Assessment is imperative for student learning of the Music TEKS. Some music teachers may resist the idea of assessment on the grounds that much music learning is highly subjective, but the music content described in the TEKS can be assessed. In fact, music teachers have assessed these skills and knowledge successfully for many years.

Student achievement of the Music TEKS can be demonstrated in a variety of ways, including paper/pen format and presentation/performance. Though educators have traditionally thought of assessment as a means of grading, assessment can facilitate learning in the following ways.

• Assessment provides teachers with information about student achievement, aiding teachers in planning by pointing to what needs to be retaught, when reteaching is needed, which students need remediation, and which students are ready to advance.
• Assessment also develops a body of evidence documenting student growth over time.
• Assessments teach students to self-assess, a part of the fourth strand of the Music TEKS.
• Assessments of many students or particular classes provide teachers with information to evaluate effectiveness of teaching practices.

The pages in this section will discuss internal assessment, developed within the school, and external assessment, developed outside the school but often required, and how they can be combined to help students and teachers better assess learning.