Philosophy Or Assessment Beliefs

Harding University Partnership School

An International Baccalaureate Candidate School

Joy and Excellence in Learning

Assessment Policy

Updated February 2016

Philosophy or Assessment Beliefs

Assessing at Harding University Partnership School is integral to all teaching and learning. It encompasses the processes of collecting, analyzing and reporting data, and reflection by faculty and students in order to drive instructional decision making and effectively communicate with stakeholders. Assessment is ongoing, authentic, varied, and purposeful.Harding University Partnership School is committed to the IB PYP standards and practices and ensuring that the assessment policy is understood, implemented, and supported by all staff members. Parents will be informed about the policy through parent meetings, school handbook, the school website and at student/parent/teacher conferences.

Types of Assessments

Pre-Assessment: Teachers will assess students’ prior knowledge and experience before embarking on new learning experience in an appropriate manner.

Formative Assessment: Formative assessment is interwoven with the daily teaching and assists teachers in determining what the children have learned in order to plan for the next stage of learning within the context of the lines of inquiry.

Summative Assessment:

Summative assessment takes place at the end of each unit and provides students with opportunities to demonstrate what has been learned.

Essential Elements of the PYP:

There are five essential elements of the PYP. These are all assessed through the units of inquiry recorded on the planner for each unit.

Knowledge—Assessment of the knowledge learned in each unit is done through the summative assessment that reflects an understanding of the central idea.

Skills, concepts, and attitudes—Each unit provides opportunities for development of differentskills, concepts, and attitudes. Reflection on growth in these areas is recorded on the planners and self-assessment done by students.

Action—Any action taken by students which is an off-shoot of knowledge gained in the unit ofinquiry is noted on the planner.

The Sixth Grade Exhibition:

Students who are in sixth grade are expected to carry out an extended, collaborative inquiry project, known as the exhibition, under the guidance of their teachers. The Exhibition requires that each studentdemonstrate the five essential elements of the PYP: knowledge, concepts, skills, attitudes and action. It isan opportunity for students to exhibit the attributes of the learner profile that they have been developingthroughout the Primary Years Programme.

Strategies for recording and reporting

Observation: Students are observed regularly with teachers noting the growth and progress ofindividuals, groups and the whole class.
Performance assessment: Students apply what they have learned by completing authentic tasks that have more than one acceptable solution.
Process-focused assessment: Teachers observe students with a particular skill in mind, noting students who are meeting, exceeding or struggling to meet the expectations.
Open-ended tasks: Students are asked to complete or communicate an original response. This can be a drawing, written response, diagram or a solution.
Test/quiz: These assessments provide a snapshot of students’ subject-specific knowledge.
Student reflections: Students may are asked to reflect on what they have learned at the end of a lesson/unit.

Possible Assessment Tools

Checklists: lists of information, data, attributes or elements that should be present in students’work or performance.
Rubrics: an established set of criteria for rating students in all areas. The descriptors tell the assessor what characteristics or signs to look for in students’ work and then how to rate thatwork on a predetermined scale. Rubrics can be developed by students as well as teachers.
Anecdotal records: brief, written notes based on observations of students.
Continuums: visual representations of developmental stages of learning that show a progression of achievement or identify where a student is in a process.
Exemplars: Samles of students’ work that serve as a concrete standard against which other samples are judbed.

Reporting to Stakeholders

Reporting about assessment

Parent/teacher conferences are held 2 times a year, once in the fall and again in the spring. These conferences are in a formal setting where parents and teachers discuss the progress of students. At the third through sixth grade levels, the conferencesare student-led.

The Written Report

Student, parent, and teacher complete the IB Learner Profile Assessment report three time a year.
Teachers complete the Santa Barbara Unified School District mandated report card three times a year.The report card includes grades for all curricular areas.
State-mandated assessments are reported to parents in a timely manner.

Portfolios

Portfolios are a purposeful collection of a student’s work that is designed to demonstrate successes, growth, higher-order thinking, creativity and reflection.
Portfolios are a cumulative collection of student work that travels with the student from Transitional Kindergarten through Sixth grade. They are housed in the student’s classroom and are accessible to the student and his or her family at any time during the school year.

Assessment Review

As a staff, we will review our assessment agreements and policy annually.

References

(2009). PYP - Making it happen: A curriculum framework for international primary education.