Middle Years Programme 2016-2017 Understanding MYP Assessment: A Parent s Guide
The MYP offers a criterion-related model of assessment. This very simple statement conceals, perhaps, the most significant way in which MYP assessment differs from the educational experience of parents and teachers. For the vast majority of adults, our qualifications were gained after studying courses for two or more years and then completing the relevant examinations in a few tough weeks; after which we were rewarded with a percentage score, an A to E score or something similar. Because we are familiar with this test & scoring system we are inclined to feel comfortable with it and often prefer to see our children s scores presented in this way. Quite simply, we understand it. It is, most likely, what was done to us. But think again! How would you feel about driving in a country where there was only a written exam required to drive a car? In many countries there are practical and written tests. In the practical test you are required to safely demonstrate a range of skills, e.g. left turn, right turn, reversing, parking etc. For each of these skills there is a sequence of actions that you have to perform to a given standard that are recorded on the examiners checklist. This checklist is the assessment criterion for that particular skill. As a further illustration, what factors do you consider when choosing one of the hundreds of restaurants to eat at in Port of Spain? Standards of hygiene, quality of food, efficiency of service, cost and atmosphere may be amongst your considerations. These factors amount to a criterion-related model for selecting a restaurant. The important point is that final written exams are not the only way to assess understanding and/or mastery of a skill; in practice, exams are often not the best method. Some of the key features of MYP assessment are: 1. Each of the MYP subject areas has different assessment criteria. These criteria have been designed to assess the specific knowledge, skills and attitudes required for success in each subject area. 2. Teachers organize continuous assessment over the duration of the programme. This provides students with ongoing feedback about progress and highlights how performance can be improved. 3. The MYP criteria require teachers to develop a range of different assessment methods. We know that students learn in different ways and this gives students the opportunity to develop and demonstrate different strengths. For example, some students have excellent verbal presentation skills but find it more difficult to express themselves in writing. 4. Each criterion is assessed more than once, giving students multiple opportunities to demonstrate their knowledge and skills. This gives a better overall indication of performance and balances an occasional poor result or off-day. 5. Examinations and end-of-unit tests are regularly used but are afforded the same status as other methods of assessment. In each academic year, we report on all students achievements through parent-teacher meetings and at the end of each semester by issuing a detailed report that will give a level of achievement for all criteria in each subject. These scores are collected by the process of continuous assessment. 2
MYP Reporting Which subject areas do we assess? At ISPS we assess performance in the following MYP subject groups: Language & Literature (English) Language Acquisition (Spanish) Mathematics Individuals & Societies Sciences Arts Physical and Health Education What do we report and when do we report? ISPS formally reports student s progress four times a year, at the end of each quarter. The following results are included in each report card: Table 1 Attainment Grade (1-7) Overall Criterion Level Approaches to Learning HR Teacher Comment Quarter 1 report Semester 1 report Quarter 3 report Semester 2 report Planned publication date of ISPS reports: Table 2 (2016-2017) Planned publication dates: Quarter 1 report Wednesday 2 November Semester 1 report Wednesday 25 January Quarter 3 report Monday April 3 Semester 2 report Friday 27 June 3
MYP Academic Responsibility Approaches to learning skills The focus of ATL in the MYP is on helping students to develop the self-knowledge and skills they need to enjoy a lifetime of learning. ATL skills empower students to succeed in meeting the challenging objectives of MYP subject groups and prepare them for further success. Considered in total and at the highest level, ATL skills are the skills of the self-regulated, intrinsically motivated learner. ATL skills are informed by, and support the development of, the attributes of the IB Learner Profile. Over time, students should develop understandings of how they learn best and how they can evaluate the effectiveness of their learning. ATL scores are reported on the following scale: Score EE ME AE BE Descriptor Exceeding Expectations Meeting Expectations Approaching Expectations Below Expectations Making an ATL judgment on a report card Table 3: ATL scale. Each unit a teacher will include an ATL skill (or a few) to teach. The summative assessment of a task includes the use of that ATL skill by the student. On the report card, teachers provide their professional opinion on whether students meet the expectation for each ATL included in that unit. The following skills are assessed: ATL skill categories Communication Social Self-management Research Thinking MYP ATL skill clusters Communication Collaboration Organization Affective Reflection Information literacy Media literacy Critical thinking Creative thinking Transfer Table 4: ATL s assessed. 4
IB MYP General Descriptors Attainment grade Students levels of achievement are reported on a 1 to 7 scale. The general MYP level of achievement descriptors indicate the achievement required for the award of each subject Attainment grade. 5
Grade Boundar y 1 1-5 2 6-9 3 10-14 4 15-18 MYP Attainment grade Descriptor 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. Produces work of limited quality. Expresses 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. 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. 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. 5 19-23 Produces generally high-quality work. Communicates secure understanding of concepts and contexts. Demonstrates critical and creative thinking, sometimes with sophistication. Uses knowledge and skills in familiar classroom and real-world situations and, with support, some unfamiliar real-world situations. 6 24-27 7 28-32 Produces high-quality, occasionally innovative work. Communicates extensive under-standing 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. 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. Table 3: attainment grade boundaries. Notes: An attainment level of 4 means a student is meeting the required standard. Boundaries show the levels of criteria combined. Example given: if a student scores the highest level for all four criteria, a student will score four times 8 points is 32 points. A 32 will give an attainment grade of 7, based on the boundaries above. Please see Understanding MYP Assessment: A Parent s Guide. 6
Example of MYP Criterion-related assessment descriptors Students are given scores for four criteria for each subject. Each criterion is weighted equally and indicates a level of achievement from 0 to 8. Criterion A: Knowing and Understanding 0 Student does not achieve a standard described by any of the descriptors below. 1-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 recognizes some vocabulary demonstrates basic knowledge and understanding of content and concepts through limited descriptions and/or examples. uses some vocabulary demonstrates satisfactory knowledge and understanding of content and concepts through simple descriptions, explanations and/or examples. uses considerable relevant vocabulary, often accurately demonstrates substantial knowledge and understanding of content and concepts through descriptions, explanations and examples. consistently uses relevant vocabulary accurately demonstrates excellent knowledge and understanding of content and concepts through detailed descriptions, explanations and examples. Criterion B: Investigating 0 Student does not achieve a standard described by any of the descriptors below. 1-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 identifies a research question follows an action plan in a limited way to explore a research question collects and records information, to a limited extent with guidance, reflects on the research process and results, to a limited extent. describes the choice of a research question partially follows an action plan to explore a research question uses a method or methods to collect and record some relevant information with guidance, reflects on the research process and results with some depth. describes the choice of a research question in detail mostly follows an action plan to explore a research question uses method(s) to collect and record often relevant information reflects on the research process and results. explains the choice of a research question effectively follows an action plan to explore a research question uses methods to collect and record consistently relevant information thoroughly reflects on the research process and results. Table 4: example criteria. Please note: All subjects have different criteria. Different grade levels have different criteria for all subjects. 7
How do teachers award a grade? Let s look at an example: Step 1: teachers assess students using assessment tasks. Tasks may be assessed against one criterion, multiple or all four. These assessment tasks may be closed-book exam-style tests, or open-ended projects that span multiple periods. In the above example, seven tasks have been outlined for semester one. Step 2: teachers then determine the best-fitting level for each criterion, before the report card is issued. In the above example, the teacher has plenty of assessment results to determine the level of each criterion. For Q1 reports, this is obviously more difficult for a teacher to do as there is less data available. Step 3: teachers add up the four criteria totals. In this example: 6 + 5 + 5 + 5 = 21. Step 4: teachers use the grade boundaries to determine the attainment level for the report card. As you can see, a student who scored a combined total of 21 will be awarded an overall 5. Step 5: teachers compare the 5 with the descriptors of table 3: attainment grade boundaries. If all evidence points to a level 5, the teacher will enter this level on the report card. This is what a level 5 says: 5 19-23 Produces generally high-quality work. Communicates secure understanding of concepts and contexts. Demonstrates critical and creative thinking, sometimes with sophistication. Uses knowledge and skills in familiar classroom and real-world situations and, with support, some unfamiliar real-world situations. 8
Frequently Asked Questions These are many of the questions we have received from parents regarding MYP assessment. Please see below. If you would like further information about MYP, please contact Angela Shahien at: ashahien@isps.edu.tt. How does an MYP grade translate to the A-F scale / 100%? The short answer is: it doesn t. The fundamental difference between criterion-related assessment and goodold-fashioned grading, as most of us have experienced it, is that it tries to assess more than just content. For example, in percentage grading if you have 20% of the questions right you get 20%. And if you get 40% right, you get 2 x 20% = 40% awarded. But what if the second 20% was a more complex thing, such as critical thinking or innovative work? The first 20% equals the second 20% yet the second 20% is much harder. In MYP grading, educators have tried to accommodate for that. So a level 2 for criterion A (Knowing and Understanding) is one level of achievement, whereas to score a 4 students need to demonstrate something more complex or at a more challenging level as well as the lower level of achievement. So how do I know whether my child is doing well? The attainment grade is on a scale of 1-7. MYP regards a 4 as meeting the standard. Any level of achievement above a four can be seen as mediocre whereas a level of five, six or seven can be seen as different levels above the standard. Should a student score a level of 2, we should be worried, particularly in report cards Q2, Q3 and Q4. In that case, a student is not meeting the standard and we need to find the reason why, and address it. Note that meeting the standard means something different that a pass. A pass is given when on a particular moment in time you have showed a particular knowledge base; you got enough right. MYP tries to add skills into the assessments that show not only how well a student can recall something, but also whether a student can apply this knowledge in a meaningful way in different circumstances. Where can I see the assessment tasks and results of my student? Skyward includes a feature to show results a teacher has given for each task. When you log into the Skyward Parent Portal you will be able to see the results for each task as well as the report card grades for each quarter. Teachers will provide a written comment for at least one formal task, on Skyward, per quarter. Why do teachers only provide a written comment for one formal task on Skyward? Teacher provide feedback to students in many ways. We recognize that the more feedback, the better it is for a student. However, not all feedback given in a written format, online is the best for all assessment tasks. The nature of the task often means teachers give oral feedback, or feedback on the assessment task itself. In these cases, teachers are not required to provide additional feedback on Skyward. However, we are slowly working towards ensuring that assessment tasks are mostly commented on by teachers through Skyward. Why are there no subject-specific comments on my report card? With the move of Skyward and online gradebooks, we have decided that we want to put the comments where they are most useful: with the assessment task. Effective feedback, according to research, must be goal-referenced, actionable and timely (see: here). Comments on report cards are often none of these, but most importantly not timely. Once the report card comes to parents, the assessment task is long gone and 9
the teachable moment passed. Comments on Skyward gradebook are on time, as students have a chance to respond immediately. Inappropriate grading practices The following grading practices are inappropriate and are counter to MYP assessment principles: Determining grades using a proportion of scores for classwork, homework and quizzes. The MYP places importance on every piece of evidence and realizes each performance of a student must be placed into the context of the assessment. Although classwork, homework and classroom quizzes may well mean student have a better chance of doing well during the assessment task, it is not a guarantee. Using assessment to ensure students complete work is therefore not evidence of mastery of a particular achievement level. Determining grades by averaging summative performance scores over the year. What happens to a student who demonstrates a level of mastery in the final third of the year? Clearly, this student has achieved the higher level, but with averaging grades a student would be penalized for the part of the year where he/she was still learning. Using single pieces of work to determine final grades for reports. The MYP places importance on knowing for sure which level a student is at. This means students will have to be provided with multiple opportunities to determine their level of achievement, not just once. 10