The Status of Arts Education in Ohio's Public ... - Ohio Arts Council

ASSESSING STUDENT LEARNING IN THE ARTS
Effective formative and summative assessment of student learning drives
improvement in arts education. Teacher-developed assessments that align with
standards-based instruction facilitate student learning. Locally developed districtwide
assessments and national assessments help teachers and administrators
measure and improve the quality of their programs.
The Status Survey showed that 94 percent of schools reported using some type of assessment in
the arts. Eighty-eight percent of schools reported using teacher-developed assessments to track
student progress while results showed 8 percent using district-level assessments that were
required, 6 percent using assessments that were developed at the district level but not required
and 4 percent using assessments developed outside the district.
PROVIDING INSTRUCTION BY LICENSED ARTS SPECIALISTS
Providing high-quality instruction in the arts includes ensuring that those who
teach the arts have licenses that reflect competence in the practice and pedagogy
of their arts disciplines.
According to ODE data, 83 percent of schools reported that all teachers who taught arts courses in the
2009-2010 school year were licensed in one or more of the arts disciplines they taught. (See Figure 11.)
Ninety-four percent of the teachers in those schools were licensed for every course they taught. Between
94 and 97 percent of the most commonly offered courses in music and visual arts were taught by teachers
licensed in those disciplines. (Page 8 details appropriate licensure in the arts.)
Table 7 (next page) shows all the arts courses
offered, each with the total number of courses
taught and the percentage of those courses taught
by teachers licensed in the disciplines taught. The
table indicates that over 90 percent of most music
and visual arts courses were taught by arts
specialists. Less than 85 percent of drama/theatre
courses and less than 65 percent of dance courses
were taught by teachers with licenses in those areas.
Visiting artists taught drama/theatre in at least one
grade in 29 percent of schools that offered
drama/theatre and 33 percent of schools that offered
dance.
Key Finding: Most Ohio teachers providing
arts instruction are appropriately licensed.
Figure 11: Percentages of Schools
by Teacher Licensure in the Arts
No Teachers
Are Licensed;
3%
All Teachers
Are Licensed;
83%
Some
Teachers Are
Licensed;
14%
Status of Arts Education in Ohio’s Public Schools 32