C4.2: The school communicates its assessment

philosophy, policy and procedures to the school

community.

The assessment philosophy will be shared through communicative systems such as the Hephzibah High School website. The website will provide stakeholders the opportunity to access the necessary information and tools required to stay aligned with the International Baccalaureate program. Communication will further be extended towards the community by way of facilitating a monthly parent night information session. The dates for the parent night events will be aligned with the district’s progress report and report card distribution. The dates are as follows:

9/5/2019--Progress report10/17/2019—Report Card

11/14/2019—Progress Report1/9/2020—Report card

2/6/2020—Progress report3/19/2020—Report Card

4/23/2020—Progress Report5/28/2020—Report Card

These events will personally create awareness and share pertinent information regarding the role of parents, as well as serve as an accountability measure for success. During these question and answer sessions, copies of the Assessment Policy will be provided and parents will be informed where to locate the policy on the website. Parents will also be informed as to how the Assessment Policy will be utilized to assess student progress.

The administrative team/IB Coordinator will provide professional learning on the Assessment Policy as well as a follow-up session each grading period, which will take place each nine weeks. The IB Coordinator will follow-up with teachers to ensure they have a thorough understanding of the policy and they are implementing the policy with fidelity. A hard copy will be provided to each teacher, and they will be informed where to locate the policy on the webpage.

The teachers will conference with students regarding the policy as well as place it on their personal class web page. They will conduct in-class conferences with students and will reach out to parents to assist them with questions or concerns. Teachers will also include the policy as part of their syllabi. The coordinator and the teachers will demonstrate standardize assessment for all assignments.

B1.5.c: The school has developed and implements an

assessment policy that is consistent with IB

expectations.

Assessment Policy

HEPHZIBAH COMPREHENSIVE HIGH

SCHOOL

Assessment PhilosophyAssessment is an essential part of an effective teaching and learning process.  It has to be aligned with the learning objectives identified for a specific lesson/unit.  Purposes of assessment should be considered in order to improve student learning and increase performance.  Authentic assessments provide students the learning opportunities in the real contexts.  With authentic tasks, students will learn how to deal with real-life situations as they experience a form of scaffolding through relevant and timely feedback.  Assessments should be inclusive of a variety of approaches so that diverse learning opportunities can be made available to students with different learning style preferences. Assessments should be guiding them to develop creative, critical thinking and decision-making skills, which are valuable into becoming wise and productive individuals.  It’s critical to carefully plan and create assessments that can guide and support students as they acquire knowledge and learn skills necessary in their holistic formation.  This signifies that students should be able to learn the core concepts then apply and practice skills through authentic tasks.  Along with this, teachers have the responsibility to explain the standard criteria in the rubrics so that students will know what will be expected of them.  Students should be given learning opportunities to excel in class and engage in critical reflection so that they will have the chance to understand, reflect and monitor their own learning.

What is assessment?

According to the IB document Assessment Principles and Practice, “assessment is a term used tocover all of the various methods by which student achievement can be evaluated.” Assessmentinstruments may include, but are not limited to quizzes, examinations, extended practical work,projects, portfolios, cooperative tasks, (multimedia) presentations, laboratory experiments,discussion, oral interaction with peers and/or teacher, essays and research papers.

Assessment is the gathering and analysis of information about student performance. It is anintegral part of the planning, teaching, and learning process. Fair and diversified assessment isneeded to support curricular goals and to encourage student learning. Research shows that themost effective grading practices provide valuable feedback designed to enhance student growthand performance. First and foremost, assessment is important because it drives student learning.

Definitions

Formative Assessment: Evaluation aimed at identifying the learning needs of students and helping to form the instruction itself. Formative assessments take place throughout a unit of study.

Summative Assessment: Evaluation of student achievement though a culminating activity generally at the end of a unit or course of study.

Internal Assessment: Evaluation of student achievement using IB rubrics and assessed by the teacher.

Purposes of Assessment:

To encourage appropriate student learning To monitor and evaluate student progress towards meeting the local, state, and IB

standards To provide feedback to students, parents, teachers, and administrators To assist in incorporating best practices To foster positive attitudes toward learning To support teacher effectiveness To evaluate course suitability (AP, Honor, IB) To assist in curriculum review To develop and promote critical thinking skills To address students’ achievement gaps To provide personalized learning opportunities for students and or differentiate

instruction in the classroom

Richmond County Public Schools Assessment Practices:

Meaningful feedback on student achievement on assessments is an essential way to communicate student progress to students, families, teachers, administrators and the school system. RCBOE practices include the following:

Assessments vary in format and task type to collect evidence of learning, which may include presentations, performance tasks, displays, journals, projects, investigations, research reports, essays, quizzes, exit cards, and teacher/county/state designed tests.

A variety of methods to assess learning may include homework to evaluate learning, participation that demonstrates a skill, discussion, recitation, simulation, construction, movement, procedures for following a process, and application.

Reteaching and reassessment procedures are applied consistently within and across the school each marking period in consultation with their teacher.

Assessment tasks are differentiated and reflect high standards for all students. Teacher collaborate with Special Education and English Language Learner colleagues to determine appropriately differentiated assessment strategies.

Assessments also include compulsory RCBOE formative and summative content-based tasks.

Assessments in Ninth Grade Literature and Composition, American Literature and Composition, Algebra I or Coordinate Algebra, Geometry or Analytic Geometry, Biology, Physical Science, United States History, and Economics/Business/Free

Enterprise are required by Georgia State Department of Education for graduation eligibility.

School Wide Expectations for grades 6 – 12:

Using a 0-8 ratings scale and school identified grade scale for all classes. No portion of the grade awarded for homework completion or participation All major assessments are aligned with and assessed using IB Subject Criteria Gradebook categories match IB criteria* The 8 always needs to be accessible and teachable Rubrics are provided to students prior (unpacking) and post (feedback) for major

assessments Grades are determined by looking at patterns, progress and most recent (No averaging

of grades, with the exception of K&U in some departments)** Students will have the opportunity to re-assess after going through the appropriate

reflection and learning process and tutoring or completing required work before re-assessing as determined by the teacher. The re-assessment window is two weeks from the date of feedback being received. Students who did not complete the original assessment have two weeks from the due date/test date to submit the assessment.

Homework assignments should be consistently reflected on Infinite Campus as either completed, missing, or incomplete using a multiplier of 0.

*For classes that are not official IB courses, criterion and standards should be explicitly developed and explained in line with state standards and follow the 0-8 scale. 4-6 categories is recommended.

**If averaging in Knowing and Understanding, then individual learning objectives will be stated and outlined for students and students will have more than one opportunity throughout the semester to demonstrate that knowledge, including the cumulative exam for the semester.

Common Practices for Recording and Reporting the MYP Assessment Criteria: Schools in the Hephzibah IB partnership do not have student work moderated, nor do

they participate in MYP eAssessments. Schools in the Hephzibah IB partnership communicate grading processes to students and

parents before and during the school year through electronic means, such as school and classroom websites, and hard copy means, such as student handbooks and course syllabi.

During the unit planning process, teachers in all MYP subject areas develop and implement MYP assessment tasks. Those tasks align with unit objectives and with course expectations.

MYP assessment tasks are scored using the MYP criteria specific to each subject area. Each task is assessed using the MYP rubric specific to subject criteria and programme

year. Teachers in Year 2 may assess using Year or Year 3 rubrics. Teachers in Year 4 will use the Year 3 rubric during semester one and the Year 5 rubric during semester 2.

Students in Years 1-5 are assessed on the four MYP criteria (A, B, C, and D) two times each school year. The following table identifies all the assessed subject-specific MYP criteria:

MYP Progress Reports are generated and made available to students and parents each semester. MYP Progress Reports indicate student performance levels on MYP Assessments in each subject area, using the following MYP 0-7 descriptors:

IB 7-Point Scale Conversion Ranges

Grade Boundary guidelines

Descriptor

7 97—100% A+ 28—32 Produces 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.

6 90—96% A 24—27 Produces high-quality, occasionally innovative work. Communicates 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.

5 80—89% B 19—23 Produces generally high-quality work. Communicates secure understanding of concepts and contexts. Demonstrates critical and creative thinking, sometime with sophistication. Uses knowledge and skills in familiar classroom and real-world situations and, with support, some unfamiliar real-world situations

4 75—79% C 15—18 Produces good-quality work. Communicates 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.

3 70—74% D 10—14 Produces work of an acceptable quality. Communicates 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.

2 51—69% F 6—9 Produces work of limited quality. Express 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.

1 Below 50% F 1--5 Produces 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.

Common Practices for Recording and Reporting on Student Achievement

Teachers record assessments using an electronic grading system, Infinite Campus. Each assessment task is awarded a point value and a weight, which varies by department.

Parents and students may access grading reports through an online reporting system, Infinite Campus-Student Portal.

RCBOE report cards are issued quarterly, approximately every 45 days.

Teachers may record student performance using letters, numbers, or other symbols. However, report card grades remain a numeric grade, as indicated by Policy RCBOE, Grading and Reporting, using the following grading scale:

A. 90-100 – Outstanding level of performance

B. 80-89 - High level of performance

C. 70-79 - Acceptable level of performance

D. 60-69 - Minimal level of performance

E. 0-59 - Unacceptable level of performance

Student Responsibilities:

Be self‐motivated learners, thinking independently, monitoring progress, and meeting all deadlines without excuses.

Analyze and track formative and summative assessment performance data to monitor their own progress of mastery.

Create goals based on performance data and devise a plan of action for obtaining those goals.

Arrange meetings with subject teachers to get personalized feedback on summative and internal assessments.

Be prepared consistently for all assessments to maximize performance and mastery and assessment scores.

Adhere to the Academic Honesty Policy and uphold all honor code expectations, submitting their own thoughts, ideas and opinions, as well as referencing any additional resources as needed using the appropriate citation style as prescribed by the subject area.

Reads, signs, and submits the student academic honesty policy/honor code expectations and agrees to uphold all components of said documents.

Teacher Responsibilities:

Provide multiple opportunities for students to show mastery. Analyze formative and summative assessment data to identify patterns and trends in

student learning.

Provide data‐driven instruction based on formative assessments to allow instruction to be tailored to the needs of their students.

Give timely and meaningful written and oral feedback on major assessments. Create opportunities for peer and self-assessment to allow students to monitor their own

progress of mastery. Focus on the assessment of student learning rather than just teaching content. Work in vertical and horizontal collaborative teams to design and assess common

assessments. Provide multiple opportunities for learner profile development. Show an awareness of student learning modalities and needs by providing differentiated

instruction in teaching and assessment style. Work in collaborative teams to internally moderate assessments to ensure fair grading

and adherence to IB assessment guidelines and rubrics. Teachers will use each Assessment Criteria twice in an academic year

Principles of Assessment:

Assessments are varied in type and purpose Students should be allowed multiple opportunities to demonstrate understanding Assessment is a continuous part of the learning process Assessments should align with course learning outcomes, state standards and MYP

objectives Clear criteria should be given to students prior to an assessment Assessment feedback should be timely Opportunities for reflection should be provided Assessments are differentiated and modifications are made when necessary to meet the

needs of all students Curriculum and assessment should reflect the intercultural aspects of MYP Teachers of the same course should use common assessments

Assessment Measures:

The measure of the assessment should be clear to students and parents before the assessment is given. Depending on the type of assessment, teachers may use a variety of measures to evaluate student success, including:

Percent correct Other numerical value such as point allocation Checklist Rubrics (teacher created, task-specific, aligned to the MYP Assessment Criteria)

Assessment Practices and Method:

Assessment and evaluation methods and expectations are discussed with students, including the distribution of rubrics-which are clarified in student-friendly language

Teachers participate collaboratively in the planning, development and standardization of assessments

Teachers design authentic assessments that allow students to apply knowledge and skills to real-life situations

Whenever possible, assessments should allow for choice and differentiation MYP Assessment. For example, Teachers will allow student choice to demonstrate their mastery of the standards.

MYP objectives and criteria will be used during the final year of the program (10th grade year).

MYP assessment will be continuous with each criterion being assessed at least twice per year per subject area

The Personal Project will be assessed and moderated by IB. Assessments should allow students to achieve the highest levels of the MYP criterion

rubric being used. Teachers will determine the final level of MYP achievement for each criterion in their

subject area The final MYP grade for each subject area, the Personal Project assessment score, and

completion of community service hours with reflection will determine a student’s ability to earn an MYP Certificate and Honors cord which will be presented at the end of the 10th

grade year.

Subject Area Assessment Criteria Possible examples of assessments meeting criteria

Arts A. Knowing and Understanding Selection from the

B. Developing Skills C. Thinking Creatively D. Responding

process journal Representation of finished

artwork/performance (including evidence of preparation of underlying theory)

Language and Literature A. Analyzing B. Organizing C. Producing Text D. Using Language

Essay (literary, argumentative, persuasive, or analytical)

Oral presentation response to literature

Creative writing piece (dramatic scene, poetry, story)

Language Acquisition A. Comprehending spoken and visual text B. Comprehending written and visual text C. Communicating in response to spoken, written and visual text D. Using language in spoken and written form

Interactive oral tasks Reading comprehension task Writing tasks

Individuals and Societies A. Knowing and Understanding B. Investigating C. Communicating D. Thinking Critically

Oral presentation on an investigation

Document analysis/Source Evaluation

Mathematics A. Knowing and Understanding B. Investigating patterns C. Communicating D. Applying mathematics in real life contexts

Classroom test Mathematics investigation Real life-problem application with

reflection

A. Physical Education A. Knowing and Understanding B. Planning for performance C. Applying and performingD. Reflecting and improving performance

Evidence of student’s composition and performance

Written work illustrating use of PE terminology

Reflection of group performanceScience A. Knowing and Understanding

B. Inquiring and designing C. Processing and evaluating D. Reflecting on the impacts of science

An experimental investigation Unit test Written essay applying science in

society with documented sources

Design (Technology) A. Inquiring and analyzing B. Developing ideas C. Creating the solution D. Evaluating

Application of the design cycle to create a final product such as a webpage

Reflection on the design cycle process

Communication of Assessment to parents and students

Feedback from assessments should be prompt and given or distributed as well as provided via Infinite Campus.

Feedback on MYP assessments should include the subject specific criteria scores, although these can be translated into a percentage or letter grade.

Communication of assessment dates will be provided to students and parents one week prior to the day of the assessment via class web page, teacher remind app and posted in the classroom

Document Review

A committee will be formed to review IB policies periodically. The committee will consist of IB coordinators, administrators, and teachers.

This policy will be communicated to stakeholders via the Hephzibah High School website. The parents and community stakeholders will also have multiple opportunities each nine weeks

during progress report and report card night to receive a copy of all of the IB MYP policies as well as a question and answer sections.

References

Academy of Richmond County - Assessment Policy for the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program. Retrieved from: file:///D:/Downloads/Assessment%20Policy%20-%20MTBA%202015%20(2).pdf

Assessment principles and practices—Quality assessments in a digital age. Retrieved from:https://www.ibo.org/contentassets/1cdf850e366447e99b5a862aab622883/assessment-principles-and-practices-2018-en.pdf

Earl Wooster High School & Vaughn Middle School Assessment Policy. Retrieved from:file:///D:/Downloads/ib-assessment-policy.pdf

IB Assessment Policy Mercyhurst Preparatory School. Retrieved from: https://www.mpslakers.com/wp-content/uploads/pdfs/reports/assessment_policy.pdf

North Atlanta Assessment Policy. Retrieved from:https://ibmypnorthatlanta.weebly.com/nahs-cluster-policies.html

B2.10: The student schedule or timetable allows for the

requirements of the programme (s) to be met.

B2.10.a: The schedule or timetable provides a broad

and balanced choice or subjects from the required

MYP subject groups.

B2.10.b: The schedule or timetable provides the

minimum required teaching hours per year for the

required MYP subject groups.

B2.10.c: The schedule or timetable promotes

concurrency of learning.

C2.1.a: The curriculum fulfills the aims and objectives of each subject group offered

in each year of the programme and the personal

project (or community project for programmes that end in

MYP year 3 or 4).

C2.1.b: The written curriculum includes an approaches to learning

planning chart for all years of the programme.