MCA+HS+Pilot+2016

**High School Model Cornerstone Assessment Pilot Project launched in 2016**  Assessment of Participant Learning Model Cornerstone Assessments (MCAs) for high school, aligned to the National Core Arts Standards, were created by the five NCCAS arts discipline writing teams at the three high school levels (proficient, accomplished, advanced) to demonstrate the type of standards-based evidence needed to show student achievement. During this pilot project, the High School MCA's were piloted beginning in February of 2016. Piloting and benchmarking teachers were chosen after a rigorous application process during an all call to the field; with 57 piloting teachers and 23 benchmarking teachers. The professional arts service organizations and members of the NCCAS Media Arts leadership committee made the choices based on a careful review of applicants, with the goal of creating a diverse cross section of urban, suburban, and rural schools from across the nation.

Over 2400 student portfolios and works of art were collected in May and June of 2016 and benchmarked during the summer. The resulting 741 adjudicated student work samples aligned with the national core arts standards housed on the standards website at [|www.nationalartsstandards.org.]

In the brief video below, educators involved in the project speak eloquently of their learning and the value of the work.

media type="custom" key="29099339" **WHAT IS BENCHMARKING?** Benchmarking student work is a process of benchmarking; or adjudicating student work with groups of teachers in order to come to a shared understanding and agreement on student work that demonstrates proficiency. media type="custom" key="29092295"

**BENCHMARKING PROCESS PROTOCOLS**

**Emerging from the pilot was a set of protocols for assessing student work in the arts. A step by step process which includes:**

=== 1. teaching to pre-established model cornerstone assessments; units of suggested instruction aligned to standards with embedded assessment models created by and for arts educators ===

=== 2. creating online communities of learners to support teachers, establish sharing and communications and meet needs for professional development ===

=== 3. collecting student work scored by the teachers as meeting standard from diverse classrooms across the nation through a process of online uploading to secure sites ===

=== 4. forming small teams of five educators for each discipline as benchmarkers who would be asked to visit the uploaded student work and rescore ===

=== 5. convening the benchmarking teams face to face to review work for which they could not reach consensus in order to finalize the adjudicating process, increase inter-rater reliability and produce benchmarked samples of student work aligned with model cornerstone assessments and national core arts standards at grades 2, 5 and 8 and three levels of High School ===

2016 Model Cornerstone Pilot Sites Represent the Following States Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Maine, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Vermont and the Department of Defense.

**Regionally** New England -16% Mid Atlantic - 16% Southern - 23% Mid Western & Middle America - 24% Western - 14% Pacific - 7%

**Type of Classroom** Rural - 16% Small Village - 9% Suburban - 41% Urban - 34%

We gratefully acknowledge our piloting teachers The piloting teachers utilized Model Cornerstone Assessments- units of study and sample assessments linked to the national core arts standards released in June of 2014. The arts were the first among the core academic subjects to embed model assessments within the package of resources offered with the publication of national standards. Called Model Cornerstone Assessment (MCA's), these sample tools are designed to be teacher friendly, relevant to student learning, and to yield proof of student achievement. The goal of piloting these embedded assessments to develop and refine benchmarking protocols was two fold. First, to provide a rich source of professional development for the educators directly involved in the project, and secondly to generate student work benchmarked at grade levels 2, 5 and 8 and three levels of proficiency in High School using a tested process with inter-rater reliability. The result was a data bank of student artwork as evidence of what standards based learning in the arts looks and sounds like available to all and housed on the national arts standards website at www.nationalartsstanards.org

**** MCA's, or Model Cornerstone Assessments, are performance assessments linked to the new national core arts standards. Click on the link above to access and download a definition of an MCA. This excerpt from National Core Arts Standards: A Conceptual Framework for Arts Learning defines model cornerstone assessments and describes their use. (Used by permission of the National Coalition for Core Arts Standards.)

**MCA Pilot Project Assessment Consultants** Dr. F. Robert Sabol,Purdue University Dr. Scott Shuler, National Association for Music Education Past President Dr. Pam Paulson, Perpich Center for the Arts Susan McGreevy-Nichols, Executive Director, National Dance Education Organization **MCA Pilot Benchmarking Facilitators** Susan McGreevy-Nichols, Dance Dr. Pam Paulson & Cory Wilkerson, Media Arts Dr. Scott Shuler & Richard Wells, Music Jim Palmarini, Theatre Dr. F. Robert Sabol, Visual Arts **NCCAS MCA Pilot Committee** **Lynn Tuttle, Committee Chair,** Sr. Regulatory Policy Adviser, National Association for Music Education Dr. Amy Jensen, Brigham Young University, American Association for Theatre and Education Board Member Jim Palmarini, Director of Educational Policy, Educational Theatre Association Dr. F. Robert Sabol, Purdue University, National Association for Art Education, Past President Dr. Scott Shuler, National Association for Music Education Past President Michael Blakeslee, Senior Deputy Executive/Chief Operating Officer, National Association for Music Education Susan McGreevy-Nichols, Executive Director, National Dance Education Organization Richard Burrows, Arts Consultant, National Association for Core Arts Standards Media Arts Committee Co-chair Dr. Pamela Paulson, Senior Director of Policy, Perpich Center for the Arts, Trustee, The College Board, NCCAS Media Arts Committee Co-chair Marcia McCaffrey, New Hampshire Department of Education, State Education Agency Directors of Arts Education Past President Bethany Lambert, Maine Department of Education, State Education Agency Directors of Arts Education representative Debra Hansen, Delaware Department of Education, State Education Agency Directors of Arts Education representative Cory Wilkerson, Project Manager, National Coalition for Core Arts Standards and member NCCAS Media Arts Committee