Author: National Assessment of Educational Progress

Publication Year: 1980

Media Type: Book

Summary:

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) has completed two assessments of art, the first conducted in 1974-5 and the second in 1978-9. Each assessment surveyed the achievement and attitudes of American 9-, 13- and 17-year olds, using a deeply stratified, multistage probability sample design.

Abstract:

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) has completed two assessments of art, the first conducted in 1974-5 and the second in 1978-9. Each assessment surveyed the achievement and attitudes of American 9-, 13- and 17-year olds, using a deeply stratified, multistage probability sample design.

To measure changes in performance between 1974-75 and 1978-79, approximately half of the exercises assessed in the first assessment were reassessed in the second under almost identical administrative conditions. To measure the status of art achievement in 1978-79, National Assessment consultants reviewed the objectives used in the first assessment and developed additional exercises to provide wider coverage of these objectives.

Approximately 7,500 9-year olds, 11,000 13-year olds and 13,500 17-year olds participated in the 1978-79 art assessment. Because there were more art exercises for 13-year olds than available assessment space, six exercises were held and administered in the next year's assessment (1978-80). During the 1979-80 assessment, 2,749 13-year olds responded to these six art exercises.

This report is designed to provide a quick overview of findings and their implications. Chapter 1 is a more detailed discussion of results grouped according to major art objectives. Chapter 2 presents information about how much experience students have had with art either in school or outside of school. Chapter 3 presents results for those exercises assessing the extent to which students value art and Chapter 4 presents information about their art knowledge. Chapter 5 deals with the various ways students respond to different kinds of art and Chapter 6 presents the results of exercises assessing design and drawing skills. The appendixes include materials such as art objectives, scoring guides and other information necessary for understanding the results presented in the text.

Unlike other National Assessment reports that limit interpretive remarks to a particular chapter, this report includes interpretive remarks and value judgments throughout, due to the nature of the material. These comments represent the best judgments of the art consultants  (Laura Chapman, Ronald Silverman and Brent Wilson) who are solely responsible for them. They do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Assessment of Educational Progress, the Education Commission of the States or the National Institute of Education. (p. xiii, xviii)

CONTENTS
List of illustrations.
List of exhibits and tables.
Foreword.
Acknowledgments.
Introduction.
General background.
Scoring.
Measures of achievement used in this report.
Estimating variability in achievement measures.
Organization of this report.
A note about interpretations and value judgments.

Chapter 1. Findings and their implications.

Encouraging findings.
Troubling findings.
The social, educational and measurement context of the art assessment results.
Comments about specific findings: what do they mean?
Implications of the findings.

Chapter 2. Art education and experiences.

Art in the schools.
Art outside the schools.
In summary.

Chapter 3. Valuing art.

Generalizations about the value of art.

Chapter 4. Knowledge of art history.

In summary.

Chapter 5. Responding to art: perceiving, describing, analyzing and judging.

Describing and analyzing the features of two stylistically different paintings.
Recognizing the theme, main idea and principal features of works of art.
Making and justifying judgments about the aesthetic merit and quality of works of art.
A comparative evaluation of two of Picasso's drawings of horses: judgments and justifications.
Judgments made about an advertising design.
Judgments made about paintings by Klee, Gorky, DeKooning and Henri.
Knowing and understanding the criteria for making aesthetic judgments.
In summary.

Chapter 6. Design and drawing skills.

Producing an original design.
Fluency of ideas for producing art.
Producing a commercial design.
Creating an expressive form.
Learning to produce art: Summary.

Appendix A. Art objectives.
Appendix B. Scoring criteria for necklace exercise.
Appendix C. Scoring criteria for six sketches exercise.
Appendix D. Scoring criteria for Big B exercise.
Appendix E. Scoring criteria for angry person exercise.

Bibliography.

Arts & Intersections:

Categories: Arts Education