The Development of a Secondary-Level Solo Wind Instrument Performance Rubric Using the Multifaceted Rasch Partial Credit Measurement Model

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to describe the development of a valid and reliable rubric to assess secondary-level solo instrumental music performance based on principles of invariant measurement. The research questions that guided this study included (1) What is the psychometric quality (i.e., validity, reliability, and precision) of a scale developed to assess secondary-level solo music performance? (2) Do the proposed items fit the measurement model, and if so, how do the items vary in difficulty? and (3) How does the structure of the rating scale vary across individual items? The psychometric considerations in this study included calibrations of items, persons, raters, school level, musical instrument, and rating scale structure using the Multifaceted Rasch Partial Credit Measurement Model. A 13-member cohort of music content experts participated as raters in this study. A total of 75 video performances of secondary-level solo and ensemble performances were evaluated. The result was the development of the Music Performance Rubric for Secondary-Level Instrumental Solos (MPR-2L-INSTSOLO), a 30-item rubric consisting of rating scale categories ranging from two to four performance criteria. Implications for consequential validity, rater training, standard setting, and benchmarking are discussed.