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Contents

Introduction Assessment Philosophy 4
Purpose of Assessment for Learning 4
The Way the MYP Assessments work 5
Assessment Tools 6
Command terms 6
The Assessment Cycle 6
Reporting 7

Assessment Tools and Techniques 7

Recording Assessment Data 7

Assessment Format 8

Performance Monitoring 8
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Assessment Policy



If you do not know where you are headed, you will probably end up someplace else.

Douglas J. Eder

Introduction to Assessment Philosophy

Assessment for learning is the process of seeking and evaluating evidence for use by students and
their teachers to decide where learners are in their learning, where they need to go and how best
to get there. Through Approaches to Learning, students are provided with the tools to enable
them to take responsibility for their own learning. Central to this is "learning how to learn" and
developing in individuals an awareness of how they learn best.
Approaches to Learning include:
Communication
Collaboration
Organisation
Affective
Reflection
Information Literacy
Media Literacy
Critical thinking
Creative thinking
Transfer
Recognizing and helping students develop the range of their capacities, positive attitudes and
effective habits of mind is the shared responsibility of teachers, and is at the core of all curriculum
development and delivery.
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Purpose of assessment for learning:

For students:
Identify strengths and areas that require improvement.
Take responsibility for own learning.
Analyse learning strategies and learn how to learn.
Understand the IB criteria and try to achieve objectives laid by the IB for a specific subject.
Be able to apply learning to real life situations.
For teachers:
Identify how the students learn best and modify teaching and learning accordingly.
By using various strategies, understand what the students know and build up on it.
Identify what students need and strategize.
For Management:
Know how best to support teaching faculty.
Set appropriate goals and make learning relevant.
For Parents:
Understand the strengths and areas of improvement of their child.
Motivate and support their children in their learning.

Nature of Assessment

Criterion-based assessment
Individual student work is not compared to other students work but it is compared
to set standards (the assessment criteria) published by the IB MYP.
Each subject has 4 different criteria which are the conditions that must be met for
an expected result.
Teachers organize continuous assessment over the course of the programme
according to specified assessment criteria that correspond to the objectives of each
subject group.
The IBO publishes the objectives and criteria for MYP1 (Grade 6), MYP 3 (Grade 8)
and MYP 5 (Grade 10). MYP 1 and MYP 3 objectives and criteria are followed at
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PWS, Aravali. The school has created its own MYP 2 (Grade 7) criteria. For more
details, refer to Student Handbook and Assessment Guide.
Task specific clarifications will be prepared by the teacher for each task in
accordance with the criterion descriptors given in each subject area.


The way the MYP Assessment works

Subject group objectives

The objectives of any MYP subject group state the specific targets that are set for learning in the
subject. They define what the student will be able to accomplish as a result of studying the
subject.
Each objective will be elaborated by a number of strands; a strand is an aspect or indicator of the
learning target described by an objective.
The objectives of Years 1, 3 and 5 of the programme are provided in the subject group guides.
Subject group objectives relate directly to the assessment criteria found in the Student Handbook
and Assessment Guide.
Together, these objectives reflect the knowledge, understanding and skills that students need in
order to be successful in the MYP, they represent aspects of each subject group.

Formative:
Continuous assessment occurs frequently during the school year and is part of regular
teacher-student interactions.
It a diagnostic tool for the students to identify the areas where they are having difficulty
and concentrate their efforts in those areas.
Students receive feedback from teachers based on their performance that allows them to
focus on topics they have not yet mastered.
Teachers learn which students need review and remediation and which students are ready
to move on to more complex work.


Summative:
A summative is usually done at the end of the unit using assessment criteria specific to the subject.

End of Semester Assessments:
Students will take assessments at the end of the Semester usually in the month of December.

End of Year Assessments:
Students will take assessments at the end of the Academic Year usually in the month of May.





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Assessment tools

Assessment tasks measure the six major criteria:

a) Knowledge and Understanding: activities that ask students to list, recall, state, etc.
b) Comprehension: activities will request students to describe, illustrate and outline,
etc.
c) Application: requires students to apply, predict, calculate, solve, etc.
d) Analysis: want students to compare and contrast, distinguish between relevant and
irrelevant, identify and explain cause and effect, etc.
e) Synthesis: requires students to generalize, summarize, design, hypothesize, invent, and create
compose, etc.
f) Evaluation: students give arguments for and against, support opinions, rate, recommend,
criticize, prioritise, etc.
(Blooms Taxonomy)

Command Terms

In accordance with MYP recommendation, teachers use the set of subject-specific Command
terms that are frequently used while assessing.

The Assessment Cycle


Formative assessments are day to day assessments based on learning objectives (including IEP
goals and targets) and teaching strategies, which the teacher has identified for a specific lesson
or series of lessons. During lessons the classroom team (involving pupils as appropriate) identify
the progress being made. The teacher uses this information to judge how far the learning
objectives have been met and whether the strategies used were effective. They also note any
other key achievements observed by members of the team. Day to day assessment informs
planning for the next lesson in the series; for instance, it may show that a pupil is ready for a
more challenging objective or suggest that the learning support assistant should give more (or
fewer) verbal cues.

Summative assessments are the end of unit assessments to assess the learning through the
unit. These always address one or more criteria related to the subject area.

End of Semester assessments/ End of Year assessments assess the learning of the entire
Semester/ academic year.


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Reporting

Reporting is done through Managebac. It is done twice in an Academic year.

End of first Semester: Includes the performance in the End-of-Semester assessments.
End of Year: Includes the performances in the End- of Year Assessments. Students achieve
the final grade in each subject based on the professional judgement of the teachers. For details,
refer to Grade-specific Pathways World School, Aravali, Assessment Guide.

In all MYP subjects, there are 4 criteria. All the criteria in each subject will be assessed at least
twice in the School Year.


Assessment tools and techniques

Subject assessment usually employs a variety of assessment tools, such as formal and
informal oral work, written work such as objective tests, structured short answers, test,
open book tests, stimulus/data response, essays, coursework and projects and practical
work such as knowledge and use of apparatus identifying and solving problems,
construction of a hypothesis, testing, evaluations and analysis
PWS, Aravali also informally assesses individual student Approaches to Learning in a
subject.
Students are encouraged to assess themselves (self-evaluation). Reflection journals,
conferencing, student-led conferences, are all examples of this.
Students may also be involved in peer-assessment. This gives teachers and students
another point of view and helps students become familiar with the criteria.


Recording Assessment Data

Report cards are generated twice in an Academic year: End of Semester and End of
Academic year.
First Semester: August to December
Second Semester: January to May
The school uses Managebac, the school management software to record all the
assessment data. Parents will be able to view regularly the specific tasks level of
achievement and the final grade at the end of the Academic year.
Parent-teacher meeting is organised twice in an Academic year.
Additionally, parents and teachers also discuss the progress of the students through email,
phone calls or arranged meetings with prior appointments.




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Assessment format

Written assessments E-portfolios /Developmental Worlbooks
Language and Literature Language Acquisition
Mathematics Arts
Sciences Physical and Health Education
Individuals and Societies Design



Performance Monitoring

Students academic progress is monitored regularly.
Students who do not meet the academic expectations, may be put on Academic probation for the
time determined by the teachers, Coordinator and Principal. This is reported to the parents of the
concerned student.
Students may also be detained by the concerned teacher after school hours in order to complete
assignments or make up for the weak concepts.
Students performance is reviewed on the basis of the final grade at the end of the academic year.

Recommendations are made for students who are not able to perform to the expectations.




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