In our data driven world, the music education field is one that is not left out. How we assess our students' progress in music can be tricky and historically subjective. By using Sight Reading Factory, High-Quality Student Data (HQSD) assessments can be fast, easy, more objective than traditional methods, give you real insight as to your students’ strengths and weaknesses, and guide you in just how you teach.
So, let’s set up a step-by-step guide for HQSD assessments using Sight Reading Factory:
1. Define Learning Objectives
Start by clearly identifying the learning objectives for the performance. What specific skills or knowledge do you want to assess? This could include but is not limited to:
- Rhythmic values (e.g., “Students will be able to perform these specific rhythmic groupings……… along with their respective rest figures”)
- Pitch values (e.g., “Students will be able to perform pitches in the key of C, F, and G, stepwise motion, one octave, with leaps only from the 5-3, and 3-1 intervals.)
- Intonation (e.g., “Students will be able to execute intonation within a ½ step of the indicated pitch)
2. Design Rubrics
Develop a detailed rubric to assess student performances. The rubric should align with your objectives and include clear performance levels (e.g., "Exemplary," "Proficient," "Needs Improvement"). Each category should specify what is expected for each level. Common categories include:
- Rhythmic precision
- Pitch accuracy
- Intonation
3. Select Performance Criteria
Choose the appropriate Sight Reading Factory level, or make your own custom level - which is great for beginners - that aligns with your curriculum and learning objectives. This level should provide opportunities for students to demonstrate the specific skills you intend to assess. Ensure it is age- and skill- appropriate for the students being assessed.
4. Plan the SRF Assignment including Automatic Assessment
Schedule the Sight Reading Factory Assignment incorporating the new Automatic Assessment feature for your students. Use the lenient grading setting if you want to omit any intonation considerations. Students can take these assessments at home or as an alternative, in class by taking turns in a practice room with a device set up for this particular assessment. One consideration when setting up your assignment is how many attempts you will allow. If this is an at home assignment, you may opt to allow as many attempts as needed. If it is in a classroom setting you may want to limit those attempts for time purposes.
The automatic assessment feature will automatically assess the pitch, rhythmic accuracy, and intonation (if enabled), thus giving you and your students an objective assessment.
7. Provide Feedback
HQSD emphasizes the importance of actionable feedback. Along with the automatic grade, consider providing constructive personal feedback based on your rubric. Focus on areas where students excelled and offer specific recommendations for improvement.
8. Track Progress Over Time
HQSD assessments are designed to show student growth. Plan to assess the same skills periodically throughout the school year. This can help you track student progress and adjust instruction accordingly. Students love to see improvement and growth, so consider making use of student portfolios or performance logs to document this.
9. Analyze Data
After completing the assessments, analyze the data to identify patterns in the students. Look at the overall performances of the individual students. What does this data tell you about your students?
10. Reflect and Adjust
After the assessment, reflect on what went well and what can be improved. Use this reflection to adjust your rubric, repertoire, or approach for future assessments.
Conclusion
We cannot overemphasize listening personally to each of your students in addition to using the auto assessment feature of SRF. When you do that you can include other musical performance components for grading such as posture, technique, and expression, in addition to those listed above.
Our mission at Sight Reading Factory is to help students read music better and to make the job of the music educator easier. By using SRF to create a HQSD music performance assessment, you will not only have a quick and easy assessment that is clear, objective, and aligned with your educational goals, but also receive useful data for student growth and instructional improvement.
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