Fast Facts

Arts

Question:
Do you have any information on assessments of students in arts education classes?

Response:

In 2008, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in the arts was given to a nationally representative sample of 7,900 8th-grade public and private school students. Approximately one-half of these students were assessed in music, and the other half were assessed in visual arts.

• The music portion of the assessment measured students’ ability to respond to music in various ways. Students were asked to analyze and describe aspects of music they heard, critique instrumental and vocal performances, and demonstrate their knowledge of standard musical notation and music’s role in society.

  The average responding score for music was reported on a NAEP scale of 0 to 300. Scores ranged from 105 for the lowest-performing students to 194 for the highest-performing students.

• The visual arts portion of the assessment included questions that measured students’ ability to respond to art as well as questions that measured their ability to create art.

  Responding questions asked students to analyze and describe works of art and design. The average responding score for visual arts was reported on a NAEP scale of 0 to 300 with scores ranging from 104 for the lowest-performing students to 193 for the highest-performing students. Creating questions, on the other hand, required students to create works of art and design of their own. The average creating task score for visual arts was reported separately as the average percentage of the maximum possible score from 0 to 100 with a national average of 52. In general, students who performed well on the responding questions also performed well on the creating questions.

School administrators were asked how often 8th-graders attending their schools might receive instruction in music and visual arts in 2008. Fifty-seven percent of 8th-graders attended schools where students could have received music instruction at least three or four times a week. Forty-seven percent of 8th-graders attended schools where students could possibly receive visual arts instruction at least three or four times a week.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. (2009). The Nation's Report Card: Arts 2008 (NCES 2009-488).

Related Tables and Figures:  (Listed by Release Date)

• 2012, Digest of Education Statistics 2011, Table 136. Average arts scale score of 8th-graders, percentage distribution by frequency of instruction, and percentage participating in selected activities, by subject and selected student and school characteristics: 2008
  
• 2010, The Condition of Education 2010: Achievement in the Arts
  

Other Resources:  (Listed by Release Date)

• 2012, Arts Education in Public Elementary and Secondary Schools: 1999-2000 and 2009-10
  
• 2011, A Snapshot of Arts Education in Public Elementary and Secondary Schools: 2009–10
  
• 2009, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP): This site provides access to publications and data on the reading, mathematics, science, writing, U.S. history, civics, geography, and arts achievement of U.S. 4th-,8th-, and 12th-grade students.