Assessment

Learning

Assessment in the MYP

Assessment

The staff of GESS are committed to ensuring that our students are assessed in a variety of ways, that parents are informed of their progress in all curriculum areas and that learning is a partnership between students, parents and teachers.

For each subject the International Baccalaureate (IB) issues a subject guide and assessment structure for each subject group. All IB MYP schools follow this assessment structure to assess the student’s academic achievements. The types of assessment are different for each subject. Some subjects have six assessment criteria whilst others have only three. The attainment grade available for each assessment criteria will vary but once a student has been assessed on all the criteria in a subject they will be awarded a final subject grade out of a maximum of 7.

To ensure that our school community is informed about the way assessment is conducted and recorded at GESS we hold an annual MYP assessment information evening in the first quarter of each school year. The pdf file of the presentation used during this evening is available at the top of this page.

For students taking German A in grades 6 to 9 the lessons are taken with the students from the German Section as such the MYP Language A criteria are not used for the assessment structure in these classes. In this instance the students will still receive a grade between 1-7 on their report cards, however no individual criterion based grades will be indicated. Further information on the assessment structure used in The German A programme for our students in grades 6-9 can be requested by contacting our language coordinators Frau Andrea Verry or Mr Luke Turner directly (andrea.verry@gess.sg or luke.turner@gess.sg).

Assessment rubrics

When a student is assessed in the MYP they will receive a rubric (grid) which sets out what the students need to do to achieve each grade level. Some rubrics will have more general objectives and others will contain very specific task related instructions depending on the subject and work being assessed. Teachers will go through the rubrics in class and students may find it useful to make notes on the rubric to help them in completing the assessment task. A parent or guardian may find it useful to read through the rubric with their chlid/ward when supporting them with their assessment work.

The key areas of assessment and reporting in the MYP at GESS are as follows:

* Criterion Related Assessment
* Written Reports four times each academic year
* Parent Teacher Conferences two times each academic year

Reporting

In the middle of each semester, students receive a written interim report in which parents will see a homework and effort grade. Additionally teachers comment on observations made and strategies for improvement in each subject. Following these reports, parents are invited to parent teacher conferences to further discuss the reports with the homeroom teacher and individual subject teachers. At the end of each semester, in December and June, students receive a report sheet in which achievements against each subject criterion are recorded. Overall grades for each subject are also given. Additionally, Approaches To Learning (ATL) skills are reported.

Please click on the below links for further assessment information for the GESS MYP:

- Assessment criteria for grade 6

- Assessment criteria for grades 7 & 8

- Assessment criteria for grades 9 & 10

The language of assessment: MYP Command Terms

Teaching and learning rely on the effective use of language. In the MYP there a group of command terms, which are words commonly used in assessments and outcome driven learning activities. Teachers use the command terms when questioning students, presenting problems and eliciting responses from students.

At GESS we feel that is essential to develop a thorough understanding of the command terms across the student and parent community as these terms are strongly embedded within our curriculum. The full list of the MYP Command Terms can be found at the end of this document.

MYP General grade descriptors (Overall Subject Grades)

Grade	Descriptor
Grade 1	Minimal achievement in terms of the objectives.
Grade 2	Very limited achievement against all the objectives. The student has difficulty in understanding the required knowledge and skills and is unable to apply them fully in normal situations, even with support.
Grade 3	Limited achievement against most of the objectives, or clear difficulties in some areas. The student demonstrates a limited understanding of the required knowledge and skills and is only able to apply them fully in normal situations with support.
Grade 4	A good general understanding of the required knowledge and skills, and the ability to apply them effectively in normal situations. There is occasional evidence of the skills of analysis, synthesis and evaluation.
Grade 5	A consistent and thorough understanding of the required knowledge and skills, and the ability to apply them in a variety of situations. The student generally shows evidence of analysis, synthesis and evaluation where appropriate and occasionally demonstrates originality and insight.
Grade 6	A consistent and thorough understanding of the required knowledge and skills, and the ability to apply them in a wide variety of situations. Consistent evidence of analysis, synthesis and evaluation is shown where appropriate. The student generally demonstrates originality and insight.
Grade 7	A consistent and thorough understanding of the required knowledge and skills, and the ability to apply them almost faultlessly in a wide variety of situations. Consistent evidence of analysis, synthesis and evaluation is shown where appropriate. The student consistently demonstrates originality and insight and always produces work of high quality.