Achievement and Quality: Higher Education in the Arts

Evaluating Achievement and Quality

Individual

EVALUATING INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT IN AN ARTS DISCIPLINE OR SPECIALIZATION

A list of characteristics of achievement and quality associated with high-level individual work in the artistic domain is provided below.

Fundamental knowledge and skills, and conceptual frameworks associated with disciplines and specializations are spelled out in the Standards of the Arts Accrediting Associations.

The list for individual achievement begins with those fundamentals and uses them as a basis for describing several attributes of the capabilities, capacities, and work that are present when knowledge and skills are being applied in an advanced and sophisticated way.

The characteristics of individual achievement, thus, reflect and explain the nature of achievement and quality beyond basic thresholds for entry level; even though they are present at entry level, at least to a fundamental degree. Developing these capabilities is the work of a lifetime, and there is virtually no limit to the levels of achievement and quality that can be reached.

The specifics associated with each characteristic vary among disciplines and specializations. Therefore, the list can be addressed in terms associated with specific degree programs, and areas of specialization. The characteristics can be used to address the specific work of individual students--what they have achieved and their potential, evaluated in terms of specific accomplishments at a particular time. It is far more difficult to generalize among groups of students, but it can be done and may be useful.

IMPORTANT ATTRIBUTES AND CHARACTERISTICS OF INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT ARE:

• Basic knowledge and skills in the discipline and any area of specialization as defined in Arts Accreditation Standards demonstrated by level of accomplish­ment or work. These include fundamentals of the field in terms of practice, history, analysis and their applications in various areas of specialization.

See:    Basic Competency Index by Discipline and Specialization - Undergraduate

            Curricular Standards for Degree and Non-Degree-Granting Programs:

Art and Design - Handbook
Dance - Handbook
Music - Handbook
Theatre - Handbook

• Development of a personal vision and/or purpose--sometimes called “artistic voice”--that is evident in terms of work produced in the discipline or specialization. Verbal articulation of the vision or purpose is virtually immaterial if the vision is not manifested in the work produced. Vision or purposes are realized in terms of content or process in one or more of the following fields: artistic, humanistic, scientific, pedagogical, therapeutic, and so forth. Visions or purposes can change from work to work.
  
• Conceptual acuity and ability to:

(1)  create, sustain, realize, and evolve personal vision and purposes;

(2)  identify and achieve specific and associated ideas and/or goals at various
       levels of scope and complexity;

(3)  work creatively with relationships among ideas, structure, and expression;

(4)  understand multiple perspectives;

(5)  create using the process of discovery inherent in making a work.

• Ability to:

(1)  use imagination as a means of creation and discovery with regard to specific
       content or subject matter and as a means for communicating through the art
       form what is created or discovered;

(2)  channel imagination to reach specific artistic goals;

(3)  apply imagination to all aspects and levels of a work in ways that enhance its
       communicative power.

• Technical ability to:

(1)  create, sustain, realize, and evolve a personal vision and/or purposes;

(2)  realize specific works or projects or elements of concepts at an advanced or
       professional level;

(3)  analyze one’s own work with sophistication using various methods and perspectives.

• Ability to combine knowledge and skills, personal vision and/or purpose. Conceptual acuity and clarity, imagination, and technical ability to function independently in the creation and production of high level work in the area of specialization, including but not limited to the capability and capacity to:

(1)  define, analyze, and solve problems;

(2)  make effective choices;

(3)  evaluate critically and effectively work in process;

(4)  critique and learn from work of others;

(5)  understand and work with layers of structure and meaning;

(6)  combine, integrate, and synthesize elements into works with internal conceptual
       and structural integrity.

More Information:

Creative Work, Inquiry, Research, and Scholarship

Evaluation Mechanisms in the Arts

Creating Unique Evaluations

Concepts Associated with Quality in Works of Art

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Thank you.