Assessment for the Arts: A Methodological Review - Research Paper Example

Arts assessments whether in visual, music, dance and drama arts, have often been performance-based where the students showcase their abilities and skills in art forms (The Arts Resource Guide, 2011). The methods employed by art educators to assess art skills and abilities and evaluate performance in such subjects has mainly been based on their experience and training as educators and as artists, that is the shared understanding of the level of standards required in each art form and the level of achievement that is required and expected of students in each art form at various development levels.

Lindstrom (2011) noted that the knowledge base of artists is different from those of art teachers in the sense that while teachers may know little about a lot, artists understand a lot about a little (pp. 8). The basis of this argument has been the main center stage in the controversy that has surrounded assessment in arts, as most educators and policymakers fear that art subjects may be reduced to "just another academic exercise” (Schonau, 1996, pp. 157). Over the years different scholars have studied assessment methods used in art, trying to understand their viability and validity in effectively measuring achievement and performance in arts.

Notable conclusions have been Gardner’s 1989 work which emphasized the use of student portfolios to assess their artwork (The Arts Resource Guide, 2011), and the Arts PROPEL program in the US, and Stockholm’s Specialist art which emphasizes process, perception, reflection, experimentation, peer review, and self-review in assessing performance from Lindstrom’s work (2006).Art offers unique combinations of imaginative, emotional, intellectual, and physical experiences that are completely different from other subjects.

The emotions in the face of an actor, the stroke of colors in paintings, the moves in a dancing body, and even the sounds and intricacies of music all define different languages and capture different feelings and ideas for learning and communication that simply are beyond mere words. Each artist is unique in their own ways, and art continually evolves and develops in newer forms.