3.19 Assessment Policy

Purposes of Assessment

ASFG views assessment as having three interrelated purposes:

• Assessment for learning is formative in nature and is designed to give teachers information to modify and differentiate teaching and learning activities.
• Assessment as learning is a process of developing and supporting

metacognition for students.

• Assessment of learning is summative in nature and is used to confirm what

students know and can do, to demonstrate whether they have achieved the

curriculum outcomes, and, occasionally, to show how they are placed in

relation to others.

(Adapted from Earl & Katz, “Rethinking Classroom Assessment with Purpose in Mind”, 2006)

Teachers are expected to adhere to grading and reporting procedures defined by each section of the school. In addition, teachers are required to adhere to learning expectations, pacing, and standardized assessments established by grade level leaders, department heads, and section principals. Individual teachers actively work towards accomplishing the following for quality use of assessment within their classroom:

1. Use assessment to reflect on effectiveness of both teaching and learning processes in the classroom to allow teachers and students to identify their strengths and weaknesses and the effectiveness of the program. (AIS document)
2. Be clear with students about the objectives and process of an assessment.
3. Include students in the assessment process. Examples of this may vary based on the age of student and type and purpose of assessment but examples may be:
   1. Student choice
   2. Student designed evaluations
   3. Student reflections
4. Use previous assessment data to identify student needs and guide instruction.
5. Use a variety of assessment types (diagnostic, formative, summative)
6. Use various assessment forms to gather information and measure student progress: anecdotal observation, performance tasks, reflections (self, peer and teacher conference), rubrics, portfolios, checklists, multiple choice, constructed response (short and essay format), technology enhanced, etc.
7. Share assessment data with colleagues, students, and parents in a timely manner to promote transparency, understanding, and allow for student growth.
8. When appropriate, use external assessment data (MAP, WrAP, PSAT) in class to make use of all information available to address student needs.
9. Participate in continual professional development to improve assessment practice for the benefit of teaching and learning.

Standardization

The process of standardization is an essential part of fair assessment. Teachers are actively involved in the standardization of assessment practices that occur across classrooms to ensure agreement on criteria in the following ways:

• Collaborate on understanding the learning objectives and in creating pacing charts with grade level or subject area colleagues during common preparation time.
• Participate with colleagues in the construction of common assessments appropriate for a subject and/or grade level.
• Use curricular programs established by the section.
• Reflect upon teaching practices by comparing ASFG learning achievement to other international schools using external assessments established by the section to benchmark learning.

ASFG faculty recognizes there is a learning continuum for the quality of assessment practice within classrooms and school-wide (see Appendix II). Our entire faculty is committed to grow professionally in the understanding and implementation of assessment strategies and tools. Faculty needs to dedicate time to work together in groups (common prep time and/or after school meetings) to study assessment practices and support a culture for improvement. We aim to have our assessment and instructional practice more consistently reflect the following three elements:

Personalization

Education that puts the learner at the center, providing assessment and instruction that are tailored to students’ particular learning and motivational needs.

Precision

A system that links “assessment for learning” to evidence-informed instruction on a daily basis, in the service of providing instruction that is precise to the level of readiness and the learning needs of the individual student.

Professional learning

Focused, ongoing learning for every educator “in context”, to link new conceptions of instructional practice with assessment of student learning.

*Fullan, M., Hill, P., & Crévola, C. (2006). Breakthrough. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

To support this professional development, the Directors of Academic Assessment, Instructional Programs, Mexican Program, and Section Principals in conjunction with teacher leaders (team leaders, department heads, grade level leaders, coordinators) are responsible to facilitate conversation, meetings, and workshops to promote classroom routines and practices representative of ASFG’s stated assessment purposes and essential agreements. These people play a lead role in guiding and implementing the academic assessment agenda for ASFG and ensure that data-driven dialogue and collaborative inquiry are used in the school improvement process.

ASFG ‘s Current Internal and External Assessments

The following lists are current as of 2013-2014 and represent agreed upon assessments used for all students at a grade level. These are intended to provide a perspective to teachers as to the assessments that occur presently throughout the school and at all grade levels. These lists will evolve to represent new, improved, and more comprehensive assessment practices with time.

Internal Common Assessments

• Early Childhood Mid-term Assessment – this assessment occurs for Nursery, PreKinder, and Kinder students in the areas of Spanish (kinder only) and English proficiency, writing, reading, mathematical thinking, fine motor, and visual motor integration. Students are assessed on grade level exit learning objectives so as to provide information for guiding teacher instruction for the remainder of the school year.
• Running Records are used in grades P1 and 1 to understand a student’s reading development. Teachers use this to document reading progress, help understand in what areas a student needs work, and assign students to appropriate reading groups and reading material.
• Math Benchmark Assessments are currently used in grades P1-4 (planned development for grades 5 and 6). Itemized spreadsheets allow teachers to understand strengths and weaknesses in student understanding, the program, and teaching practices. Teachers work to standardize grading practices so comparisons can be made within and among classrooms.
• English Writing Samples – Students complete two-three samples of writing using an established genre and a common prompt in elementary (early, mid-year, end). Teachers in elementary use the 6 Traits rubric as well as the ERB writing rubric in 4^th grade. In grades 4-12, the WrAP standardized writing test is applied in the spring. Teachers in MS and HS are encouraged to collect a beginning and end of the year writing sample. Teachers do grade using rubrics, but these are not uniform across the sections. Early childhood applies its own writing rubric based on a 12-staged writing continuum and collect writing samples three times per year.
• Spanish Writing Samples: Early childhood and elementary collect three samples per year and use common rubrics to grade them across the grade levels.
• Student Led Portfolio Conferences – In grades, P1-8, a formal conference between students and parents is held once per year. Students reflect on their progress of the ASFG learning goals and share the responsibility of informing their parents.
• Social Studies Research – Students in grades 9-12 conduct research in the area of social studies using a common rubric.
• Scientific Papers and Science Fair – In grades 9-12, students write a formal scientific paper that is graded with an established rubric. HS teachers collaborate to standardize the grading of this paper. In addition, HS students present a research project at a science fair. The research for this project is conducted in a standardized, collaborative manner established by the HS science teachers.
• Senior Projects - Seniors at ASFG design a year-long project centered around the ASFG learning goals. Seniors first present this final project at an expo style presentation and later defend their project to a panel of faculty. Senior projects are a requirement for graduation.

External Assessments

• MAP – Measures of Academic Progress from NWEA is a computerized adaptive assessment used to understand each student’s academic level in math and reading. Teachers have access to their current students data within 24 hours. School wide achievement reports are available within 72 hours of test completion and longitudinal results for students are tracked. ASFG administers this assessment for students Grades 2-10 two-three times per school year (Fall-Winter-Spring).
• NATIONAL TESTS – a test administered by the secretary of education in Mexico for all public and private schools. This is administered for grades 3-9 and grade 12. Spanish and math skills are tested yearly and Geography and Science skills are tested in rotating years.
• WrAP – The Writing Assessment Program from ERB is used in grades 4-12 once per school year. This is a 2-day writing sample. The WrAP is a measure of student writing based on a standardized prompt using a distinct genre at the various grade levels. Besides receiving individual student reports, ASFG is able to compare students’ writing to students at independent US schools. Students are scored using the ERB rubric which is based on six criteria.
• PSAT – The Preliminary SAT is given to all 10^th and 11^th graders (optional for 9^th graders) to provide practice for the SAT. The test measures critical reading, math, and writing. Performance on the test gives students an idea of how they may compare to others applying to college, as well as their AP potential. Since all ASFG students take this exam, ASFG can compare college readiness to other international schools.
• AP – Advanced Placement exams are given to all students enrolled in AP courses (usually grades 10-12). AP exams are scored by external Collegeboard graders. Scores may qualify students to earn college credit and possibly heighten their standing in the college admission process.
• SAT/ACT – SAT, SAT Subject Tests, and the ACT are external exams that assess academic readiness for college. These exams are used for college admissions. These tests are optional for ASFG students so ASFG can only compare a subset of students to other students from around the world.

Faculty should use self-assessment tools such as the below to assess the place a teacher is currently at with their assessment practice and to understand where they can professionally grow. The below tool was shared with permission from Graded, The American School of Sao Paulo and shows the reflection process and progression that faculty use to understand growth in the area of assessment.

Learning target: A clear statement of intended learning commonly aligned to standards or benchmarks and communicated in “student-friendly” language. Learning targets also clarify the intended cognitive demand of the learning. Other terms may include learning goal, outcome or objective. Learning targets, however, are designed so the learner is included and responsible for demonstrating the learning.

Protocols: A protocol consists of agreed upon guidelines for a conversation ensuring equal participation, and it is the existence of this structure -- which everyone understands and has agreed to -- that permits a certain kind of conversation to occur -- often a kind of conversation which people are not in the habit of having. Protocols are vehicles for building the skills and culture necessary for collaborative work. hus, using protocols often allows groups to build trust by actually doing substantive work together.

Cognitive demand: Cognitive demand involves knowledge and the development of intellectual skills. Within the cognitive domain, Bloom identified six levels – from the simple recall or recognition of facts, as the lowest level, through increasingly more complex and abstract mental levels, to the highest order, classified as evaluation.

Portfolio (Teacher or student): Portfolios are purposeful, systemic collection of student or professional work that tells the story of the learner’s efforts, progress, or achievement. It includes a variety of material that serves to build a body of evidence towards a specific goal.

Variety of Assessment: A variety of assessments reflecting not just assessment types but also the assessment method. The method effectively and accurately assesses the learning goals of the unit. In general, methods fall into 4 different categories: selected response, extended written response, performance assessment and personal communication.

Targeted classroom observation: A targeted classroom observation is an observation by a peer or administrator that has a specific focus provided by the teacher. It is common that indicators, or specific evidence is identified in advance of the observation, and the observer serves to track specific components of a class in service of teacher reflection.

Formative assessment: Ongoing assessment providing data to guide instruction and improve performance.

Summative assessment: A snapshot of student performance at a given point in time, judged according to pre-established standards and criteria. Summative assessment typically leads to a report on success or degree of proficiency.

Diagnostic assessment: Diagnostic assessment occurs at the beginning of the teaching and learning cycle. This type of assessment provides the teacher with an understanding of the prior knowledge and skills a student brings to a unit, as well as the strengths and specific learning needs of an individual or groups of students in relation to the expectations that will be taught.

Authentic performance task: An assessment in which students are asked to perform a task using a “real world” or authentic context; always accompanied by a rubric. When determining if an assessment is authentic, ask if students are using the content and skills within a relevant context.

Fullan, M., Hill, P., & Crévola, C. (2006). Breakthrough. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.