Formative assessment in arts education lessons: episodic or integrated with effective teaching?

Abstract

The question of how formative assessment should be used in lessons: as an episode of feedback, or wider – as integrated with effective teaching has been researched on extensively. This article presents the results of the investigation conducted on the protocols of arts education (music, fine arts, dance, theatre) lessons imparted in Lithuanian general education schools. For the analysis, protocols with extreme (effective, 4 points and ineffective, 1 point) evaluations of formative assessment were selected. It was found, that of the lessons, almost in half (43%) of those in which the aspect of formative assessment was effective, all the other aspects were effective as well. In the rest of the lessons, all the other aspects (“leadership for pupils’ learning”, “learning experiences”, “pupil achievements and progress”, “learning environments”) approached close to the effective level (averages from 3.83 to 3.65 points). In these lessons, the teachers formulated learning objectives, assessment criteria, used feedback during task performance or after it and at the end of lessons. Of the lessons in which formative assessment was ineffective, the closest to this level was the aspect “pupil achievements and progress” (1.26 points). The other aspects were close to the satisfied level or a little over it (from 1.73 to 2.25 points). In these lessons, teachers didn’t use formative assessment at the end of lessons. Moreover, they didn’t relate feedback used in pupils’ task performance or after with learning objectives and assessment criteria. The results suggest that formative assessment should be considered as being integrated with the whole effective teaching. Keywords: formative assessment, arts education lesson.