Assessment
| OUR MISSION |
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"The Beacon Hill School community is a safe, caring and stimulating environment where everyone is respected and valued. The children will have every opportunity to achieve in all aspects of school life and they will understand their responsibility as global citizens." |
What is assessment?
Assessment is the gathering and analysing of information about student performance. It identifies what students know, understand, can do and feel at different stages in the learning process. (Making the PYP Happen)
BHS strives to ensure that all pupils develop an increasing responsibility for their studies and develop the ability to set own targets, reflect on their own learning and that of others.
Assessment is central to the PYP’s goal of thoughtfully guiding children through the five essential elements of learning: the understanding of concepts, the acquisition of knowledge, the mastery of skills, the development of attitudes and the decision to take responsible action.
(Making the PYP Happen)
At BHS we believe that assessment is integral to all teaching and learning. Both teachers and students are actively engaged in assessing student learning and teaching. Assessment at BHS is continuous, built into learning activities and takes a variety of forms. Our assessment strategies provide students with opportunities to demonstrate their knowledge, understandings, skills and attitudes.
Why do we assess?
- To promote student learning
- To provide information about student learning
- To assist in the evaluation and planning of the programme of studies.
How is student learning promoted?
The results of assessment are used to guide further teaching and learning:
- Where are the students in their learning?
- What are the students’ areas of strength and how can we assist further growth?
- What are the students’ specific needs?
- How can the teaching and learning programme be planned and/or redefined?
- How can specific individual and/or group needs be met?
Students are involved in the assessment process: reflecting on their own learning, taking responsibility for their own learning, developing their ability to be self critical and setting targets for subsequent work. Students also learn to critically assess the work of their peers.
By tracking learning outcomes in relation to the written curriculum
How is information about student learning provided?
- Examples of students’ work and performance
- Examples of student reflection and evaluation
- Records of test results
- Written school report
- Records of formative and summative assessments
- Parent consultations
How do we evaluate the effectiveness of the PYP?
Assessment of student performance in relation to the ESF Overall Expectations and the ESF Scope & Sequence documents for subjects.
To what extent are the goals being met?
How can we ensure that overall curriculum aims are met?
- Assessment of student performance in relation to their peers and other groups
- Information to and from others (students, parents and colleagues)
- Teacher meetings weekly to discuss effectiveness and share ideas.
What do we assess?
- Understanding of concepts (big ideas that transcend traditional subject areas)
- Acquisition and application of knowledge, skills, attitudes and concepts in relation to the ESF Overall Expectations and the ESF Scope & Sequences of different subjects
- Development of transdisciplinary skills
- Development of attitudes
- Progress in relation to the attributes of the PYP Learner Profile
At BHS assessment is both formative and summative
Formative assessment: This provides information that is used in order to plan the next stage in learning. It is interwoven with learning, and helps teachers and students to find out what the students already know and can do, so that further provocations can be provided in order to improve knowledge and understanding.
Teachers strive to ascertain students’ prior knowledge so as to provide them with challenging provocations and experiences to further construct meaning.
Summative assessment: This aims to give teachers and students a clear insight into students’ understanding. Summative assessment is the culmination of the teaching and learning process, and gives the students opportunities to demonstrate what has been learned.
It can assess several elements simultaneously:
- it informs and improves student learning and the teaching process;
- it measures understanding of the central idea;
- it prompts students towards action and;
- it demonstrates student engagement with the five essential elements of the PYP: knowledge, concepts, skills, attitudes and action.
Some examples of assessment strategies:
The following methods of assessment are used within the school. They cover a broad range of approaches, from the more subjective and intuitive to the more objective and scientific.
Student Interview: Student interviews are held with all students when they begin at BHS.
Teacher Observations: Ongoing teacher observations with regard to students’ individual behaviour, peer interaction, transdisciplinary skills, social skills, performance, knowledge, understandings etc.Observations and tests by SEN teacher and/or outside agencies where necessary, in order to identify and diagnose specific needs.
Student Reflections: KWL charts, Journals, Self assessment, Peer assessment and Evaluations
Discussions: Peer-peer, Student-teacher
Project Work: Teacher guided and/or independent inquiry work.
Homework: Work done at home in a non-controlled environment.
Individual Goal Setting: Each student has individual goals, where progress is recorded in relation to curriculum aims.
Process-Focused Assessments: The students’ transdisciplinary and disciplinary skills are observed often andrecorded by:
· noting both typical as well as non-typical behaviours
· collecting multiple observations to enhance reliability
· synthesizing evidence from different contexts to increase validity
Open-Ended Tasks: These are situations in which children are presented with astimulus and asked to communicate an original response. Theanswer might be a brief written answer, a drawing, a diagram, a performanceor a solution depending on the nature of the inquiry.
Selected Responses: These are single occasion, one-dimensional exercises. Testsand quizzes are the most common examples of these used in the school. Can be used as a formative or summative assessment. These may be teacher developed or an external standardised test eg: QCA SATs, PIPS, InCas
Performance Tasks: These are goal-directed tasks withestablished criteria, which are authentic challenges andproblems. There are numerous approaches to challenges and problems that require the use of many skills andthere is rarely only one correct response. Audio, video,narrative, presentations and rubric records are often useful for this kind ofassessment.
Portfolios: These are collections of the children’s work that are designed to demonstrate successes, growth, higher order thinking, creativity and reflection over time. A portfolio should be thought of as an exhibition of an active mind at work.
Reporting to parents and guardians:
Reporting is the process by which assessment information is communicated to students, parents / guardians and teachers. Reporting provides information about what students know and can do, along with recommendations for their future learning.
The primary purpose of reporting is to improve student learning. Teachers work together with the parents and provide them with information concerning the pupil’s school situation, well-being and acquisition of knowledge.
At BHS, we believe that good communication between teachers, students and their parents plays an important part in improving student learning and growth.
Ways of reporting to parents
Teacher comments on schoolwork: Written comments on schoolwork that is sent home for parents to view.
Ongoing communication: Notes to parents and teacher via the student diary. Teachers can also be contacted by e-mail or telephone.
Individual meetings with teachers: By appointment, to discuss student performance and progress. Meetings maybe requested by teachers or parents.
Parent Conferences: Held twice a year. The teacher and the student’s parents meet in order to discuss theprogress the student has made, how well the student is progressing inrelation to what is expected against a standard, as well as areas for future development. Teachers complete standardised paperwork prior to these talks. All such forms are kept on record in the school and follow the child when he /she moves to a new year group or transfers to a new ESF school.
Student-led conferences: Some of the parent conferences may take the form of
student-led conferences where the student discusses his/her work and progress with the
parent. Future goals are identified and set by the student in conjunction with the parent and
teacher.
Written report: As part of the assessment process every child has a written report card which clearly indicates the child’s level and effort within the PYP.
AR&R Essential Agreement
It is the responsibility of each teacher and subject coordinators to ensure that this policy is put into practice at BHS. Teachers will strive to ensure that everyone concerned with assessment, including students, teachers, parents and administrators, have a clear understanding of the reason for the assessment, what is being assessed and the method by which the assessment is made.
Subject coordinators and teachers will develop and use forms for tracking and reporting student progress on all elements of the PYP. The forms will be aligned to reflect the beliefs of the PYP. Teachers will actively use the language of the learner profile in the reports.
In order to assess student performance and the curriculum, teachers will assess core subjects according to the BHS Core Subjects Assessment Schedule (Appendix 1), keep records and student work samples as required. BHS requires that certain standardised forms are used for tracking this progress, for example, running records, traffic lights.
Teachers are free to choose the assessment strategies/tools that will be used to assess each UOI and will employ techniques for assessing student’s work that take into account the diverse, complicated and sophisticated ways that individual students use to understand experience.
