A Deep Dive into the Model Cornerstone Assessments

Robert Sabol is a professor of Visual and Performing Arts at Purdue University. Currently, he is the head of the Department of Art and Design at Purdue. He is a former president of the National Art Education Association and president of the Art Education Association of Indiana. He has worked as a traveling elementary art teacher and has conducted research in assessment, multicultural education, high ability education, international art education, and curriculum development. He has published over 60 journal articles, book chapters, and books and given over 250 presentations at international, national, and regional professional conferences. Sabol has served as the chair of the National Consortium for Core Arts Standards (NCCAS) Model Cornerstone Assessment Development Team and represents NAEA on the NCCAS Leadership Team.

Debi West has taught art at the K-12 levels for the past 24 years in Gwinnett County, Georgia, where she also owns and operates the Crystal Collage Children’s Art Studio. Additionally, she recently started her own consulting company, WESTpectations Educational Consulting, where she is teaching PBL and STEAM-based learning concepts to educators across the nation. She has written eight highly successful teaching resource guides for elementary and secondary art educators. West has spent her career being a life-long learner; she earned her BA in studio art and her Masters and Specialist degrees in art education and she is currently working on her PhD in leadership, language, and literacy. She has been honored to work as an advocate for art education at the local, state, regional, and national levels throughout her career. Debi and her husband Chuck are the proud parents of Carson and Croy.

Belinda Monn is an elementary art teacher at Silver Spring Elementary School for the Cumberland Valley School District in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. After twenty years as an art educator in both elementary and high school, Monn knows how to develop units of instruction that cultivate personal expression from students within their artworks. She has achieved leadership roles as both art department chairperson and arts integration specialist within her school district. Belinda is a National Board Certified Teacher, and holds a BFA and MAT from Maryland Institute, College of Art.

Jerris Palmer began teaching in Bentonville, Arkansas, in 2009. She is a highly skilled artist who specializes in graphite, paint, and printmaking. She has exhibited and sold her works, including woven baskets, at the Museum Store at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. She is a certified art teacher with a BSE in Art from Arkansas State University. Palmer is currently head of her schools' Fine Arts Department and serves on the Bentonville Art Planning Commission. She is passionate about art and always shares her knowledge with students, giving them a competitive edge in state and national student art competitions.