1. Consortium of National Arts Education Associations (Reston, VA: MENC, 1994). These standards also appear in The School Music Program: A New Vision (Reston, VA: MENC, 1994).

2. MENC (Reston, VA: MENC, 1994).

3. Because the professional literature is inconsistent in its use of assessment-related terminology, it is important that the reader be familiar with the definitions used in this publication. "Assessment" is used here as a general term to describe the overall process of making analytical judgments. The process of assessment emphasizes discernment and discrimination; it is best carried out by using a variety of techniques. "Evaluation" is the act or process of determining the extent to which individuals or groups possess certain skills, knowledge, or abilities. Evaluation is the step in the assessment process at which a judgment is made, based on information collected. "Measurement" refers to collecting quantitative information. Information gathered through measurement often provides the basis for making an evaluation or judgment. "Testing" refers to using a series of questions or exercises to measure the skills, knowledge, or abilities of individuals or groups.

4. States developing state assessment programs should also seek to take advantage of the valuable pioneering work in large-scale assessment in arts education done by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). See The National Assessment Governing Board, Arts Education Assessment Framework (Washington, DC: Council of Chief State School Officers, 1994).

5. The prekindergarten content and achievement standards do not appear in National Standards for Arts Education but are found in The School Music Program: A New Vision (Reston, VA: MENC, 1994), which presents the content and achievement standards for music separately from those of the other arts.

6. MENC, Opportunity-to-Learn Standards for Music Instruction: Grades PreK“12 (Reston, VA: MENC, 1994).

7. MENC, Teacher Education in Music: Final Report (Washington, DC: MENC, 1972); Music Teacher Education: Partnership and Process (Reston, VA: MENC, 1992).

8. See Consortium of National Arts Education Associations, Teacher Education for the Arts Disciplines: Issues Raised by the National Standards for Arts Education (Reston, VA: MENC, 1996). Available on MENC web site, www.MENC.org

9. MENC, School Music Program Evaluation (Reston, VA: MENC, 1992).

10. For sample standards-based objectives, see Carolynn A. Lindeman, ed., Strategies for Teaching, 14 vols. (Reston, VA: MENC, 1995“2001).

11. For general information on assessment and evaluation in music, see J. David Boyle and Rudolf E. Radocy, Measurement and Evaluation of Musical Experiences (New York: Schirmer Books, 1987). For information on documenting and assessing student work over time and other issues concerning performance-based assessment, see Ellen Winner, Lyle Davidson, and Larry Scripp, Arts PROPEL: A Music Handbook (Cambridge, MA: Harvard Project Zero, 1992).

12. For purposes of these standards, music is classified into six levels of difficulty:
Level 1--Very easy. Easy keys, meters, and rhythms; limited ranges.
Level 2--Easy. May include changes of tempo, key, and meter; modest ranges.
Level 3--Moderately easy. Contains moderate technical demands, expanded ranges, and varied interpretive requirements.
Level 4--Moderately difficult. Requires well-developed technical skills, attention to phrasing and interpretation, and ability to perform various meters and rhythms in a variety of keys.
Level 5--Difficult. Requires advanced technical and interpretive skills; contains key signatures with numerous sharps or flats, unusual meters, complex rhythms, subtle dynamic requirements.
Level 6--Very difficult. Suitable for musically mature students of exceptional competence.
(Adapted with permission from NYSSMA Manual, Edition XXIII, published by the New York State School Music Association, 1991.)

13. For purposes of these standards, music is classified into six levels of difficulty:
Level 1--Very easy. Easy keys, meters, and rhythms; limited ranges.
Level 2--Easy. May include changes of tempo, key, and meter; modest ranges.
Level 3--Moderately easy. Contains moderate technical demands, expanded ranges, and varied interpretive requirements.
Level 4--Moderately difficult. Requires well-developed technical skills, attention to phrasing and interpretation, and ability to perform various meters and rhythms in a variety of keys.
Level 5--Difficult. Requires advanced technical and interpretive skills; contains key signatures with numerous sharps or flats, unusual meters, complex rhythms, subtle dynamic requirements.
Level 6--Very difficult. Suitable for musically mature students of exceptional competence.
(Adapted with permission from NYSSMA Manual, Edition XXIII, published by the New York State School Music Association, 1991.)

14. Achievement Standard: 1d: Students sing with expression and technical accuracy a large and varied repertoire of vocal literature with a level of difficulty of 5, on a scale of 1 to 6.

15. Achievement Standard: 1e: Students sing music written in more than four parts.

16. Achievement Standard: 1f: Students sing in small ensembles with one student on a part.

17. Achievement Standard: 2d: Students perform with expression and technical accuracy a large and varied repertoire of instrumental literature with a level of difficulty of 5, on a scale of 1 to 6.

18. Achievement Standard: 3d: Students improvise stylistically appropriate harmonizing parts in a variety of styles.

19. Achievement Standard: 3e: Students improvise original melodies in a variety of styles, over given chord progressions, each in a consistent style, meter, and tonality.

20. Achievement Standard: 4d: Students compose music, demonstrating imagination and technical skill in applying the principles of composition.

21. Achievement Standard: 5c: Students demonstrate the ability to read a full instrumental or vocal score by describing how the elements of music are used and explaining all transpositions and clefs.

22. Achievement Standard: 5d: Students interpret nonstandard notation symbols used by some 20th-century composers.

23. Achievement Standard: 5e: Students who participate in a choral or instrumental ensemble or class sightread, accurately and expressively, music with a level of difficulty of 4, on a scale of 1 to 6.

24. Achievement Standard: 6d: Students demonstrate the ability to perceive and remember music events by describing in detail significant events occurring in a given aural example.

25. Achievement Standard: 6e: Students compare ways in which musical materials are used in a given example relative to ways in which they are used in other works of the same genre or style.

26. Achievement Standard: 6f: Students analyze and describe uses of the elements of music in a given work that make it unique, interesting, and expressive.

27. Achievement Standard: 9d: Students identify and explain the stylistic features of a given musical work that serve to define its aesthetic tradition and its historical or cultural context.