Grading Guidelines
The NMES Art Department would like to welcome you to an exciting year of art! We want all of our students to develop a lifelong love and appreciation for both visual and performing arts. The arts are essential to a child’s growth into a productive citizen. We will REACH our students with exceptional teaching and caring support, CHALLENGE them to achieve their potential, and PREPARE them for success in a global society.
It is important to monitor progress and measure how much students are learning in art each quarter. The assessment process is vital to that understanding. Below is a summary of that process; however, you can access information detailed to your specific child’s teacher by contacting that teacher directly. As well, our Essential Curriculum can be accessed throughhttp://education.fcps.org/vpaelem/
The Visual and Performing Arts curriculum is divided into four domains:
1. Criticism: The student will develop the knowledge and skill necessary to formulate, analyze, apply and communicate criteria for evaluating music compositions,
performances and other creative endeavors, as well as develop the ability to identify, analyze, and apply criteria for making visual aesthetic judgments based on the senses and how they are affected.
2. Historical/Cultural: The student will develop an understanding of music and visual arts as a basic aspect of the shared ideas, beliefs, customs and experience of a given people at a given time.
3. Production: The student will develop the ability to organize and express ideas, knowledge, feelings and sounds through music using a variety of media, as well as expression in the creation of art.
4. Aesthetics: The student will develop aesthetic awareness by perceiving, responding (and performing) to art and music.
Progress is measured in multiple ways to determine mastery of the curricular domains listed above.
Student’s grades will be based on the following guidelines:
What We Measure
Percentage Range, Percentage Range,
Grades K-1 Grades 2-5
- Art Projects, Classwork, 70% 70%
- Summative Assessments 30% 30%
Participation and Effort: 100% 100%
This is its own grade and is
included separately on the
students' report card
Summative Assessments
Common Assessments (ACA for art, MCA for music) are one way to accomplish this. These are summative assessments given to every Frederick County Public School student in grades 1-5, (each semester for grades 1 and 2, and each quarter for grades 3-5) that collectively measure all four domains of learning. The purpose of these assessments is to evaluate students’ understanding of what they should know, along with written formative and observed activities.
Formative Assessments
Formative assessments are teacher-created or provided by FCPS, and can include: written tests and quizzes, self-assessments, peer assessments, exit questions, task sheets and other forms of classwork. Formative assessments inform students about their progress toward meeting other curricular indicators.
Art Projects
Art projects are scored using a rubric. Each rubric question is scored 1-5, one being the lowest and five being the highest. Most projects are worth a total of 20-25 points. Below is a breakdown for what each number represent:
5- EXCEEDS (Going above and beyond what expected)
4- MEETS (Meeting the expectation, nothing more nothing less)
3- APPROACHING (Not quiet meeting expectations)
2- FALLS BELOW (Hardly ever meeting expectations)
1- FALLS FAR BELOW (Never meets expectations)
Processes
Processes are assessments that are usually conducted during art class and usually deal with individual art making techniques. These processes are graded during art class and may be collected or just observed.
Participation/Effort
Participation and effort will be assessed using a work habits rubric. This rubric will look at the following:
- Did you follow directions in class?
- Did you use art materials correctly?
- Did you finish your artwork?
- Did you show neatness?
For more information on grading scales click below: