San Jose High School s International Baccalaureate Diploma and IB Career Certificate Assessment Policy Philosophy: The Assessment serves to inform the San Jose High School community including, students, parents, teachers, district officials, the community at large as well as the International Baccalaureate Organization the purpose of Assessment. Purpose of Assessment: San Jose High School assesses students to: Support and encourage student learning providing feedback on the learning process. design assessments that consider student learning styles, prior experience, current knowledge and interests. monitor and evaluate student progress towards meeting course and IB Diploma Program standards Promote a deep understanding of subject content by supporting students in their inquiries Promote the development of higher-order cognitive skills by providing rigorous final objectives that value these skills. Determine the level of understanding using both summative and formative practices. Promote positive student attitudes towards learning. Create opportunities for students to reflect on their own learning. Support the holistic nature of the program model principles that take account of the development of the whole student. Principles of Assessment: San Jose High School administration and staff recognize that assessment plays a vital role in the cycle of planning, teaching, assessing, reporting, and reflecting. Effective Assessments allow students to: Demonstrate a broad range of knowledge and skills Demonstrate critical and creative thinking skills Become independent thinkers Investigate answers for themselves Develop a positive attitude towards their learning Create opportunities for students to reflect on their own learning Develop their own learning goals upon reflection
Effective Assessments allow parents: Monitor evidence of student learning Support students and teachers Effective Assessments requires teachers to: Promote teaching practices that reflect on the students assessment results; guide instruction Reflect on their own teaching practices Analyze assessment data to inform teaching and learning Design assessments that consider student learning styles, prior experience, current knowledge and interests Design assessments that acknowledge students language levels Notify students of the assessment criteria that the students will be assessed Provide students with feedback to inform and improve their learning Check that the work is authentically that of the student Collaborate with teacher to develop meaningful assessments Effective Assessment requires the Administration to: support the teachers in a range of teaching strategies and tools to assess student learning support the teachers in maintaining their assessment skills as well as developing new assessment strategies provide teachers with collaboration time to plan, reflect and develop assessments provide teachers with ongoing training on data analysis technologies available to them as well as data analysis use student data, to set school wide learning goals to provide a system for recording student progress to inform parents, students and the community about the students and the schools progress IB Assessment Practices: An emphasis on criterion-related assessments judges students work in relation to identified levels of attainment rather than in relation to the work of other students There is a difference between the IB Formal Assessment and the supportive formative process that students need to develop for themselves Students must be able to recall adapt and apply knowledge and skills to new questions and context Valuing the most accurate demonstration of student performance rather than just average attainment grades over a reporting period Examining student understanding at the end of the course, based on the whole course and not just aspects of it. 1 1 IB Guidelines Assessment Policy
Assessment Methods Summative Assessment : Summative assessment is concerned with measuring student performance against assessment criteria to judge levels of attainment. 2 At SJHS a culminating assessment, which gives information on students' mastery of content, knowledge, or skills from a unit or set of units. Examining students at the end of the course versus the unit is an essential. Teachers utilize assessments at the end of a unit, semester for the IB Diploma or IBCC course to verify that students have learned the skills and/or knowledge taught. Examples of teachercreated summative assessments include but are not limited to: Chapter/unit tests including multiple choice, short answer, and/or essay questions Performance-based assessment: Students demonstrate knowledge of dance steps in physical education. Projects: Students create a dictionary for essential math terms from the semester. Presentations: Students present information about a specific element of given time period. Computer-based assessment: Students participate in a multiple-choice quiz after participating in an online simulation in science In compliance with requirements of the California Department of education, all students take the California Standards Tests (CST) in late April or early May of each year. In 2014 these standardized tests will be administered through the common core. Formative Assessments: Formative Assessments represent the process of gathering, analyzing, interpreting and using the evidence to improve student learning and to help students to achieve their potential. Formative assessments are designed to help students improve their understanding of what constitutes excellence and where their own work stands in relation to this. These formative assessments provide information for the teacher outlining the strengths and limitations of the student. This strategy is valuable to the student because students can identify what learning strategies work for them and they can apply it to other subject areas. Formative Assessments focuses on assessments as an essential learning process. Teachers should use a number of practices and methods of varied instruction to meet diverse student needs. : Teacher supported self evaluation Systematic use of detailed assessment description Teacher Observation, questioning and discussion Graphic Organizers Think, Pair and Share Practice Presentations Peer evaluation guided by a teach: could be online or face to face 2 IB Diploma Guidelines for developing an Assessment Policy
(Formative Assessment List continued) Quizzes to check for understanding Labs: students complete scientific lab exercise and answer questions to demonstrate understanding Reciprocal teaching: Structured partner/group reading involving predicting, clarifying, questioning summarizing Socratic Seminar Checking for understanding strategies: partner/group sharing, and use of whiteboards Assessment Measures: Depending on the type of assessment, Summative or Formative teachers may use a variety of measures to evaluate student success, including: Percent correct Other numerical value such as point allocation Checklist/Criterion Referenced Rubric (both teacher-created and IB/MYP; IBCC; Diploma rubrics) 3 Students and parents are made aware of the IB assessment criterion by: Teachers published course curricula, scope and sequence, and syllabi (green sheets) Teachers direct instruction informing the students and parents Informational meetings with the IB Diploma Program Coordinator, offered for grades 8 th - 11 th graders IB Diploma candidates Grade 10 meeting SJHS Open House SJHS Administration newsletters Parents are able to view all assignments online, through the Parent Internet Viewer Parents have the opportunity to meet teachers and review coursework during Back to School Night in the fall and an Open House in the spring. Parents and stake holders our invited to the MYP Personal Project Presentations for year five students and IB Diploma Portfolio Night Exemplar work is posted in classrooms, library, hallways, and office Teachers maintain data on student growth and assessments throughout the year. Students self- assess and reflect upon assessment. Recording of Grades : Teachers apply district prescribed A-F grading scale 3 For Years 1-3, teachers will utilize a modified IB/MYP rubric for each subject area assessment criteria a minimum of two times each school year. The assessment criteria and point values vary for each of the eight disciplines.
All Teachers record assessment scores and assignments electronically in the Infinite Campus Gradebook. Every six weeks, grades are uploaded and a progress report is mailed home. San Jose Unified School District Grading Matrix % 100-97 96-94 93-90 89-87 86-84 83-80 79-77 76-74 73-70 69-67 Grade A+ A A- B+ B B- C+ C C- D+ D D- F 66-64 63-60 59-00 Internal Assessment: Internal Assessment allows some of the student assessment to be carried out by teachers over the duration of the course. Teachers mark individual pieces of work and this grade counts as a percentage of the student s overall IB score. A sample of the teacher-marked work is sent to a moderator who then evaluates the teacher s application of the grading rubrics. The calendar dates for the completion of internal assessments is governed by the SJHS IB Internal Calendar. This document is agreed to by all teachers and published to students and Parents. The Internal Assessment dates can be found on the SJHS website under the assessment tab. It is designed to spread out the workload of the IB Diploma program over two years and provide a timeline for students to follow. Teachers are required to submit Internal Assessment scores to the IB Diploma Coordinator in a timely manner. The dates for submitting these records are reviewed with faculty at the start of the academic year and published to teachers and administration. External Assessment: External Assessment refers to work that is conducted and overseen by teachers or proctors, and then graded externally by examiners. End-of-course exams are the primary means of external assessment, but it also includes work such as the Extended Essay, English A1 World Literature essays, and the TOK essay. External Assessment dates are fixed by the IBO and adhered to by SJHS. The IB Exam Calendar is published to students, parents, and can be found on the SJHS website. Predicted Grades: The Predicted Grade (PG) is the teacher s prediction of the grade the candidate is expected to achieve in the subject, based on all of the evidence of the candidate s work and the teacher s knowledge of the IB standards. It is SJHS s policy that individual teachers are free to inform students of their PG s, but the IB Office will not directly release PG s to students or parents. Teachers are required to submit Predicted Grades to the IB Diploma Program Coordinator in a timely manner. The dates for submitting these records are reviewed with faculty at the start of the academic year and published to teachers and administration.
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 IB Diploma Passing Regulations Performance in each of the six Diploma subjects is graded on a scale of 1-7, with 7 being the highest. A maximum of 3 bonus points is awarded for combined performance in Theory of Knowledge and on the Extended Essay. The maximum possible score is thus 45 points. The minimum score for a candidate to earn their IB Diploma is 24 points. The IB Diploma will be awarded to a candidate whose total score is 28 points or above, provided all the following requirements have been met: CAS is completed Both the Theory of Knowledge paper and Extended Essay have been turned in, with a grade of at least D in one of them There is no grade 1 on any subject exam There is no more than one grade 2 on any higher level exam There are no more than two grades 2 on any standard level exam Overall, there are no more than three grades 3 or below At least 11 points have been gained on higher level subjects (candidates who register for four higher level subjects must gain at least 14 points at higher level) At least 8 points have been gained on standard level subjects (candidates who register for two standard level subjects must gain at least 5 points at standard level) The final award committee has not judged the candidate to be guilty of Malpractice IB Diploma Awarded The IB Diploma will be awarded to a candidate whose total score is 24, 25, 26 or 27 points, provided all the following requirements have been met: CAS is completed Both the Theory of Knowledge paper and Extended Essay have been turned in, with a grade of at least D in one of them There is no grade 1 on any subject exam There is no grade 2 on any higher level subject exam There is no more than one grade 2 on any standard level exam Overall, there are no more than three grades 3 or below At least 12 points have been gained on higher level subjects (candidates who register for four higher level subjects must gain at least 16 points at higher level)
At least 9 points have been gained on standard level subjects (candidates who register for two standard level subjects must gain at least 6 points at standard level) The final award committee has not judged the candidate to be guilty of Malpractice IB Exams IB exams at SJHS are conducted in strict accordance with IB regulations. SJHS follows the conduct of the examination as outlined by the IBO. Exams are administered in the small gym. Staff, substitute teachers, retired teachers and staff perform exam invigilation. All invigilators must read the arrangements for exams and the diploma coordinator explains the requirements of the invigilator/proctor. Security for exams is the responsibility of the IB Diploma Program Coordinator and SJHS administration. Academic Honesty All SJHS students will adhere to the SJHS honesty and integrity policy for all assignments. Please refer to the SJHS Honesty and Integrity Policy. Additional Documents for the Assessment Policy Honesty and Integrity Policy The Notice and Conditions to the Candidates Two -Year Assessment Calendar IB Internal Assessment Calendar Testing Calendar