AS PART of its commitment to improving the quality of teacher assessment, ACCAC has published new teacher assessment materials for art and music. The materials - ‘Exemplification of Standards 2000’ - are part of ACCAC’s Consistency in Teacher Assessment series, and provide examples of what the standards set out in the level descriptions for art and music mean in practice for pupils in key stage 3.
To exemplify standards in art, ACCAC has produced a booklet which contains more than 70 full-colour illustrations of art, craft and design work produced in KS3. It focuses on the work of four Year 9 pupils at different levels. A range of units of work is exemplified with contextual information and indications of aspects of each pupil’s work.
‘Exemplification of Standards 2000’ builds on ‘ACCAC’s Exemplification of Standards 1996’. The new maerials link with the Optional Tests and Tasks (ACCAC, 1997) and include revised assessment criteria based on the level descriptions.
Teacher assessment lies at the heart of good teaching. It is teachers’ professional decision about which level best fits the overall performance of an individual pupil. It may be that pupils will be more advanced in some aspects of the work than in others, and that no single level description provides an exact fit. That is to be expected, and the range of individual pupils’ work included in the materials for art and music illustrates making best-fit judgments under these circumstances.
Sue Cottrell is consultant subject officer for music at ACCAC, the QCA for Wales. INSET is available on these materials across England and Wales. Creative Conferences, tel: 01453 810488. E-mail: ccINSET@aol.com