Assessment Policy
Purpose and principles
A. Objective
At Fountainhead School Malgama, assessments are an integral part of learning and teaching and drive instructions by providing timely feedback to students, parents and the teaching staff. It is a continuous process that promotes an inclusive approach to the development of the child. It allows for timely feedback and feed-forward which helps students to set realistic goals, monitor their learning and become independent learners. The school believes that constructive feedback, self & peer assessment, and goal setting are powerful tools in developing student agency and self-regulated learners. The school sees students as partners in learning and hence teachers and students collaborate throughout the process of inquiry to design as well as assess the learning.
The school also believes that students should get multiple opportunities to demonstrate their understanding and acquisition of knowledge and skills in more meaningful and relevant ways. Hence, a variety of assessment tools and strategies are used across the curriculum as per the purpose of the assessment. The process of learning is valued as much as the final outcome and intends to develop the necessary skills and positive habits of mind in our learners. The school aims to foster an assessment culture that involves the development of assessment capability among all members of the learning community.
B. Connection with the School Mission Statement
Fountainhead School Mission Statement: “To nurture leaders with character and competence”
The school’s mission is to create and nurture leaders who can take charge of their lives, work effectively with others, learn to apply, lead with forethought and determination and do the right thing even when no one is watching them. Such internationally-minded leaders need both character and competence to survive and succeed. Character is the values and principles guiding us and Competence is about knowledge and skills. The school aims to develop both these aspects by providing multiple opportunities wherein students can demonstrate their knowledge, understanding and skills in more authentic ways; as well as learn to self-assess, self-monitor and self-regulate their learning.
C. Connection with Learner Profile attributes
- Thinkers: The school aims to develop creative and critical thinking skills in our students by designing authentic, contextual and challenging assessments.
- Reflective: The school aims to foster metacognition skills in our students by helping them identify their strengths and set personal learning goals to become self-regulated learners.
D. Fountainhead Values
- Learner: At FSM, the educators and students; both take pride in considering themselves as ‘lifelong learners’. The school keeps itself updated with the latest developments in the IB and designs a variety of age-relevant assessments suitable to the curriculum. Students learn to work with a growth mindset by considering the feedback they receive on their work and making necessary adjustments to their learning.
- Excellence: The school aims to bring in “Excellence” by designing authentic and challenging assessments and by critically evaluating the same by seeking feedback from parents, students and teachers. The school wants its students to endeavour to excel in all spheres of their learning.
E. IB Standards and Practices
Culture (03)- Culture through policy implementation (0301)
The school implements, communicates and regularly reviews an assessment policy or policies to help create a culture of continuous learning and growth. (0301-05)
- The school implements and reviews an assessment policy that makes the school’s philosophy clear and is aligned with the IB philosophy concerning learning and assessment. (0301-05-0100)
- The school identifies in its assessment policy all necessary local and IB requirements and outlines how the school is adhering to these requirements. (0301-05-0200)
- The school describes in its assessment policy the rights and responsibilities of all members of the school community and clearly states what constitutes good assessment practice. (0301-05-0300)
- The school ensures relevant support materials, resources and processes are implemented for fair and valid assessment. (0301-05-0400)
- The school describes in its assessment policy the value of assessment for continuous learning and growth. (0301-05-0500)
The school implements, communicates and regularly reviews its IB-mandated policies to ensure they are cohesive and reflect IB philosophy. (0301-06)
- The school implements processes with consideration of the relationship between its IB-mandated policies. (0301-06-0100)
- The school documents its IB-mandated policies and communicates them to the school community. (0301-06-0200)
- The school considers physical and virtual spaces in all its IB-mandated policies. (0301-06-0300)
- The school articulates a planned integration of human, natural, built or virtual resources in all its IB-mandated policies. (0301-06-0400)
- The school considers the Learner Profile in all its IB-mandated policies. (0301-06-0500)
- The school considers international-mindedness in all its IB-mandated policies. (0301-06-0600)
- The pedagogical leadership team uses the school’s IB-mandated policies in decision-making and curriculum development. (0301-06-0700)
Learning (04)- Students as lifelong learners (0402)
Students actively develop thinking, research, communication, social and self-management skills. (0402-01)
- The school implements and reviews the development of the IB’s approaches to learning. (0402-01-0100)
- The school implements and reviews processes that actively engage students in their own learning. (0402-01-0200)
Students take ownership of their learning by setting challenging goals and pursuing personal inquiries. (0402-06)
- Students take opportunities to develop personal learning goals. (0402-06-0100)
- Students take opportunities to ask questions and pursue personal inquiries and actions. (0402-06-0200)
Learning (04): Approaches to teaching (0403)
Teachers remove barriers to learning to enable every student to develop, pursue and achieve challenging personal learning goals. (0403-05)
- Teachers consider learner variability when planning students’ personal learning goals. (0403-05-0100)
- Teachers integrate prior knowledge into the curriculum to aid and extend learning for all students. (0403-05-0200)
- Teachers use IB-mandated policies to support students. (0403-05-0300)
- Teachers support language development with consideration for the language profiles of students. (0403-05-0400)
- Teachers use multiple technologies to aid and extend learning and teaching. (0403-05-0500)
Learning (04): Approaches to assessment (0404)
Students and teachers use feedback to improve learning, teaching and assessment. (0404-01)
- Students and teachers use feedback to support stated outcomes and expectations, in accordance with the IB philosophy and assessment documentation. (0404-01-0100)
- The school uses specific and constructive school-based reporting to provide students and teachers with information that can be used to improve learning, teaching and assessment. (0404-01-0200)
The school uses assessment methods that are varied and fit for the purposes for the curriculum and stated learning outcomes and objectives. (0404-02-0100)
- Teachers use a variety of assessment methods that are connected to stated learning objectives and learning outcomes. (0404-02-0100)
- PYP: Teachers document and analyze student learning over time to design learning experience based on data. (0404-02-0111)
- The school demonstrates that assessment practices are formed around conceptual learning. (0404-02-0200)
- The school ensures that from the time of enrolment students and legal guardians are aware of and have access to documentation describing the relevant programme regulations and requirements regarding assessment. (0404-02-0300)
The school administrates assessment consistently, fairly, inclusively and transparently. (0404-03)
- The school administrates assessment in accordance with IB rules, regulations, and/or relevant programme documentation. (0404-03-0100)
- The school regularly reviews and ensures compliance with all access arrangements. (0404-03-0200)
- The school ensures that external reporting and/or predictions are as accurate as possible, and are appropriately designed for the contexts in which they are required. (0404-03-0300)
- The school implements, communicates and regularly reviews consistent and fair systems and processes for reporting student progress and handling appeals or challenges. (0404-03-0400)
- The school monitors and evaluates the delivery of assessments to ensure that they are as seamless as reasonable. (0404-03-500)
Students take opportunities to consolidate their learning through assessment. (0404-04)
- The school provides students with opportunities to consolidate their learning through a variety of assessments. (0404-04-0100)
F. Purpose of assessment
The purpose of assessment is to inform learning and teaching. It involves the gathering and analysis of information about student learning to inform teaching practice. It identifies what students know, understand and can do at different stages in the learning process.
Effective assessment that achieves this purpose provides valuable information to understand what constitutes learning and how to support it and is meaningful to all members of the learning community.
Students
Students become effective, self-regulated learners when they are actively engaged in assessment and act on constructive feedback. This helps them reflect on their progress, set goals for their learning and engages them in making decisions about what they need to do to achieve these goals.
Teachers
Teachers become more effective when they continually learn about what students know and can do. They reflect on their practice, adjust their teaching based on data, and offer timely, specific and well-considered feedback to better support learning.
Parents and legal guardians
Parents and legal guardians become more informed when they understand the learning goals their child is working towards and the progress their child is making. They extend their child’s understanding and development of skills when they support learning. They contribute to their child’s joy of learning and growth as a successful learner by sharing insights with the learning community.
School
School becomes a more impactful learning community when assessments are used as tools to evaluate the depth of the curriculum and the effectiveness of teaching and learning. The school makes decisions about targeting resources and support to the most pressing priorities and professional development needs.
G. Roles and responsibilities
Developing assessment capability to support learning
The school aims to create an assessment-capable learning community where everyone has a shared understanding of the ‘Why, What and How’ of the assessments. The school has listed the roles and responsibilities of different stakeholders as mentioned below:
Pedagogical Leadership Team
The pedagogical leadership team plays a crucial role in making decisions around all assessments. The main responsibilities of all pedagogical leaders include but are not limited to:
- Designing required professional development sessions for teaching staff to ensure they are abreast of the latest developments in IB as well as are equipped with strategies to implement processes as per the expectations.
- Collaborating with teaching staff to moderate assessments as well as analyze the data and evidence gathered.
- Guiding teachers to design and implement effective and varied assessments as per the purpose.
- Making decisions around the standardized testing methods adopted at the school that keeps student well-being in mind.
- Conducting meetings with parents as per the need to communicate students’ progress.
Teachers
All teachers are responsible for developing the assessment capabilities of students by:
- Planning multiple opportunities for success.
- Co-creating assessment tasks and success criteria with students.
- Collaborating with other teachers to design and moderate assessments.
- Conducting a variety of assessments at the beginning, during and the end of the learning process.
- Using age-appropriate tools and strategies as per the purpose of the assessments.
- Giving effective feedback and communicating learning progress to the students.
- Supporting student reflection by modeling.
- Collecting and analyzing the data and evidence to inform planning and teaching strategies.
- Sharing evidence and data with students and the learning community.
- Reflecting on data and evidence to improve own practice.
Students
Students develop assessment capability when teachers provide them with multiple supported experiences in reflecting on their learning and how to make improvements. Using specific language to describe, discuss and evaluate learning at Fountainhead School Malgama, students demonstrate their assessment capability by:
- Partnering with teachers to design their learning goals and success criteria.
- Self-assessing and discussing their progress towards achieving learning goals.
- Selecting evidence, such as samples of their learning, that best demonstrate the intended learning goals.
- Developing metacognitive skills to reflect on their learning and to plan the next steps.
- Drawing on feedback and multiple strategies to adjust their learning and identify where and when to make improvements.
Parents
At FSM, parents are seen as partners in learning and are encouraged to participate in the assessment process by:
- Attending student presentations which are demonstrations of their learning and giving feedback based on the success criteria.
- Discussing the goals of their ward and extending necessary support back at home.
- Regularly reviewing the formative assessments that are sent home.
- Attending reporting meetings to discuss their ward’s progress.
Primary Years Programme
H1. What does the school assess
Inquiry: When assessing the process of inquiry teacher considers:
- How students demonstrate and develop subject knowledge
- How students apply their conceptual understandings to further their inquiries successfully
- How students demonstrate and develop the skills
- How students demonstrate learner profile
- How students demonstrate action
H2. How to assess: (Dimensions of Assessment)
PYP assessment has four dimensions: monitoring, documenting, measuring and reporting on learning. Each of its aspects has its own function, but all aim to provide evidence to inform learning and teaching.
H3. Monitoring and Documenting learning
As suggested in the document From Principles to Practice, the school puts more emphasis on these 2 dimensions of assessment.
- The main purpose of monitoring learning is to check the progress of learning against students’ personal learning goals. This is done through observations, questioning, reflections, discussions, and well-considered feedback and feedforward for the next steps in learning.
- Documentation of learning aims to capture and compile the evidence of learning. It reveals insights into learning and provides opportunities to reconnect with learning goals and success criteria. At FSM, teachers and students document learning goals, inquiry questions, reflections and the development of knowledge, skills and understanding. Tools like learning journals, anecdotal records, rubrics, rating scales, checklists and a variety of visible thinking routines are used to document student learning.
H4. Measuring learning
The measuring of learning gathers “point-in-time” data on achievement and progress. Not all learning can be or needs to be, measured. Measurement tools can be school designed or commercial but each tool provides further data to support a larger picture of student achievement and progress in learning.
The school conducts a variety of assessments including performance-based, process-focused, and open-ended as well as pen & paper tests towards the end of the learning process. Teachers use a range of assessment tools like Rubrics, Rating scales, Checklists and Continuums to compile the most comprehensive picture of student progress and achievement over time. Mark-based assessments are conducted to measure the numeracy and literacy skills of students which provide quantitative data to the school.
H4.1 Details of the mark-based assessment
- Pre-assessment: A quantified in-house test to measure numeracy and literacy skills including additional language (Hindi); at the beginning of the new academic session to help teachers understand the readiness levels of their students and design the learning and teaching accordingly.
- Unit Tests: Quantified in-house tests conducted twice in a term (4 times in a year) for Language (English) and Math and twice in a year for Hindi. The main purpose of these tests is to assess the taught concepts at regular intervals, collect and analyze data to inform further instructions and help students set personal learning goals.
(Note: As a school, our main objective is to effectively use the data collected to evaluate our learning and teaching practices and have a comprehensive view of student learning. Keeping student well-being in mind, students and parents are not provided with the details of the marks of the above assessments. The marks obtained are transferred to the rating scale and are then discussed with the students in class and reported to the parents too.)
H4.2 Standardized reading assessments
Commercially available standardized tests and/or In house developed reading assessments are used as per the table given below to measure students’ reading and comprehension performance.
| English Reading assessment | Hindi Reading assessment |
|---|---|
| DIBELS ® (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills) | Fluency Assessment and Benchmarking in Literacy Education. (FABLe) |
| Fountas & Pinnell Benchmark Assessment Systems (BAS) | |
| Fluency Assessment and Benchmarking in Literacy Education. (FABLe) | In-House Developed Reading Assessments. |
H5. Analyzing learning
Teachers use multiple data points to evaluate student progress. The academic team at school supports collaborative analysis of data undertaken for individual learners, student cohorts and across the school to identify patterns and trends in student learning. The outcome of this analysis informs and guides decisions about learning and teaching. The quantitative data collected through the mark-based assessments is further used for the Entry and Exit process of ALS (Additional Learning Support) where students are provided with the necessary additional support in Language.
Teacher moderation: It is necessary to have a shared understanding of what quality and success look like for diverse learners before, during and after learning. At Fountainhead School Malgama, teacher moderation through professional discussions around student samples is an effective strategy for deciding on the benchmarking based on the co-constructed success criteria for specific Language assessments (Reading and Writing).
Reporting on learning informs the learning community about the progress and achievement of the student’s learning, identifies areas for growth and contributes to the efficacy of the programme. The school employs an open, transparent and comprehensible process for reporting to provide useful information to parents and students.
| Format | Details |
|---|---|
| Nucleus Reading Assessment Report |
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| Parent-teacher conference (PTC) |
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| Student-led conference (SLC) |
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H6. Types of Assessments
| Assessment | Assessment for learning | Assessment of learning | Assessment as learning (Clark 2012; Earl 2012) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Purpose | To inform teaching and promote learning. It serves as feedback to the teacher, students and parents | To certify and report on learning progress. | To support students in learning how to become self-regulated lifelong learners. |
| Requirements | Teachers state/co-construct the success criteria for the Formative assessments | Students and teachers co-construct the success criteria for the Summative assessments. | Students set and reset their learning goals under the guidance of their teachers. |
| Features |
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| Ways to report |
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| Frequency | Pre-assessment
|
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Goals
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| Strategies (methods or ways to gather data ) |
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| Tools/ways to document and/or measure the learning |
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For further details on Evidencing learning refer to the guidelines.
(Source: The table above is adapted from PYP: Principles into practice)
Technology, related policies and references
I. Role of ICT in Assessments
Fountainhead School Malgama integrates ICT in teaching and learning as well as assessment. Teachers use a variety of technology tools like Kahoot, Flipgrid, etc for ongoing assessments. Students also use Google Slides, Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google Forms, Canva etc for different types of assessments.
J. Connection with the other policies
The assessment policy should be read in conjunction with the school language policy, admission policy, ICT policy and learning diversity policy.
Language Policy
Student’s language needs are considered while planning assessments for diverse learners. More details can be obtained from FSM Language policy
Academic Integrity Policy
It is important to follow academic integrity during preparation of examination papers by teachers by citing the sources used and for students while submitting internal assessments and appearing for external examination. More details are available in Academic integrity policy
Learning diversity policy
Student’s language needs are considered while planning assessments for diverse learners. More details can be obtained from FSM Learning diversity policy
Admission Policy
For admissions in grades 1 to 6, the school conducts reading, oral and written assessments for students to understand their readiness levels. Further details can be obtained from the Admission policy.
K. Bibliography
- “ASSESSMENT PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES--QUALITY ASSESSMENTS IN A DIGITAL AGE.” ibo.org., 2019. Web. 10 Nov. 2019 . <https://resources.ibo.org/ib/works/edu_11162-47165?lang=en&root=1.6.2.12>
- “Programme Standards and Practices 2020.” IBO, IBO, Apr. 2020, <www.ibo.org/globalassets/new-structure/become-an-ib-school/pdfs/programme-standards-and-practices-2020-en.pdf.>
- “Glasson, Toni. Improving Student Achievement. Carlton South: Curriculum Corporation, 2009. Print.
- “PYP: From Principles Into Practice.” ibo.org, 2019. Web. 10 Nov. 2019 . <https://resources.ibo.org/pyp?>
- Wilson, Jeni, and Kath Murdoch. How To Succeed With Learner-Centred Assessment. Carlton South, Vic: Curriculum Corporation, 2006. Print.
Appendices
Appendix 1: Consent form used during school exams
Undertaking for rescheduling Term exam
I, parent of ___________________________________ studying in Grade-Section ________________________________ hereby request you to reschedule the Term Exam for the below given (No. of) __________ subject/subjects as it falls during the event/other exam.
1. ______________________ 2.___________________ 3. _______________________
I ensure that my ward will not ask/discuss the paper with any of his classmates/friends and the content of the paper is confidential and violation of this will result in academic dishonesty of the examination.
Student’s Signature: ___________________ Parent’s Signature: __________________
Events Detail:
Name of the event: ____________________________________________________________
Date of the event: __________________________ to _________________________________
Name of the incharge: _____________ Incharge’s Signature:________________
To be filled by the approver:
Approver’s Name: ___________________ Approver’s Sign: _____________________
Source: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-BA7p2DTq1WKlNgwg1icHGFHfPUn6a6M/view