The purpose of this research was to examine elementary music teachers' attitudes toward formal assessment: (1) Why do teachers use formal assessment in their classrooms? (2) What do teachers view as challenges in implementing formal assessment? (3) What is the relationship between attitudes toward challenges of formal assessment and demographic factors? (4) What do teachers believe will improve their formal assessment methods?

Surveys were sent to 232 elementary general music teachers in Michigan, and 100 of the returned surveys (43%) served as data for the study. Respondents agreed that the primary purposes of assessment were instructional. They found the most challenging aspects of assessment to be related to heavy teaching loads. Respondents with a greater number of buildings or students, larger class sizes, or less contact time indicated more difficulties when assessing. Respondents who received their last music education degree 20 or more years ago experienced greater difficulty in assessment-related tasks and had more negative attitudes toward assessment. Those who had a moderate number of years (10–19) since their last music education degree believed most strongly that they had not been adequately prepared in college to assess. Respondents believed that the most important ways to improve assessment would be to attend workshops, sharing sessions and observe other teachers within the region and district.