Fountainhead School

IB-Continum1

Assessment Policy – MYP

Purposes of assessment at Fountainhead School

Assessment is an integral part of teaching and learning process. To ensure the effectiveness of the student’s educational experience it is important that varied assessment techniques should be used at regular intervals. The following are the objectives for assessment which we at Fountainhead school would be targeting as part of IB global community.

  1. To provide quality feedback to students so as to ensure growth in the learning of students.
  2. To prepare students so that they can meet the assessment requirements of MYP assessment.
  3. To provide quality feedback to teachers regarding learner’s stage in the learning process, level of knowledge acquired and the extent of skill development.
  4. To provide feedback to parents regarding student’s progress through grades.
  5. Ensuring that assessment is criterion-related and not norm-referenced.
  6. Ensure that the assessment process is aligned with the school’s assessment objective.
  7. Ensuring that the assessment process is reliable and trustworthy.

Continuous assessment as an indicator of effective assessment and assessment practice

To measure the knowledge, understanding, and skills attained by students, it is necessary that continuous assessment should form an integral part of the MYP. The school provides ample opportunities for continuous assessment through varied assessments. The faculty at Fountainhead school will assess the student continuously over a period a time through his / her performance in group projects, activities (individual or group activities). The students will be receiving feedback from teachers at regular intervals which will enable them to focus on their areas of improvement and consolidate on their strengths. Through continuous assessment, the teachers will over a period of time ascertain the level of student’s progress and will be able to plan their teaching strategies so that effective learning takes place.

Assessment details:

All students will appear for three types of assessments:

  • Formative assessment (During the unit)
  • Unit Summative assessment (End of the unit)
  • Term Assessment (End of each Term)

Formative assessment

  • Formative Assessments are Checks For Understanding to inform teaching and learning practices. It allows teachers to monitor the progress of each student through the unit so as to be able to counsel them and to give advice.
  • Formative Assessment, which takes place during each unit and may be repeated many times over.
  • Formative assessments can be taken by teachers in different formats(Pen Paper, Performance, reflection, oral presentation, quiz) at any point of the plan as per requirement in the flow of teaching in the regular subject slots
  • Information about formative assessments will not be given prior to the students or parents.
  • Task-Specific Clarification, Assessment rubric along with the achievement levels will be prepared and shared with the students specifically for the formative assessment (at least 1) which the teachers choose to report to students and parents.
  • Checking of formative assessments will be based on MYP assessment criteria which will be modified as per the need of the unit.

Summative Assessment:

  • It takes place at the end of each unit of work and provides an indicator of student achievement in the particular unit against the MYP objective and the Assessment criteria for that particular subject.
  • The subject teachers should post information on the blog; at least one week in advance regarding the upcoming end of unit summative assessment for all non-process based assessments. Teachers need to ensure that they fill up Assessment form available on FSApps .
  • Process-based assessments which are ongoing or require 3 or more slots during the course of the unit- will not be announced in advance, since these form of assessments happen through continuous evaluation.
  • The teachers should schedule summative assessments as per their teaching plan.
  • The teachers should also post the content that will be covered in the summative assessment with the assessment objectives in focus.
  • The duration of the summative assessment can be decided by the teachers as per the task.
  • Task-Specific Clarification should be mentioned in all Summative Assessment/s.
  • Assessment rubric along with the achievement levels should be prepared and shared with the students.
  • Summative Assessment will be rescheduled only for the students who miss this task on account of a school event.
  • In case of any casual leave/sick leave, the summative assessment will not be rescheduled. Student will get the summative assessment task sheet. Student can choose to attempt the task from home and get the feedback from the respective teacher. Student will not get achievement level and marked as “Absent” for this assessment.

Preparation & Checking of Formative and Summative assessment papers/task and updating achievement levels.

  • The assessment papers should be prepared using the program MYP assessment format shared on FS curriculum site, same as the one shared below.
  • The assessment papers should be prepared by the subject teachers and checked by Curriculum Manager / Asst TLs / TLs before taking prints.
  • Mark scheme should also be prepared beforehand.
  • After the assessment is conducted, the assessment papers should be checked by the subject teachers within 6 working days and if a teacher has to check papers of 3 or more sections of the same grade at the same time only in that case it will be 8 working days.
  • After the assessment is conducted, the assessment papers should be transferred to the “Assessments done” folder.
  • The teachers should mention comments in the assessment papers wherever required so that the students get effective feedback on their performance.
  • After all the papers are checked, the teachers can handover the assessment papers to the students and also discuss the same in the class.
  • Thereafter the levels should be updated in the assessment log on the Senior School Assessment Reporting and the email will be sent to parents.
  • The levels should be sent to the parents within 6 working days (if a teacher has to check papers of 3 or more sections of the same grade at the same time only in that case it will be 8 working days) of conducting the assessment. Working days can be counted from the following day of assessment.
  • The log will reflect the assessment levels of the current test as well as the topics and the levels of the tests conducted earlier for the same subject.

Process to be followed for absentees for Formative and Summative Assessment

  • Formative Assessment- Student to be marked as absent. If it’s a pen-paper test- the assessment paper can be given to the child for reference or completing from home once he/she joins.
  • Summative Assessment:- Summative Assessment will be rescheduled only for the students who miss this task on account of a school event.

In case of any casual leave/sick leave, the summative assessment will not be rescheduled. Student will get the summative assessment task sheet. Student can choose to attempt the task from home and get the feedback from the respective teacher. Student will not get achievement level and marked as Absent” for this assessment.

Term Assessment:

To prepare students for final e-assessment, Term assessments will be organized twice in a year (Term 1 in October and Term 2 in April).

Term 1 exam

The syllabus covered before term 1 exam will be covered in the Term 1  examinations. The students are expected to prepare for the curriculum that is covered before the exam. The syllabus will be posted on the blog well in advance for the reference.
Level of each criterion from each component will be added to calculate the Suggestive grade for the year.

Term 2 exam

The syllabus of the whole year will be covered in the final examinations at the end of the year. The students are expected to prepare for the curriculum that is covered in both the terms. Unit Summative assessment achievement levels will be considered while giving professional judgment of all the units done in a year will be considered in term 2.

Assessment cycle

For the purpose of assessment, each academic year will be divided into two terms. The assessment cycle will comprise of:

Assessment Cycle
Term 1Tem 2

Formative assessment-

  • Will be taken during the unit.
  • Will be assessed based on MYP assessment criteria.
Formative assessment-
Same as Term 1.

Unit summative assessment-

  • Will be taken at the end of each unit.
  • Will be assessed based on MYP assessment criteria.
  • Achievement level obtained in each unit during Term 1 will be included while calculating the final achievement level and the suggestive grade of the student in each subject during Term 1 assessment.
Unit summative assessment-
Same as Term 1 except:
  • Achievement levels obtained in all the units done in the year will be considered while calculating final grade at the end of the year.*Term 1 Exam performance will not be considered while deciding the final grade for the year for the subject

Term Exam-:

  • Will be conducted towards the end of Term 1.
  • The following subjects will be included in the assessment- Language & Lit, Language acquisition, Integrated Humanities, Integrated Sciences, Mathematics.
  • Syllabus completed in this term will be included in Term 1.
  • Will be assessed based on MYP assessment criteria.
  • Achievement level obtained in the paper will be included while calculating the final achievement level and the suggestive grade of the student in each subject during Term assessment.
Term Exam-
Same as Term 1 except:
  • Will be conducted towards the end of Term 2.
  • Entire year’s syllabus will be included.
Weightage system
For the purpose of calculation of overall grade of a student, the following calculation will be applicable.
Suggestive grade that the student is likely to get after term 1 exams- Achievement level of Unit summative assessments + Achievement level of Term summative assessmentEnd of the Year final grade- Achievement level of Unit summative assessments of all units + Achievement level of Term 2 summative assessment (Term 1 assessment /examination not given weightage for deriving end of the year final grade)

Marks from each component will be added to calculate the final achievement level and grade.

MARKING & GRADE BOUNDARIES

In the Middle Years Programme, all students are assessed against a prescribed set of criteria, which align with the objectives of each subject group. Just as each subject group has four objectives, so student work will be evaluated in each subject under four criteria. The following table gives an overview of the criteria for each subject group. Further information regarding the objectives from which criteria are derived can be found in the section containing course descriptions.
The MYP assessment criteria across subject groups

 ABCD
Language & LiteratureAnalysingOrganizingProduct textUsing Language
Language acquisitionComprehending spoken & visual textComprehending written and visual textCommunicatingUsing Language
Individual & SocietiesKnowing & understandingInvestigatingCommunicatingThinking critically
SciencesKnowing & understandingInquiring & designingProcessing & evaluatingReflecting on the impacts of science
MathematicsKnowing & understandingInvestigating patternsCommunicatingApplying mathematics in real-world contexts
ArtsKnowing & understandingDeveloping skillsThinking creativelyResponding
Physical & Health EducationKnowing & understandingPlanning for performanceApplying & performingReflecting & improving performance
DesignInquiring & analyzingDeveloping ideasCreating the solutionEvaluating
MYP ProjectInvestigatingPlanningTaking actionReflecting
InterdisciplinaryDisciplinary groundingSynthesizingCommunicatingReflecting

All criteria receive a score from 1 to 8 points which represent the level of achievement for that subject.
To decide the final grade of students in each subject, their summative assessment performance, as well as Term assessment performance, will be considered.
For the purpose of giving a clear outline of student achievement that can be easily understood by all the educational institutions regardless of their academic programmes, as well as to offer an indication of student achievement comparable to that of the IB Diploma, all the level of achievements for each criterion can be added up to obtain a score between 0 and 32. Each score is then reduced to a 1-7 grade using the following table. Also, note that IBDP follows the same grade range as MYP.

GradeBoundary guidelinesDescriptor
11–5Produces work of very limited quality. Conveys many significant misunderstandings or lacks understanding of most concepts and contexts. Very rarely demonstrates critical or creative thinking. Very inflexible, rarely using knowledge or skills.
26–9Produces work of limited quality. Expresses misunderstandings or significant gaps in understanding for many concepts and contexts. Infrequently demonstrates critical or creative thinking. Generally inflexible in the use of knowledge and skills, infrequently applying knowledge and skills.
310–14Produces work of an acceptable quality. Communicates the basic understanding of many concepts and contexts, with occasionally significant misunderstandings or gaps. Begins to demonstrate some basic critical and creative thinking. Is often inflexible in the use of knowledge and skills, requiring support even in familiar classroom situations.
415–18Produces good-quality work. Communicates the basic understanding of most concepts and contexts with few misunderstandings and minor gaps. Often demonstrates basic critical and creative thinking. Uses knowledge and skills with some flexibility in familiar classroom situations, but requires support in unfamiliar situations.
519–23Produces generally high-quality work. Communicates the secure understanding of concepts and contexts. Demonstrates critical and creative thinking, sometimes with sophistication. Uses knowledge and skills in the familiar classroom and real-world situations and, with support, some unfamiliar real-world situations.
624–27Produces high-quality, occasionally innovative work. Communicates an extensive understanding of concepts and contexts. Demonstrates critical and creative thinking, frequently with sophistication. Uses knowledge and skills in familiar and unfamiliar classroom and real world situations, often with independence.
728–32Produces high-quality, frequently innovative work. Communicates comprehensive, nuanced understanding of concepts and contexts. Consistently demonstrates sophisticated critical and creative thinking. Frequently transfers knowledge and skills with independence and expertise in a variety of complex classroom and real-world situations.

Steps followed before giving the final grade to the students in each subject:

  • Creation of  Summative assessment/ Term assessment task by teachers
  • Performing the assessment task by teachers
  • Making of marking scheme/Task specific clarification rubric
  • Sharing of rubric with the students
  • Students appearing for assessments
  • Benchmarking of students’ work by all the teachers teaching that subject in that grade
  • Checking of papers by individual teachers
  • Moderation process is followed
  • Professional judgement is taken together by all the teachers teaching in that grade.
  • Final grade is awarded to the students

Process of Standardisation of assessment and awarding of the final grade for the subject:

Having collected evidence of judgment based on a range of formative and summative assessments, term assessments and carefully considering the patterns in the data, the knowledge, concepts and skills consistently demonstrated by the student, teachers use their professional judgment in determining the final levels of achievement in each criterion. Internal standardization occurs before formally reporting the levels.
When using criterion-related assessment, student answers are placed where the majority of descriptors correspond to the student’s work. If the descriptors include many strands of an objective and student performance is at a high level on most of the strands but not all of them, teachers adopt a “best-fit” model.
Assessing the Interdisciplinary Unit, will require teachers from different subjects to work together to produce rubrics and to co-grade each assessment. As noted in the MYP Guide to interdisciplinary Teaching and Learning, there are four key areas for teachers to ground their assessments: Purpose, grounding, integration and thoughtfulness. IDU teachers must take all four areas into account when assessing student performance in IDU’s.
Decision regarding promotion of the student to the subsequent grade:
The final decision regarding promotion of the student will be taken by HOS/Coordinator in consultation with the mentor teacher and subject teachers.

Exceptional Circumstances

Students who require additional support

In such cases, the authorities discuss with the mentor teachers, subject teachers and the counsellor and provide access arrangements to the students, which may be in terms of giving extra time to the candidate, usage of word processor and  / or others as prescribed by IB. While taking the decision on this, student’s’ past record / performance and psychologist’s report (if any) will also be taken into consideration.

Absenteeism during term assessment

For a candidate who misses his/her examination, this means that the students’ performance through the year will be taken into consideration while taking a decision regarding promotion for the next year. Performance includes – feedback by the teacher, formative assessment, summative assessment (end of the unit) levels.  
The school will not reschedule exams under the following circumstances, even if the prior information has been given about  the same.

  • Family function
  • Out of town
  • Death in the family
  • Missed the bus

Instructions for students during internal as well as external examinations

  1. Students are expected to report (10 minutes before the start of the examination) at the examination venue.
  2. Students are not expected to talk or create any disturbance during the conduct of the examination. Not adhering to these instructions will be considered as malpractice  and consequences as mentioned below shall apply.
  3. Students are expected to carry their own stationery. Borrowing of stationery during the examination is not allowed and will be considered as malpractice  and consequences as mentioned below shall apply.
  4. Students are expected to check their pockets & pencil boxes for any extra academic related papers before entering the examination hall. Not adhering to these instructions will be considered as malpractice  and consequences as mentioned below shall apply.
  5. Students who do not have any examination are not expected to come to school.(Applicable to students who have not opted for “Extended Subjects” having exams in G9 and G10)
  6. Students who are free in between two examinations (on the same day) are expected to be seated as instructed.
  7. Students are permitted to use their chromebooks in the Senior library only during the transition time between 2 examinations.
  8. Students are not allowed to play or go to the grounds, after the examination is over.
  9. The students have to sit in the examination hall for at least 60 percent time of the total duration of the paper. For eg., if the duration of the paper is 1 hour, the students are expected to sit in the examination hall for at least 36 minutes. They can then leave the examination hall if they have finished writing the paper.
  10. Students are only allowed to bring transparent bottles, transparent pencil boxes and transparent writing pads. (applicable to all grades) Not adhering to these instructions shall be considered as malpractice and consequences as mentioned below shall apply.
  11. Students need to keep their bags outside the examination wing. They are not allowed to keep it outside their examination classrooms. Students pockets will be checked by invigilator / support staff before they enter the examination wing.
  12. Students cannot carry any material in the examination hall other than the required stationery. Not adhering to these instructions will be considered as malpractice  and consequences as mentioned below shall apply.

Guidelines for malpractice during assessments(including Term examinations) and its consequence:

Malpractice consists of those acts which undermine the integrity and validity of exams and /or damage the authority of those responsible for conducting the assessment and certification. This refers to acts and omissions made by staff  or students involved with the assessment process.
An act of misconduct by a candidate in relation to the examinations must be reported to MYP Coordinators, Senior school Principal or Head of School.
Academic misconduct constitutes a breach of regulations that, if confirmed by the final award committee, will result in no grade being awarded in the subject and level concerned.
The following actions are examples of misconduct relating to the written examinations:

  • stealing examination papers/ copying online assessment questions/documents
  • failing to obey the instructions of the coordinator/invigilator
  • communicating with another candidate
  • borrowing or lending resources in the examination room without permission from the invigilator
  • helping or receiving help from another candidate in any form(no virtual communication allowed)
  • impersonating another candidate
  • possession of unauthorized material
  • consulting material outside the examination room during a period of absence
  • behaving in a way that may disrupt the examination or distract other candidates
  • submitting work for assessment that is not authentic
  • removing or attempting to remove from the examination room examination material, such as answer booklets or examination papers, exe files/pen drive/ device given by school (if any)
  • leaving the examination room without permission
  • continuing to answer an examination paper when told to stop by an invigilator or the coordinator

The coordinator/ invigilator has the right to expel from the examination room any candidate whose behaviour is deliberately interfering with the proper conduct of the examinations.
Procedure

  1. The student’s assessment work will be marked with the remark “Academic Misconduct” with one line about the type of misconduct by the invigilator.
  2. Parents will be informed regarding this malpractice and the consequence (will be decided by the Senior school leadership team comprising the MYP coordinators) which will be applied.
  3. Details to be mailed to the parents  regarding the instance after verbal communication
  4. Subject teachers will have to mention the details in their comments and the same will be reflected in the reports.
  5. Procedure for the level deduction from the overall grade of that particular subject will be done through Nucleus (reporting software)
  6. Malpractice instance to be mentioned in the Coordinator’s comments.
  7. POs have to fill the observation form for students who are involved in Malpractice.
  8. A meeting to be scheduled of the students involved in malpractice with SSP / HOS.

Bibliography:

  • Organization, I.B. ( pub. May 2014) MYP: From principles into practice. Available at:

https://ibpublishing.ibo.org/server2/rest/app/tsm.xql?doc=m_0_mypxx_guu_1409_
_e&part=1&chapter=1 (Accessed: 17 June 2016).

  • Fountainhead School, Middle School Assessment Policy (Grade 8 to 10), Web, N.P.,

Accessed: 17 October 2016,
http://www.fountainheadschools.org/academic-policy/assessment-policy-middle-years
/

  • International school Milan, Middle years programme handbook for Parents and

Students, pub. 2014-15