Summative Assessments

Summative assessments should be designed by Grade/Phase teams at the beginning of the unit planning process. This ensures alignment with the statement of inquiry, targeted criteria, and CCSS standards.

Designing the summative assessment first also allows for backwards planning of meaningful and relevant formative assessments.

A summative assessment task must evaluate student achievement against both the MYP criteria and the CCSS.

Prior to a summative assessment, grade/phase teams must meet for standardization.

Following a summative assessment, teams must meet for moderation to ensure consistency in grading.

• One or more SGCs, Academic Dean, or MYP Coordinator must be present at the moderation meeting.

All four criteria (and each strand therein) must be assessed at least once per semester.

• Each strand in each criterion must be covered at least once per semester (e.g. strands i. ii. and iii. for Criterion A)

The purpose of standardization is for teachers within the same grade/phase team to agree on what success looks like in the criteria being assessed and how achievement levels are awarded.

• for Criteria A and B, this could look like a detailed "Answer Key" where the teachers write out the ideal response. Underneath, they may indicate what would result in a lower achievement level. See example below.

After the Criteria A or B assessment has been completed, the team will meet for moderation to review student achievement. Teachers use this meeting to see if students are providing responses similar to the ideal responses developed in standardization.

• Teachers may note that certain questions were missed by most students and would need to figure out if the problem lies within the test question.
• A student may give a response that is different from the ideal response but is still an accurate demonstration of the skill. In that case, the team would decide what achievement level is the best fit.

For Criteria C and D assessments, standardization is in the form of the Task Specific Clarification. This TSC is provided to students at least two weeks before the summative deadline. Moderation takes place after the assessment date, once all assessments have been collected. At the moderation meeting, team members agree on the achievement levels for a random selection of assessments.

See below for steps to moderation using a summative essay as an example:

• An aural (oral) comprehension task comprising spoken and visual text with questions relating to both: Criterion A must be used to assess this task.
• A written comprehension task comprising written and visual text with questions relating to both: Criterion B must be used to assess this task.
• An interactive oral task between teacher and student: Criteria C and D must be used to assess this task.
• A writing task, especially of lengthy composition (essay): Criteria C and D must be used to assess this task.

EXAMPLES OF QUESTIONS THAT CAN BE USED FOR EACH OBJECTIVE: CLICK HERE

In the MYP, authentic means real world. When assessments are authentic, they allow students to transferring what they've learned in the classroom (knowledge, skills, and understanding) and applying it to a new situation. It requires the teacher to be intentional in designing assessments and it requires the students to use critical and creative thinking.

By paying close attention to the command terms used in your summative assessment, you ensure that the task you've designed is not asking too much from the students at their Phase Level nor asking too little.