IB – Assessment Policy

Assessment Philosophy

All students will benefit from assessment practices that ensure that the learning community is accountable for excellence in and out of the classroom, and that provide learners with continuous and reflective opportunities to demonstrate new knowledge, skills and social responsibilities. Assessment practices will be reviewed periodically to reflect best practice and continuous alignment with MYP standards for assessment.

Purpose of Assessment

* To optimize learning so that learning happens through the process of and not just prior to assessment

* To inform and guide teaching practices

* To evaluate our program of studies and expectations for rigor

* To provide learners, parents and educators with meaningful, valid feedback about a student’s progress and levels of achievement

* To identify struggling learners and recognize growth and achievement

* To provide students and families an opportunity for goal setting

Assessment Practices

* We assess formatively in order to gain information to guide teaching and improve student performance.

-Ongoing assessment during a unit of study that provides feedback on student work to help them improve. Teachers and peers may give quick, detailed feedback that allows students time to make self-adjustments.

-Examples of formative assessments may include pre-tests, quizzes, written reflections, entrance or exit activities, writing samples, performances, lab reports, etc.

* We assess summatively in order to validate each learner’s progress toward defined standards of achievement and to hold our learners to the highest levels of application and transfer of their learning.

-These assessments occur towards the end of a unit of inquiry and are used to determine each student’s level of achievement in the Middle Years Program (MYP) subject-area objectives, Iowa Core and Common Core standards and high school, college and career expectations. Authentic summative assessments prompt students to action and communicate learning to parents/guardians, students and teachers.

-Examples of summative assessment may include essays, examinations, questionnaires, investigations, research, performances, presentations and creation of solutions in response to problems.

Assessment Criteria

* The MYP offers a criterion-related model of assessment. With criterion-related assessment, all learners have the same target of exceeding standards. Criterion-related assessment focuses on students as individuals, and tells learners what they are supposed to know, understand and do. Since not every student is able to master all aspects of a topic at the same pace, success is defined at given levels and measured against set objectives.

* Teachers structure varied and valid assessment tasks that allow learners to demonstrate achievement according to the required MYP objectives within each subject group.

* Each subject criteria is assessed a minimum of two times each year. The subject criteria are:

Achievement Levels

Reporting to Parents

• Report cards and progress reports-MYP assessment achievements will be reported at least twice per academic year during fall/spring conferences and exhibitions as well as at the end of a semester
• Infinite Campus (online parent access to student gradebooks)-IC will utilize MYP assessment criteria where applicable and will be available to parents and students on an ongoing basis
• Parent – Student – Teacher Fall/Spring Conferences
• Fall/spring school-wide presentation and exhibition events
• Developmental notebooks (Arts, Design)
• Concerts and performance events