Abstract
The present paper discusses the transition of underlying assessment concept of the National Assessment of Educational Progress in Music, focusing on evaluation of attitudes toward music. Through examining the objectives and the exercises of the first three music assessments, this paper formed the following key arguments: 1) the second music assessment (from 1978 to 1979) placed more emphasis on measuring positive attitudes toward music than the first music assessment (from 1971 to 1972); 2) in contrast to the first two music assessments, positive attitudes were not measured in the third music assessment (1997) due to reforms towards a accountability-driven school philosophy; and 3) these music assessments considered aesthetic sensibility as more important than attitudes toward music in the affective domain.
