How Is the NAEP Arts Assessment Administered?

For all NAEP 1997 assessments, a cooperative agreement between Westat, Inc. and the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES, the branch of the Department of Education that oversees the NAEP project), specifies the sampling and administration procedures for national and state NAEP.

To successfully administer NAEP assessments, Westat field staff receive extensive training. For the 1997 NAEP arts assessment, Westat staff were trained to do the following:

• videotape student theatre performances;
• audiotape student music performances;
• photograph student three-dimensional works of art;
• distribute kits of varied arts materials; and
• guide students through complex performing tasks.

View an administrative script for a theatre performing task to see some of the complex procedures that Westat staff needed to follow.

With the exception of visual arts, where students did drawings and a collage task along with written exercises, students were first administered written exercises in one session, and then performance tasks in another session. Separating the more active portions of the assessment allowed for:

• enough time to be devoted to complex performance tasks;
• organizing students into pairs or groups for theatre improvisations;
• videotaping of student acting;
• setting up instruments and recording devices for music tasks;
• distribution of large amounts of visual arts materials; and
• enough time to photograph three-dimensional visual art works for future scoring.

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Last updated 15 December 2003 (CC)