Assessment at MLSI

Rationale

 At MLSI we believe that assessment is an important tool for teachers, students, parents and the governing body in order to raise the standards of learning across the school community.

Assessment is ongoing, cumulative and constructive. A pre-requisite for authentic assessment is a positive environment based on trust and confidence.

We also believe that students bring a variety of learning styles, previous knowledge and skills and abilities to the learning environment as do the teachers. Therefore, we believe that assessment tools and strategies should be able to take this diversity into account in order to obtain a fair estimation of their learning.

Assessment at MLSI is integral to the teaching and learning process and is therefore, dynamic.

Aims and objectives of assessment

At MLSI the aims and objectives of assessment will be:

  • To inform planning
  • To assess prior learning of students
  • To differentiate instruction
  • To identify students’ strengths and weaknesses and the gaps they may have in their learning/skills
  • To assist in setting targets for students/grades/subject specializations
  • To review and monitor teaching and learning strategies and process
  • To encourage reflection and introspection about learning
  • To review efficacy of the other programmes/provisions running concurrently- EAL, SEN, Gifted and Talented
  • To provide feedback to students on their learning
  • To keep parents informed about the progress of their children’s learning
  • As a means to measure student performance against criteria and expectation of the schools/IB*- especially in the middle years and diploma classes

Assessment in the primary years

The Higher Learning Commission defines assessment of student learning in the following way:

“Assessment of student learning is a participatory, iterative process that: provides data/information you need on your students’ learning, engages you and others in analyzing and using this data/information to confirm and improve teaching and learning, produces evidence that students are learning the outcomes you intended, guides you in making educational and institutional improvements, evaluates whether changes made improve/impact student learning, and documents the learning and your efforts.”

In the primary years at MLSI assessment will comprise the following:

Assessing: how do we know what the student has learned?

Recording: how do we record our findings?

Reporting: how do we convey what we have found?

assessing :-

What will we assess in the primary school?

  • The students’ understanding of concepts
  • The acquisition of skills
  • Application of knowledge and skills to solve problems
  • Ability to make trans-disciplinary connections
  • Using knowledge and skills to take action
  • Transfer of learning to different environments
  • Internalization of the learner profile
  • Development of attitudes towards learning

How often will be assess?

In the primary years assessment will be ongoing and continuous. Teachers and students will be constantly involved in assessing teaching and learning.

Formative assessment will occur during the progression of unit of inquiry, on completion of topics or at pre-designated phases in the inquiry cycle.

Summative assessment will be conducted at the end of each unit and will include evaluation of all concepts, skills, learner profile, attitudes and themes introduced through the unit.

Assessment at MLSI will be both- formative and summative. When it is done, is what distinguishes the two kinds of assessment.

Formative assessment

Formative assessment is continuous and is conducted during the teaching-learning process using variety of tools and strategies.

The purpose of formative assessment is to monitor student learning and provide feedback to teachers and students to help them modify their goals.

Summative assessment

The goal of summative assessment is to evaluate student learning at the end of an instructional unit by comparing it against some standard or benchmark.

Recording

Teachers at MLSI will use a number of ways of recording information about assessment. Tools and strategies used to gather and record assessment information are outlined below.

Assessment will be conducted through the following strategies:

  • Observation during class
  • Tasks set for home learning
  • Projects/presentations
  • Selected responses
  • Open-ended tasks
  • Performance tasks

Tools for formative assessment:

The tools for gathering and recording information will be:

  • Exemplars
  • Continuums
  • Anecdotal records
  • Checklists
  • Rubrics

Reporting

At MLSI the communication of assessment will be done frequently.

Report cards

Twice a year parents will receive a formal report card about their child’s progress. These will report on pre-established parameters for all domains of learning including the extra-curricular areas.

Reports cards will go out at the end of the first semester and second semester.

Portfolios

Students and teachers will maintain portfolios of their work to showcase their development over the year. This will be a display of progression over the year and will contain work selected by the students in consultation with their teachers.

Student-led conferences and PTM

Twice a year Parent Teacher Meetings will be held. At these meetings parents and teachers will share the progress and development of the students. This will be done through open and positive communication and will involve sharing the work done in class and as home learning.

For grades 1 to 5 student led conferences will be organized where students will take charge of informing their parents about their learning. They will set goals for themselves based on their performance and will do so in consultation with the teachers.

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