Assessment Policy

I. Purpose

MYP Assessment at Franklin Middle school is learner centered, a shared process with teachers, students and parents, and provides meaningful feedback. The primary purpose of assessment is to inform the teacher, student and parents and to guide classroom instruction. Assessment allows students to see their strengths and weaknesses and allows them to set goals for future learning. Assessment is an ongoing process that does not just happen at the end of learning. There is an emphasis on both formative and summative assessment.

II. Definitions

Assessment - The process of gathering information on student learning from a variety of sources to  identify student performance on curricular expectations.

Evaluation - Quantitative professional judgment of student work product based on identified criteria to represent a level of achievement.

Formative Assessment – Formative assessment is the process of gathering information on student learning during the learning process. It involves constructive and specific feedback to students aimed to improve learning. Formative assessments may be entered into Infinite Campus as a tracking tool to assist teachers, parents/guardians and students on the progress of students’ learning. Formative assessments may be taken into consideration when determining students’ final grade.

Summative Assessments: Summative assessments are designed to allow students to demonstrate achievement toward the expectations of a unit of inquiry. Summative assessments are standardized according to FMS assessment protocol.. Summative assessments are assessed using IB MYP criterion and evaluated using IB MYP rubrics using a scale of 0 - 8 achievement levels.  Levels of achievement are documented in our student management system, Infinite Campus. Summative assessments are calculated as part of students' final grade.

III. High-Quality Assessment

A. Assessments are used for multiple purposes as such a variety of assessment tools are used by Franklin instructors.  

B. Franklin Middle School believes that regardless of purpose, there are shared characteristics of high quality assessments that follow IB Approaches to Teaching (ATT).

These characteristics demand that:

i. Assessments are ongoing and data driven.

ii. Assessments are common and standardized between multiple instructors of shared courses.

iii. Assessments are  for students' conceptual growth and progress.

iv. Assessments provide multiple ways for students to demonstrate their understanding.

v. Assessments can foster students’ collaboration with peers, self-assessment  and reflection using IB rubrics.

vi. Assessments are differentiated allowing students multiple access points to material.

vii. Assessments are framed in the IB MYP Global Contexts to enhance international mindedness.

viii. Assessments are MYP criteria aligned with task specific rubrics in student-friendly language.

ix. Assessments have student examples.

x. Assessments allow students to reach the highest level of achievement in the rubric descriptor bands.

IV. Practices

Assessments support student learning and encourage student growth. Assessment is an integral part of instruction in which teachers use data informed practices to meet students’ needs. Assessments determine necessary interventions for students in the areas of reading and mathematics and enrichments across the curriculum.

Practices common to all subjects groups:

A. Formative assessment is an integral part of instruction.

 Practices related to formative assessment include:

i. giving students frequent descriptive feedback on formative tasks.

ii. giving students feedback that aims to improve performance.

iii. giving students feedback that provides an incentive for improvement.

iv. assessments are MYP criteria aligned with task specific descriptors

B. Summative assessments are used as the basis for determining the student understanding of local content standards

Practices related to summative assessment include:

i. gathering information to reflect on teaching practices.

ii. opportunities for students to demonstrate what they have learned.

iii. assessments are MYP criteria aligned with task specific descriptors are used as the basis for determining the student understanding of local content standards

C. Reporting of student achievement occurs formally each year:

i. Two verbal reports at Parent-Teacher Conferences during Fall and Spring semester

ii. Parents/Guardians are provided with  written grade  reports at the end of each semester. Grades are the professional judgment of instructors based on a continuum of student  learning based on  IB rubrics descriptors.  Student  grades are a combined MYP criteria score converted to letter grades as indicated in the chart below.  A description of each achievement level is attached to the report card. 

iii. Progress reports every six weeks are sent home to parents. At each six week grading period, the students’ grades are reported out on a 0-8 scale for each of the IB criteria assessed.

iv. IB MYP criterion based rubrics are sent home after the completion of each summative assessment.

v. Parents and students have access to student achievement on Infinite Campus.

4. Grading practices:

A: Late Work:

i. Assessments not submitted by the due date will be marked as "Missing” in IC.

ii. Any missing summative assessment not completed/submitted within 2 weeks of the unit’s completion will be marked as a zero (0) and incomplete (I) in IC and have the following comment included: did not complete assignment. Missing formative work will be marked as a zero with the comment “did not complete.”

iii. All assessments completed/submitted after the due date will be marked as "late" in IC.

iv. Submitted late assessments will be accepted and the score updated in IC.

B. Zeros:

i. Students not meeting criteria based rubric descriptors will receive a zero.

ii. If a student does not provide evidence of learning (did not turn in the assignment) a “M” (Missing) will be entered into Infinite Campus as a tracking tool to assist teachers, parents/guardians and students, and is counted as a zero at the end of the unit.

iii. Any time a zero is entered in IC a description will be added in the comment section.

iv. Per district policy, students may submit work up to 2 weeks after semesters’ end.

C. Extra-Credit: 

i. Extra-credit is not given. 

ii. Students are always welcome to provide more evidence of the learning as determined by the teacher and student.

D. Behavior/compliance: 

i. Behavior/compliance is never attached to a grade assessment. 

ii. All grades are based on the student's demonstration of understanding according to MYP criterion rubrics and IB descriptors.

E. Retakes: 

i. Students are always welcome to provide more evidence of the learning however, students may not retake the same summative assessment. 

ii. Retake time frame is an agreement between the student and teacher.

V. Clarification on MYP Standards based Grading.

A. IB MYP Course work is scored on several criteria that fit into 4 categories for each course.

B. The assessments are focused on the description of students’ work and used by teachers and students for communication regarding strengths and growth areas in each category.

C. All four categories are graded independent of each other, and are used in the final holistic assessment of a student's ability in the course.  For example, a student can be rated very high in content knowledge but also rated as a poor communicator in that discipline.

D. IB MYP courses use a 0-8 criterion based rubric to score students on IB criterion (MYP strands). These rubrics clarify with student-friendly language in the task-specific rubrics.. Rubrics are available to students prior to each assessment.

E. IB grade descriptors are converted to numbers to work with the online computer grading systems of GBAPS.  This conversion can create an impression of a percentage within the computer program, but descriptions of skills are not a percentage and are not parts or a whole.  The following conversion chart shows how these “false percentages” should be interpreted and converted to traditional letter grades.  

F. MYP to district grade conversion charts reflect common achievement between subject groups and are available to students and parents in the teacher course expectations documents.

VI. Professional Learning Assessment Policy

A. All instructors receive yearly training and review the assessment policy

B. All new instructors receive additional professional learning on the grading philosophy, assessment creation, and online reporting tools.

District Assessment Requirements:

VII. Review Committee:

A. The Assessment Policy committee, with the support of subject departments, reviews, supports, refines, and revises the Assessment Policy on a yearly basis to ensure the needs of all students are met. 

B. A yearly report is provided to the entire staff and parents.

VIII. Green Bay Area School District’s Policies Regarding Assessment

This document was written in accordance with the following policies of the Green Bay Public School Board:

• GBAPS Board Policy 345.1:  Instruction 
• GBAPS Board Policy 345.3: Homework 
• GBAPS Board Policy 345.4  Grade Advancement
• GBAPS Board Policy 345.41   4th and 8th Grade Promotion
• GBAPS Board Policy 345.6 Graduation Requirements
• GBAPS Board Policy 346:   Assessment Program  
• GBAPS Board Policy 347 Student Records

LEGAL REF.: