The Choice School IBDP Assessment Policy
RATIONALE
Education involves the perpetual refinement of inquiry, introspection, communication, and knowledge in lifelong learners. The attainment of effective learning encompasses a multitude of crucial elements, among which the art of teaching informed by meticulous assessment stands paramount. The guiding principles and mission statements of The Choice School are deeply rooted in a comprehensive framework of assessment practices. It is unequivocally the collective ethos among all stakeholders that assessment is a potent tool to strengthen and elevate the calibre of student learning.
Assessments at The Choice School are meticulously crafted to fulfill several crucial purposes: evaluating student learning, gauging the efficacy of the curriculum, aiding educators and learners in making informed choices regarding academic and personal development, and, most significantly, furnishing comprehensive insights into a student’s overall growth, which extends to the students themselves, their parents, and the school community.
A fundamental prerequisite for effective assessment lies in establishing a lucid comprehension of its objectives, the specific aspects under evaluation, the defined criteria for success, and the tools employed to ensure consistent and equitable judgments. These assessments serve as discerning markers illuminating what children have grasped, comprehended, demonstrated, and experienced at various junctures in their educational journey. They offer a window into children’s interests,accomplishments, and potential learning challenges, paving the way for subsequent steps to nurture, stimulate, and enhance their educational experience.
The aim of this policy is to create a structured assessment framework for the IB Diploma course offered by the school. It seeks to elucidate and delineate the various assessment types and reporting systems educators must adhere to and utilise. It is imperative that this policy be shared with all stakeholders involved in the school’s IBDP course.
SCHOOL MISSION
The Choice School, anchored in knowledge, Character, and Health (KCH), provides a safe, inclusive, holistic, happy learning environment in an evolving, diverse world by equipping the students with scientific temperament and social skills to become global citizens in collaboration with a competent, supportive community.
SCHOOL VISION
At Choice School, we envision a passionate learning community that fosters a growth mindset for every student in a happy, caring and stimulating environment, providing them with equal opportunities to discover and develop aptitude and attitude for learning in an equitable environment that inspires and ignites curiosity, creativity and confidence to transform lives and the world.
WHY ASSESSMENT POLICY?
A policy should establish a uniform operational mode and uphold quality standards throughout all phases. The Choice School adheres to the guidelines outlined in this policy, thus not only guaranteeing but also elevating the quality of curriculum delivery. Transparency is upheld, with the active involvement of all school stakeholders in this policy formulation process.
ASSESSMENT PHILOSOPHY
The vision of The Choice School entails creating a joyful, nurturing, and intellectually stimulating atmosphere where children can recognise and attain their utmost potential, ultimately making meaningful contributions to society. To realise this vision, it is imperative that each child is given the opportunity to flourish within a non-judgmental environment. At The Choice School, students are not merely the subjects of assessment but rather the principal beneficiaries. Consequently,assessment is viewed as a reflective and immersive process intricately woven into the fabric of teaching and learning.
In this context, students gain profound insights into their roles as learners, understanding how and what they have acquired knowledge. They actively participate in their own learning journeys. Furthermore, assessment encompasses the aspects of measurement and the discernment of the most suitable and accurate methods for documenting, recording, and conveying the learning process.
OBJECTIVES OF ASSESSMENT POLICY
The primary aim of the assessment remains consistent with its purpose, which is to evaluate, provide information, make corrections, and reinforce understanding of concepts, content, and context, as previously mentioned. The assessment practices as stated in this Assessment Policy of The Choice School across the age groups will help:
- To facilitate the learning process.
- To gauge and monitor progress within the subject area.
- To provide timely feedback and offer additional support to learners.
- To reinforce an understanding of the learning goals and outcomes.
- To guide learners in achieving the desired learning outcomes.
- To engage in reflection for enhancing teaching and learning effectiveness.
- To assess the academic achievement level of individual learners.
- To conduct a comprehensive analysis of a learner’s strengths and weaknesses.
- To promptly identify developmental delays, special educational needs, and unique abilities.
- To contribute to the evaluation, revision, and development of educational programs.
- To nurture curiosity and encourage questions.
- To foster a sense of ownership over one’s learning.
- To provide clarity regarding systems and practices for all stakeholders, including teachers, learners, and parents.
- To ascertain a learner’s pre-existing knowledge before commencing teaching and learning activities.
- To evaluate the attainment of educational goals, values, and standards as outlined in the institution’s vision and mission.
- To ensure holistic development and equip students with 21st-century skills, preparing them for higher education abroad and nurturing their growth as global citizens.
FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT
Formative assessment entails continuously collecting and interpreting evidence to monitor student learning progress. Educators utilise this data to offer descriptive feedback that is both clear and specific, ensuring it holds meaningful value and is delivered promptly. This feedback serves the dual purpose of enhancing learning and refining instructional approaches. An illustrative example of a formative assessment might be a homework assignment or probe. It can also be a teacher’s in-class question to gauge a student’s grasp of a concept.
Moreover, formative assessments create opportunities for students to evaluate their own work and that of their peers. This self-assessment and peer assessment process aids students in recognising their strengths and weaknesses, ultimately helping them develop strategies for improvement. Both formal and informal formative assessments are instrumental in pinpointing students’ learning needs, shaping the learning process, and preparing students for summative assessments.
SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT
Summative assessment encompasses the systematic process of collecting and interpreting evidence to evaluate a student’s comprehension of the course material. These assessments are designed to measure achievement against predefined criteria, assigning a value that reflects the quality of a student’s learning at the conclusion of a learning period. For instance, a unit test assesses how effectively a student has absorbed the content within the current unit before progressing to the subsequent one.
At The Choice School, students must take end-of-semester examinations that closely mirror the final IB examinations scheduled for May. Summative assessments carry significant weight in determining a student’s final grade for a given course and play a crucial role in determining the predicted grade submitted to the IBO in April. These assessments also convey information regarding student achievement to students themselves, teachers, parents/guardians, and other relevant stakeholders.
IB ASSESSMENTS
IB instructors employ diverse formative and summative assessments to facilitate and promote student learning. It’s important to note that the IB system employs a criterion-referenced approach rather than a norm-referenced one. In this context, student’s work is evaluated with respect to clearly defined levels of skill proficiency rather than in comparison to the work of their peers. These skill proficiency levels for each subject are derived from the course’s aims and objectives established by the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO). This approach is designed to ensure fairness to students globally. The criteria for achieving these skill levels are comprehensively explained to students in each course and serve as the central focus of classroom activities and homework assignments.
1. INTERNAL ASSESSMENT
IB internal assessments serve as a means for educators to evaluate certain aspects of students’ performance throughout their IB courses. These assessments encompass tasks such as English individual oral commentaries, language presentations, historical investigations, laboratory reports, and math projects. Our dedicated teachers are responsible for grading these internal assessments, and the grades attained hold significant weight in a student’s overall final IB score.These assessment results and a representative sample of work evaluated by The Choice Schoolteachers are submitted to the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO). Subsequently, an IB moderator assesses how closely the teacher’s grading aligns with the IB grading rubric. The IBO may adjust the assignment grades if the teacher’s marking is deemed excessively stringent or lenient.
Internal assessments allow students to demonstrate their mastery of skills beyond the scope of other culminating assessment tasks. Students receive substantial instruction and practice throughout their courses to adequately prepare for these demanding evaluations. In each IB subject, teachers are provided with precise assessment criteria and guidelines for marking each criterion. When determining a grade, the teacher selects the level of achievement that best matches the quality of work being assessed. These achievement criteria are clearly communicated to students well before the internal assessments. IB assessments are scored on a scale ranging from 1 (low) to 7 (high).
2. EXTERNAL ASSESSMENT
IB external assessments encompass evaluations conducted by students at The Choice School under the supervision of our educators and subsequently assessed by external IB examiners. The primary mode of external assessment involves final examinations, although other forms of work such as Extended Essays, Written Assignment papers, and TOK essays also undergo external evaluation.
The administration of IB examinations for The Choice School students occurs in May, with examination dates predetermined by the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO) and communicated to students a year before their examination year. It’s important to note that IB exams are rigorously conducted in strict adherence to IBO regulations.
Typically, IB external assessments contribute to approximately 70% of a student’s final course grade, although the precise percentage may vary depending on the specific course.
SCHOOL-BASED ASSESSMENT
In addition to IB internal and external assessments, our IB educators also utilise school-based student assessments. These assessments are indispensable for students’ academic progress and are instrumental in shaping our students’ report card grades. Throughout the course, report card grades are generated through various means, including unit tests featuring previous IB exam questions, practice examinations, and in-class assignments designed to align with IB assessment principles and assessments.
For evaluating school-based assignments, teachers employ rubrics that incorporate IB standards.The assignment scores are then translated into the IB 1-7 scoring system, guided by the mark bands detailed in the annual subject reports provided by the IB. It is important to note that theses school-based assessments do not factor into the final IB grade, which the IBO confers in July.In the concluding semester of a course, teachers rely on school-based assessments and subject-specific grade descriptors to determine the student’s predicted grade.
RECORDING AND REPORTING
School-based interventions play a pivotal role in cultivating students’ sense of responsibility concerning the submission of significant subject-specific internal assignments and their preparation for board examinations. These assessments also serve as a valuable tool for educators to gauge student progress at various course levels, enabling them to make well-informed decisions when determining predicted grades.
The reporting system employed by the school facilitates the dissemination of information to parents, equipping them to provide effective support to their children in maximising their academic achievements. Additionally, the teachers, possessing a comprehensive understanding of the demands within their respective subject areas, collaborate to establish a timetable at the commencement of the academic year. This collaborative effort ensures students are not unduly burdened with multiple assignment deadlines.
Grades in IB courses are reported using the IB 1 – 7 scale, as outlined below. These 1-7 levels are determined according to standardised criteria established by the IB for assessing achievement in each course. This level is reported to students and post-secondary institutions.
IB GRADING SCALE
7: Excellent Performance
6: Very Good Performance
5: Good Performance
4: Satisfactory Performance
3: Mediocre Performance
2: Poor Performance
1: Very Poor Performance
The IB DP handbook is the first mode of communicating IB Diploma Programme curriculum outcomes and assessment practices. Parent-teacher conferences are scheduled on a term basis,with three terms per year. During these sessions, parents engage in one-on-one discussions with their child’s respective IB teachers to review their progress. Teachers maintain individual communication with parents through methods such as email, phone calls, or in-person meetings when necessary. Additionally, parents can access the IB term report cards through the Choice School Management System (CSMS) and Managebac.
DP category candidates must study six subjects – one course in each academic group: Language and Literature, Language Acquisition, Individuals and Societies, Science, Mathematics, and the Art or Elective. Performance in each IB subject is graded on a scale of 1 to 7 points, plus the three core subjects—EE, TOK and CAS. They must accumulate no fewer than 24 points from assessment in these subjects and grade stipulations.
AWARD OF IB DIPLOMA
The IB Diploma is awarded when a candidate meets the conditions outlined below:
- CAS requirements are met.
- The candidate has earned at least 24 points.
- An N is not awarded for TOK, EE or any subject (HL/SL).
- A grade E is not awarded for one or both of TOK/EE.
- There is no grade 1 awarded in any subject.
- Grade 2 has not been awarded three or more times in any subject (HL or SL).
- Grade 3 or below has not been awarded in any subject (HL or SL) four or more times
- The candidate has earned at least 12 points in HL subjects (for candidates who register for four HL subjects, the three highest grades count).
- The candidate has gained at least 9 points on SL subjects (for candidates who register for two SL subjects, they must gain at least 5 points at SL).
- The final award committee has not judged the candidate to be guilty of academic misconduct.
Successful IB Diploma Candidates will receive an IB Diploma and a document delineating the overall IB Diploma point score, subject grades, fulfilment of all CAS prerequisites, and any earned points. Furthermore, individual grades for the amalgamation of Theory of Knowledge and the Extended Essay will be included.
In the event that a candidate does not meet the criteria for receiving an IB Diploma, they will receive a certificate detailing the grades achieved in individual subjects. This certificate will also encompass the outcomes of the Theory of Knowledge and the Extended Essay and confirmation of the fulfilment of all CAS requirements, as applicable.
INTEGRATION OF IB POLICIES
Adherence to academic integrity is rigorously maintained in accordance with the principles outlined in the Academic Honesty Policy. For students identified with specific learning requirements, tailored support and accommodations will be provided as suited to their unique needs and informed by the Special Educational Needs and Language Policies
MONITORING AND EVOLUTION OF THE POLICY
The Academic core team, under the leadership of the Head of the institution, oversees the execution of this policy. Vigilant supervision of its implementation can lead to periodic adjustments to enhance classroom practices and foster a more exploratory and reflective assessment system. Simultaneously, these measures contribute to developing students with international perspectives and a commitment to lifelong learning.
POLICY REVIEW
The IBDP Assessment Policy will undergo regular evaluations to verify its efficacy. The review panel will comprise the school head, the IBDP coordinator, and the DP staff. The next policy review will be conducted in the next academic year. Copies of this policy will be distributed to students, parents, and staff, and they must acknowledge their comprehension and acceptance of its provisions.