Student Assessment, Evaluation and Reporting

Assessment Philosophy

Assessment is a central part of each student’s learning journey and each teacher’s professional practice. It communicates the knowledge, understanding, and skill development of students to themselves, their peers, and their teachers. The assessment process allows us to create the best possible educational programs for each student, inspiring them to achieve their unique potential and to act with purpose in the local and global community. These practices align closely with the values found in the academic integrity policy, which include honesty, trust, gratitude, fairness, respect, and responsibility.

At ISU, we believe that as students become global citizens they will understand and respect the diversity of human thought and experience. As such, showing our knowledge and reflecting on our abilities to continually grow is a vital part of the learning experience. The learner profile attributes are cultivated through assessment and reflection at ISU. Students show how they are knowledgeable, inquirers, communicators, and thinkers through principled and reflective action. In accordance with the IB standards, we believe that “learning, teaching, and assessment effectively inform and influence one another.”

At ISU, we believe the purpose of assessment is:

• For learners to clearly and consistently communicate understanding in various forms and contexts to themselves, teachers, and parents

• To represent appropriate challenge for all students

• To reveal areas of strength and growth

• To guide curricular and staff development needs

Definitions

APPROACHES TO LEARNING are skills which include the domains of Self-Management, Thinking, Social, Research, and Communication. These are foundational skills, which are taught in each class throughout the school. They are introduced to students in multiple contexts including the advisory curriculum and in classes.

ASSESSMENT is the process of gathering information on student learning from diverse methods or products to understand how well students are meeting identified curricular standards.

All academic work is assessed against CRITERIA.

FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT (assessment for learning and assessment as learning) is the process of gathering information during the learning process. Formative tasks, including homework, provide students with the opportunity to practice working with the content, concepts, and skills necessary for success on a given learning objective or standard. Completion of formative tasks demonstrates engagement as it allows both students and teachers to receive feedback about where the student is going (success criteria), where the student is at this very moment in time, and what the student needs to do in order to close the gap between the two.

PEER ASSESSMENT is a collaborative educational activity in which students analyze, evaluate and provide feedback on the work of their peers for the purpose of improving upon their work. At ISU, this includes the use of the literacy lab.

PREDICTED GRADES are based on educational data according to the teacher's professional judgment of what a student will score on the final assessments in an IBDP course.

SELF-ASSESSMENT is an individual educational activity that assists the learner in analyzing and evaluating the extent of their abilities for the purpose of improving upon them independently. Students visit the ISU literacy lab to help them in this process.

REFLECTION is a metacognitive strategy that allows learners to think analytically and evaluatively about the processes, actions, and outcomes in a given learning engagement with the purpose of making meaning of the experience.

SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT (assessment of learning) denotes student learning as well as skill attainment at the conclusion of a topic, unit, or marking period. It takes into account coursework that reflects the culmination and/or compilation of a sustained achievement level over a significant period of time. Evidence from summative assessments forms the basis for establishing levels of achievement and report card grades.

Assessment Principles and Practices

ISU is responsible for reporting student learning accurately and fairly, based on evidence obtained and measured from a variety of contexts and applications. As such, a balance of formative and summative assessments at regular intervals throughout the semester allows students and teachers to monitor and evaluate progress and plan ways to close the gap between expectations and current achievement levels.

When planning assessments, teachers at ISU must ensure assessments are:

• RELIABLE - based on a common approach to assessment across the school and is implemented with consistency.

• VALID - measures what it is intended to measure. For example, it does not assess memory when it is supposed to be assessing problem-solving.

• FAIR - assessment conducted after students have the opportunity to learn the required concepts, knowledge, and skills.

Recording and Reporting

Teachers maintain records of students’ assessment data throughout the year. This data is used as the basis for the evaluation of student performance. This data may include grades, anecdotal comments, and/or examples of student work.

ISU teachers grade academic work products, not behaviors. Thus, late work is not penalized in academic grades, though improvements in self-management skills may be indicated through ATL assessment or self-reflection.

Reporting to parents may take the form of formal written reports, emails, phone calls, and conferences. Parents/guardians, students, and teachers will be given the opportunity to meet and discuss individual student performance at scheduled conferences dates as published in the school calendar:

• Three-Way Conferences - are held twice a year in November and February

• Student-Led Conferences - are held once a year in May

Over the course of the year, students, with guidance from their teachers, develop a portfolio of their learning process and assessed work to share at the Student Led Conference.

Reporting

In Secondary, teachers are required to regularly record all assessments on ManageBac. This allows for transparent communication between school and home to inform students and parents/guardians of the progress being made.

Four written reports are released every calendar year, two each semester, including:

1. Mid-Semester One Progress Report

2. Semester One (Mid-Year) Report

3. Mid-Semester Two Progress Report

4. Semester Two (End-of-Year) Report

Standardized and Common Assessments ISU administers school-wide standardized and common assessments to monitor student progress and teaching. These assessments are given at intervals throughout the year. MAP, the Measure of Academic Progress is given in the fall and the spring to students in Grades 3 - 10. Results are made available to parents and students.

Reporting: General ISU asks our parents to report to us at the start of each school year. We call these our Listening Conferences, as this is the time for the teacher to listen to the parents share information about their child. This helps us know your child better from the start of the school year. Please check our school calendar on the website for the dates for the Listening Conferences.

ISU reports to parents at regular intervals throughout the course of the academic year. The reporting of student achievement (academic & non-academic) is done using an electronic report card. All reports are found on your personal ISU ManageBac account. Each parent has their own access to their child’s report. ISU does not print out hard copy reports. Parents, students and teachers are given the opportunity to meet and discuss individual student achievement at scheduled 3-Way Parent-Teacher-Student conferences. Conference dates are published in the school calendar. Over the course of the year students will maintain a portfolio of their work.

All students and their parents take part in these 3-Way Conference and Student-led Conferences.

An electronic copy of student report cards will be kept at ISU in grade level files. Beginning in Grade 9, student grades will also be transferred onto an official secondary school transcript. Transcripts will be available to departing students and to students in Grade 12 for post- secondary applications. Please note that your child’s report card is the official document issued by ISU for all students from Grade 8 and younger. It is your responsibility to retain these records for your child’s future educational purposes.

Reporting: MYP Student reports will contain information from eight (8) subject areas of the MYP: Arts (Visual and Performing), Design, Individuals and Societies, Language and Literature (English and Mongolian), Language Acquisition (Chinese and French), Mathematics, Physical and Health Education, and Sciences. IB MYP grade boundaries are used to determine a final grade 1 (lowest) to 7 (highest) in each subject.

The final grade for the course represents the best-sustained performance of the student throughout the course and does not represent an average of their previous marks.

In addition to reporting academic achievement, reporting on approaches to learning (ATL) skills will also be recorded on the report card. These skills include: communication skills, collaboration skills, self-management skills, research skills, and thinking skills.

Student reports are issued four times throughout the year: a mid-semester one report, a semester one report, a mid-semester two report and a year-end report.

Reporting: DP Student reports in Grades 11-12 follow the subject assessment criteria specified by the IB, and each subject is different. As the assessment practices reflect the assessment criteria set down by the IB, the reporting will also reflect current progress, against the criteria for each subject at that time.

Student reports are issued four times throughout the year: a mid-semester one report; a semester one report; a mid-semester two report; and a semester two report.

DP Predicted Grades

Students in ISU DP classes receive progress-to-date grades on their report cards. Predicted grades will be requested on two occasions in the second year of DP: in November for university applications (before the syllabus has been completed), and April for submission to the IB (after the syllabus has been completed and once all internal data has been finalized).

Both progress-to-date and predicted grades are based solely on educational data collected from IB-style assessments conducted in class or during year-end or mock exams. Neither formative assessments nor a students’ future potential are considered. Specific task weightings for each course are taken into account when grades are determined. Conversations between the teacher and DP Coordinator are encouraged to standardize the reported grades.

Glossary of Assessment terms

Assessment criteria Criteria against which a student’s performance is measured as evidenced by work produced. Subject-group guides provide assessment criteria to be used for the final assessment for each subject group, and for the personal project.

Assessment rubric A grid that contains criteria and descriptors and is developed between students and the teacher for specific pieces of work.

Assessment strategy The method or approach that teachers use when gathering information about student learning, for example, observation, open-ended tasks, selected responses.

Assessment tasks The activity or series of activities with which students engage in order for assessment to take place.

Assessment tool The device teachers use to measure and record assessment information and data collected, for example rubrics, anecdotal records.

Criteria-referenced assessment An assessment process based on determining levels of achievement against previously agreed criteria.

Descriptors Achievement level descriptors describe the differences in student accomplishment for each assessment criterion and prescribe the achievement level or number of marks that should be awarded.

Formative assessment A process of continual assessment that informs teaching and learning.

Internal assessment Assessment that is carried out by teachers in the school.

Summative assessment The culminating assessment for a unit, term or course of study, designed to provide information on the student’s achievement level against specific objectives.

Task-specific rubric Performance level grids used with particular tasks, and their criteria and descriptors reflecting specific features of the intended performance.