Assessment Policy Harding Senior High 2021

Harding High School Grading/Assessment Policy  (effective SY2020-2021)

As an IB school, Harding strives for consistency and clarity in our practices and seeks to provide opportunities for ongoing learning and improvement.

Grading and assessment decisions and practices at Harding are guided by the following principles:

• We are committed to supporting the success of all, and student learning is our ultimate goal.
• We are as consistent as possible, building-wide, in our policies and practices.
• We are committed to being objective, fair, and clear in how a course grade is determined.
• We are both non-punitive in our practices and committed to teaching students accountability to prepare them for the expectations of college and careers.
• We are committed to creating a pathway, wherever possible, to allow students to improve and to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding of concepts or skills.

Late Work

Harding holds the following expectations regarding the acceptance and scoring of late work: 

 Student Role and Responsibility:

• Students are accountable for their effort and commitment to learning and will strive to produce quality work.
• Students will make every effort to meet deadlines.
• Students will communicate with teachers regarding submission of late work.

  Teacher Role and Responsibility:

• Teachers will accept late work, eligible for full credit until the summative due date, as long as students have met their responsibilities described above.
• Teachers will work with students to foster the development of self-advocacy skills.
• Teachers will work with their colleagues to ensure that students in different sections of the same course are offered similar opportunities and are held to the same standard.

Retakes

Harding holds the following expectations regarding students’ ability to retake assessments:

 Student Role and Responsibility:

• Students will communicate with teachers regarding opportunities to retake an assessment.
• Students are accountable for meeting the teacher-communicated conditions under which retakes are permitted.

 Teacher Role and Responsibility:

• Teachers will create and communicate to students clear guidelines regarding the conditions and any requirements for retakes.
• Teachers will be consistent and reach consensus with others who teach the same course regarding student requirements and conditions for retakes.

Summative/Formative Work

At Harding, teachers will reach consensus to determine what work in a given course is “summative” and what work is “formative” and is defined as follows:

• Formative (25%) =  work that includes pre-assessment, practice, and ongoing checks for understanding.  Its purpose is to help students learn and to guide teacher instruction.
• Summative (75%) = work that takes place after the learning experiences have occurred. Its purpose is to evaluate and report how well students have met learning goals.

Extra Credit

At Harding, extra credit is offered only in accordance with the following criteria:

• It is allowed after all regular assignments have been completed and turned in.
• It is relevant to the classroom curriculum and provides students with a different way to show their mastery of important concepts.
• It is based on quality (rather than just completion) or may be earned for an optional, enriching activity.
• It is agreed upon by and offered in a manner consistent with others who teach the same course.

Non-Academic Work

Students should not be graded on nonacademic measures, unless those items are authentically tied to the content or standards of the course and students are given clear criteria by which each is scored.

Harding Grading Scale:

IB DP Assessment Policy Harding Senior High 2020

Assessment philosophy and principles

Daniel Weyandt, DPC

Philosophy of Assessment

Assessment serves to provide meaningful feedback for students, families, teachers and the community about students’ achievement levels when they are compared to expected grade level or subject standards.  At Harding High School, we provide every possible support to ensure successful student learning and achievement. 

Assessment practices for teachers

All teachers in the Harding IB Diploma Program are encouraged to use the exams and rubrics provided by the IB to inform and guide their assessment practices.  All IB DP teachers are required to show their students copies of previous exams and many of them use these exams as in-class formative and summative assessment tools.

Teachers also endeavor to honor the “reflective” aspect of the IB Learner Profile and encourage students to look over their work and determine what the successes and failures were—and to make improvements for the future.  Many teachers also have a “re-do” policy, where students may correct their errors to improve their in-class scores as well as their understanding of the material.

As an IB DP staff we have realized that many of our students struggle with the wording of exam questions.  Whether it is the complexity of the questions or formal register of the English used in them, our students need coaching to help them break down the questions into understandable portions.  To that end, we encourage all teachers to use IB DP “exam language” in their regular coursework.  Additionally, all of our language, math and science teachers have and use the IB DP Questionbanks and attest to their efficacy.  We are finding that as students get more and more familiar with the language of the IB assessments, the more confident they are about their assessments and the more their scores will improve.

Specific IB DP Assessment Details

• Individual IB DP teachers are expected to upload all IA/PG into IBIS.
• Individual IB DP teachers are expected to record all oral exams, determine the authenticity of all External and Internal Assessments (excluding exams), and comply with guidelines and expectations set out by the DPC and school Administration.
• When there are multiple IB DP teachers of the same subject, the teachers take a “marking day” to compare marking to ensure calibration before submitting scores to the IB.
• In Minnesota, IB DP classes fall under the “Rigorous Course Waiver,” which makes students exempt from having to complete other state academic requirements.
• Individual IB DP teachers determine the regularity and natures of formative and summative assessments – there is no building policy about this.

Links amongst the assessment policy and other Harding IB policies

 Assessment Policy and Academic Honesty Policy. 

If students are academically honest, they will be able to achieve according to the guidelines mentioned above.  Academic dishonesty will prevent them from being successful in school. 

Assessment Policy and Language Policy

All possible efforts will be made to assess students in ways that honor their mother tongues and cultures.  That said, the language of instruction at Harding is English and the majority of assessments will be delivered in English, so supports are provided (English Language Learner services as well as Reading Support classes) for students who struggle with the mastery of academic English.

Assessment Policy and Inclusive Education Policy

All students are allowed to take IB DP classes at Harding.  Students who receive Special Education services have Individual Education Plans that determine the best levels of assessment for each student.  It is impossible to discussion these plans generally since each is unique – but all of these students already receive the necessary accommodations as directed in their IEPs.

Roles and responsibilities for implementing, evaluating and reviewing the assessment policy

Much of this policy is language crafted and determined by St. Paul Public Schools administrative leadership teams.

We will endeavor, regardless, to review this policy yearly in the Autumn in our Administrative, IB leadership and PBIS teams.

Additionally, this policy will be re-introduced yearly in the opening week of school as teachers are preparing for the year ahead.