The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) will be hosting a live webcast, Improving Arts Learning through Standards & Assessment: A National Endowment for the Arts Research Roundtable, on Tuesday, February 14, 2012 from 8:30AM to 3:00PM EST.

Guild Executive Director Jonathan Herman will represent the Guild as an attendee.

The session will highlight findings from a national study commissioned by the NEA and conducted by evaluation firm WestEd: Improving the Assessment of Student Learning in the Arts. The report is the first nationwide effort to examine current practices in the assessment of K-12 student learning in the arts both in and out of the classroom. Patricia Moore Shaffer, former Senior Evaluation Officer at the National Endowment for the Arts, presented a session highlighting findings of this study at the Guild's 74th annual Conference for Community Arts Education in Boston, MA this past November.

Roundtable participants will include:

• Daniel Beattie, Arts Education, National Endowment for the Arts
• Tom Cahill, Studio in a School
• Mary Crovo, National Assessment Governing Board
• Stuart Elliott, The Board on Testing and Assessment, The National Academies
• Karol Gates, Colorado Department of Education
• Jean Hendrickson, Oklahoma A+ Schools
• Samuel Hoi, Otis College of Art and Design
• Sunil Iyengar, Office of Research & Analysis, National Endowment for the Arts
• Rocco Landesman, Chairman, National Endowment for the Arts
• Jack Lew, Laguna College of Art and Design
• Tim Magner, Partnership for 21st Century Skills
• Patricia Moore Shaffer, NASA (formerly with National Endowment for the Arts)
• Francisco Nuñez, Young People’s Chorus of New York
• Dennie Palmer Wolf, WolfBrown
• Nancy Rubino, College Board
• Sandra Ruppert, Arts Education Partnership
• Steve Seidel, Harvard University
• James H. Shelton III, Assistant Deputy Secretary for Innovation and Improvement, U.S Department of Education
• Philip E. Shepherd, National Coalition for Core Arts Standards
• Gene Wilhoit, Council of Chief State School Officers