Art Assessment - Introduction
The process of assessing students work should, in my opinion, check their level of understanding of the task. It should show the strengths and weaknesses of their work and also how they might improve it and with that provide a platform for self development. Assessment should not be solely delivered by the teacher, but rather be a two way process between pupil and teacher. The more that can be done in class, with the students, the better because once the student has moved on to a new piece of work then most of the learning has passed. For any skill based subject assessment should be about praise and advice.
I
dislike levelling, marking and grading work in too much depth because
what it really does is re-enforces the idea in the student's mind that
their artwork has a hierarchical structure. 'His work is better than mine'
and; 'mine is not very good.' It has as much of a negative impact as it
does a positive one. With this in mind I try to keep grading to a minimum
and try to focus on what we were trying to learn and how successful they
have been in demonstrating that learning.
I think that it is an important part of learning process that students be involved in marking their own and others work. It gives them a real sense of place for their own work and it helps them to see how they can improve their own work. When I am marking classwork I would get the students together and spread their work out in front of them in a suitably cleared area such as a floor or large table.
At a suitable point in the learning process (this is usually at the end of a learning cycle) we talk about the main learning aims of the piece of work and what we were trying to achieve. When these learning aim are clearly identified I might write them down. I then ask the students to think about how successfully their work meets these aims. How might you improve your work to meet these objectives? What have you done well? How might you improve your work in comparison to other student's? We would talk about this in discussion then I would give them a minute or two to write their thoughts down in their sketchbooks.
Then we would try to identify three main strands to the set of work in front of them. What would a qualities would a successful piece of work have? In what way would it be different to other students work? How would you be able tell if your work successfully met the standards for the project? What would a piece of work look like that needed improvement?
We would then decide as a group where to place their work according to these three strands:
A=Above Average All of the work that clearly stands out as being better than the class average should be put here.
B=Class Standard I would make it clear to students that this is the standard that the whole class should attain. This section usually makes up the bulk of the class work. I would re-enforce this to the class over and over again!
C=Needs Practice I would usually explain that the student needs more practice in order to reach the class standard for a number of reasons: Absence, illness or that the person needs more practice. Sometimes this is because the student has been lazy and simply not done enough work.
Of
course this method is is too simplistic, especially for Key Stage 4 work
as there are many more sub-strands of assessment in reality. However,
I try not to get too hung up on marking, grading and levelling especially
at a young age. My main focus at this age is to motivate and promote confidence
and skill. I want to show students how THEY can improve and find a general
place in the group.
Needs Practice (Exceptionally Weak) There is also an extra section in the Needs Improvement section and that is the Exceptionally weak work. Whilst it is true that many students are very weak at art, there is sometimes a correlation between this work and students with SEN needs. Whilst it is not always the case that SEN students struggle with artwork by any means, it is often the case that many SEN students find the fine motor skills of drawing and painting difficult. Often I might not include their work in the whole class assessment process if I feel it will cause them embarrassment.
Above Average (G&T) There is also an extra sub-division of the Above Average section and that is the G&T or MAT students work. It will be very easy to spot this work, everyone will point at is and gasp at how brilliant it is. I am at pains to explain to students that work at this level is exceptional and usually done by talented people who work with natural ability. I will naturally praise students and their work at this level, but I would highlight the fact that the majority of students should not compare their own work to this standard.
Usually, you can quickly see that there is a middle majority. It is in this area where the real assessment takes place. What you need to establish is:
What is the Level for the Class Average work?
My advice is to use the National Curriculum as your guide:
KS 1 students should be working at Level 1-3
KS 2 students should be working at Level 2-5
KS 3 students should be working at Level 3-7
So I believe that the Class Average should look something like this:
Year 1 Most students will be working at or around Level 1
Year 2 Most students will be working at or around Level 1 or 2 (Most students will begin Year 2 at level 1 then work towards achieving level 2 in that Year. Only exceptional students will achieve level 3 in Year 2)
Year 3 Most students will be working at or around Level 2 (Some students might only achieve level 2 within this year)
Year 4 Most students will be working at or around Level 2/3 (Most students will begin Year 4 at level 2 then work towards achieving level 3 in that Year.)
Year 5 Most students will be working at or around Level 3 (Some students might achieve level 4 in this year but I would be wary of giving level 4 too freely here)
Year 6 students will be working at or around Level 4/5 with the majority of students at level 4.
Year 7 Most students will be working at or around Level 4
Year 8 Most students will be working at or around Level 4/5 (Most students will begin Year 8 at level 4 then work towards achieving level 5 in that Year.)
Year 9 Most students will be working at or around Level 5/6 (Most students will begin Year 9 at level 5 then work towards achieving level 6 in that Year.)
Most Schools now use a system of grading work within the level in High, Middle and Low areas, or A, B and C. This helps enormously to differentiate work in the levels. So as a Key Stage 3 Specialist I can tell you that most work I see in Year 7 (the class average) is Level 4B. In Year 8 it is harder because students should move up to level 5 here, so at the start of the Year I am looking for students to hit level 4A then achieve 5C by the end of the year.
When
you have the Class Average Grade it is easy then to work out the grades
for the higher and middle students. If my class average is level 4B then
the Above Average grades will probably be level 4A and exceptional students
might achieve 5C or even higher. Needs improvement students will usually
be working at 4C or even 3A for example.
Remember this is MY interpretation of this, not any official guide. I think it exposes how poor the whole NC levels system is, when few teachers can understand what the levels mean and how to apply them. Trust me, even many experienced Art teachers haven't got a clue. The high, middle and low (or A,B and C) divisions after the grade go some way to helping, but in my opinion it is still very poor.
In Key Stage 3 many students might only move from level 4 to level 5 in three years. This is also true at Key Stage 1 and 2 where a student might achieve level 2 in Year 2 then not move from that level until Year 4. Primary teachers are steered into awarding level 5 in Year 6 by the marking system and yet Secondary teachers know that level 5 is hard to achieve in Year 7 since level 5 is where many students are in Year 9.
It is a bloody awful system. Good Luck with it! If you want to discuss assessment, if you think I have made some errors here or have your own opinions then please contact me.
