Assessment

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Our goal at Fickett is to guide students through the five essential elements of learning: understanding concepts, acquiring knowledge, mastering skills, developing attitudes, and taking responsible action. 

Purpose of Assessment

(a) provide a clear conceptualization of intended student learning outcomes

(b) provide a description of how these outcomes are assessed and measured

(c) provide a description of results obtained from these measures 

(d) provide a description of how these results validate current practices or point to changes needed to improve student learning.

Characteristics of Effective Assessment at Fickett

• Identify criteria/materials to be addressed in advance (scope/sequence) 

• Allow children to synthesize and apply their learning 

• Promote student reflection and self-evaluation

• Focus on the production of quality products or performances 

• Highlight children's strengths and allows them to demonstrate mastery and expertise 

• Allow children to express different points of view and interpretations 

• Provide feedback regarding every stage of the learning/teaching cycle 

• Base instruction on student needs, interests and learning styles (student-driven)

• Involve collaboration between students and teachers 

• Involve producing evidence of student growth and learning that can be clearly reported and understood by children, parents, teachers and administrators 

• Begin with the end results in mind (backwards design - what students should be able to know or do by the end of a learning unit, lesson or process)

Who is involved in assessment?

Teachers, students, parents, administrators and the community are involved in the assessment process in order for it to be effective. 

What do we assess at Fickett?

• Understanding of concepts (big ideas that transcend within and across subject areas) 

• Mastery of the Ready to Advance (PK) and Georgia Standards of Excellence in all content areas (K-5) 

• Development/Demonstration of the attributes of the IB Learner Profile 

Types of Assessments

• Diagnostic/Pre-assessment

Assessments administered  prior to teaching helps teachers and students find out what students already know (MAP, GKIDS Readiness, and District Benchmarks)

• Formative Assessment is interwoven with daily learning and helps teachers find out what students already know, understand, and can do in order to plan for further student learning. Teachers use various assessment tools to keep records of student progress.

• Summative Assessment takes place at the end of a unit or learning cycle and allows students, teachers, and parents to evaluate progress over a period of time. 

State Assessments include: 

• Accessing Comprehension and  Communication in English State to State for English Language Learners (ACCESS for ELLs) measures English learners’ social and academic proficiency in English

• Georgia Alternative Assessment (GAA2.0) is designed to ensure that students with significant cognitive disabilities are provided access to the state academic content standards and given the opportunity to demonstrate achievement of the knowledge, concepts, and skills inherent in the standards.​

• Georgia Kindergarten Inventory of Developing Skills (GKIDS) Ongoing diagnostic information about kindergarten students’ developing skills in English Language Arts, Math, Science, and Social Studies, Personal/Social Development, and Approaches to Learning.

• Georgia Milestones (GMAS) Measures how well students are mastering the state adopted content standards in core areas of language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies (grades 3-5)

• National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) The Nation’s Report Card, an overall picture of what students know and can do (grade 4)

• Assessment of the Essential Elements of the Primary Years Program

The five essential elements of the PYP are assessed through the units of inquiry and are recorded on completed planners.

Knowledge - What students should know

Skills - What students should demonstrate

Concepts - What students should understand

Attitudes - Expression of feelings and beliefs

Actions -Taking action

• 5th Grade Exhibition

The Exhibition is a requirement for 5th graders.  The students will present their own collaborative transdisciplinary unit of inquiry that showcases the five essential elements of the PYP (knowledge, skills, concepts, attitudes, actions, and attitudes). Students are engaged in identifying, investigating and offering solutions to real-life issues or problems."  

How do teachers record student progress? 

Infinite Campus grading system is used to record student’s performance on the following:

• Classwork

• Homework

• Projects

• Performance Tasks

• Test

• Quizzes 

• IB Learner Profile Attributes

IB Units of Study will be stored on Google Drive

Student Portfolios

Self-Assessments

Rubrics

How is student growth reported to parents and students?

• Report cards (four times per year)

• IB learner profile reflection form (four times per year as they are a part of the district’s report card ) 

• Parent-Teacher, Teacher-Student, Parent-Teacher-Student and Student-led conferences are held throughout the year and as frequently as needed 

• Unit of Inquiry progress reports (sent home after each unit of inquiry) 

• Teacher Communication with parents via notes home, phone calls, as well as other campus communication mediums