SUMMARY Twenty-six patients with the speech disorder of Parkinson's disease received daily speech therapy (prosodic exercises) at home for 2 to 3 weeks. There were significant improvements in speech as assessed by scores for prosodic abnormality and intelligibility' and these were maintained in part for up to 3 months. The degree of improvement was clinically and psychologically important, and relatives commented on the social benefits. The use of a visual reinforcement device produced limited benefit over and above that from prosodic exercises alone, except to patients with severe speech disorder.

Twenty eight patients with Parkinson's disease (average age 63 years, average duration of disease 8 years) and 28 normal elderly controls (average age 70 years) were tested for their ability to appreciate the prosodic aspects of their own and others' speech, and facial expression. Compared with the controls the Parkinsonian subjects performed worse at these tests, though both groups could easily identify neutral statements. The Parkinsonian subjects were unable to produce statements in an angry or questioning form. These seemed to be features of early Parkinson's disease. to test this hypothesis. Metiods Twenty eight patients with Parkinson's disease (18 men and 10 women, mean age 63 years), were studied. All were

Mr. Cruthers enjoys his work as an elementary music teacher. He has been at the same school, Ashley Park, for the past five years. During that time, he has incorporated content corresponding to the nine standards for music education (MENC 1996) into his long and short term planning. This forms the basis for delivery of a comprehensive general music program. Students regularly interact with music as performers, composers, and listeners. They are involved in numerous activities common to general music including singing, playing instruments, improvising and composing. Students gain understanding of music by examining the cultural and historical contexts that give rise to music making.The music supervisor spent the day at Mr. Cruther's school. After observing students in several different classes engage in small group work at several centers, the supervisor praised Mr. Cruthers for the constructivist approach apparent in his program. While Mr. Cruthers was pleased by this compliment, he was perplexed. How can someone decide they have viewed educational sessions built on constructivist principles by observing students for such a short period of time?

This article examines constructivist philosophies for learning with an emphasis on studentcentered environments in education and the active involvement of students in learning as they relate new understanding to what they already know and refine previous skills in terms of newly acquired proficiencies. Active learning is explored from a constructivist perspective in which students adopt an analytic approach to questioning and problem solving. Through these processes, students extend their current understanding and emerge as independent musicians, actively engaged in their work as singers, players, composers, improvisers, and listeners. This approach is contrasted with student involvement in hands-on activities in which the focus is on the actions needed to fulfill a given task and limited awareness is devoted to the thinking required to complete the work. I examine the implications of this approach for educational practice and call on policymakers to re-envision music education with attention to engaged learning as perceived within constructivist ways of knowing.

In music education, current attention to student-centered approaches for learning affects our understanding of student assessment. This view to curriculum reform requires new perspectives for assessment. There is a need to move beyond the summative use of assessment to assign grades to examining the roles of assessment in supporting and enhancing learning. To this end, multiple roles of assessment are examined under three headings: (1) assessment of learning, (2) assessment for learning, and (3) assessment as learning.