May 12, 2020
Burrack and Payne publish text on assessment in music
Submitted by Frederick Burrack
Frederick Burrack, director of assessment, and Phillip Payne, associate professor of music education, along with Kelly Parkes from Columbia University and Brian Wesolowski from the University of Georgia, recently published a text on assessment in music education titled, "Developing and Applying Assessments in the Music Classroom," Routledge Pub.
"Developing and Applying Assessments in the Music Classroom" addresses the challenges faced by today's K-12 educators and future music educators who are expected to use and incorporate assessment data as a hallmark of student learning and reflection of effective teaching. Highlighting best practices while presenting current scholarship and literature, this practical workbook-style text provides future music teachers with a framework for integrating assessment processes in the face of a certain lack of understanding and possible dissatisfaction with assessment tools and tasks.
Each chapter is prefaced by an overview outlining learning expectations and essential questions, and supplemented throughout by an array of pedagogical features: Discussion prompts; activities and worksheets; learning experiences; expanded reference lists citing examples across a range of musical settings — e.g., band, chorus, orchestra, jazz, and piano and guitar labs. "Developing and Applying Assessments in the Music Classroom" builds from the classroom assessment paradigm, encouraging teachers to create assessment tasks most appropriate to their curricula goals and planned student outcomes.