IB Primary Years Program

Philosophy

Our assessment policy is aligned with our mission and stems from our endeavors to empower young learners to realize their full potential. Assessment is a celebration of the holistic journey of learning and personal growth. It is an ongoing process that focuses on the learner, and is an indicator of the different levels and layers of learning, both for the teacher and the students. It enables all parties involved to better reflect on learning. Through our varied assessment activities, which tap on the cognitive, affective and psychomotor domains and cater for multiple intelligences, we seek an authentic measure for the acquisition of knowledge, concepts, skills, and attitudes.

Practices and Principles

1. Assessment forms an integral and continuous part of the planning, teaching, and learning processes.
   1. Teachers are expected to link planning, teaching, learning and assessment.
   2. Teachers are expected to assess student learning regularly against the objectives and assessment criteria specific to each subject.
   3. Teachers are expected to design and implement appropriate learning activities, based on analysis of students’ performance, in order to promote the learning of all students.
   4. Teachers will document all measures taken.
2. Assessment is a series of interrelated experiences that enhance the learning process.
   1. Teachers are expected to assess prior knowledge before starting instruction.
   2. Teachers are expected to use varied formative and summative assessment tools and strategies to cater for the individual student.
3. Assessment is an opportunity for all parties concerned to reflect on learning
   1. Teachers are expected to provide opportunities to students to both peer and self-assess their learning and progress, and to help them reflect on their own learning.
   2. The school provides students with continuous feedback on their learning.
4. Assessment is twofold: summative assessment, which aims at determining the overall achievement of students, and formative assessment which aims at identifying the learning needs of students to support learning.
   1. Teachers are expected to specify the knowledge, concepts, skills, attitudes, and actions that must be assessed, while providing clear criteria on all assessments.
   2. Teachers use assessment results to make decisions regarding student learning and adjust their plans accordingly.
5. The school has systems in place to record, analyze, and report assessment.
   1. Teachers are expected to follow school instructions pertaining to recording and reporting of assessment data.
   2. Teachers are expected to analyze the results of assessment, to monitor students’ acquisition of knowledge, concepts, skills, attitudes, and decisions to take action and to provide them with prompt feedback about their learning and progress.
6. The assessment policy is communicated to all members of the school community.   
   1. Teachers are expected to communicate effectively and promptly with parents about students’ learning and progress.
   2. Teachers are expected to communicate effectively with teachers of the same subject, heads of the department, and the administration about students’ learning and progress.

Principles of Assessment

Students must be able to use and apply their knowledge and skills to comprehend, analyze and evaluate new situations and contexts. Students are also expected to create new designs and constructs based on their learning. Students need to understand assessment expectations, standards and practices, which teachers can introduce early and naturally in teaching, as well as in class and homework activities. All constituents, including students, teachers, parents, and administration should have a clear understanding of the reasons for assessment, what is being assessed, the criteria for success, and the method by which assessment is administered.

Assessment is central to the goal of thoughtfully and effectively guiding students through the five essential elements of learning:

• Acquisition of knowledge
• Understanding of concepts
• Mastering of skills
• Development of attitudes
• Decisions to take action

The assessment component can itself be subdivided into three closely related areas

• Assessing: how we discover what the students know and have learned
• Recording: how we choose to collect and analyze data
• Reporting: how we choose to communicate information

Assessing

The assessment of the students’ development and learning is an essential component of the curriculum and helps to inform continued development, learning and teaching. Students are observed in a variety of situations and a wide range of assessment strategies are implemented throughout the school year. Teachers use a range of formative and summative assessments, which help to demonstrate student achievement.

Types of Assessment:

• Pre-Assessment:

  At the beginning of each Unit, teachers will assess students’ prior knowledge and experience before embarking on new learning experiences. It is not necessary to adhere to a certain assessment tool or specific criteria for this type of assessment.

• Formative Assessment:

  Formative assessment is interwoven with learning. It helps teachers and students find out what the students already know and can do and therefore it provides information that is used in order for teachers to plan the next stage in learning. Formative assessment and teaching are directly linked and function purposefully together.

  Formative assessment aims to promote learning by giving regular and frequent feedback to the students throughout the learning process. This process helps learners to improve their knowledge and understanding, to foster self-motivation and enthusiasm for learning, to engage in thoughtful reflection, to develop the capacity for self-assessment, and to recognize the criteria for success.

• Summative Assessment:

  Summative assessment aims to give teachers and students a clear insight into students’ understanding.

  It is the culmination of the teaching and learning processes, and gives the students opportunities to demonstrate what has been learned. Summative assessment informs and leads to improvement in the teaching process and student learning; it measures understanding of knowledge, key concepts, strategies, skills and attitudes, and leads to action.

  During collaborative planning, teachers decide on the tool and strategy appropriate to the age group. They use a previously agreed upon key with performance indicators and a detailed description of each one of these indicators to assess students.

Recording

Assessment strategies are the methods or approaches that teachers use when gathering information about students’ learning. Teachers record this information using a variety of instruments on ManageBac at NTSIS.

Tools teachers use include:

• Rubrics: An established set of criteria for rating students in all areas. The descriptors tell the assessor what characteristics or signs to look for in students’ work and then how to rate that work on a predetermined scale. In PYP, rubrics can be developed by students as well as by teachers.
• Anecdotal records – brief written notes based on observations of students used for reflection on student learning and formative assessment.
• Continuums – provide visual representations of developmental stages of learning and show a progression of achievement that identify where a student has reached in relation to that learning process.
• Examples/exemplars – samples of students’ work that serve as concrete standards against which other samples are judged.
• Checklists – lists of attributes or elements that are useful when used formatively as are applied to teachers and students, for formative assessment and reflection on Approaches to Learning skills.

Assessment strategies teachers use include:

• Observations: All students are observed often and regularly, with the teacher taking a focus varying from wide angle (for example, focusing on the whole class) to close up (for example, focusing on one student or one activity), and from nonparticipant (observing from without) to participant (observing from within)
• Selected Response: Single occasion, one-dimensional exercises. Tests and quizzes are the most familiar examples of this form of assessment.
• Open-ended Tasks: Situations in which students are presented with a stimulus and asked to communicate an original response. The answer might be a brief written answer, a drawing, a diagram or a solution.
• Performance Assessment: Students participate in presentations, demonstrations, performances, speeches, exhibitions, role-play, research report and debate.
• Communication: Types of communication assessments include interviews, question & answers, and conferences.
• Reflection: Students use journals and student portfolios to write reflections.

Reporting

Reporting

Reporting assessment includes communicating what students know, understand and can do. Reporting involves parents, students, and teachers as partners and is comprehensive and understandable to all parties.

Reporting to parents, students and teachers occurs through:

• Orientation day
• The portfolio
• Student-led conferences
• Parent-teacher conferences
• The PYP Exhibition
• Written report cards

Reporting to Parents

Orientation Day

Parents gain information about the school from teachers and coordinator regarding the curriculum, classroom routines and school policies.

Documentation of Individual and Group Learning Engagements:

Teachers listen, observe and document children’s thinking and learning and present it to the school community in a variety of ways such as the learning journal and anecdotal records.

The Student Portfolio:

The portfolio is an important part of the PYP evaluation process. The portfolio gives an overview of students’ achievements and accomplishments as they progress through the curriculum. Teachers and students work together to decide on the contents of the portfolio. A portfolio will contain:

• Examples of students’ work
• Student reflections and teacher reflections

The student portfolio is regarded as a documentation of process and documentation of end results. It will be used to direct the student-led conference.

Student-led Conferences:

Grades N – G6 share their learning experiences with their parents. Students are in charge of guiding parents through their portfolios. Student-led conferences are conducted twice a year.

Parent-teacher Conferences:

Parents will be invited to meet with the homeroom teacher and specialist teachers to discuss their child’s progress. The teacher will lead the conference using student work and the student portfolio.

The PYP Exhibition:

Grade 5 & 6 is a special year in the PYP. Students prepare for an exhibition, which is a showcase of the concepts, knowledge, skills, attitudes, and action they have earned during their years in the PYP. During the exhibition, the students are engaged in a collaborative, trans-disciplinary inquiry process that involves them in identifying, investigating and offering solutions to real-life issues or problems. The exhibition will vary from year to year, but will include examples of students’ written work, oral presentations, use of ICT, and performances or compositions developed through the Arts subjects.

Students’ work during the exhibition will be assessed using both formative and summative methods in order to show the level of student understanding and achievement. The entire school community joins in the celebration of the exhibition.

Written Report Cards:

Parents receive a written report of their child’s progress twice a year, one at the end of semester 1 and the other at the end of semester 2.

Policy Implementation: Roles and Responsibilities

• Teachers should abide by the guidelines laid out in the Practices of the assessment policy
• The Programme Coordinator’s role will be to supervise teachers and how they abide by these guidelines. They will also be responsible for the training of new teachers, and familiarizing new teachers with the assessment policy.
• Programme Coordinator will oversee the overall implementation of the assessment policy on a school-wide basis.  They will be responsible for evaluating and reviewing the assessment policy and the practices when needed.

Training of New Teaching Staff

Meetings are held at the beginning of each year with teachers of different grade levels with coordinator to introduce and discuss the assessment policy during Induction Week. Teachers are also introduced to the different strategies and tools that can be used.

The school guides teachers through the process of reporting assessment using report cards on ManageBac, our school education management system. These sessions aim at guiding teachers on how to use the policy, including how to use the performance indicators in describing the work of students for formative and summative assessments as well as for the report cards.

Assessment Policy Committee Members

• Resende, Nilton
• Sim, Dorota
• Vamvakaris, Caryle
• Vizhevska, Anna

References

• International Baccalaureate Organization. 2015. What is an IB education? Wales, UK.
• International Baccalaureate Organization. 2009. A curriculum framework for international primary education: Making the PYP happen. Wales, UK.