It is important to monitor not only your arts outcomes as a result of your arts programs but also your social and emotional wellbeing outcomes. There are several reasons this is important:
Sets priorities
Develops common language
Deepens understanding
Improves planning and instruction
Evaluates effectiveness
Sets priorities
You communicate to your arts community that social and emotional wellbeing (SEWB) and its intentional learning is a priority in your organisation. It’s often said, “what gets assessed gets addressed.” The decision to dedicate resources to monitoring and evaluating social and emotional development sends a clear message that promoting SEWB of all in the arts community is important to you.
Develops common language
You establish a common language to talk about SEWB.
Deepens understanding
As an organisation, you can deepen your understanding of how social and emotional competencies develop over time in children and adolescents. Students and families will similarly deepen their understanding of their SEWB and how it changes over time.
Improves planning and instruction
It will allow you to continuously improve your planning and instruction for the intentional development of SEWB. This can be achieved through formative assessment, often known as assessment for learning.
This sort of assessment is often considered part of instructional practice and is designed to provide information to guide instruction and practice. It usually involves listening to and observing students during the learning process and collecting evidence of student understanding.
Evaluates effectiveness
You can evaluate the effectiveness of the SEWB approaches. This generally occurs through summative assessment or assessment of learning. This can include quantitative and qualitative data collection methods conducted at the end of a defined period.
