The Development of Standards-Based Assessments in Music

Academic standards are public statements indicating what students should know and be able to do. Standards for music education have been developed and applied in a variety of ways across academic communities as guidelines that focus assessment processes. This chapter provides a review of the purpose of standards, policies that underlie the integration of standards into practice, the presence of national standards and the interactions between standards and curriculum. We provide an historical view of current standards-based assessment in music, an overview of standards based projects and the environment of educational accountability. We discuss connections to teacher evaluation and implications for future development of standards-based assessment practice.