IB Middle Years Programme The International School of Älmhult’s Assessment Policy

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IB Middle Years Programme

The International School of Älmhult’s Assessment Policy

Assessment is the gathering and analysis of information about student performance.

It identifies what students know, understand, can do and feel at different stages in the learning process. (IBO January 2001)

Clarification of vocabulary:

Achievement Level= The level given when the student work reflects the

corresponding descriptor. Achievement levels are shown in the left hand column of the assessment criteria and they range between 0-8 with 8 being the highest.

Grade=The number assigned to standards of student achievement. A grade is reached by applying the grade boundaries table to the student’s criterion levels total.

A grade can only be arrived at when all subject-specific criteria have been used for assessment.

Final grades for student work in the MYP range from 1(lowest) to 7 (highest).

Schools may also use this scale for assessment other than final assessment, but it is not appropriate for individual pieces of work.

(From Principles into Practice (FPIP), 2014) Assessment principles we adhere to:

Assessment at ISÄ is guided by the following principles:

1. Assessment accounts for a variety of learning styles.

2. Assessment is differentiated to account for the diverse backgrounds of learners.

3. Students have a wide variety of different assessment opportunities (written assignments, oral presentations, field work, practical work, exhibitions, performance, tests and examinations, research papers, peer and self- assessment).

4. Assessment is criteria-referenced, so that students are assessed against subject learning objectives. These learning objectives are published for each subject and grade level, and are available to parents and students.

5. Assessment measures what students understand, what they can do and what they know.

6. Assessment is both formative (to assist students in building understanding, skills and knowledge) and summative (to assess students’ acquired

understanding, skills and knowledge at the end of a unit).

7. Assessment is on-going and reflective, allowing

a. students to evaluate their progress and set targets for improvements;

and

b. the school to evaluate the measure of success in meeting specific learning objectives.

Updated, February 2013. Updated August 2013, KMB.Updated August 2014, KMB, Updated

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8. Assessment is internally moderated, both at departmental and grade level to ensure consistency.

In addition,

1. Achievement levels awarded for any particular piece of work reflect a student’s level of performance as measured against specific subject criteria.

2. Each criterion (and its corresponding objectives) is assessed at least twice during each school year.

3. At the end of the each term, reporting reflects the level of achievement that the teacher judges to be the ‘best fit’¹ for the assessment completed during that term.

Reporting Student Achievement

“During the five years of the programme, all schools offering MYP are required to communicate student achievement in each subject group to parents at regular intervals…MYP reports of student achievement should communicate the student’s achievement level for each assessment criterion.” (FPIP, 2014)

The school uses the IBO’s assessment criteria. All MYP students will receive

Achievement Levels on Summative tasks, according to the MYP1, MYP 3, or MYP 5 published criteria.

All Summative tasks will have a corresponding Task Specific Rubric that clarifies for the student what is expected for the task. The teacher also shows and explains this to the student. This allows the student to keep an eye on his/her progress and to see where he/she needs to improve. Summative tasks are always posted in Managebac ahead of time and the achievement levels earned are reported there for students and parents to see.

Approximate Achievement Levels will be reported in December in each subject area and for each criterion when possible: A, B, C and D.

A conference between the teacher, student, and parent will take place before Achievement Level reporting in December to aid in the transparency and understanding of student progress.

Reporting Student Grades

“In addition to communicating achievement levels in each of the criteria, schools may decide to award and communicate grades.” (FPIP, 2014)

Due to Swedish law, ISÄ will not report student final grades for MYP 1. Instead, MYP 1 students will receive a second Achievement Level report at the end of the year in June.

1 After gathering sufficient evidence from a range of assessment tasks, a teacher must decide which level best represents the student’s final standard of achievement in each criteria. (See MYP From Principles into Practice 2008, p 40 and Section F, Assessment, of the Coordinator’s Handbook 2013-2014

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MYP 2-5 students will receive a Final Grade report in June for

each subject area and the Personal Project (MYP 5 only). The grades awarded will be based on the Achievement Levels received for the entire year. The grades 1(lowest) to 7 (highest) are awarded to students according to predefined grade boundaries based on the levels students have achieved.

Assessment Tasks

Each student can expect, during the course of each semester,

 a variety of assessment tasks to be undertaken

 formative assessment to be ongoing and continuous and for the formative assessment to be a means to practice and get feedback before a performance of understanding for the Summative Task(s) of the unit.

 to be notified in advance of the objectives and criteria for each summative assessment task and to be presented with a task-specific rubric for the same.

3 Way Conferences in MYP

3 Way Conferences will take place twice a year: Once in the Autumn Term and once in the Spring Term. The student will lead the conference and be given time in school to prepare and reflect on their achievement so far using Managebac. The end result of the Autumn conference will be a document called an Individual Development Plan that will be reviewed orally in the Spring conference.²

The purpose of individual development plans is:

1. Establish individual goals for each student.

2. For students to reflect on their achievements and areas of needed development.

3. To keep parents informed of on-going developments with their child.

Documentation and keeping of student work Formative work:

 Students are provided with a file manager and binder and are expected to keep track of it, and re-use it from year to year. The documentation kept is formative and process work, reference papers, etc.

 At the end of each unit of study, students clean up the document sections.

Some tasks they will choose to keep to show parents during conferences, and the rest will be tossed out.

Summative work:

 Teachers assess summative work using the achievement levels and mark students’ work with the level and comments (or whatever method is

appropriate to the task).

 Teachers show students the levels but collect the work back*, this is to prevent collusion among students. These files are kept until the end of the year and may be requested to be seen by the student, a parent, or administrator at the school. At the end of the year, the teachers toss out the work (if it is in hard

2 As of School year 2013-2014, IDPs are not required for students in MYP 2-5 and an Individual Development Plan (IDP) is written once a year for each student in MYP 1 only. ISÄ will continue to write IDPs for students in MYP 1-5 once a year in Autumn.

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copy format), choosing to keep some for the work of standardization among the teaching team.

 Teachers input achievement levels and comments as appropriate, on summative tasks in Managebac and parents and students can see it there.

 Students will be asked to reflect on summative tasks, noting their reflections in Managebac through the Portfolio tool.

 To prepare for 3 way talks, students’ will be able to refer to Managebac as well as the work they have saved.

*Some work is done digitally and is online, ex: Google Drive, and in which case of course the student will still have access to their own work.

Support Management Plans/Extra support

*See also Special Education Policy

A student will receive a Support Management Plan for the following reasons:

1) The student needs to be taken out of some classes in order to have extra English support in the form of EAL lessons. The SMP will show clear targets for how and when the student is able to enroll back into the subject he/she is missing.

2) The student is yet unable to enroll in at least one Language and Literature subject. In this case, an SMP is devised to show a clear path to how and when the student can enroll in at least one Language and Literature subject.

3) The student is not reaching the objectives for one or more subjects at a passing level. An SMP will show how the school is supporting the student to reach the objectives.

How does the school determine when the student needs an SMP, adaptations in the classroom, or extra support outside of the regular curriculum?

English Language

New students to the school and the English language are assessed using an online module developed by WIDA, and the CEF (Common European Framework). These diagnostics are administered by the MYP EAL Leader who then determines the best course of action. An SMP is written, shared with parents, and reviewed regularly throughout the year to determine the students’ progress and to determine when the student can enter back into the regular classes and/or no longer receive adaptations.

Math

The Student Welfare Team is notified about a concern by either the subject teacher, the parent, or the student. An investigation is begun or other measures are agreed to be taken.

A student will be eligible to receive extra support in Math if the following conditions are met:

 Performance on a diagnostic assessment is 50% or below.

 Achievement on Summative tasks show the student is at risk to earn a final grade of 2 or below; this must be determined by the subject teacher as it is often difficult to estimate final grades before late in Spring Term since not all objectives have been assessed twice, per IB standards.

Other Subjects

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Adapations are made for students who need it as determined in

collaboration with the subject teacher, a diagnostic test, parents, and a member of the Student Welfare Team.

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Designating an achievement level of zero

Guiding Principles of Assessment in an IB school:

 Students are assessed against criteria which are clearly defined and applied to specific tasks in which the expectations are clearly explained.

 Students should be given an opportunity to reach the highest band of the assessment criteria and appropriate assessment tasks are therefore designed by our teachers with this in mind.

 A student’s final grade is determined from a wide range of assessment strategies, both formative and summative. A “best fit”* for each student on each criterion is determined from the evidences available for each criterion.

About the designation of Zeros:

In the Assessment Criteria for all subjects from the IB, a zero designation corresponds with the criteria as follows: The student has not reached a standard described by any of the given descriptors.

The MYP subject teachers at the ISÄ have delineated when zeros will be awarded to our students:

 The assignment is not submitted on the due date without any prior notice from the student’s parent and approval from the instructor. A zero will be awarded to each criterion that was intended to be assessed.

o To clarify: The student must contact the teacher at least two school days before the due date and have a conversation giving a reasonable excuse for why the child would be unable to complete the task on time. A new due date may or may not be arranged at the discretion of the teacher.

 An assignment is completed but it is missing a part resulting in a lack of evidence for the defined criteria. A zero will be awarded to each criterion that is lacking in evidence.

How are students supported to prevent zeros?

 Students are given ample time to complete assignments. Assignments are clearly explained and teachers are available in class to answer questions about assignments, or time can be scheduled with the teacher if students need to talk after class. Teacher contact details have been shared so they are available by email. Larger assignments are broken down into sections so they are easier to manage.

 Each year group has at least 2 (sometimes 3) study periods a week with a teacher who can support them pedagogically.

 The MYP team identifies when there is a pattern of low student proficiency and raises concerns to the School Student Health Team so we can investigate how to best support a struggling student. A support strategy plan or a support management plan is created for a student in need.

 We hold the right to revise this policy in the future as needed.

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How do absences affect student grades?

 When a child is absent, he or she may miss valuable class time, discussions, and tasks that are integral to the development of their knowledge and understanding of a subject. In many cases, it can be very difficult to duplicate the experience.

 If an assessment task is either not able to be performed or is not able to be submitted, due to absence, it is the responsibility of the parent or student to approach the subject teacher who requires the work. At that time, the parent and/or student, along with the teacher will determine what course of action should be taken in regards to the missing assignment.

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Advancement Policy to High School

Students in the IB school system are in a unique position in regards to their continuation into high school due to being in the IB already and learning in English. Additionally, they do not receive Swedish grades, but rather IB final grades. This means the typical path for our students is to continue learning in English and attend the Diploma Program (DP). The DP is a 2 year program and can be proceeded by a “Pre-Diploma Year or PDP” if needed or desired. The 2 or 3 years of Swedish Gymnasium are attended after completion of MYP 5 (which is aligned to Swedish Grade 9, the final year of compulsory school).

Swedish Gymnasium, 3 years Year 1

Pre-Diploma Program Pre-requisite: Passing grades in core subjects*

in Grade 9 or MYP 5.

Year 2

Diploma Program 1 Pre-requisite: Passing grades in core

subjects in Grade 10 or MYP 5.

Year 3

Diploma Program 2 Pre-requisite: DP 1

The DP in Älmhult: Haganässkolan (if political vote is positive for DP at Haganäs)

Students at International School of Älmhult will be given preference to continue into DP1 after MYP 5 at Haganässkolan if they meet the following conditions:

The sum total of all the students’ MYP 5 final grades in 8 subject areas, plus the personal project total 36.

Additionally, if a student has earned a 3 or lower in any MYP 5 core subjects, the student and parent will meet with the coordinator to

determine the best course of action. Depending on the circumstances, it may be recommended that the student continue into Pre-Diploma

Program instead of going directly into DP 1.

Students who have transferred to our school late in the program or MYP 5 will meet with the MYP Coordinator to discuss options for their

advancement to high school; a final decision will be taken by the MYP Coordinator.

Schools in other communities have their own admission policies which can typically be seen on their websites. Here is a brief overview the Swedish high school application process:

1) All students in grade 9 have the right to apply to the Pre-Diploma Programme as it is deemed a Swedish National Programme. Therefore, Updated, February 2013. Updated August 2013, KMB.Updated August 2014, KMB, Updated

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they apply to their chosen schools the same as any other

student in Sweden: through an online portal. The students' December achievement levels are sent, and are followed up in June with the final grades. Although the grades are not Swedish, the intake department receives information from our school about what constitutes as "passing"

and students entering PDP must have passed their core subjects in Grade 9 (MYP5). The Study and Work Counselor provides MYP 5 students with login information in December to start the process. The deadline for applications is February 15.

2) MYP 5 Students who wish to attempt to go directly into DP 1 in another community will be required to apply directly to the DP

Coordinator there and take an entrance test at that school. Therefore it is good to have a “plan B” in the case that they are not accepted for

admittance.

Please note: any deviation from this policy would require a meeting with the Head of School, MYP Coordinator, parent, and student.

*Core subjects=English, Math, Individuals & Societies, Sciences