MYP

Middle Years Programme

PART 3

At Diocesan School, assessment is seen as an important part of our three strategic pillars: mātauranga – our education, hapori – our people and kāinga – our place, and contributes to the realisations of the goals contained in our School mission statement.

Assessment is a collaborative process and enables students, teachers and parents to monitor the learning undertaken by each student in terms of all-round personal growth. Assessment is a crucial part of the learning process, aimed at determining the learners’ levels of understanding, not only to award a level of achievement but also to identify the learning needs of students and to provide feedback on progress. The Dio philosophy of assessment already complements the intentions of the IB Learner Profile and aligns strongly to our current school practices. At Diocesan we see assessment as a means of developing students who are reflective, knowledgeable and balanced.

MYP assessment is criterion related and is a process ‘based on determining levels of achievement against previously agreed criteria’. (IBO, 2017, p.123)

This ‘criterion-related’ approach represents a philosophy of assessment that is neither ‘norm-referenced’ (where students must be compared to each other and to an expected distribution of achievement) nor ‘criterion-referenced’ (where students must master all strands of specific criteria at lower achievement levels before they can be considered to have achieved the next level). (IBO, 2017, p.79)

Each MYP subject group has a set of four objectives (A-D) developed by the IBO that correspond to the assessment criteria against which the students’ work will be assessed. The objectives describe the knowledge, skills and understanding in each subject group. Teachers address subject objectives through classroom teaching and learning as part of the taught curriculum (see fig.1).

Grading is based on the achievement levels attained for each criterion within the numerical bands of 0-8. Students are provided with an assessment rubric that describes the level of achievement required in each band. The achievement levels for the four criteria are based on the assessed summative work and the teacher’s professional judgement.

Building on our current practices, assessment in the MYP at Dio will be ongoing, using both formative assessments (assessment for learning) and summative assessments (assessment of learning). Through effective formative assessment (assessment for learning), teachers gather, analyse, interpret and use a variety of evidence to improve student learning and to help students to achieve their potential. Peer and self-assessment can be important elements of formative assessment. Summative assessment (assessment of learning) is generally undertaken at the end of a unit of work. It provides students, teachers and parents with an indication of how a learner has acquired and developed the intended knowledge, skills and understanding. Summative assessment is not the purpose of the teaching and learning process; it gives students opportunities to demonstrate what they have learned. Final achievement levels for each criterion are based on all the summative assessment information, within each of the four criteria, during a learning period. Formative assessment results, however, also play a part in professional decision making when determining an achievement level. This is done using a best-fit approach ‘in which teachers work together to establish common standards against which they evaluate each student’s achievement holistically’. (IBO, 2017, p.79)

Teachers use a wide range of assessment tools to measure student learning. When possible, assessment tasks are designed to have an authentic context where students use and apply their knowledge and skills in a real-world setting. This encourages students to see the wider purpose and application of the work they are learning and being assessed on. As part of the MYP implementation process this year, teachers have been using both formative and summative strategies as they align with the MYP assessment requirements.

In Year 7 PE, the students have been exploring how movement and communication can change in different

situations. While learning to play flippa ball, the students developed a range of movement techniques, game strategies and effective communication skills. Teachers used the formative strategy of peer and self-assessment to specifically focus students on the skills they were developing. Students were given a detailed assessment rubric linked to the assessment criteria to use as a checklist. Formative feedback was then given by both peers and teachers to help students assess how they were developing their skills and where they could improve. The summative assessment then required the students to play a game of flippa ball, demonstrate their skills, which the teacher summatively assessed using the same rubric.

In Year 7 social studies, the students spent time exploring various perspectives on a range of current events and how they impact people’s lives. The teachers created an authentic assessment task where the students were asked to write a letter to future Dio students in 2040. In the letter, they were asked to share their experiences and perspectives on the impacts of the current global pandemic. By using a current, real-world context, teachers were able to use the students’ prior knowledge when teaching the skills of identifying key facts and expressing opinions. The students commented that they were more able to make connections between what they were experiencing and what they were hearing in the news.

Recently in Year 7 English, the students investigated a range of texts in order to identify the elements of essay structure and formal writing. They then used this to write an essay of their own where they made connections and compared two texts they had studied. During the assessment week, students were able to plan and draft their essay writing and were given formative feedback from their teachers. They then produced a final version of the essay for the summative assessment using the feedback to improve their work.

Diocesan School for Girls is a Candidate School* for the Middle Years Programme (MYP). The school is pursuing authorisation, expanding its status to a three-programme IB World School. These are schools that share a common philosophy – a commitment to high quality, challenging, international education that Dio believes is important for our students.

Opposite top: Year 7 English. Opposite bottom: Year 7 PE. Above: Year 7 social studies. Below: Figure 1 -MYP Subject Objectives (IBO, 2017, p.81)

Language and literature

Language acquisition

Individuals and societies

Sciences

Mathematics

Arts

Physical and health education

Design

Analysing Organising Producing text Using language

Comprehending spoken and visual text Comprehending written and visual text Communicating Using language

Knowing and understanding

Knowing and understanding

Knowing and understanding Investigating Communicating Thinking critically

Inquiring & designing

Investigating patterns Processing & evaluating Reflecting on the impacts of science

Communicating Applying mathematics in real-world contexts

Knowing and understanding Developing skills

Knowing and understanding Planning for performance Thinking creatively

Applying and performing Responding

Reflecting and improving performance

Inquiring and analysing Developing ideas

Creating the solution Evaluating

MYP projects Investigating Planning Taking action Reflecting

Interdisciplinary

Disciplinary grounding Synthesising Communicating Reflecting

*Only schools authorized by the IB Organization can offer any of its four academic programmes: the Primary Years Programme (PYP), the Middle Years Programme (MYP), the Diploma Programme (DP), or the Career-related Programme (CP). Candidate status gives no guarantee that authorization will be granted. For further information about the IB and its programmes, visit www.ibo.org