Key issues to consider

• What is the purpose of assessment?
• What is the school's philosophy on assessment? What are the key principles underpinning this philosophy?
• To what extent does your philosophy align with that of the IB programmes (e.g. criterion referenced and norm referenced assessment)?
• What are the rights and responsibilities of all members of the school community? (e.g., in DP the training of teachers, implementing, evaluating and reviewing the policy | for MYP, DP and CP teachers standardize their assessment of student work to ensure reliable results.
• What does effective assessment look like in practice?
• How does assessment support student learning?
• Include both internal and external assessment.
• What is the role of predicted grades?
• What processes are in place for standardization of students' work?
• How do students access their assessment scores?
• Can students retake assessments? If so, under what criteria?
• What is your context: what are the local and national assessment requirements and how do these impact on the IB programme(s)?
• What are your formative and summative assessment practices? How regular? This should include marking / grading, recording and reporting practices? Do you have particular policies regarding homework and how this should be assessed?
• Make links with other key policies explicit - e.g. academic honesty, special educational needs, admissions, language policies).
• Who is responsible for monitoring and reviewing the assessment policy?
• Which committee is responsible for this policy?
• How is this policy communicated to the whole school community?

• Who are the students who require arrangements to access assessments? Who makes the decision? What is the role of external experts (e.g. medical personnel)? Have you established the need for access arrangements (history of need)? Are access plans specific for each student who requires them? Once assessment arrangements are planned who monitors them? Ensure that all colleagues who teach students with learning support requirements have a copy of the IB policy document Candidates with assessment access requirements.

• Does your policy include evidence of a review process such as the date of the most recent review?

Assessment Philosophy

IB philosophy on assessment

Begin your policy with a statement on your philosophy towards assessment. Tjhis should align with IB philosophy. The following extract is taken from a new Category 2 workshop on assessment entitled Evidencing learning.

The shift in the IB understanding of assessment is from assessment being seen as ‘tasks’ that measure learning (either throughout a unit or at the end) to a position of assessment as a way of evidencing learning. The language we use to describe assessment practices is important. Removing some terminology from assessment discussion (for example, formative, summative, assessment for, assessment of, etc.) challenges educators to engage more directly with assessment principles and practices to evidence learning, ALWAYS with the assumption that the result of any assessment is to inform next steps. While assessment terminology such as formative, summative, for/of/as is not incorrect, the challenge is to consider assessment without the terminology. If you discuss assessment for what it aims to do, without the terminology, it provides a clearer view of the WHY.

Key conceptual understandings are:

• Assessment is an integrated process that continually informs the learner, learning and teaching and the learning community to know what learning has been achieved and how to progress learning.
• Monitoring, documenting, measuring and reporting on learning informs next learning and teaching steps.
• Assessment capable students reflect on their learning, recognize how to adjust their learning and can give feedback to others.
• A positive assessment culture supports the learning community to make informed decisions that shape and strengthen learning and teaching.

(IB, Evidencing Learning, 2019)

This statement of philosophy draws on the work of Directions for Assessment in New Zealand (DANZ) report, Michael Absolum, Lester Flockton, John Hattie, Rosemary Hipkins, Ian Reid. This paper, published in March 2009, was written to provide broad advice to the New Zealand Ministry of Education to guide and inform the design of new and improved strategies, policies, and plans for assessment. The central premise of the paper is that all young people should be educated in ways that develop their capacity to assess their own learning. Students who have well developed assessment capabilities are able and motivated to access, interpret and use information in ways that affirm or further their learning. In placing students at the centre of assessment practice, the advice in this paper is consistent with the best of current thinking, including the ideas behind assessment for learning, the use of assessment feedback to enhance teaching and learning, and professional learning designed to assist teachers to enhance their students’ assessment capabilities.

Internal assessments (IA)

The International Baccalaureate (IB) moderates internal assessments to ensure consistency and fairness across all schools. Here’s how the process works:

• Internal marking: initially the teacher marks the internal assessment based on IB criteria.
• External moderation: A sample of the internally marked assessments is then reviewed by an external IB examiner.
• Moderation factor: If discrepancies are found, a moderation factor is applied to adjust the marks of all students for that particular component. This ensures that the marks are consistent with the global standard.
• Feedback: Schools receive feedback on how their marking compared to the global standard, which helps teachers align their future assessments more closely with IB expectations.

See the IB document Assessment principles and practices - Quality assessments in a digital age

Assessment Practices

This is how one MYP Coordinator communicates their assessment policy to stakeholders:

I am very grateful to Emily Thomas, MYP Coordinator at MYIS in Nonthaburi Thailand, for allowing me to post this reflective piece of work where she and her colleague have applied the assessment practices to her school. Although this sheet is based on the 2014 version of programme standards and practices it is applicable to the 2020 framework.

• Assessment needs to support pedagogy: the aim of the IB is to nurture the attributes of the Learner Profile, therefore care needs to be taken that teachers’ do not just teach to the test.
• Criterion referenced: student performance is measured against set standards / criteria and NOT by each student’s rank order to other students. This provides objectivity and a useful tool for universities in assessing achievement.
• Internal (IA) and External Assessment: The IB uses both internally and externally (mainly examinations) assessed components to assess student performance. Internal assessment focuses largely on process skills and includes oral work in languages, fieldwork in geography, laboratory work in sciences, investigations in mathematics and artistic performances. One of the key advantages of internal assessments within the context of an international qualification is that they can be flexible in the choice of topic whilst continuing to address a common set of skills. Internal assessment should, as far as possible, be woven into normal classroom teaching. Samples of internally assessed work are moderated by the IB to ensure a  common standard across all schools.
• Examinations: Majority of courses have written examinations at the end of the DP. They take place in May and November each year. Schools must conduct examinations according to a strict set of regulations laid out in the Vade Mecum. Candidates may participate in three exam sessions to be awarded the Diploma.
• Coursework: Certain components of the DP have coursework which is carried out over a period of time, then authenticated by teacher and externally assessed by IB (e.g. TOK and Extended Essay). In most subjects there are also in-school assessment tasks which are either externally assessed or marked by teachers and then moderated by the IB.
• Grades: students receive a grade for each DP course attempted. All are marked on a scale of 1 (lowest) to 7 (highest). A students’ final Diploma score is made up of combined scores for each subject. Minimum requirement score for DP = 24. However, note that there are also additional minimum requirements which include successful completion of each of Core elements.
• Core: TOK and Extended Essay (EE) are awarded individual grades which collectively can contribute up to 3 additional points towards the DP score. CAS is not ‘scored’ with a grade but it is essential that students complete CAS to gain a Diploma.
• Higher and Standard Levels: Both HL and SL award 1-7 points. This underlines the IB belief in a broad range of academic disciplines. HL and SL differ in the depth to which they are studied but are marked against the same grade descriptors.
• Bilingual Diploma: awarded to students who either (a) achieve a grade 3 or higher in two languages selected from the DP course ‘Studies in Language and Literature’; or (b) achieve a grade 3 or higher in ‘Studies in Language and Literature’ + a grade 3 or higher in an Individuals & Societies or Science subject which is completed in a different language.
• International aspect: a significant cross-cultural dimension is included in many DP subjects and their assessment. The IB utilizes more open-ended assessment questions and tasks that allow students to select their own context in which to respond.
• Inclusive access requirements: Access arrangements are available for candidates with long-term or permanent challenges (e.g. autism, learning disabilities, medical conditions, special learning difficulties etc.) to ensure they reach their full potential. Requests must be made online in IBIS six months in advance of examinations and accompanied with psychological/psycho-educational/medical report + school report. Inclusive access arrangements aim to reduce the adverse effects of a candidate’s long term challenges.