Wednesday, February 18, 2009

CT Common Arts Assessment, What Is It?

Parents of Grade 5 students in my class have by now heard about the CT Common Arts Assessment, which their students will be piloting in about a month. I'm sure some are still wondering, "what is the CCAA?" Don't worry, it is NOT another set of CMTs! The CCAA is an attempt to see how students across the state are achieving in several different areas of the arts. At ISRM, my Grade 5 students are piloting the singing and self-reflection portion of the test. This is an opportunity for students to demonstrate their abilities in CT State Music Standards 1 and 7, singing and evaluating.

Students will sing a short piece of music, and then evaluate themselves in several categories, including pitch, rhythm, expression and tempo. The goal is for students to be able to listen to their own performance and respond to it.

These scores are for the STATE as a WHOLE, not the individual student, or even the school. Music teachers across CT will use the results from this program to improve instruction throughout the state.

So, students shouldn't worry about this assessment. We have been working on it in class, and will continue to do so. Relax and have fun with it!

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