Assessment

At French International, we believe that assessment is integral to all teaching and learning. Through a wide variety of strategies, assessment includes a combination of summative, formative, and observation/anecdotal assessment tools that provide information about student learning and development as well as a framework for planning, self-reflection, and collaboration.

We believe that assessment:

• Promotes students' learning and allows students to be an active part of the learning process.
• Allows teachers to guide their instruction and to communicate progress with students and families.
• Shows evidence of a student’s growth,  progress,  learning, and development.
• Helps teachers gather a broad range of data on their students:  knowledge, conceptual understanding, skills, attitudes, and actions.
• Is linked to appropriate learning objectives, and age-appropriate inquiry questions. These objectives are aligned with the French International School of Oregon curriculum, French standards, and IB requirements.

Rights and Responsibilities Relating to Assessment

School Leadership:

• Rights

  • Receive timely communication when there is a concern about student progress.
  • Have access to student assessment data.
  • Receive requests for professional development and exercise professional judgment on how best to allocate resources to teachers. 

• Responsibilities

  • Ensure that teacher feedback can be used to improve learning, teaching, and assessment.
  • Ensure that families are aware of the assessment policy.
  • Provide resources and time to consolidate student learning.
  • Support new teachers in understanding French International assessment practices.
  • Review the French International assessment policy annually.
  • Provide regular opportunities for teachers to collaboratively develop quality assessments.

Teachers, Advisors:

• Rights

  • Be treated with respect and professionalism by students, parents, and school leadership. Be trusted and supported to exercise professional judgment relating to assessment (in line with differentiated assessment practices to assess the whole child). 
  • Be provided guidance and autonomy to design assessments that reflect the IB pedagogical approach and understanding of the curriculum.
  • Access professional development opportunities and resources to enhance their teaching and assessment practices.
• Responsibiltlies
  • Ensure that students and families understand assessment procedures  (including age-appropriate criteria,  descriptors, and ATL).
  • Use feedback to inform their teaching and inform students of their areas of strength and improvement.
  • Give feedback regularly and promptly following assessment tasks.
  • Plan and design assessments based on objectives and criteria and standardize and calibrate their assessment where possible.
  • Decide and design task-specific rubrics with accessible student language vocabulary.
  • Reflect and review the assessment used in order to determine its effectiveness in meeting student needs.

Students:

• Rights

  • Receive fair and unbiased assessments that accurately reflect their knowledge and skills, tailored to their learning needs.
  • Have access to support and resources from teachers and the student support team to enhance their learning experience.
  • Receive specific, contextualized (i.e. task-specific rubrics) constructive, and timely feedback that helps them understand their strengths and areas for improvement.
  • Have the opportunity to check on learning through pre-assessment, formative and summative assessments.
  • Have their personal assessment information kept confidential, only shared with authorized individuals (like parents) and others on their educational support team.
• Responsibilities
  • Understand and embrace that achievement levels or grades do not reflect who you are as a learner but where you are in your learning journey.
  • Focus on growth: your achievement level vs your grade.
  • Understand how to use feedback from assessments to inform their growth in each subject area.
  • Feel comfortable asking for help on how they can improve skills and set appropriate goals.
  • Understand  rubrics given for assessment when applicable.
  • Use tools to give effective peer feedback

Parents, Legal Guardians:

• Rights
  • Receive timely and relevant information concerning their child's academic performance and assessment results.
  • Receive and request invitations to meetings and discussions regarding their child's education and any assessment-related matters.
  • Have access to resources and support services provided by the school to help their child succeed academically.
  • Have the school handle their child’s information confidentially and only share it with authorized individuals.
• Responsibilties
  • Understand and embrace that achievement levels (grades) do not reflect who your child is as a learner but where they are in their learning journey.
  • Encourage your child to ask teachers for help if they are having difficulties with concepts and skills.
  • Read and discuss the French International Assessment policy with your child where age-appropriate.
  • Understand what rubrics and other assessment tools are and how they are used to improve student learning.
  • Encourage child to seek out their teachers if there are questions on how they were assessed.

Assessment Resources

CTP Score Interpretation

For teachers

• Trevor Mackenzie Inquiry and Assessment Sketchnotes

• Trevor Mackenzie Inquiry and Assessment Sketchnotes (Spanish)
• Trevor Mackenzie Inquiry and Assessment Sketchnotes (French)
• Thinkchat Podcast (All things PYP)
• PYP Assessment Teaching Tools