High-Stakes Assessment in Music

Abstract

The idea of high-stakes assessment in schools could be said to have begun with the publication of A Nation at Risk (1983). The position taken in this chapter is that music and the arts are basic subjects needed for a well-rounded education that require high-stakes assessment at every grade level. The chapter does not endorse high-stakes assessment in the sense of a single assessment that results in loss of opportunities and failure, but in the more general sense that there are major consequences to society for children not being able to think creatively, to solve problems collaboratively, and to understand themselves as human beings—all skills that an education in music and the arts provide. The chapter is written in a position paper/statement format that includes four segments to support the position statement—introduction, opposing views, supporting views, and a plan for implementation of the position.