Artistic Assessment

Art Assessment in the Schools

Educators are continually challenged to provide measurable, objective assessment of their students' growth and development. Art educators are no exception and are faced with the daunting task of assessing art. The Center for Educator Development in Fine Arts provides detailed suggestions for assessment of art students of all ages. These include assessment of the process and the product, continual provision of feedback during the artistic process, assessment based only on content or skills that they have been taught, provision of specific feedback, and the student's evaluation of his or her product. Naturally, the means of assessing these students varies with their developmental level, but focusing on the whole process of art production rather than the end product provides richer assessment and education.

For younger students, the assessment of the art product is limited. Young children are rarely insightful about their productions, though these products may be profoundly beautiful to adult viewers. For the most part, young children are curious about the artistic process and readily engage with the materials. The focus in assessing these youngsters is often social and process oriented. Are students able to interact with their peers in appropriate ways? Are they willing to try new media? How do they approach the task and solve new problems?

As students become older and increasingly able to reflect on and process their artwork, this too becomes an area for assessment. Students may be asked to provide a self-assessment of their work, have class discussions, or receive written and verbal critiques of their work.

High school students may be assessed by experts in the field, be expected to take oral and written tests about the properties of art, and be expected to research historical and modern artists. These elements add dimension to assessment and richness to art education. Knowledge of previous artistic movements and a developing awareness of the formal elements of art can be assessed. Are students aware of the relationship between form and function? Have they begun to master the technical skills of certain media? Do students pay attention to their process, and to their failures in addition to their successes? Are they aware of the context in which their artwork was created? These questions begin to provide an assessment of the students' process as well as their product.

Students who choose to continue with art education in college will be subject to assessment that focuses on product. Although process continues to be important, the final product becomes the representation of this effort. Students are asked to provide insightful reasons for artistic choices that reflect an understanding of technical skills, historical trends, and their thought process about the development of the piece. This type of assessment provides a detailed understanding of the process as evidenced by the final product.

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