Artefact forum

There are five mandatory IB policies covering the important topics of language (international-mindedness), academic integrity (ethical behaviour), admissions and inclusion (equal opportunities) and assessment (growth culture).

Imagine you are an anthropologist. Choose, find, or create an artefact that represents your assessment policy.

This is a good activity to use with colleagues when you are trying to discuss your policy and get to the heart of the matter.

Use the Quotation | Notation | Reflection protocol to epplore what we mean by assessment by reflecting on quotations.

The following quotes are taken from IB documentation on assessment. Display them as quotes on the wall in the form of a Quilt of Quotes. Use the Quotes that speak to me protocol to explore what the IB means by assessment.

• Ask each person to individually look at the ‘Assessment Quilt of Quotes'. Try to read everyone. Then choose the quote that most speaks to you.
• Table groups - each person picks a relevant quote. Tell the “story” and significance of the quote to the rest of group and explain how it exemplifies current and future practice.
• Have a group discussion around the quotes. Which themes come out of your choices – how do the quotes shape your understanding of what the IB means by assessment?
• Make sure your write these themes down on slips of paper to use in the next activity. Collate all the slips (themes) from the staff discussion.

Tip:

Ensure that in addition to the quote on the wall you have copies of the quote so that staff can take one away back to their table to discuss. Copies could be put in see-through folders below the quote in the quilt.

The Quotes

These quotes are taken from the key document Diploma Programme assessment principles and practice. The bold notation is mine to aid ease of reading.

This document is lengthy but is worth reading. Section 2, for example, provides an excellent historical background to key principles of assessment (including norm and criterion referenced assessment, psychometric and standardised assessment, bias etc.). It would be a useful section to read as a think piece in itself.

“Nearly all DP teachers necessarily participate in the assessment process, making a direct contribution to the final assessment carried out on their own students. In addition, many DP teachers have further involvement as examiners in marking other students’ work, in checking the marking of other examiners, or even by contributing to the writing of examination papers.”

“A distinction is often made between summative assessment, aimed at determining the level of achievement of a student generally at the end of a course of study, and formative assessment, aimed at identifying the learning needs of students and forming part of the learning process itself. Although these two functions are apparently quite distinct, the same assessment instruments can often be used for either purpose, the difference lying in the way the outcomes of the assessment are interpreted and applied…. The two approaches should interact and be mutually supportive. In the context of the Diploma Programme (DP), the term formal assessment is preferred to describe all those assessment instruments that are used to contribute to the final qualification. Some of these instruments can be used formatively during the course of study as well as summatively towards the end of it.”

“For formative assessment, the main purpose is to provide detailed feedback to teachers and their students on the nature of students’ strengths and weaknesses, and to help develop students’ capabilities. The teacher is seen as a supporter rather than a director of learning,  and should make use of assessment tasks and instruments that help the student work in what Vygotsky refers to as the “zone of proximal development”. This is the range of achievement between what the student can do on his/her own, and what the student can do with the support of the teacher… It is more important that formative assessment correctly identifies the knowledge, skills and understanding that students should develop, rather than accurately measuring the level of each student’s achievement.”

“By its very nature, formal DP assessment is summative assessment, designed to record student achievement at, or towards the end of, the course of study. It should be noted, however, that many of the assessment instruments can also be used formatively during the course of teaching and learning, and teachers are encouraged to do this. This is particularly true of the internal assessment tasks.”

Summative assessment: “There is no formal role for DP assessment as an accountability mechanism by which school performance is judged.. The IBO considers it to be largely the individual school’s role to evaluate its own effectiveness. A five-year programme evaluation of authorized DP schools is conducted, primarily through self-study….The policies applied by DP schools in the way they decide which students should enter for the diploma, and the social and educational contexts in which the schools operate, are so varied that it would be inappropriate to judge school effectiveness solely on the basis of DP examination results.”

“The primary role of DP assessment is generally perceived to be that of certification of achievement, leading in most cases to a selection process for university admission…. DP assessment is also seen as a major tool for reinforcing the teaching of the curricular goals of the programme…. A third purpose, that of providing differentiated information about student achievement (and hence teacher effectiveness) to inform the professional development of teachers.”

"Our thinking about what it means to teach must be framed as a response to learning, with assessment as the method through which the learner understands how to improve." (Global Digital Citizen Foundation)

"There are no year level expectations in a series of achievement standards. No one is at, on, above or below expectations. Every student is simply at a level of development defined by what learning is developmentally appropriate." (P Griffin, 2009)

"Finely tuned assessment … is non-linear but integrative and iterative, whereby the learner, the learning community, and learning and teaching are woven together throughout the assessment process." (PYP: From principles into practice)

“A further aspect of bias that must be countered is the potential for an assessment task to discriminate unfairly against students with special educational needs such as dyslexia, attention deficit disorder or impaired vision. The conditions under which assessment tasks are taken should make appropriate allowances for such students, so that they can demonstrate their level of educational achievement on equal terms with other students.”

“DP assessment must reflect the international-mindedness of the programme wherever possible, must avoid cultural bias, and must make appropriate allowance for students working in their second language. DP assessment must pay appropriate attention to the higher-order cognitive skills (synthesis, reflection, evaluation, critical thinking) as well as the more fundamental cognitive skills (knowledge, understanding and application).”

“There is a very real conflict in assessment design between techniques that can give the most accurate and reliable measures of certain aspects of student achievement, and techniques that measure and encourage the most desirable educational achievements of students. This dilemma was very well acknowledged by Alec Peterson (1971), who described the early development of DP assessment as follows: “What is needed is a process of assessment which is as valid as possible, in the sense that it really assesses the whole endowment and personality of the pupil in relation to the next stage of his life, but at the same time [is] sufficiently reliable to assure pupils, parents and teachers, and receiving institutions that justice is being done. Yet such a process must not, by its backwash effect, distort good teaching, nor be too slow, nor absorb too much of our scarce educational resources.”

“If the aim of the DP is to achieve the development of students who are “inquiring, knowledgeable and caring” and who become “active, compassionate and lifelong learners” (IBO mission statement), then these characteristics should be reflected in the assessment system. It is an inevitable fact that what is not assessed is not so highly valued and may even be overlooked altogether. The aspirations expressed in the mission statement must be supported by the assessment system.”

“The desired personal characteristics of students, expressed in the IBO mission statement, fit very well with a constructivist theory of student learning, in which students actively engage in the learning process, take responsibility for their own learning, and enlarge their knowledge, understanding and skills through inquiry. Sympathy with cultural perspectives other than the students’ own is expected in the assessment requirements of a number of subjects. The more affective qualities of caring and compassion are more difficult to include in formal assessment, but nevertheless must be represented within the overall assessment system. This is largely achieved through the creativity, action, service (CAS) requirement, though there are a number of references to ethical working practices elsewhere in the assessment system.”

“Some DP students may have previously been exposed only to multiple-choice tests, others only to lengthy essays, or oral interviews, or portfolios as modes of assessment. This is yet another reason for including as wide a range of formats as possible within the DP assessment system, so that all students and their teachers meet some formats with which they are familiar and more comfortable, and other formats with which they are less familiar.”

“A significant proportion of DP students enter for examinations in a language that is not their best. Nearly all such cases relate to English, because students working in French or Spanish (the other two languages in which DP assessment is conducted) tend to be native speakers. Considerable extra care has to be taken in the wording of questions so as not to disadvantage second-language speakers. Sentences should be short, with simple wording and sentence structure used wherever possible. However, subject-specific terminology should not be avoided. Additionally, tolerance must be shown towards errors in spelling and grammar when marking is carried out, except in languages examinations. As long as the meaning and communication are clear, no penalty should be applied and full marks should be available.”

“DP assessment, along with the great majority of formal assessment systems, is highly individualistic. This is largely because the DP falls within the western European tradition, and western European societies are individualistic in nature. Students are assessed almost exclusively on what they achieve on their own. This may be said to be culturally inequitable, since there are a number of cultures in which the contribution of the individual is always subservient to that of a larger group; it is what the group achieves that matters. It is also the case that in terms of individual equity, there are some people who work better in a team than they do individually, and vice versa. Additionally, it is common practice, both in the classroom and in the world of work, for individuals to work interdependently rather than independently…. Diploma Programme assessment does include a limited element of cooperative group work. In all the science courses, students must participate in an interdisciplinary project, which by its nature requires group work…. In a slightly different vein, the music course has a performance component, which may optionally be a group performance…. These instances form only a small part of the overall DP assessment, and it would be true to say that group work is still considerably under-represented in the overall structure.”

“It is often stated that we now live in a knowledge society.  ...The more valued academic skills of today are in accessing, ordering, sifting, synthesizing and evaluating information, and creatively constructing knowledge. As the rate of development and change in many societies’ increases, learning to learn becomes a more valuable skill than just learning knowledge and concepts. A similar point was made by Peterson .He stated that “what matters is not the absorption and regurgitation either of facts or of pre-digested interpretations of facts, but the development of powers of the mind or ways of thinking which can be applied to new situations and new presentations of facts as they arise”… The DP assessment system deliberately attempts to give significant attention to the so-called “higher order” cognitive skills (Bloom et al, 1956).”

Different types of assessment: “There are a number of reasons why a wide variety of types of assessment task and component is used in relation to the DP. First, from a historical and pragmatic perspective, Peterson says of the original development of DP assessment that “we had both an obligation and an opportunity to take into account the differing techniques of assessment used in those countries to whose institutions IB candidates were mostly seeking entry”. Second, a variety of assessment techniques helps to reduce the potential for inequity in assessment. There are also theoretical considerations, relating to fitness for purpose, that require a varied approach to assessment. The range of components and the set of tasks within them ensure that, taken across the assessment model for a whole subject, student achievement against all the objectives for that subject is adequately represented.”

“There are other advantages to internally assessed work within the context of an international qualification. Such work can be very flexible in the choice of topic, while continuing to address a common set of skills. This allows schools to place study in a local cultural or geographical context, or to draw closer links between the classroom and the world immediately outside. International schools, whose students often have a different cultural background from the one in which the school is embedded, can use internally assessed work to develop a closer involvement in the local society or environment. Alternatively, internal assessment can be used in a different fashion to develop links with distant cultures, generally by electronic contact with schools in other parts of the world. Brown (2002) also points out the value of internal assessment in allowing for cultural diversity within DP assessment. This encourages a “broader perspective of internationalism”, both by allowing for a multiplicity of cultural approaches and by giving individual students the opportunity to experience a range of cultural values.”

“Authenticity is another problem that raises questions over the reliability of internal assessment. Because of fears that people other than the student may contribute significantly to the work carried out, some assessment systems have either excluded internal assessment completely, or required that internally assessed tasks are carried out only under supervised classroom conditions. The IBO’s view is that this represents an overreaction. For internally supervised but externally marked work, both the teacher and the student are required to sign a declaration of authenticity. Teachers must also sign a declaration that internally assessed work is the student’s own. If evidence is subsequently found that the work is not genuinely the student’s, then a judgment of malpractice becomes a possibility (IBO, 2003b). Plagiarism, particularly via the Internet, is obviously a major concern, and strong measures are taken to discourage, identify and penalize plagiarized work.”

“Internal assessment focuses on skills, not subject content, but the internal assessment activities chosen by the teacher or the student can often be used as vehicles for teaching prescribed course content…. internal assessment is conducted by applying a fixed set of assessment criteria for each course. These criteria describe the kinds and levels of skills that must be addressed in the internal assessment.”

“The approach used in DP assessment in the application of criterion achievement levels is a “best fit” model. The examiner or teacher applying an assessment criterion must choose the achievement level that overall best matches the piece of work being marked. It is not necessary for every detailed aspect of an achievement level to be satisfied for that level to be awarded, and it is worth noting that the highest level of any given criterion does not represent perfection.”

Access requirement: “Standard assessment conditions may put candidates with learning support requirements at a disadvantage by preventing them from demonstrating their level of attainment. Inclusive assessment arrangements may be authorized in these circumstances. This policy applies to candidates with long-term or permanent challenges. The inclusive assessment arrangements that are requested should be a candidate’s usual way of working; the coordinator must ensure that a candidate is, or becomes, familiar with those arrangements. The candidate must be familiar with any assistive equipment, including a computer and any software authorized for use in an examination. If support from a scribe, reader, prompter, practical assistant/aide or communicator is required, the candidate must practise with the person acting in this capacity in advance of the examination. (Candidates with assessment access requirements).”