5.1 Principles to Guide Actions
Taking the specific nature of the subject into account, fairness, unity and feasibility are to be considered in school-based learning assessment design.
(Please refer to Arts Education Key Learning Area Curriculum Guide (Primary 1 Secondary 3) (2002), pp.73 76 for details of Principles to Guide Actions in Assessment and Conceptual Framework for Assessment.)
5.2 Aims of Assessment
There are three primary purposes for assessing students learning in the visual arts, namely:
�� To enable students to understand their own progress in learning and achievement including their strengths and weaknesses, so they can make improvement accordingly. Assessments of student progress should help students develop self-confidence and self-respect, encourage and motivate students, and help them take responsibility for their own learning;
�� To enable teachers and other educators in the schools to evaluate students progress in learning and achievement for the purpose of improving teaching and learning; and
�� To enable parents to understand students progress in learning and achievement and provide encouragement and support for them.
5.3 Assessment Domains
Assessment in visual arts learning involves two main domains: the learning process and learning outcomes.
5.3.1 Learning Process
Assessment of the learning process includes learning inside and outside the classroom. It focuses on assessing students generic skills, learning attitudes, and specific processes of art making and art criticism. Assessment will look at various kinds of information including dialogues, learning behaviour, written presentations and artwork.
Assessment of the art making process focuses on students visual arts presentation abilities. Assessment can concentrate on students portfolios including all related visual images, written materials, and records of exploration and experiment at various stages of learning.
5.3.2 Learning Outcomes
The design of the Visual Arts Curriculum Guide concentrates on visual arts learning, thus the major proportion of assessment should focus on the overall learning outcomes of the visual arts. The emphasis of assessment should be placed on the quality of visual arts presentations and the quality of critical understanding. Areas of assessment include finished visual arts works, artwork produced through an integrative learning process but presented mainly in visual form, and verbal and written responses to artwork. Assessment should take place in various learning stages in order to improve students learning.
5.4 Assessment Criteria
Assessment criteria should illuminate students learning process and learning outcomes. While designing the framework for assessing visual arts learning, three factors are to be taken into consideration: the requirements of special learning objectives, conditions of the individuals learning, and the presentation of the final artwork. Some principles of assessment derived from the aforementioned factors are suggested:
�� Criteria should reflect various aesthetic points of view, including Essentialism, Formalism, Instrumentalism, Phenomenology, etc;
�� Different cultural contexts of art making process, and the unique artistic presentation of learning themes should be considered; and
�� Students various learning contexts including those inside and outside the classroom should be addressed.
Assessing the visual arts includes both relatively objective and relatively subjective criteria.
Relatively objective assessment criteria refer to those aspects which can withstand objective tests and align with general principles in appraising works of art, for example, creativity and complexity. Such criteria can help students assess their common experience, aesthetic experience and arts experience. They can also be used to assess levels of achievement in the selection and manipulation in arts experience.
In addition, some relatively subjective factors are to be considered while assessing students artwork. Subjective assessment criteria concern mainly the levels of presentation of visual arts works, for example, the effectiveness and appropriateness of the expression of feelings and ideas in context. The effectiveness of communication relevant to the selected theme is the major concern in this form of assessment. At the same time, the characteristics of individual pieces of artwork are to be considered carefully while assessing students level of artistic performance.
5.5 Assessment Mode
In order to have a comprehensive assessment of students learning and to help them improve accordingly, various assessment forms and methods such as inquiries, observations, tests or examinations, presentation/illustration, portfolio, self/peer assessment can be adopted. The modes and frequency of assessment should be adopted in accordance with the learning objectives.
The use of portfolios is one of the assessment methods. A portfolio documents students feelings, ideas and production processes such as data collected during the learning process, reflection and opinions, and experimental artworks at
different stages. It aims at providing evidence of students experience, development and achievement in a specific learning area. The use of portfolios can also cultivate students organization and presentation abilities in the visual arts. A portfolio should have a target/purpose, for example, showing how ideas change. Sometimes students can be asked to choose and explain the content of their portfolio. It is also necessary to have explicit criteria for the assessment of portfolios.
Assessment involves two parties: teachers and students. Students can adopt self or peer assessment methods, which can help develop their capabilities and habits of self-reflection. While students are assessing their own or peers
performance, teachers can provide them with focused guidance in order to enhance the effectiveness of assessment for learning.
5.5.1 Formative Assessment
Formative assessment aims to provide immediate feedback for improving learning and teaching situations during the education process. It involves collecting relevant information continuously throughout the curriculum implementation process. As such, formative assessment should be conducted in every lesson/unit. Areas of assessment should not be restricted to finished artwork. Formative assessment can focus on the process of appreciating and making art including student portfolios containing written and visual information revealing different stages of students creative process. Formative assessment can also take into account students attitudes, generic skills, behaviour and motivation and consider all types of learning activities, such as written work, research, dialogue, and cooperative effort as well as art making.
Information and records obtained through different assessment forms and methods in various learning processes and stages can serve as references for formative assessment.
5.5.2 Summative Assessment
Summative assessment refers to assessment of achievement at or near the conclusion of the educational period (curriculum unit, module, semester, etc.).
It often refers to a students final art productions (e.g. a single finished work, a
portfolio of work, or an exhibition of art work). It can also refer to other final learning outcomes. Summative assessment contributes significantly to any type of grading or the assignment of levels of student achievement in art. Therefore, it should be thoughtfully conceived and carefully planned. Summative assessment also assists teachers and schools in reviewing the overall curriculum in the course of implementation, in setting the orientations of curriculum design, and in revising and improving the curriculum implementation.
(Please refer to Arts Education Key Learning Area Curriculum Guide (Primary 1 Secondary 3) (2002), pp.7679 for details of Assessment Mode.)
5.6 Reporting
Data collected from various assessment activities should be recorded and analysed systematically. They can serve as evidence for improving learning and teaching. An assessment report should indicate:
�� whether or not a student can achieve the level of requirement in basic competency;
�� the relative level of performance of each student in comparison with the same class, same class level or same learning stage; and
�� individual student progress in learning.
The assessment of student learning outcomes can be communicated with grades or scores together with some precise written descriptions depicting student performance, learning attitudes, and self-evaluation capabilities in visual arts learning. The result of assessment should be clearly and thoroughly recorded in students report cards as part of their learning achievements.