1. Executive Summary

Assessment is a collaborative faculty activity. Although Music has, in the past three years, continued to carry on the assessment activities that have been in place in our program since IU South Bend Music began in 1965, the situation regarding faculty in the music area has not been conducive to meaningful work on and discussion of the new rubrics regarding assessment and assessment planning that have been put in place in the recent past. Faculty turnover has been high, resulting in three position filled with Visiting Appointments this current academic year, and with new hires of relatively inexperienced junior faculty. The opportunities to work on an Assessment Plan have not been available this year; the self-study for program review, which will be drafted this summer, will present the first meaningful opportunity to bring Assessment to the table in the fall, when a faculty with permanent appointments will be available to develop plans and assessment initiatives.

2. Educational Goals and Assessment Techniques

Music has identified the following goals for our program:
-a. Students shall demonstrate competence in performance on their major instrument or voice, or in composition.
-b. Students shall demonstrate competence in the academic areas of music theory, music history and literature, and in the understanding of the repertoire for their major instrument.
-c. Students shall demonstrate that they have developed an understanding of the best professional practices for the presentation of musical performances.
-d. Students shall demonstrate that they have developed an understanding of the collaborative nature of musical performance, and demonstrate the ability to participate successfully in collaborative musical experiences-ensemble performance and chamber music performance.
-e. Students will demonstrate the ability to satisfy the general education expectations contained in their degree programs.

The following assessment techniques have been used in the past three years to evaluate student progress towards these goals, and our program's success in assisting students in the achievement of these goals.
-a. Matriculation Assessment: entering students completed an audition in performance, and were tested in music theory rudiments and music literature skills.
-b. Performance juries were conducted each semester to provide continuing evaluation of student performance and progress.
-c. Upper Divisional Examinations in performance were conducted for those students at mid-career. These examinations included a review of academic progress and achievement as well as evaluation of performance ability.
-d. Recital Hearings and recital evaluations were completed for all students attempting required degree recitals.

3. Annual Report Forms:

The Annual Report for 2004-05 is attached. An annual report was not submitted in 2003-04, since the Music Area Coordinator was dealing with the multiple consequences of a fire in his home in March, 2004.

4. Instrumentation and Documentation:

Attached are the following documents:
a. Entering Student Audition Form and Faculty Comment Sheet
b. Semester Jury Evaluation Form
c. Recital Hearing Form
d. Recital Evaluation Form

Also attached are recital schedules for various semesters.

5. Detailed Analysis of Data:

There has been no attempt to do more than a cursory analysis of data-without an assessment plan in place it is difficult to decide what an analysis of data would entail.

6. Proposed Next Steps:

During the summer, 2005, a draft self-study document for program review will be created, and a draft assessment plan, building upon those already created by other areas in our school, will be created as an ancillary document. These will be presented to the area faculty in the fall, and will be edited into final form by December, 2005.

7. Review and Summary:

Music has continued to carry out those assessment techniques that are part and parcel of our work as educators of performing artists. Further work needs to be done regarding assessment in the context of individual classes, and creating a workable and meaningful way to obtain input from students assessing the teaching that goes on in the private studio. At the moment, the faculty do most of the assessing, we need to involve students in these processes in ways that need to be determined.

Assessing Student Outcomes, 2004-2005

Program Name: Music
Report Prepared by: David K. Barton, Music Area Coordinator
Current Assessment Contact: David K. Barton
Should assessment information be sent to anyone else in your department? No

1. What specific educational goals does your program have for its students?

a. Students shall demonstrate competence in performance on their major instrument or voice, or in composition.
b. Students shall demonstrate competence in the academic areas of music theory, music history and literature, and in the understanding of the repertoire for their major instrument.
c. Students shall demonstrate that they have developed an understanding of the best professional practices for the presentation of musical performances.
d. Students shall demonstrate that they have developed an understanding of the collaborative nature of musical performance, and demonstrate the ability to participate successfully in collaborative musical experiences-ensemble performance and chamber music performance.
e. Students will demonstrate the ability to satisfy the general education expectations contained in their degree programs.

2. What assessment techniques did your program use the measure the attainment of these goals in the past academic year?

a. All entering students, including transfer students, were given an assessment instrument that evaluating their basic ability at the time of matriculation in music theory rudiments and basic concepts and information about music literature. Transfer students completed a more advanced assessment of music theory skills to determine appropriate placement in the sequence of music theory courses.
b. All entering and transfer student completed an audition before a faculty committee to assess their baseline performance level at the time they begin their studies with us.
c. Five students completed the Upper Divisional examination in Music, a mid-career performance evaluation (twenty minutes of performance) before the music faculty.
d. In Fall semester, eleven students completed required degree recitals, in Spring semester fourteen students completed or will complete required degree recitals.
e. In some classes faculty members use a variety of assessment techniques geared to the content of the classes, in music history, for example, pre and post testing is used to establish both the baseline knowledge at the beginning of the course, and the change in knowledge at the end of the course. This pre and post testing included aural testing of student awareness of musical styles and genres of the periods being studied. Due to faculty instability, this kind of activity has not been conducted in the music theory program, as it used to be done. Similar assessment was conducted in some of the Music Appreciation courses.
f. Semester performance juries were conducted each semester to assess the effectiveness of instruction during the semester-both in the sense of evaluating the teaching performed by the faculty, and the work ethic and achievement of the student.
g. Student evaluation of teaching both in the classroom and the studios was conducted each semester, using the forms and processes common to the School of the Arts.

3. How did these techniques help the department measure student learning and achievement?

a. Matriculation assessment produce expected results: 90% of incoming music majors need to take courses in music theory rudiments and music literature before they will be ready to achieve success in college level music theory and literature courses. In most cases transfer students were placed at the level suggested by the course they had completed prior to entering our program; one student was asked to repeat a course previously taken to satisfy the skill levels required by our course sequencing.
b. Audition results were used to place students at the appropriate level for their instrumental or vocal study. In several cases, matriculation assessment determined that students needed to study at an elective-beginning-level before being auditioned. In these cases the semester jury at the end of the first or second semester of such study is considered to be the audition for formal acceptance into the music degree programs.
c. Upper Divisional Examinations are used to evaluate whether or not a student has a reasonable chance to be at the level to complete the required degree recital or recitals in a reasonable amount of time after the Upper Divisional Examination. In many semesters, some students do not pass their Upper Divisional Examination, and are either asked to leave the program or asked to repeat the Upper Divisional Examination (no more than two such repetitions are ever allowed). All students who attempted the Upper Divisional this year passed on their first attempt. Intense discussions of teaching and learning are common among the faculty at these examinations, and the faculty is careful to come to a sound decision regarding the future of these students at this time.
d. Student degree recitals are scheduled after the student passes a recital hearing before a faculty committee. All the students passed their recital hearings, and the recitals were presented successfully, with recital grades ranging from C+ to A+.
e. Assessment in music history classes reveals that students tend to learn material for a specific examination or project, and tend not to integrate the material into a matrix of information that can be used in a more general sense that could be called basic understanding and awareness. This negative insight is valuable since it forces the instructor to confront the issue of developing in students a useful general background that is not examination or project specific.
f. Semester juries are always valuable indicators of a students progress towards competence and proficiency. Music has a category called musical probation, to which underachieving students are assigned when a semester jury indicates that the student is not progressing at an acceptable level, and students on musical probation may be dismissed from the program if their achievement does not improve in subsequent semesters. Five students were removed from musical probation after the Fall juries, two students were assigned to musical probation after the Fall juries.
g. It is difficult to know the results of student evaluation since these results are shared with the individual faculty members, but not with the Area Coordinator.

4. For which goals did your students learn at or beyond your expectations? Which areas need improvement?

The results of Upper Divisional examinations, degree recitals, and semester juries indicate that most of our students are progressing towards their and our goals in a satisfactory manner. Two students earned the Performer's Certificate and one student earned the Composer's Certificate for their required recital performances. These certificates are awarded rarely-the process requires that the faculty attending the recital approve the certificate with no more than one dissenting vote. These three recitals were far above average, and represent genuine achievement on the part of these students.
Student Evaluation of faculty, particularly in the studio music area, needs to be reexamined and improved!

5. How were the results of your assessment program evaluated and recorded?
a. How was the departmental faculty involved?

The Area Coordinator conducted matriculation and transfer assessment; he was the only music faculty member on staff throughout the entire summer orientation period.
All music faculty participated in semester jury examinations, Upper Divisional Examinations, and the recital hearing and recital evaluation processes.

b. How were students involved?

Most music students performed at least one semester jury during the year (once a student has passed the Upper Divisional examination they are expected to perform only on semester jury each year, unless their studio teacher recommend otherwise). The appropriate students participated in the Upper Divisional and recital processes.

c. How were records kept?

Semester Jury grades are factored into semester grades for Applied Music. The jury grades and the semester grades are recorded on forms stored in the Area Coordinator's office. Results of Upper Divisional Examinations and recital hearings and performance evaluations are recorded and placed in the student academic files and in a general file maintained by the Area Coordinator.
Matriculation and transfer assessments are placed into student files.

6a. Were any changes made this year in the assessment plan or the assessment techniques used by your department?

Music does not have an assessment plan in the format now being developed on this campus. This is an important deficiency that needs to be addressed. During the past two years the transient nature of the music faculty (visiting appointments, faculty leaving after one year) and the amount of work asked of the one senior faculty member-the area coordinator-have made many desirable projects very difficult to manage. Once the faculty has stabilized, this need will be addressed.

6b. How does your assessment plan tie into your department's strategic planning? How were these decisions made?

Music has just begun to engage in strategic planning, necessary now that the faculty is changing and new goals and objectives need to be developed for the long-term future of the program. It is unlikely that music will move away from the assessment techniques identified above, since these are common to music programs in general.

7a. Were any changes made to your curriculum as a result of assessing your students?

All of the music degree curricula are under discussion for revision because of our need to change and grow the programs, the new General Education requirements, and the changing nature of both faculty and students. Discussion of these changes has begun, but has not progressed very far since the faculty were distracted from this activity by other concerns during the spring semester.

7b.Do you anticipate making any program changes in the future as a result of your assessment activities?

The imminent approval of a BA degree program in music will require the development of different capstone projects for these students, since degree recitals will not be appropriate for these students. The degree proposal states that BA students will prepare and present a thesis project in Music Theory, Music History, or Composition as a capstone evaluation of their achievement.

Go to top