Assessing the Work: An Exploration of Assessment in the Musical Theatre Arts

C. Casey Ozaki, Deborah Worley, and Emily Cherry   |    Volume Ten  |   

The increased pressure in higher education to demonstrate evidence of student learning is prompting all sectors to develop clear assessment methods. This national conversation has also sparked the greater recognition and use of assessment as a process for the improvement of teaching and learning. Given the scant literature on assessment in the fine and performing arts, understanding the status of one sub-field provides insight into the status of assessment in musical theatre and how assessment is conducted in an arguably nebulous area of study. This exploratory mixed methods survey study of 20 BA/BFA programs was designed to examine how musical theatre programs assess student learning within and across their programs. The qualitative and quantitative data are analyzed using Gale and Bond’s framework for the assessment of learning in the fine arts.

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