Assessment and evaluation require thoughtful planning and implementation to support the learning process and to inform teaching. All assessment and evaluation of student achievement must be based on the outcomes in the provincial curriculum.

There are three interrelated purposes of assessment. Each type of assessment, systematically implemented, contributes to an overall picture of an individual student's achievement.

Assessment for learning involves the use of information about student progress to support and improve student learning, inform instructional practices and

• is teacher-driven for student, teacher and parent use;
• occurs throughout the teaching and learning process; using a variety of tools;
• engages teachers in providing differentiated instruction, feedback to students to enhance their learning and information to parents in support of learning.

Assessment as learning actively involved student reflection on learning, monitoring of her/his own progress and

• supports students in critically analyzing learning related to curricular outcomes;
• is student-driven with teacher guidance;
• occurs throughout the learning process.

Assessment of learning involved the teachers' evidence of student learning to make judgments about student achievement

• provides opportunity to report evidence of achievement related to curricular outcomes;
• occurs at the end of a learning cycle using a variety of tools;
• provides the foundation for discussions on placement or promotion.

Evaluation compares assessment information against criteria based on curriculum outcomes for the purpose of communication to students, teachers, parents/caregivers and others about student progress and to make informed decisions about the teaching and learning process.

During creative and responsive processes, the teacher observes and provides feedback on each student's struggles with problem solving, willingness to try new things and application of knowledge, skills and critical and creative thinking. While some aspects of the jazz education program include the development of a concrete product (such as a public performance), many products of learning in jazz are actions or behaviours that take place over time and are not easily captured for later reflection and appraisal. Two major challenges of student assessment in the jazz program are determining observation criteria and documentation methods.

Involving students in the development of assessment criteria is important. Self-evaluation is essential to developing students abilities in the arts. Students should learn that artists reflect on their work throughout the creative process and the self-reflection and ongoing assessment are essential parts of creativity. Students can act as full participants in the assessment and evaluation of their own growth by collaborating with the teacher in setting personal goals and planning for their learning, engaging in reflection and self-assessment, documenting their process and developing student-constructed performance tasks.

This curriculum recognizes that asking good questions, challenging oneself and exploring new ideas and ways of working are essential factors in artistic development. This presents a risk to the students in that the final product or presentation may not turn out as well as it might have had they "played it safe" and worked in a more repetitive or familiar way.

Students may be reluctant to challenge themselves or take risks with their work if they know that all their work will eventually be on display or presented to others publicly. Because much of their daily work in jazz will be process oriented and of a problem solving nature, they should realize that not all of their work will result in a public presentation. Should a teacher or the students themselves desire, on occasion, to show some of their work to others, involving the students in the selection and decision-making process is essential.

While students must be encouraged to take pride in their artistic products, both the teacher and students should note that the creative process is equal in importance to the resulting product.

A variety of strategies is required to assess and evaluate student progress in both process and product in arts education. One effective approach used in all of the arts' strands is portfolio assessment.

Visual artists make extensive use of portfolios to maintain and present their work. Professional musicians and university music students often develop a portfolio of their performances. With readily available and reasonably priced recording equipment and digital storage, teachers should help students develop their own music portfolios as a way to demonstrate the growth that a student has achieved in his/her study music.

Portfolios have been recognized as an excellent method of accumulating and presenting students' work in the arts for many years. Students who use portfolios learn that reflection and revision are important aspects of the creative process.

Portfolios help students become independent learners who are responsible for setting their own goals and reflecting critically on their work and progress. Students need to be involved in developing the criteria by which their and portfolios will be evaluated.

Portfolios may contain:

• notes
• comments
• questions
• rough sketches (such as scores or arrangements)
• critiques of students' and others' work
• research
• essays
• video and audio recordings of:
  • etudes
  • scales, scale patterns
  • concert and rehearsals
  • solos
  • small ensemble rehearsals and performance
• music that the student has performed
• photographs
• journals
• compositions or arrangements.

Portfolios need not include only the students' best work. Rough drafts or recording and early versions are excellent vehicles to spark dialogue during teacher-student conferences and to allow for reflection upon personal growth and the development of the entire ensemble.

Discussing works in progress with others helps students refine their goals in the study of jazz. By considering portfolios when teaching and assessing, teachers encourage students to develop critical thinking, strategies for improvement and creative abilities similar to those used by professional artists and portfolios can motivate them to take responsibility for their own learning.

Reviews of student work can occur during the creative process itself, where drafts and other first attempts at creation or production may be included as works in progress. These musical sketches, or preliminary recordings and videotapes may be housed in each student's working portfolio. Students might periodically select items from their working portfolios to place in a presentation portfolio. Both types of portfolios should be included in the assessment process.

Individual portfolio review sessions are an integral part of ongoing assessment practices throughout the year. Portfolio conferences may be used in may ways and are a good focus for discussion between and among the following:

• teacher and student;
• student and peer;
• teacher and parent/guardian;
• teacher, student and parent/guardian
• an interdisciplinary teaching team that may sometimes include visiting artists.

Portfolio assessment takes time and requires commitment from teachers, and students. The time that students spend helping to develop criteria, selecting work to include and discussing their creative process and products is time well spent. Rather than time lost, critical reflection is an important part of each student's learning and creative process.

Some schools make a regular practice of maintaining student portfolios over a number of semesters or years. This practice allows students, teachers and parents/guardians to see compiled evidence of growth that can be a source of satisfaction as progress is observable for every student.

Digital portfolios are a practical way to demonstrate student growth over time. Teachers may have to request additional storage space on the server and/or extra large "mailboxes" for email. Music rehearsals and performances are fleeting in nature, and in the past they have not been easily captured for analysis and reflection. New technologies allow simpler and faster access to audio recordings, videos and digital portfolios, which can help students recall and evaluate their work and provide short-term and long-term storage of evidence of student work.

The portfolio may contain print, photographs, audio and video files. Teachers could plain to have students collaborate with other technology-oriented classes to create these types of portfolios.

As with a traditional portfolio, students need to determine that works to include and what these can reveal to the reviewer about their creative process. Naturally, students should be involved in the selection process to encourage personal responsibility for learning. In addition, whenever possible, students should help to establish rubrics or lists of assessment criteria for items within the portfolio, based on the specified learning outcomes.

Rubrics are useful tools for assessing and evaluating to improve student learning. They describe levels of performance for a lesson, unit, project, or portfolio.

The purpose of a rubric is to help make exceptions clear, to give students feedback about their work in progress and to clarify the criteria upon which the work will be evaluated. Rubrics can be used to provide students with specific information about their strengths and to highlight areas in need of improvement.

Rubrics can be useful in peer and self-assessments and can encourage students to reflect critically on the qualities of their own artistic processes and products. Students and teachers may work together to create a rubric for the assessment of one small task, a performance, an entire portfolio, or major project. Research shows that involving students in the co-creation of rubrics allows for deeper understanding and engagement. Co-creation of assessment material is an important aspect of all Saskatchewan curricula.