Assessment Policy

Assessment allows learners to demonstrate their ability, develop their learning, and improve academic development.

The purpose of assessments

• Give feedback to teachers regarding the student’s learning according to the course material.
• Assessment is to explicate practical knowledge and evaluate the learning process.
• Inform parents/guardians regarding the student’s progress, abilities, and needs
• Develop a sense of responsibility – Your actions reflect the outcome.
  (Skolverket.se 2023)

The principle of assessments

• The assessment is criterion-referenced; the students should be graded on what
  they achieved in reference to the objectives.
• It should be rigid yet fair – Your grade should represent your knowledge in said
  field.
• Students are assessed regularly.

Effective assessment

• The assessment is valid – It is made with a purpose in mind and reflects the
  curriculum.
• The assessment allows evaluating the higher order of thinking, both conceptual and critical thinking.
• The assessment should contain varied styles of form, essays, projects, fieldwork, portfolios, research papers, learner variability, etc.

Formative assessment

The Diploma Programme Assessment Principles and Practices points out the purpose as to provide detailed feedback to teachers and their students’ strengths and weaknesses and help develop students’ capabilities. Formative assessments help both students and teachers to understand the student’s progress as well as what to improve, the assessment gives a foundation to set up new goals for the student. This is often measured towards the assessment instruction. The education is developed so both teacher and students comprehend what they need to do to achieve the goals of the course. Different assignments and questions in the classroom should give the teacher and student an idea regarding a student’s educational development. (IBO.org 2023 & Skolverket.se 2023)

Summative assessment

The goal for the students’ educational development, is to be clearly understood by the students and what is expected from them. The teacher and student are to reflect on the outcome of the assessment compared to the rubric and give students guidance on how to improve academic performance. (Skolverket.se 2023)
The summative assessment is an important part of the evaluation process of a student’s knowledge. The goal is to grasp what a student have learned and experienced, and the student are then compared to certain standards to determine what they have learnt from the material taught. The IB programme uses summative assessments as means of gaining understanding what a student knows at the end of a course. The assessment is pre-planned and will be graded based on IB’s criteria. (IBO.org 2023)

Criterion Assessment

Criterion-referenced assessment (CRA) is when you are evaluated and graded against a set of predefined criteria, without reference to the achievement of others (Brown, 1998; Harvey, 2004). The teacher will give students feedback that the student can use to bridge the between their present understanding of the course to where they should be. (Skolverket.se 2023)

Self-Assessment

Helps the student to be able to judge their performance and to improve their work. By becoming self-regulated learners, they regulate their performance in their professional careers. Giving the students, the responsibility for their learning can help them self-assess their work, and hence improve their educational development. (Skolverket.se 2023)023)023)

Peer Assessment

Being able to provide feedback on other students’ work they learn to improve their work. They learn how to provide feedback constructively. Listen to feedback and improve their work. When students evaluate each other’s work and give feedback it might give them a familiarity with the quality of different work. The ability to self-edit the students’ work will also improve with active peer assessment. (Skolverket.se 2023)

Assessments that point forward

The purpose of all forms of assessment is to help and encourage students to gain
knowledge and help their education. The assessment distinguishes itself through a dialogue between the student and the teacher. The dialogue should rest on three questions, “Where am I now?” (feedback), “What is the goal?” (feed-up), and “How can I move forward” (feedforward).

Feedback on questions

When a teacher explains why the answer is what it is, and how the student could develop their answer. If this is made in a positive matter the student should be able to apply it on their way of answering all the questions.

Feedback on al level of process

When the feedback is about the connection between general points, when the student develops their learning as a whole, they will hone their skills in certain ways of understanding and learning.

Feedback on a metacognitive level

For a student to be able to use the feedback, they need to be able to evaluate themselves and take responsibility for their learning. Feedback on a metacognitive level serves the students’ belief in themselves and their ability to learn. Such feedback consists of questions that encourage the student to make their own choices while working with an assessment. (Skolverket.se 2023)

How assessments support the learner profile

Through the assessment, feedback, and dialogue the students will not only become more knowledgeable, but they will also become reflective, open-minded, and principled communicators. Through feedback and with the help of ToK, students can develop into more balanced individuals who not only care for their future but also their well-being.

How will teachers collaborate on assessments to share best practice

They will have the opportunity to collaborate regularly and collaborate on deadlines
internal assessments and types of tasks. This meeting time could also be used for training new staff on IB diploma assessments. The collaborative meeting schedule will be published at the start of each year, with the possibility of change depending on the needs of the faculty and the students. Students and teachers will be educated in the use of a common platform for grading, assessment, and reporting. There are regular parent/teacher meetings scheduled twice per year following the two mock exams.

Grading System

The IB Diploma Program requires the student to pick six different subjects from six different categories, three Standard Level (SL) and three Higher Level (HL). The SL subjects takes 150h to complete, while the HL takes 240h. The students also need to finish an Extended Essay (EE) and a course called Theory of Knowledge (ToK). The
students should also have done Creativity, Activity, and Service (CAS) activities to be able to get a diploma. The DP courses are graded on a scale of 1- 7, the EE and ToK are graded on a scale of A-E. The DP courses maximum is 42 and the EE/ToK is 3 (check the table below), for a total of 45.

A full diploma will be given if the student:

• Earns 12 HL points from their 3 HL subjects.
• Earns 9 SL points from their SL subjects.
• There is no grade 1 awarded in a subject.
• There are no more than two grade 2s or below awarded.
• There are no more than three grade 3s or below awarded.
• Earn a total of 24 from their 6 subject and from the Extended Essay and Theory of Knowledge
• Pass Theory of knowledge with a D or better.
• Pass Extended Essay with a D or better.
  
  The candidate has not been penalized for academic misconduct by the Final Award Committee.

References

Brown, S. (1998). Criterion-referenced assessment: What role for research. In H. Black & W. Dockerell (Eds.), New developments in educational assessment. British Journal of Educational Psychology, Monograph Series No. 3, 1-14.

Harvey, L. (2004). Analytic quality glossary. [electronic] visited on 2023-09-15. Retrieved From http://www.qualityresearchinternational.com/glossary/#c Länk till annan webbplats, öppnas i nytt fönster.

IBO.org, 2023. Assessment: Principles and Practices – Quality assessments in a digital age. [electronic] visted on: 2023-09-12. Retrieved from ibo.org/contentassets/1cdf850e366447e99b5a862aab622883/assessment-principles-andpractices-2018-en.pdf Länk till annan webbplats, öppnas i nytt fönster.

Skolverket.se, 2023. Kunskapsbedömning i skolan – praxis, begrepp, problem och
möjligheter. [electronic] visited on 2023-09-25. Retrived from pdf 2660.pdf Länk till annan webbplats, öppnas i nytt fönster. (skolverket.se)