Brazilian Policies on Education Assessment

This chapter presents and discusses policies on education assessment in Brazil. A major evaluation system is examined regarding higher education (undergraduate and graduate). This evaluation system provides general guidelines and criteria for educational levels, and organizes evaluation procedures in diverse documents. Part of these documents includes evaluation in music education. The purpose of this chapter is to critically analyze documents that refer to the assessment of Brazilian education, discussing how such documents are interpreted and applied in practice. In general, the documents have internal coherence, and the main objective is to contribute to the quality of Brazilian education. However, the documents do not always interact with each other, which contributes to the partitioning of the assessment procedures throughout the education process.

Assessment of Creative Potential in Music

This chapter presents a review of important concepts for assessing creative work as noted in both the general literature and work in music teaching and learning. Definitions are established for terms such as “creativity,” “creative potential,” “naïve versus expert,” “person, product, process and place,” and “convergent versus divergent thinking”, and “creative achievement.” A case is made for the distinction between these and other key terms in the literature. The notions of levels of creative work is sstressed. Past research studies in the assessment of creative potential are reviewed including a summary of all published work using the Measures of Creative Thinking in Music (MTCM). Related work in psychology and directions for future study are noted.

Developing Tests of Music Performance Improvisation

This chapter presents a survey of research on the development and validation of a measure to assess instrumentalists’ ability to improvise music. It begins by framing efforts to distinguish between visual, aural, and creative forms of music performance, and the types of assessment tasks required to evaluate music performance improvisation. The chapter surveys a range of related measures that have been used to assess improvisational abilities in young developing musicians and provides a detailed description of the author’s own Test of Ability to Improvise (TAI) that he has used with beginning, intermediate, and advanced level school instrumentalists. Included also are examples of the instrumentalists’ improvisations and a discussion of the implications of the research findings for conceptions of musical development and practical applications within music education.

Music Teacher Evaluation

This chapter outlines the nature of music teacher evaluation found in existing and related literature and research. From these writings, there are an abundance of emergent themes that provide stakeholders with an opportunity to examine this topic and consider its application in their own settings. These themes include ideas related to the following: the intent of teacher evaluation; the role of teacher evaluation; what an effective teacher is; the importance of multifaceted evaluation systems; the place of student learning in the evaluative process; the various forms of evidence used to evaluate educators; the fact that research and practice should be intertwined in developing evaluation systems; the role of testing; the degree to which observation and self-reflection should be involved in teacher evaluation; the importance of clear and concise goals for learners; and the impact that systems of evaluation will have on the educators, schools, students, and American education as a whole. This chapter intends to allow stakeholders the opportunity to reflect on all of these issues and challenges.

Assessment in the Applied Studio in Higher Education

This chapter outlines the various lines of inquiry and research about assessment in the applied studio and makes recommendations for further research. It comprises three sections: the first focused on briefly defining the applied setting, the second on assessment of musical learning in the applied studio, and the third section on the assessment of teaching in the applied studio. The chapter explores previous research literature and illustrates the need for further work. It will be relevant for musicians preparing to become applied studio teachers, current applied studio teachers, and administrators seeking to evaluate the work undertaken in applied studios.

Using Accountability to Improve Student Learning in Higher Education Music Programs

Educational accountability has become an increasingly influential factor in higher education. This chapter examines various government oversight and accreditation standards in Central and South America, Europe, and the United States and how student learning in higher education in music can be improved through meeting these standards. The author specifically describes music accreditation procedures of the National Association of Schools of Music and the American Music Therapy Association in the United States. Using accreditation standards as a guideline for program improvement, the author offers a variety of assessment best practices to engage higher education faculty in the assessment process, to improve instruction, to guide curricular development, and to ultimately improve student learning.

Music Assessment in Higher Education

A major factor shaping educational assessment in higher education has been public and political demand for accountability, which often focuses on improving efficiency and effectiveness. This chapter provides a historical background of assessment in higher education; an international perspective of how expectations of accountability influenced assessment of music in higher education; a review of philosophical foundations of higher education music assessment, accreditor policies, assessment frameworks guiding curricular practice, alignment of policy to documentation of student learning, and barriers that hinder assessment in practice; and implications for future development of higher education music assessment.

Item Response Theory and Music Testing

This chapter presents an introductory overview of concepts that underscore the general framework of item response theory. “Item response theory” is a broad umbrella term used to describe a family of mathematical measurement models that consider observed test scores to be a function of latent, unobservable constructs. Most musical constructs cannot be directly measured and are therefore unobservable. Musical constructs can therefore only be inferred based on secondary, observable behaviors. Item response theory uses observable behaviors as probabilistic distributions of responses as a logistic function of person and item parameters in order to define latent constructs. This chapter describes philosophical, theoretical, and applied perspectives of item response theory in the context of measuring musical behaviors.

The Philosophy of Assessment in Music Education

Philosophies of assessment are rare, perhaps even more so in music education. This chapter, arranged in five “movements” intended to reflect various ways of examining assessment issues, considers prominent themes emerging from the music education assessment literature, such as accountability, authentic assessment, consequential validity, legitimacy, mandated testing, metaphor, power-knowledge, and self-determination. The author asks questions such as, To what extent should philosophical commitments be voluntary versus compelled? To what extent should music educators be able to collectively determine educative values and to what extent should others (policymakers, local communities) have a say in what should constitute valuable learning in music? A common theme throughout the chapter is the urge for caution and reflection so that well-intended assessment efforts do not undermine cherished goals for music education.

Assessment in Music Classes in China

This chapter outlines the historical background and current development of music education assessment in China. Following the revision of the national curriculum guidelines in 2011, the chapter analyzes (1) the value of the national standards at different school levels, (2) how the national standards affect teachers and schools, and (3) how much the teachers read/follow the guidelines in China. This chapter investigates and examines how assessment policy and practice are used in Chinese music classrooms from elementary, middle, and high schools. Furthermore, it discusses how local music teachers assess their music students and the effectiveness of the national curriculum guidelines used in music classes. The author determines that the current practice of music assessment at all school levels in China is too basic and not diversified. Designing a valid assessment that allows students at all levels to demonstrate their learning outcomes seems to be necessary for music education in China.