ABSTRACT

Howard Gardner`s Project Zero, Educational Testing Service, and Pittsburg public schools have developed assessment techniques for the arts focusing on issues of creativity, problem-solving skills, and artistic process. In this project, called Arts Propel , making art is central to learning process and assessment. Perception and reflection activities are linked directly to student production of art. The assessment techniques developed in Arts Propel are currently being employed in this country in the name of performance assessment . This paper studies the various examples of assessment techniques employed in Arts Propel as well as their strengths and limitations in Korean classrooms. In Arts Propel student production, perception and reflection are assessed though project, portfolio and reflective interviews. Project means a kind of goal through that each student show his/her skills in problem-solving. Portfolio is a chronologically sequenced collection of each student works in various developmental stages. Portfolio permits an instuctor to see a long-term evolution of student thoughts and ideas. Reflective interviews provide chances each student to judge themselves. The criteria used for judging student performance play an important role in Arts Propel. Scoring criteria make public what is being judged and the standards for student performances. In many cases criteria include a description of the dimensions for judging student performance, a scale of values for rating those dimensions, and the standards for judging performances. Although the assessment techniques developed through the Arts Propel show many strengths such as longitudinal assessment, student direct involvement, fostering higher-level thinking, there should be some preceding conditions before applying to the fields of Korea. First, the improvement of curricular implementation should go with that of assessment techniques. Second, the importance of criteria should be understood by the teachers so that many efforts be devoted to develop criteria. Finally, the conflict between performance assessment and national curriculum should be solved. Because a project or a task, a major tool in performance assessment, consumes much longer time than a traditional assessment, the case often occurs that a sequenced set of curriculum is not fully covered.