Page 41 - CJOct25

ehe
arsal Br
e
Rehearsal Break
ak
R

Jennifer Rodgers, editor

Beyond the Attendance Sheet: Addressing Assessment in the Choral Classroom

by Skyler Bluemel

Grading principles that rely solely on attendance and Common problems related to assessing students are:
participation fall short of capturing a student’s true de- time constraints, workload, large class size, managing
velopment in musical skills and knowledge. While these diverse student abilities, and limited guidance from
measures offer some insight into engagement, they do administrators with minimal changes to assessment
not fully reflect a student’s understanding of musical practices despite the adoption of standards-based cur-
content such as theory, aural skills, or their ability to ricula. Many choir teachers grade students heavily on
reflect on their own musicianship. As educators, it is non-achievement skills such as attendance, participa-
essential to move beyond these traditional indicators tion or effort, and attitude. Music educator Benjamin
2
and embrace authentic assessment, or methods that Kambs suggested that reliance on non-achievement
1
provide meaningful, individualized feedback and mea- criteria prioritizes logistical convenience over foster-
sure student growth more accurately. This article will ing musical growth, noting a disconnect between what
explore the principles of authentic assessment and how teachers believed was important and the actual practic-
adopting these practices can enrich both teaching and es they employed, with most assessments being based
3
learning in the choral classroom. on ease and practicality.
The National Association for Music Education
(NAfME) does provide music educators with the Mod-
Framework el Cornerstone Assessments (MCAs). The MCAs are
Professional development in P-12 schools includes described as “focused on student learning and are not
support and dedicated research for assessment prac- evaluations of teacher quality or effectiveness. They are
tices, including readily available resources; those of- to be used by teachers to inform instructional decisions
4
ferings, however, often prioritize core subjects, leaving and curricular choices.” Although the MCAs are cer-
music educators to adapt generalized approaches to tainly helpful in providing supports such as scaffolding,
their specialized classrooms. This discrepancy between sequencing, and assessment criteria, they have not been
available resources and a lack of addressing the unique updated since 2017, and the size of the documents can
needs of music instruction presents ongoing challenges. be overwhelming.

CHORAL JOURNAL October 2025 Volume 66 Number 3 39