Overview

The South Carolina Arts Assessment Program (SCAAP) is the only fully implemented and web-based arts assessment at the state-level. Established in year 2000, SCAAP is a collaborative effort among the South Carolina Department of Education (SCDE), the University of South Carolina (USC), and South Carolina arts educators. The purpose of SCAAP is to develop arts assessments in four arts areas aligned to the South Carolina Visual and Performing Arts Curriculum Standards 2003. With the SCAAP assessments, arts educators and school district personnel can authentically measure and evaluate their students' arts achievement. Moreover, because the SCAAP assessments are based on state-wide curriculum standards, the assessment has the potential to unify instructional objectives in arts classrooms throughout the state and serve as a model for other states interested in measuring student achievement in the arts and improving arts education.

Currently, SCAAP has six different assessments in various stages of development. All SCAAP assessments include a web-based multiple-choice section and two performance tasks. Both multiple-choice items included the use of multimedia interpretative materials such as digital images, digital sound files, and streaming video clips. School-level results are disseminated to teachers and principals to inform instruction based on state standards. The assessments have also been showcased in two publications currently in-press: one an assessment textbook involving the training and monitoring procedure of the web-based rating system and one an MENC publication about assessment in music education. Research studies have also been conducted to investigate the reliability and validity of individual SCAAP assessments and the monitoring and scoring procedure of the SCAAP performance tasks.

For detailed information about SCAAP Test Development, Administration, and Current Tests as well as access to SCAAP Documents and sample tests, please click on the buttons below.