2016 | Abridged

Arts Framework
From the arts, students discover how to 

use different senses, make decisions, 

learn from their mistakes, and work well 

with others — skills that they need to 

succeed in school and in life.
Introduction

The arts are an important part of the national vision for what every student should 

know and be able to do. Just as students draw from subjects like mathematics, 

science, and history to understand the world around them, they use the arts — which 

offer a unique combination of intellectual, emotional, imaginative, and physical 

experiences. From the arts, students discover how to use different senses, make 

decisions, learn from their mistakes, and work well with others — skills they need to 

succeed in school and in life. In these ways and more, the arts are essential to every 

child’s complete development. 

Having a large-scale national assessment in the arts makes an important statement 

about the need for all children in our country to obtain the special benefits of learning 

that only the arts provide. In recognition of the importance of the arts in education, 

the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), also known as The Nation’s 

Report Card, began assessing music and the visual arts in the 1970s. The National 

Assessment Governing Board, which has overseen and set policy for NAEP since 

1988, then commissioned the development of a framework for the 1997 NAEP Arts 

Education Assessment, and the framework has remained in place since then. 

The NAEP arts education assessment framework resulted from the work of many 

organizations and individuals involved in the arts and arts education, including 

K-12 teachers, postsecondary arts educators, practicing artists, researchers, and 

assessment specialists. For members of the education community and the general 

public, the 2016 NAEP Arts Education Assessment Framework shows the scope and 

methodology of this arts assessment.
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NAEP and the Arts Assessment 

Framework

NAEP is the largest continuing and nationally 

representative measure of U.S. elementary 

and secondary student achievement. 

For nearly 50 years, NAEP has assessed 

representative samples of students in 

various subjects. The results have become 

an unparalleled source of information on 

what U.S. students know and can do. 

The NAEP arts education assessment 

framework was designed to measure 

student achievement in dance, music, 

theatre, and the visual arts at grades 4, 

8, and 12. This framework was used to 

develop the 1997, 2008, and 2016 NAEP 

Arts Assessments.

The development of the 1997 NAEP 

Arts Education Assessment Framework 

coincided with the development of the 

National Standards for Education in the Arts, 

providing an unprecedented opportunity to 

align standards and assessment in a model 

for arts education. In 2014, the National 

Coalition for Core Arts Standards revised 

these national arts education standards, so 

there is an opportunity for future NAEP arts 

assessments to incorporate the updated 

standards as part of NAEP’s overall transition 

to a digital assessment format. 

Scope of 1997, 2008, and 2016 NAEP 

Arts Assessments

In 1997, the NAEP arts assessment was 

conducted nationally at grade 8 in three 

arts disciplines, also called content areas: 

music, the visual arts, and theatre. For music 

and the visual arts, representative samples 

of public and nonpublic school students 

were assessed. The theatre assessment 

was conducted with a targeted sample 

of students who had completed 30 hours 

of theatre classes at schools that offered 

comprehensive theatre programs. Limited 

offerings of dance programs at schools 

across the country prevented that content 

area’s inclusion in the 1997 assessment. 

For 2008 and 2016, NAEP tested a nationally 

representative sample of eighth-grade 

students in music and the visual arts. 

Due to funding constraints and the small 

percentage of schools with theatre and 

dance programs, however, the other two 

arts content areas were not assessed. 

So while the 2016 framework includes 

guidelines for assessing all four arts areas, 

the 2016 NAEP Arts Education Assessment 

assessed eighth graders in only two areas — 

music and the visual arts.
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Scope of 1997, 2008, and 2016 NAEP Arts Assessments

Assessment 

Year

Grades Assessed Content Areas Assessed

Grade 4 Grade 8 Grade 12 Dance Music Theatre Visual Arts

1997   * 

2008   

2016   

* The 1997 theatre assessment was conducted using a targeted sample of students in schools with 

comprehensive theatre programs.

Arts Processes

Tasks on the NAEP arts assessment have been developed to assess students’ abilities to 

create, perform, and respond to art. Because the assessment depends on precise definitions 

of what students should know and be able to do, the arts framework defines the processes in 

general, addressed below, and in the context of each of the arts disciplines, addressed in the 

following sections.

Creating refers to 

generating original art, 

allowing for expression of 

personal ideas, feelings, and 

responses in the form of a 

visual image, a character, 

a written or improvised 

dramatic work, or the 

composition or improvisation 

of a piece of music or dance.

Performing means acting 

out an existing work — a 

process that calls on the 

student’s interpretive 

or re-creative skills and 

represents the engagement 

and motivation involved in 

creating a work of art.

Responding includes 

many forms and is usually 

a combination of affective, 

cognitive, and physical 

behavior, involving a level of 

perceptual or observational 

skill; a description, analysis, 

or interpretation; and 

sometimes a judgment or 

evaluation.
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Arts Content Areas

Arts education and evaluation vary by discipline, or content area. The 2016 NAEP Arts 

Education Assessment Framework addresses the evaluation of four content areas: 

music, the visual arts, theatre, and dance.

Connection Between Arts Processes 

and Assessment Content 

The 2016 NAEP Arts Education Assessment Framework provides a general vision for 

assessing the four arts disciplines and the flexibility to accommodate differences 

among them. The matrix below shows how NAEP assesses the arts processes for each 

discipline. Each cell represents a subscale in which results may be reported.

In theatre, creating and performing are viewed as a combined act, and the response to 

the work from the audience, director, actors, and designers is seen as an integral part of 

the creative process. Also, in the visual arts, reproducing an artist’s work is not central, 

so performing is not a focus of that assessment.

The Framework Matrix

Dance Music Theatre Visual Arts

Creating  





Grades 4, 8, and 12

Performing  

Responding    

Knowledge and skills based on specific content in the arts disciplines
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Music

Music, which uses a unique set of symbols, is a form of artistic expression that involves 

creating (composing and improvising), performing (playing, singing, and conducting), and 

responding (listening, moving, analyzing, and critiquing). Performance of music demands the 

integrated development of cognitive, affective, and psychomotor skills.

Sample Arts Processes for Music

Creating Use standard and/or nonstandard notation to express original 

ideas.

Demonstrate skill and expressiveness in the choice and use of 

musical elements.

Performing 

Apply skill by performing with technical accuracy. 

Read musical notation accurately. 

Apply historical, cultural, and aesthetic understanding by 

creating stylistically appropriate alterations, variations, and 

improvisations.

Responding 

Analyze the elements and structure of music.

Compare and contrast various musical styles.

Make critical judgments about technical and expressive 

qualities of musical performances and compositions.

Use movement or words to interpret and describe personal 

responses to music.
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Sample Task 

This short constructed-response question assessed students’ abilities to use standard 

musical notation and to complete a piece in a musically satisfying way.

Sample Question

For this task, you are to write an ending for the rhythmic pattern you see below. You will 

hear it played two times. After you hear the rhythmic pattern, write an ending to the 

pattern in the empty measures printed in your test booklet. The music that you write 

should make the rhythm sound finished. You may use notes or rests in your answer, but 

do not copy any of the measures that are already used in the music. Make sure that the 

ending that you write has the correct number of beats.

Sample Student Response

Explanation

A three-level guide was used to score each measure of the response individually for accurate 

musical notation. This meant that students could earn partial credit. Responses were scored 

as Adequate, Limited, or Inadequate; the sample student response above represents an 

Adequate score, as it uses correct notation that adds up to four beats for each measure.

Students’ ability to create a musically satisfying ending was scored separately. Responses for 

this component were scored as either Acceptable or Unacceptable. Acceptable responses 

concluded on a strong beat.
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Visual Arts

The visual arts are rightly described in the plural; at their broadest, they include forms such 

as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, folk art, and the decorative arts. They also 

embrace a variety of media (film, photography, computer imaging, and video) and functional 

design areas such as architecture, industrial design, and graphic design. The visual arts are 

increasingly about the realization of ideas in formats that are simultaneously visual, spatial, 

and temporal. In addition, the visual arts enable students to reflect on what they inherit from 

past and present cultures.

Sample Arts Processes for the Visual Arts

Creating 

Create subjects, themes, problems, and ideas that reflect 

knowledge and understanding of context and values (personal, 

social, historical, and cultural) and aesthetics.

Create preliminary or formative ideas (sketches, models, etc.) 

before final execution.

Create a product that reflects ongoing thoughts, actions, and 

new directions.

Responding Respond to content, form, context, and aesthetics.

Describe relationships between form and context; between 

form and meaning or function; and among critical/analytical 

models through understanding the works of critics, historians, 

aestheticians, artists, and designers.
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Sample Task

Students were presented with “Pittsburgh Memories,” a collage by artist Romare Bearden 

that depicts residents in an apartment building in Pittsburgh. In response to this work, 

students were asked to create their own collage.

Sample Question

Study the Bearden work, and think about how the collage shows the artist’s memory of 

what life in Pittsburgh was like. Notice how Bearden combines and organizes objects and 

places in unusual and unexpected ways to express what it is like to remember. Look for 

the ways in which interesting contrasts between inside and outside areas and the use of 

details and colors communicate a memory. 

Now think of a memory of a place where you once lived, where you live now, a friend’s 

house, or another place important to you in your community. What kinds of pictures do 

you see in your mind when you remember what it was like to be there? 

Being as creative as you can, create a memory collage of the place you choose. In your 

collage, communicate what you remember about what it was like both inside of this place 

and outside in the neighborhood. 

To make your collage: 

§ Take out all of the materials from your packet. You may use your scissors and/or tear 

materials you choose for your collage. 

§ Assemble on your sheet of white drawing paper pieces of any of the materials 

provided to show both the inside of the place you choose and what it was like 

outside. 

§ Once you have pasted down these areas, you can add details with markers and oil 

pastels. 

After you have completed your memory collage, look carefully at it. Describe in detail the 

ways that you show a memory of the place you chose and explain what your collage is 

about. Use evidence from your work to support your answer.
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Sample Student Response

Explanation

Students were assessed on their ability to put together a collage that communicates 

their memory of a place and to describe their collage. Collages were scored using a fivelevel guide that allowed for partial credit: Effective, Adequate, Uneven, Minimal, and 

Unacceptable. The sample student collage above represents an Effective score because 

it demonstrates the skillful use of collage technique. The student used collage materials 

in deliberate, unique ways to represent ideas, forms, and objects, which come together to 

express a memory. 

Collage descriptions were scored as Acceptable, Partial, and Unacceptable. The sample 

student description above represents an Acceptable score because it thoroughly explains 

the student’s work.
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Theatre

Theatre is rooted in religious festival and the universal impulse of humans to play, imitate, 

create, and share ideas and feelings. Much of the joy of the theatre lies in bringing together 

diverse people, ideas, and artists in the interaction of production elements, performers, and 

the audience. A social art form, theatre reveals both the human condition and the human 

experience. It transports players and audiences through time and space.

In theatre, creating and performing are so closely related that the assessment combines 

them, as the table below outlines.

Sample Arts Processes for Theatre

Creating/Performing 

Develop scripts and scenarios.

Develop characters through an acting process.

Make design and technical choices to communicate locale and 

mood for dramatic material for theatre, film, and television.

Responding Describe and analyze artistic choices in one’s own work. 

Describe and compare elements, styles, genres, and media.

Place work in context (personal, social, historical, and cultural).

Evaluate performances as audience and critic.
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Sample Task 

For this task, students worked in pairs to perform a reading of a scene from a play. They were 

told to use their imaginations to play a character in the scene. Below is a summary of the 

script students were given.

Summary of Script

Character B is in his or her room looking at a box of chocolates.

Character B hears Character A coming in and quickly hides the box. 

Character A, Character B’s sibling, enters the room and discovers 

the box of chocolates, then attempts — using flattery, sarcasm, 

and guilt tactics — to convince Character B to share.

Character B begins sampling different chocolates, and smugly 

offers to share the chocolates that he or she doesn’t like.

Character B eventually admits to feeling sick from overindulging, 

then freely offers the chocolates to Character A.

Character B requests that Character A tell their mother 

how well Character B “shared” the chocolates.

Explanation

Students were assessed individually using the following scoring guides, which address 

different aspects of their performance:

A.Pair. Did the students’ performance show the connectedness between them? Was the 

relationship between them defined?

B. Individual Holistic. Does the student hold your attention? Do you understand his or 

her thoughts and feelings? Is the student emotionally invested in the scene?

C. Vocal Production. Can the student be heard and understood?

D. Expression. Does the student expressively communicate his or her intentions and 

emotions?

E. Action. Does the student use action to help convey the scene?

F. Listening and Responding. Does the student seem to be having a real conversation? 

Does the student respond to how things are said, as well as what is being said?
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Sample Student Response

After completing their 

performance, students responded 

to a set of self-evaluation 

questions. The sample response 

to the right refers to this line in the 

script: “A: [Eating one]: Blech! The 

pink ones are gross. Not even a 

dog would like those.”

Explanation

Answers to self-evaluation questions were assessed using a three-level scoring guide — 

Acceptable, Partial, and Unacceptable — allowing for partial credit. The student response 

above received an Acceptable score because the student clearly described the way the line 

was read, referencing an interpretation of punctuation and the use of voice and emotion.
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Dance

Dance incorporates skills and technique through creating, performing, and responding. 

In this content area, students use and apply their knowledge of different dance forms and 

styles, along with personal, social, cultural, and historical contexts. 

Sample Arts Processes for Dance

Creating 

Invent solutions to movement problems.

Follow improvisational and compositional structures.

Collaborate to achieve solutions.

Performing Recall and reproduce movement.

Demonstrate physical technique.

Communicate through movement.

Responding Identify compositional elements and notice details.

Identify contexts (stylistic, cultural, social, historical) of the 

dance.

Make observations about the piece’s and the dancer’s technical 

and artistic components.
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Sample Task 

In this task, students collaborated with a partner to create a movement sequence based on 

the idea of metamorphosis, using elements of dance composition including time, space, and 

energy. Students demonstrated an ability to collaborate with a partner to achieve solutions to 

a movement task, create and perform improvisational and compositional structures, replicate 

movement, perform with physical technique, and communicate through movement. 

Students were presented with the following checklist (read aloud and posted in the 

classroom) to make sure their dances adhered to assessment guidelines:

Student Performance Checklist

§ Begin with a clear, still pose

§ Develop a dance using:

- Two different shapes (using the whole body)

- Three different levels (high, middle, low)

- One pair of movement types

§ End in a clear, still pose

Explanation

Students’ performances were scored on the following aspects of creating and performing:

A. The dance begins and ends with a clear, still pose.

B. The pair accurately repeats the sequence of the dance.

C. The pair performs their dance together with smoothness, focus, and expression.

D. The pair demonstrates at least two clear, different shapes in the dance (not including 

beginning or ending pose).

E. The pair demonstrates use of high, middle, and low movement levels in the dance.

F. The dance incorporates the use of sharp and smooth movement qualities.

G.Effectiveness of the dance as a whole.
Abridged Arts Framework 15

Through the arts, students acquire the 

skills valued in today’s complex world — 

problem-solving, higher-order thinking, 

flexibility, persistence, and cooperation. 
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Reporting NAEP Results

Scale Scores

Scale scores, which are derived from student 

responses to NAEP assessment items, 

summarize the overall level of performance 

attained by a group of students. When an 

assessment is administered at multiple 

grade levels, performance for each grade 

is scaled separately; therefore, average 

scale scores cannot be compared across 

grades. For the arts assessment specifically, 

trends in the percentages of students who 

answered specific questions correctly are 

also reported.

Achievement Levels

National Assessment Governing Board 

policy defines three levels of achievement 

on NAEP — Basic, Proficient, and Advanced. 

These achievement levels describe what 

students at each grade level should know 

and be able to do in a particular subject.

In the case of the NAEP arts assessment, the 

Governing Board decided against setting 

achievement levels due to the complexity 

of the content areas. Instead, achievement 

on this assessment is described both 

quantitatively and qualitatively.

Contextual Variables

Contextual information — gathered in 

questionnaires during the administration 

of NAEP — is essential to understanding the 

assessment results. Questions ask about 

instructional content, instructional practices 

and experiences, teacher characteristics, 

school conditions and context, and 

conditions beyond school. Answers to 

these questions help create a picture of 

a student’s educational environment and 

culture.

The NAEP arts assessment includes 

contextual questionnaires for schools and 

for the students themselves. 

Assessment Tasks 

NAEP arts assessment tasks are available to 

the public, allowing teachers, students, and 

others to gain insight into the assessment 

itself and learn what types of questions are 

asked. With the interactive NAEP Questions 

Tool, users can sort and explore NAEP 

questions by subject matter, grade level, 

and difficulty level. 
Conclusion

Students who learn to value the arts set themselves up for success in school and in life. 

Through the arts, students acquire the skills valued in today’s complex world — problemsolving, higher-order thinking, flexibility, persistence, and cooperation. Moreover, by 

practicing arts disciplines, students become part of the human heritage of creativity. 

To view the full 2016 NAEP Arts Education Assessment Framework, please visit 

www.nagb.gov/publications/frameworks.htm.
The National Assessment Governing Board is an independent, nonpartisan board whose 

members include governors, state legislators, local and state school officials, educators, business 

representatives, and members of the general public. Congress created the 26-member Governing 

Board in 1988 to set policy for the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP).

www.nagb.gov