Assessment Policy

Philosophy
The assessment policy of Summit Ridge Middle School is designed to promote a high level of achievement for all students, enabling them to receive a world-class education and be successful in a multicultural world.
We believe that various forms of assessment should:

  • Tap into higher level thinking and problem solving skills
  • Be an ongoing process with a variety of opportunities to demonstrate understanding
  • Encourage self-reflection
  • Ask students to create, perform, or produce something new
  • Involve real world application and meaningful tasks
  • Provide self-assessment opportunities for students

Common Practices in Using Assessment Criteria and Determining Achievement Levels
Assessment is used to support student learning and encourage student success. Assessments are designed to align with course outcomes, state standards, MYP objectives and criteria. It is important to understand that assessment tasks can be differentiated based on abilities, learning styles, and interests of students. All stakeholders have clear roles to play in ensuring the success of all students.

Teacher Responsibilities:

  • Work in collaborative teams to design rigorous common assessments
  • Start with the end in mind by designing summative assessments to determine student learning outcomes prior to developing units of study
  • Demonstrate an awareness of the diversity of learning styles and use a variety of assessment and instructional strategies
  • Frequently and consistently implement formative assessments to monitor student learning
  • Analyze formative assessment data to determine student needs and modify teaching as needed
  • Collaborate to calibrate assessment and grading practices
  • Provide timely written and oral feedback
  • Provide opportunities for student self-assessment and peer feedback
  • Be cognizant of assessment timeliness and demands placed on students, including workloads and personal well-being
  • Adhere to all guidelines in administering standardized testing

Student Responsibilities:

  • Learn to exercise increased responsibility for assessing their own progress and meeting deadlines
  • Learn to exercise increased responsibilities in communicating about their learning and academic standing
  • Learn to reflect on their progress and seek opportunities for improvement
  • Strive to be responsible for bringing necessary supplies needed for class
  • Strive to maintain intellectual, physical, and emotional balance


Family Responsibilities:

  • Support and reinforce school expectations and student learning
  • Use available resources to monitor student achievement
  • Reach out to teachers to communicate about student achievement as desired
  • Engage in the learning process with students and maintain communication about problem solving, making wise choices and positive study habits


Administration Responsibilities:

  • Create a culture of collaboration, dialogue, and reflection about student assessment
  • Provide information and support regarding how to use information to guide instruction


Common Practices in Recording and Reporting Student Achievement

All teachers at Summit Ridge Middle School are expected to communicate progress to students and parents on student achievement in their subject. This communication takes place at a variety of times and forms. Report card cycles occur three times per year. Additionally, weekly snapshots and student reflections are available to parents to further the communication of student achievement.

  • Students are assessed on teacher designed units according to the criterion for each content area as provided through the Middle Years Program
  • All teachers record assessment scores and assignments electronically in the Infinite Campus Gradebook


Implementation of Formative and Summative Assessments
Summit Ridge Middle School prides itself on firmly rooting the MYP objectives and state/national standards into both formative and summative assessments. Formative assessment takes place throughout a course of study, informing teachers about student learning and teachers then use the data to guide instruction. Summative assessments occur at the end of any unit of study and are used to evaluate the students acquisition of the learning objectives of the given unit.

Formative Assessment:

  • Utilized by teachers to analyze students’ progress towards the acquisition of key learning objectives and to provide meaningful feedback
  • Used to deconstruct criteria to scaffold and support students to mastery of each individual component of the skills required
  • Students are able to work with their peers or teachers to collaborate and develop a deeper understanding of the content, as well as identify areas of strengths and weaknesses
  • Provides opportunities for students to engage in self assessment through reflection and peer assessment
  • Includes, but not limited to exit tickets, quizzes, quick writes, warm ups, constructed responses, clickers, on demand writing and performances


Summative Assessment:

  • Rubrics are provided to students prior to the assessment
  • When possible, students are provided with samples of work that has been marked previously, allowing the students to identify and apply what assessment standards will be used in evaluating student work
  • Tasks can be created to be open-ended, providing differentiation by allowing students to showcase their knowledge and understanding in a variety of ways
  • Includes, but not limited to essays, presentations, examinations, projects, portfolios, document based questions and performance-based tasks


Policy Creation Process:

This Assessment Policy was created by a committee which consisted of the SRMS MYP Coordinator, master teacher, administration, staff, student and parent. The work of the committee was guided by support from the IBO, as well as example Assessment Policies from IB World Schools. The committee followed the guidelines of the MYP Standards and Practices tied to assessment. Staff members were made aware of the policy-making process through regular updates of the progress and were provided multiple options to provide input.

 

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