Ben Posedi

December 4th, 2023

Assessment Philosophy

In my view, the purpose of assessment is identical to the purpose of education as a whole: to help

students realize their full potential. Of course, a statement as broad as this requires further

dissection to be of any practical use. For the purposes of this statement of assessment

philosophy, I will define assessment in an educational context as “the evaluation or estimation of

the ability or quality of someone or something.” In a more pragmatic sense, the purpose of

assessment is to guide all parties involved in a particular educational context to make evidence-

based and ethically sound decisions which best realize the potential of the student(s).

To make such decisions, the information derived from assessments must first be as valid

and reliable as possible. That is to say, it must communicate the educational experience and

achievement of each student as accurately as possible given contextual restrictions such as time,

issues of objectivity, and remaining concise enough to communicate effectively. Beyond these

qualities, the assessment experience must also proceed in a way which best realizes the potential

of the student. Assessment data must be collected, evaluated, and communicated in a way which

challenges the student within reason, treats them fairly, motivates them, and socializes them in a

manner which enables them to integrate cohesively into society amongst other qualities

Achieving these goals is an endless and complex process with many interpretations. My

own opinions on the subject have evolved throughout my education degree at McGill and

throughout the last three months of this course. I expect they will continue to evolve as I gain
more experience teaching and as societal expectations change. In the end, the freedom permitted

to teachers means that my own values and biases will inevitably influence my assessment

practices. As such, I can only hope to make clear my current understanding and beliefs on the

matter as authentically as possible in the hope that one might understand where I’m coming

from. I suspect that the position I have taken above may be naive in its idealism, whereas the

reality of the institution of education is such that not all these criteria can be met by an educator

operating in many educational contexts. Sacrifices must always be made; however, it is my hope

that through development of fluency in best practices covered in this course, the effects of these

sacrifices will not be as great. To examine some of these best practices, I will explain and

subsequently analyze one of my assessments.

As a music teacher, I evaluate the playing ability of my students. I do this for a multitude

of reasons. It enables them to engage with their current level and develop the ability to achieve

short-term and long-term goals, it concretizes specific skills universally necessary to music

making, and it legitimizes music as an artform worthy of focused study. This often takes the

form of a “playing test,” where students perform an excerpt of music and I evaluate them.

Though some objectivity can be assessed in the accuracy of notes and rhythms, these are only

partial indicators of successful musicianship (one need only listen to the untamed voice of Bob

Dylan to understand my proposition). As such, I strive for clarity of expectations and objectivity

in my assessment. A primary step in ensuring clarity is developing and communicating a “table

of specifications” and “performance criteria”. As McMilan states, “a table of specifications is

sometimes prepared to further delineate what objectives you intend to assess and what is

important from the content domain.” (McMilan, 2023, p. 85). McMilan also states that “To

establish good criteria, begin by identifying the most important dimensions or traits of the
performance or product.” (McMilan, 2023, p. 317). To determine with relative objectivity that

which is “important from the content domain,” I draw from the Quebec Education Plan’s Music

Module and accompanying Progression of Learning document. In a recent evaluation of this

nature, I assessed Competency Two “Performs Musical Works” using their evaluation criteria

“Adjusts his/her musical performance to certain expressive passages in the work (e.g.

simultaneous changes in dynamics and tempo in relation to the expression required).” To further

specify the performance criteria, I developed and shared a rating scale wherein students received

a rating from 1-5 for accuracy of notes and rhythms, changes of dynamics, changes in tempo,

and effectiveness of expressivity. To ensure understanding of the criteria, I analyzed and graded

multiple examples of exemplary student work with my class.

Beyond communicating clearly, it is important to optimize validity and reliability. As

such, I revised the assessment with my fellow music teacher with whom I evaluated issues of

validity and reliability, fairness, relevance, and overall cost-benefit analysis. We decided to

reduce the extraneous factors such as performance anxiety which often contribute to noise and

obscure the true abilities of a student, it would be best to follow the principles of Universal

Design for Learning of “Providing multiple means of action and expression,” and allowing

students to submit a video recording of their excerpt. We also decided to include two shorter

excerpts (both from the students’ current repertoire to enhance relevance) rather than a single

longer one to obtain multiple sources of data and increase validity and reliability. We both scored

half of the assessments in collaboration with each student, to elicit the positive effects which

result from guided self-assessment (McMilan, 2023, 391). All these assessment procedures were

done with the goal of realizing the potential of each student. These practices enabled me to

determine with a higher degree of legitimacy the abilities of my students to “adjust their musical
performance to certain expressive passages.” I was then able to make the decision to focus in

greater detail on the nuanced nature of performing a gradual change in dynamic and tempo so my

students could play more expressively.

 Bibliography

CAST. (2018, January 12). Universal Design for Learning Guidelines version 2.2. UDL.

https://udlguidelines.cast.org/action-expression

McMillan, James H. (2023). Classroom Assessment: Principles and practice that enhance student

learning and motivation, 8th Edition. New York: Pearson Education Inc. ISBN-13:

Ministry of Education and Higher Education of Quebec. (2010, August 10). Progression des

apprentissages musique - gouvernement du Québec. Progression of Learning in Secondary

School Music. https://www.education.gouv.qc.ca/fileadmin/site_web/documents/education/

jeunes/pfeq/PDA_PFEQ_musique-primaire_2009.pdf