April 12, 2012

Art Assessment Techniques


At our April meeting, we discussed the importance of assessment in the world or art education. This has always been true, but especially in hard times like we face today, assessment can be your best friend in helping you advocate the importance of the arts in schools. A lot of people who have not had the opportunity to visit your classroom and see what you do, have no clue what goes on in your learning space. Using art assessments can help you validate the importance of your art program to your administrators, form solid evidence for you to use in parent interactions, and provide you with the appropriate information you need to decide what is working in your lessons and what is not.

We had some really great ideas shared at the BAEA meeting. Jill and Olsen both talked about how integral sketchbook assignments are in their classroom. Depending on the level that you teach, you could do anything from a guided daily or weekly prompt to a more open-ended sketchbook assigment where the students are in charge of what goes into it. Stacia shared with us that her children have a sketchbook that they are really proud of and their art teacher (Miss Mary Jane) has her students illustrate quotes in their sketchbooks.

Another great way to encourage higher quality work is by posting a "Craftsmanship Visual Rubric" in your classroom (like the one Lindsay uses in her classroom shown below). This is a wonderful way to hold your students accountable for your expectatations of them. This one is tailored to the grading system Lindsay uses in her elementary classroom, but you can alter it to fit your needs. I think it really helps students to have a constant visual reminder hanging up in the classroom.


Another good one is this worksheet that students can fill out called "My Art Portfolio." You can use it as a cover sheet for student portfolios and/or have students fill them out at the end of the semester/year as you pass back art for them to take home. Click here for a printable version of the form!






Another assessment I like to use with my students is the "Word Bubble Critique." Since I teach elementary students, the criticism that can come with a critique can be a bit daunting for students and teacher alike! So, I got some dry-erase word bubbles (like these from crayola) and during our critique I give each student two word bubbles and a dry erase marker. They swap art with a partner and are instructed to write a "glow" on one bubble and a "grow" on another. A "glow" would be something that the artist was very succesful with in their artwork...the"grow" would come in the form of a question or suggestion. For example, "have you thought about using more lines and detail?" or "Maybe you should try using more of a variety of shapes to make the composition more interesting." My students love this activity and it is a great chance for them to use the proper art vocabulary in evaluating art! If you don't want to buy the word bubbles, you could even cut some out of posterboard and laminate them...


Casey, Stacia, and Lindsay also had some great assessment ideas that included everything from interactive worksheets for visitors of your art show to fill out to rubrics, exit slips, student self-checklists, and more! I put some of them into a word document so that you can print them out and use them in your classroom too! Click here to get to the google document. Some of the pictures/formatting wouldn't translate to google documments so if you would like me to email you the file I would be happy too...just let me know!

Also, here are a few links to online resources that include articles, pinterest boards, assessments, and more:


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  1. RobynOctober 26, 2013 at 10:12 AM

    Is there any way to get a more detailed view of Lindsay's Art Rubric? I would love to create a poster similar of this in my classroom!

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