Forest Park Elementary School
Assessment Policy
2010-2011
Essential Agreements on Assessment

Philosophy

• Assessment is an important part of the learning process.
• Assessment is used to guide our instruction.
• A variety of assessments will be used including, but not limited to: pre-assessments to see what students already know, formative, and summative assessments.
• Assessment reflects state and district mandates.
• Assessment starts with our learning outcomes of the Sunshine State Standards.
• Assessments will sometimes be differentiated and flexible based on the needs of the students.
• Assessments will be as non-biased as possible.
• Summative assessments will be as global as possible.
• Summative assessments will connect to real-life situations as appropriate.
• The criteria of summative assessments will be known in advance by the students

Purpose

• To collect, organize, and use data to guide instruction.
• To inform parents, teachers, and students of progress.
• To monitor growth, and build on students’ strengths, and weaknesses of students.
• To assist all members of our learning community in setting goals.
• To encourage students to take responsibility of their own learning.

Policy

• The Assessment Policy will be reviewed on a yearly basis by staff.
• The Assessment Policy will be revised as necessary.
• The Assessment Policy will be adhered to by all staff once it is agreed upon via our “Essential Agreement” practice.

Principles

What principles guide us?

• Assessment practice will reflect the IB/PYP Standards and Sunshine State Standards.
• A variety of assessment strategies will be used (observation, performance assessments, process-focused assessments, selected responses such as tests and quizzes, open-ended tasks) See pages 47 and 48 in Making the PYP Happen manual
• A variety of assessment tools will be used (rubrics, exemplars, checklists, anecdotal records, narrative descriptions, continuums) see pages 47 and 48 of Making the PYP Happen manual
• Assessments will be meaningful, consistent, and fair.
• Assessments will be developmentally appropriate.
• Assessments will promote reflection, goal-setting, self assessments, and peer assessments.
• Assessments will be differentiated as necessary.
• Assessments will be designed with student input as appropriate.
• Summative assessments will include principles of Understanding by Design (such as applying knowledge in a new situation).
• Collaborative review and reflection of student performance and progress will take place.

Practice

How do we assess students (and carry out our philosophy)?

• Portfolios will be used and will include teacher and student selected items.
• Student-led conferences will be held at least one time per year.
• Students will reflect on their own learning (including each Unit of Inquiry, the Learner Profile, and the PYP Essential Elements as appropriate).
• State and county-mandated standardized testing will be used.
• End-of-unit assessments (such as chapter tests, math tests, etc.) will be used.
• District-mandated report cards will be used.
• Pre and Post testing will be used as appropriate to help guide instruction.
• A variety of assessment strategies and tools will be used.
• A variety of assessments (such as FCAT Diagnostics, SRI, RRR, DIBELS, CELLA, Common Assessments, etc.) will be used to guide instruction.
• The order of Units of Inquiry will be decided before the beginning of each school year.
• When a Unit is heavily science-based, choose at least ONE SS Standard to connect to and assess for the unit (and vice-versa) if possible.

Reporting Assessment

Progress

• Forest Park will use the district mandated report card
• Forest Park will send home progress reports during the trimester
• Parent Conferences will on-going throughout the school year
• Assessments will be reviewed by the teachers, the students, and the parents as a way to report progress
• Students and teachers will reflect on the Learner Profile at least one time per trimester. (Staff needs to decide on if an insert should go home with the report card).

Portfolios

• Portfolios are a record of student involvement in their own learning.
• Portfolios will contain a variety of assessments and reflections that provide evidence of learning and growth.
• Portfolios will contain evidence of student goal-setting.
• Portfolios will contain teacher and student-chosen samples.
• Portfolios will be housed in each teacher’s classroom in binder form, folder form, or electronic form.
• Portfolios will be easily and readily accessible to students, teachers, parents, administration, and official IB visitors.
• Portfolios will be organized by students and teachers at the end of each Unit of Inquiry.
• Portfolios will be added to on a continuous basis throughout the school year.
• Portfolios will be used at student-led, parent-teacher, and teacher-student conferences.
• Parts of the portfolio will be passed on to next year’s teacher TBD
• “Minimums” for portfolios have been established by the staff. (See attached for more of these specifics)
• Each grade level team will collaborate to decide on what else will be added to that grade level’s portfolio contents

Student-led Conferences

• Students will participate in student-led conferences by the end of each school year.
• Students will make invitations for parents/adults.
• Students will use their portfolio to facilitate this conference.
• Adult staff on campus will meet with the student if no one from home attends
• Teachers will meet with and practice student-led conferences with their “buddy class” at least three times per trimester

Exhibition

• Forest Park will implement its first Exhibition during the 2010-2011 School Year.
• At least one Grade 5 teacher will be officially trained at a Category 3 IB Exhibition training.
• The Exhibition Plan will continue to be developed during the school year.
• Samples from other school’s Exhibitions will be shared with the Grade 5 class.
• Mentors will work with each group.
• Rubrics will be developed by the students and teachers.
• Students will self-reflect throughout the process, and teachers will assess each group as well.