Question:
Do you have any information on assessments of students in arts education classes?
Response:
In 2008, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in the arts was given to a nationally representative sample of 7,900 8th-grade public and private school students. Approximately one-half of these students were assessed in music, and the other half were assessed in visual arts.
The average responding score for music was reported on a NAEP scale of 0 to 300. Scores ranged from 105 for the lowest-performing students to 194 for the highest-performing students.
Responding questions asked students to analyze and describe works of art and design. The average responding score for visual arts was reported on a NAEP scale of 0 to 300 with scores ranging from 104 for the lowest-performing students to 193 for the highest-performing students. Creating questions, on the other hand, required students to create works of art and design of their own. The average creating task score for visual arts was reported separately as the average percentage of the maximum possible score from 0 to 100 with a national average of 52. In general, students who performed well on the responding questions also performed well on the creating questions.
School administrators were asked how often 8th-graders attending their schools might receive instruction in music and visual arts in 2008. Fifty-seven percent of 8th-graders attended schools where students could have received music instruction at least three or four times a week. Forty-seven percent of 8th-graders attended schools where students could possibly receive visual arts instruction at least three or four times a week.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. (2009). The Nation's Report Card: Arts 2008 (NCES 2009-488).
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