Let's Assess the Situation

Art teacher Linda Carson stated "Grading art isn't subjective, it's qualitative. Instead of tallying the number of answers you get right, an art teacher assesses the qualities of the work, such as your choice of subject, handling of media, and control of the composition. That means, incidentally, that it's harder to grade art than a spelling test, an arithmetic quiz, or a multiple choice history exam. In general, it's hard to grade any assignment where the answers don't fit neatly on a computer card."

I completely agree. A teacher has to know his stuff to slap a grade on something a student's put her heart and soul into. In thinking about being an art teacher, I'm actually terrified of grading students. Grades were super important to me and stressed me out. I want art class to be something that's not stressful for my students, but that's hard to do while still maintaining high-quality expectations. This is what I had in mind when I thought of my formative and summative evaluation strategies-

Formative:
I think it's very important to be encouraging throughout the formative process, guiding a student through their piece not in a constrictive way, but with open suggestions and an attitude of helpfulness. This way you can make sure they're going in the right direction and fulfilling the assignment requirements. Ask questions about the art to steer them in a good direction, and also be very accessable so they can ask you, the teacher questions.

Give adequate time for them to complete the project. It's important to be lenient when it comes to art. I'd have them turn it in, but they can always keep working on it if they want a higher grade. I'd give final grades after viewing their entire portfolios.

Have a healthy mix of exercises and projects. You may not want to hang up a color wheel, but it's important to know that kids understand colors, and a color wheel's the best way to do that.

Finally, it's the teachers job to keep the class under control. My last formative strategy is to remove distractions, and pay attention to the effort the students are putting in. You can usually tell when someone is trying hard and when they're goofing off, and it almost always reflects in their craftsmanship.

Summative:

At the beginning of the year, I'd ask the students to do a picture of whatever they wanted with no instruction, just to show me what they can do, then I know what level their starting out on. What a great summation technique to have a visual comparison of how they improved when they compare that to their final pieces.

I find it really hard and time consuming to self analyze, but it's still helpful. I think they should tell me what grade they deserve and why before I determine their final grade.

I'd use a rubric for parents' sakes and probably write a note too. See http://www.goshen.edu/art/ed/rubric3.html - it had some great criteria.

Rather than having them take assessments I would have them keep a sketchbook. I'd give them a little bit of time in class, but they could always make it up by doing a sketch at home. At the end, they'd turn in their sketches. I think this is a vital way to tell if a student is learning how to perceive shapes and growing as an artist.

In the book, it mentioned a summative evaluation method that I actually saw my teacher use. "From the following list of what we did in art this year, mark those activities that you really liked, or from which you learned a lot. Write if there was anything about the activity that made it especially good." I think this would help SO much in choosing what things to keep in the curriculum.

I gave a few more than 6, but I find all these practices important. It's hard to grade art, and it was brought up in class- what if a student produces a beautiful piece that doesn't follow the instructions? I think, if you're doing your job as a teacher, it wouldn't even come to that. If students are working closely with an art mentor, it's unlikely that they would go in the completely wrong direction. However, if it came to that, I think you should doc a good chunk of points. There of course should be some given for artistic merit, craftsmanship, creativity, etc, but until they turn in a piece fitting the criteria, full points should not be given.

In short, if students have everything turned in, make good use of class time, and you can tell puts effort into their work, they deserve high marks.


http://lindateachesart.typepad.com/linda_teaches_art/2008/09/how-to-you-grade-art-assignments.html
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http://www.suite101.com/content/teacher-strategies-for-improving-instruction-a202797
www.goshen.edu/art/ed/rubric3.html