Measurement and evaluation in music education: a position paper

Abstract

Educators, administrators and parents alike agree that evaluation of instruction is an important feature of the educational process. For the educators, evaluation is a tool to help them improve instruction; for administrators, parents and taxpayers, it is the instrument for appraising the quality and worth of programs, in order to avoid waste of time and/or money. There is not a general consensus, however, on the appropriate procedures for evaluating. This is particularly true in music and in the arts in general, where the affective domain assumes an important role in the curriculum. Tests, the traditional instrument of measurement, are advocated by a large group and condemned by another large group, both of which vehemently present arguments to support their positions.