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The Arts In Every Classroom: A Workshop for Elementary School Teachers

The Role of Assessment in Curriculum Design Getting Ready

Workshop Leader Susanne Burgess engages the Learner Teams in a discussion of assessment strategies.

(10 minutes)


Learning Objectives

  • Write a performance task to use as an assessment tool.
  • Align the performance task with a unit objective.
  • Design a set of scoring guidelines, or rubric.

Guiding Questions


  • How can assessments be used as curriculum planning tools?
  • What is the difference between a performance task and a performance?
  • How can you establish effective criteria for assessment in the arts?

Materials and Resources

Opening Steps
At the conclusion of Program 5, you were asked to consider how you would use the “backward design” process to develop your own curriculum unit. Discuss the difficulties and successes you might expect.

Facilitator: Encourage participants to begin thinking about assessment by discussing these questions:

  • How do we know students have learned what we taught?
  • What is the difference between a formative assessment and a summative assessment?
  • How are formative and summative assessments interrelated?