Assessment in music is not an easy task. The National Curriculum statements for music are so broad, that practically any child can meet the standards with relative ease. Marking musical tasks is a particular challenge, since music is primarily aural rather than a visual or written task (as in maths or literacy). Furthermore, coherent records of assessment have been difficult to maintain, since I teach more than 400 children on a weekly basis, and since I don’t have a regular TA. Therefore, most of my assessment is formative, but I have developed strategies to support summative assessment.

Despite the struggles, I have created strategies for formative and summative assessment of children’s musical achievement. The links on this page detail my use of music quizzes, iPad apps, Powerpoint presentations, and nationally accredited music exams in order to assess children’s achievement.

Assessment in computing has been easier, as computing achievement is more concrete. I have used a site called code.org, which allows children to complete a series of tasks which increase in difficulty. The site automatically collects assessment data, which I use as a summative record of their achievement of particular task (creating algorithms, using loops).