From Subjectivity to Objective Evaluation: A Techno-rationalist Approach of Assessment Design for Art and Design Education

Finding the Missing Link

“…Students who do not use these prompts are often at a disadvantage. The assessor works from a feeling about the work rather than references that are tangible to the student, such as the learning outcomes (Cheng, 2015).…”

“…If we examine the system used to assess art and design, it employs the system of criterionreferenced assessment. This examines what learners know, understand, and can do, measured against learning outcomes, and students are not benchmarked against each other to regulate a grade (Cheng, 2015). Norm-referenced assessment is used for the assessment of learning.…”

“…This operates on a system of standardization. Therefore, a curve is used to find the median point, and this means the highest and lowest marks are generally the same quantity (Cheng, 2015). Norm-referenced assessments in art and design education can happen when the assessors measure students against each other's performance to regulate a grade, thus ignoring the nuances of the specific learning outcomes that the individual student is attaining.…”

A Thirty State Analysis of Teacher Supervision and Evaluation Systems in the ESSA Era

“…Louis et al (2008) posit the use of technorationalism, a high level of coordinated activities by state policymakers, is often used in the attempt to comprehensively address school reform. Technorationalism applies the ideology that social issues and problems can be controlled precisely and orderly, often through policy efforts and mandates that relate to objective assessment of social outcomes, specifically through quantified data tied to accountability (Cheng, 2015;Orr, 2007). Understanding how TSES develop across states and political cultures is important, particularly in order to understand the role technorationalism plays in the often subjective art and science of applying instructional leadership in practice.…”