight months. This system is based very much on Martin Fautley's writing, in his book Assessment in Music Education and his blog drfautley.wordpress.com. I have also had extensive and fruitful conversations with John Kelleher from Wimbledon College, and been very interested in the blogs of John Finney and Anna Gower.

The resource for MT outlines the way in which we have been using radar diagrams to assess KS3 students. Here is an example:

The different colours used here show what was done on different dates, and so over time a really detailed picture builds up that enables me to plan future lessons and give great feedback to the student. The crucial thing with these diagrams is to get right what is being assessed. So, to mix my metaphors in a completely gung-ho fashion, the content of the spokes of the radar is really important.

Using these radar diagrams over the last few months has provoked further thoughts about spoke content. Last Friday we had a department-based PD day at school, so my colleagues and I were able to discuss our thoughts at length. We also looked at John Kelleher's approach to using radar diagrams, as he had condensed his spokes down to five, and I had worried that our approach was over-atomising. Is 12 spokes too many?

We had other questions and observations that had come out of our use of the radars. 'Performance matches intentions' was something that we had had different interpretations of: my colleagues had linked this to what students had written down, whereas I had taken it to be about whether they had rehearsed effectively enough for their performance to be what they wanted it to be. We also found that we mostly gave the same marks for 'use of time' and 'group work', and wondered whether we should amalgamate these spokes.
Revised spoke content
Having had a look at John's slimmed-down, 5-point radars, we decided to stick with our 12-spoke model. These are the reasons:

Our projects are quite long (a whole term) and over the course of the project we expect students to work on every aspect (i.e. someone will not just be playing the bass line - they may end up doing that, but before that they will have played chords and melody, done some singing or whatever)

We enjoyed the lifelong learning skills aspect of our spokes: it fits with our school's ethos and priorities, and the important thing here is to find a system that suits your school and your students. For us, we really wanted these things to be part of what was assessed. We wanted to tweak the content, but keep this aspect of our system.

Although we fear over-atomisation, we felt that having the 12 points gives us a really valuable framework for giving feedback to our students, and tons of great information about their progress over time in all the different areas.

The result of all of this is that we have come up with revised 'spoke headings' which are now as follows:

1. Following instructions

2. Critique

3. Responding to feedback

4. Group/teamwork

5. Musicality/style

6. Ensemble

After that, there will be spokes specific to the project, but after extensive discussion we have gone down the lines of elements, such as melody, rhythm, harmony, texture, and structure, choosing whichever ones are relevant to the project and adding specifics such as singing, instrumentation, improvisation and so on as appropriate.

Tweaking the way we use the radars

The effectiveness of working procedures for any system of assessment is of paramount importance - it just has to work, in practice, in a busy and/or chaotic classroom. We had also been puzzling over the ways in which we could put the radars into the students' domain: i.e. make them work for students as much as they were working for us.

We are making five changes here:

1. Students working in a group will have their radars on the same sheet. This has meant we have had to formulate sheets for pairs/trios/fours/fives but having them all in the same view, with a space in the middle or at the side for comments that apply to everyone in the group, has proved a real boon to using them in lessons

2. Following on from (1), group sheets will be given to groups while they are working. Instead of us providing written feedback on a slip that gets glued into student workbooks, the onus will be on the students to look at the sheet, make decisions as to how our feedback affects their planning (and objectives for that lesson, if you want to look at it in that way), and make notes on a designated page in their workbooks. Our school is the sort of school that expects to see stuff written down. I have no wish to pursue the idiocy of a 'verbal feedback given' stamp, but wanted to put the onus on students and away from us, and give students ownership (even though that term makes me feel a bit queasy) of their feedback

3. Next year's workbooks will have a blank radar for each project. Students will duplicate teachers' radar marks in their workbooks, preferably using a new colour each time as we do, so that progress over time is super-visible to them, us, and anybody else who cares to look. Giving them the sheets while they are working makes this easy

4. There will be a space on the 'radar page' of the workbook for students to keep a running total of their points so far in the project. This makes progress over time really visible, and gives students something to aspire to.

5. Having such a thorough record of formative assessment during a project makes a big old summative assessment at the end redundant. Hooray! We have spent hours creating summative sheets that look like this:

However, the value of these has been mostly in keeping SLT happy, and their impact on students does not match the time taken by the teacher in producing them. So, by making the formative system so thorough, and in the students' domain, we no longer need to do this, as all this information will be known to students already. All they have to do at the end of the project is record their final mark, and complete a reflective questionnaire online for homework. This will be done as a Google form and will end up being printed out and stuck into the workbook - this replaces a system where we took up valuable lesson time doing evaluations which were not of much use to them or to us (many thanks to Anna Gower for the Google forms idea!).

The upshot of all of this is that we very much hope that less teacher time out of lessons will be spent producing written feedback, and that students will be 1oo% more aware of the content of their radar on a lesson-to-lesson basis. More responsibility will be passed to the student, which can only be a good thing.

Undoubtedly we will make more changes along the way... future blogs will outline exactly the shape these will take.

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Further thoughts on radar diagrams for assessing without levels

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My resource for Music Teacher magazine on assessing without levels has recently been published (July 2014), and it describes in detail an assessment system my colleagues at Hayes School and I have been developing over the last seven or eight months. This system is based very much on Martin Fautley's writing, in his book Assessment...

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About Assessment - Arts Assessment For Learning

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She has written numerous articles, including an award-winning article on rubrics for Educational Leadership (1997). She has edited or co-edited several books on classroom assessment, including the SAGE Handbook of Research on Classroom Assessment (2013) and The Handbook of Formative Assessment (2010), and has edited or co-edited special issues of Theory Into Practice (2009) and Applied Measurement in Education (2013).