Teaching Band

Grading Band Students - Music/Playing/Performance requirements

50% of a student's grade in my band class is based on their musicianship requirements.  For the most part, this is based on a series of "musicianship tests" that I give them.  I have a total of 15 levels of musicianship tests.  Students are required to work on one for each 9 weeks (4 in 6th grade, 4 in 7th grade, and 4 in 8th grade); there are a few extra for the kids who work ahead of the class.  Most levels have about 10 requirements on them, and each requirement is pass/fail.

I try to avoid giving grades for each requirement which is why I use pass/fail:  if they play it correctly they receive full credit.  They can try each requirement as many times as they like, but they do not receive any credit unless it is 100% correct.  I give 10 points per requirement, so if they only pass 7 of them, they 70 points out of a possible 100 for 50% of their grade.

What I like most about using this system, is that students can work ahead.  Right now, my 7th grade students are working on Level 5, but several have finished that already, and have started working on the next level.  I have a series of incentives and awards they can receive for working ahead.  Chair placement is based on their requirements and what level they are on.  This makes chair placement fair (at least I think so!) and very easy to explain to parents.  As a matter of fact, since I started this, I have never had a parent or student complain about their chair placement!

Playing requirements are 50% of their grade because it is the emphasis of my class.  I have a very hard time giving credit for concert attendance or participation because while it is important, the student grade should reflect what they are learning in class.  The remaining 50% of their grade is based on other criteria - which was outlined in my last post, and I will talk more about that later...

How do you grade your students?  How do you weight your grades?  

Effective Performance Assessments

So, we are at the end of our 3rd quarter, and my students have been doing performance assessments all week - nothing major, just scales, rhtyhms, and one-line exercises.  I spent a great deal of time studying various assessment methods, and ways to make performance assessments more effective while working on my thesis.  Here are some things that I came up with that help me and my students:

-  Make sure your assessment has a specific goal.  For the first few years, I would tell them to play a certain line from their book, and it had to be perfect.  Well, what is perfect?  Instead, identify exactly what you are assessing.  Today, my beginners were playing an exercise that demonstrated dotted-quater not rhythms.  Some of them added or forgot a slur or two, but the rest of it was technically correct.  They passed, because I was assessing their ability to play that particular note duration.  When I first started this, I was skeptical, because I thought the result would be a lower quality of performance.  The result was the opposite:  my students were much more careful about the skills being assessed, and it significantly improved their performance in class.

-  I always make sure my students know exactly how they will be assessed.  I play them audio examples of playing tests, and show them exactly how it will be graded.  Then, I let them grade some examples, until the entire class can tell the difference between a passing example and a non-passing example.

-  All of my performance assessment are pass/fail.  I do not give different grades or numerical grades.  If they correctly demonstrate the desired skill, the pass, if not, they fail.  This makes if more clear-cut for them and their parents.  It is much easier to explain that a child either failed or passed a specific skill, than explain the difference between a B and a C on a playing test.

-  Finally - make expectations as clear as possible.  I always notify parents when various assessments are due, and exactly what needs to be played.  When parents know, the kids seem to be better prepared!

Do you have any tips or suggestions?  Please leave comments!

Practice Journals/Logs/Records

Practice logs seem to be something that most teachers can't seem to agree on.  Every time I talk to other teachers I get a different opinion about them.  Some swear by them, others don't want to waste their time with them.  I fall into the second category.

I used to use them regularly.  Every week, every student had to turn one in.  I would take them home, and spent a couple of hours reading and grading them.  Each one was worth ten points - if they practiced the required amount they got ten, and if they didn't make it, but turned one in anyway, they got five.  Magically, almost 100% met the requirement.  Most managed to practice the exact amount (or so they said).  I remember one year, I fell far behind on grading them.  I took about 1500 practice logs on the airplane with me to Midwest to grade.  About half way through the flight, it hit me:  What good was this doing?  When we landed in Chicago, I threw them all away.

When school started again in January, I told all of my classes we would no longer be doing them.  From that point forward, they would be expected to practice enough to be prepared for class - the exact amount of time was not my concern.  The way we would check for this would be playing tests or assessments.  If they practiced, they would do well.  If they didn't practice, it would show on in their performance.  

The results blew me away.  Classes seemed to be more productive, kids were better prepared, and their grades reflected their performance.  I asked some of my kids about the change and what they thought.  One kid told me that his mom always signed a blank practice log, and told him to fill it out.  Another told me he would sit in his room and play the same things over and over until his clock told him he was done.  

The results on my end were great too.  I spent less time copying, grading, recording, sorting, etc... This probably saved me 2 or 3 hours per week.  It saved paper, more than 10,000 sheets a year.  It also helped keep my desk and office a little neater - which I need.  I cannot think of any benefit to using practice logs.  I ask everyone who uses them why, and the response is usually something like "it helps me make sure they practice," or "it keeps the students and parents accountable."  I think by giving quality playing tests and assessments, you can accomplish both of these goals.  Besides, how can you be sure what is being put on the page is accurate?

I am not saying that all parents and students will purposely lie on their practice records, but some could.  You also cannot determine the quality and intensity of the practice being done.  There is also a little bit of data/research out there about practice journals:

A 1972 study by Dr. Clifford Madsen at FSU found that practice journals being completed by college students were not valid.  Student records of their own practice time were regularly inaccurate, by a significant amount.  Some grossly overestimated the amount of practice time, and about as many underestimated.  If college students cannot accurately record practice time, how can we expect middle school students to do the same?

A 2007 study looked at the use of various assessment tools being used in "successful middle school band programs."  The study showed that there was no agreement among the participating directors as to practice journal use.  Some did, some didn't, but it was not a common thread among successful programs.  Even though some participants did use them, it was not a significant part of a student's class grade.

I like to think I am open-minded, and have tried teaching with and without practice logs.  I will most likely never use them again.  If you have a reason that you use them, or another reason you don't, please share in the comments section.

Making the Grade: Assessment in Band, Part 1

Assessment is everywhere - it is probably the single most popular word in American education today. Teachers have assessments for the students all year long, checking student progress on benchmarks and standards for their subject areas. Most states have standardized tests in place to assess student skills, and plenty of money for education is tied to student performance on these tests.

All of this attention on assessment has given that word a negative stigma - Most directors are too busy preparing their kids for concerts, festivals, and competitions to give it the attention it needs. Most directors spend a great deal of time on assessment, both formal and informal, and may not even realize it. It probably wouldn't take much work to maximize the effectiveness of existing assessment strategies, which would only improve student skill and performance. Well-planned assessment is probably the greatest tool to improve teacher effectiveness and student performance.

I will be posting a series of articles dedicated to assessment in the band program - which is an area that I think does not get enough attention.

The biggest assessment tool we have is the student grade. This tool is probably the one most commonly taken for granted. The grade itself offers little to no information. Four times a year, parents receive a piece of paper that has the subject area with a letter next to it. What does this grade mean? If you give a student a B in your class, what does that tell the parent? For some reason, this little bit of information can mean everything to a student or parent. For this reason, it can be an effective tool for motivating a student to do better work.

Most people assume the grade is directly tied to the student's success in that subject area. An A in math means they did exceptional work in that subject, while the D in Language Arts means he/she is performing below average. What about band? Does every student who receives an A in band perform exceptionally on their instrument? This is not always the case with band, as well as other elective classes, because teachers are concerned that students will lose interest if their class is not an "easy A."

The first step to making the report card grade effective is clearly defining what it stands for. Most states or school districts provide course codes and descriptions for each class offered. While everyone may not agree, the student grade probably should reflect their mastery of the material noted in the class description, or the student mastery of standards for that subject matter. One example of this for band could be that the grade represents the students ability to demonstrate various music skills and standards through performance on a band instrument.

The next step is to make sure that this assessment, the students report grade, is valid, meaning the grade represents what it is said to represent. For this reason, the majority of the grade should be based on the students abilities and skills learned in your class. The more that non-musical factors contribute to a student grade, the less valid it becomes. For example, if 50% grade is based on participation or concert attendance, the grade will not be valid. Here is an example of a grading system that could be considered valid:

Musicianship, 50% - Student performance on his/her instruments makes up half of the class grade. Of course, this should be made up of varying assessments/tests.

Concerts, 20% - This includes student preparation and performance of music, not just attendance.

Projects, 11% - This includes musical projects, directly related to the state or national standards for music. By making it 11%, students will lose one full letter grade if they do not complete this. This insures that the standards are included.

Written Assignments/Quizzes, 10% - This is a "catch-all" for any musical written assignments or quizzes. This can include vocabulary quizzes, theory assignments, etc...

Preparation, 9% - This is everything non-musical: coming to class prepared, having materials, turning in parent signature. A few years ago this may have been called the p-word (participation), but that word is being looked down on more and more. 9% is helps insure that this is the least significant portion of the grade.

A total of 91% of a student's grade in this system is directly tied to musical skills, which helps make the grade valid. This is by no means the only valid grading model, just an example.

Noticeably absent: practice logs or journals - that is a topic for another day...

I went to this model of grading in my third year of teaching, and has made the single-biggest improvement to my student's performance. Their is always the fear that tougher grading will cause students to drop out, but their has been no significant research proving this (at least that I can find). I always find that the biggest reason students drop out is because they feel like the are no good at their instrument, and this could actually help prevent that.

If you have any comments or suggestions, please share!