A task force empowered by the New Hampshire Board of Education is in the process of drafting the New Hampshire Curriculum Framework for the Arts. Dr, DeTurk is a member of that task force. Like the National Standards for the Arts, the New Hampshire Framework includes Dance, Music, Theater and the Visual Arts as the component disciplines of the arts in the schools. Further, the Music section of the state Framework currently resembles the National Standards in Music in almost every detail. The Framework is now being circulated around the state for review, and is scheduled for submission to the state legislature next year.
New Hampshire Educational Improvement and Assessment Program (NHEIAP)
Authorization and Purpose. "In 1989, the State Board of Education adopted the goal of developing an educational accountability system as one of its top priorities for educational reform in New Hampshire. In 1991, a 27-member assessment steering committee submitted a detailed plan for the implementation of the system. The first task identified in that plan was the formation of implementation teams to develop language arts and mathematics curriculum and assessment frameworks. The grade three frameworks were completed and published in 1993, and provided the foundation for the development of the third-grade component of the New Hampshire Educational Improvement and Assessment Program." End-of-grade-three language arts and mathematics instruments were piloted in June 1993 and administered statewide in May of 1994, 1995, and 1996. Assessment instruments for the English language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies were piloted in May 1995 with samples of grade six and ten students. These end-of-grade-six and end-of-grade-ten instruments were first administered statewide in May 1996. Beginning in the spring 1997, all public school students in New Hampshire will be assessed annually at the end of grades three, six, and ten.
As stated in the enabling legislation, RSA 193-C, the purpose of the NHEIAP is to establish what New Hampshire students should know and be able to do, and to develop and implement effective methods for assessing that learning and its application so that local decisions about curriculum development and delivery can be made. However, as with any testing program, an understanding of results requires an appreciation of what the assessment instruments cover and how the content is related to the local district curriculum. Since the design of the NHEIAP calls for breadth in the coverage of content areas, the instrument may include some topics that have not yet been taught in a particular district, school, or grade level. In addition, since NHEIAP is not a minimum competency testing program, assessment items are designed to reflect the range of learning exhibited by students.
The assessment instruments are designed to measure student understanding as well as proficiency in skills. They include multiple-choice items and several open-ended, constructed response items that are scored holistically, using a previously developed rubric. The open-ended items ask students to show all of their work, justify their answers, and explain the strategies they chose. Proficiency levels describe what students at each level know and are able to do. The NHEIAP-designated levels are: Advanced, Proficient, Basic, and Novice. Performance attributes associated with each level are delineated, as are the 'cutting-points' between levels established by a process that included a representative group of New Hampshire citizens, both educators and non-educators, brought together for this specific purpose.