Formative Assessments for the Fine Arts: MAEIA Project
As has been the norm in the United States since the mid 1800s, collecting data to show academic growth is a HUGE part of a student’s life year after year. However, it has been extremely hard to hold subjects in the Fine Arts to the same standards, since our classes are not constructed the same way as a typical math/science/language-arts class is. For example, performance-based music classes rely primarily on the growth of the class as a whole, and how they can work together to improve the execution of any piece they are working on. Because of this, administrations across the country have been arguing that the Arts are not as important as other subjects that provide this sort of data collection much easier. The MAEIA Project is an attempt to allow Fine Arts classes to function on the same level as everything else in a way that is not detrimental to students’ understanding of the content.
It is important to understand that this movement is primarily funded by the Michigan Department of Education, but constructed by REAL Fine Arts educators teaching all over the state. There are two types of assessments: performance tasks (carried out by individual students or small groups of students over time) and performance events (administered “on-demand,” without any or just a brief amount of rehearsal time). Each assessment has been designed to fit within projects/units that you are already doing, and includes a list of each of the MI Benchmarks, NCAS Standards, grade levels it will work best for, their own MAEIA Performance standards, as well as create/perform/respond categorization.
Participants of the field study last year primarily tested assessments directed toward high school level students. This year, we are looking at those created for K-8 grade levels, as well as a few other high school level assessments that were not released the first time around. Teachers that have volunteered to participate are asked to choose no more than 6 of the assessments to use over the course of this year, and each one cannot be administered to more than 100 students. Once an assessment is completed, the results and sample work is sent back to MAEIA Officials for analysis and feedback.
MAEIA’s goal is to create the most effective way for Fine Arts classes to conform to what is being asked of ALL teachers, and to finally be able to hold these subjects just as highly as others. I am excited to see how this will work with what Mrs. Casteel and I have planned, as well as discover a whole new realm of resources to help construct even more meaningful lessons in the future!
For more information about MAEIA and Arts standards at the state and national levels, please visit the following websites:
www.michiganassessmentconsortium.org
www.nationalartsstandards.org
www.michigan.gov/mde
