Assessment Policy

Hazel Park Preparatory Academy Assessment Policy
Introduction:

At Hazel Park Preparatory Academy we believe that assessment is integral with planning, teaching and learning. It is central to the PYP and MYP programme goal of thoughtfully and effectively guiding students through the understanding of concepts, mastering of skills, developing of attitudes, and the decision to take action.

The elements that define the curriculum at Hazel Park Preparatory Academy are:

The written curriculum or “What do we want students to learn?”

• The St. Paul Public Schools required curriculum and standards
• Minnesota State Standards
• National Standards
• PYP and MYP programme objectives

The taught curriculum or “How best will students learn?”

• The teaching and learning strategies that best support the learning is identified in the written curriculum.

The learned curriculum or “How will we know what students have learned?”

• Approaches to assessment, recording and reporting to parents.

The assessment component is subdivided into four areas:

1. Planning - how we implement summative, formative and reflective assessment in daily teaching and unit planners.
2. Assessing – how we know what students have learned.
3. Recording – how we document and analyze the evidence of student learning.
4. Reporting – how the information is shared with students, parents, teachers and district administration.

Assessing:

• Formative Assessment: evaluating student learning throughout the course of a unit.
• Summative Assessment: evaluating student achievement at the end of a unit.
• Student self-assessment: evaluating their own understanding and learning.
• Peer assessment: peer acknowledgement on the progress of the learner profile, attitudes, and effort.

The Common Assessments

Hazel Park Preparatory Academy uses district-mandated assessments to monitor and analyze student progress.

Principles of Assessment:

• Assessments varied in type and purpose
• Students are allowed multiple opportunities to demonstrate their understanding
• Assessment is continuous
• There is an emphasis on both formative and summative assessments
• Assessment is aligned with learning objectives
• Clear criteria is given to students prior to an assessment
• Assessments provide timely feedback to students and parents about progress made and areas for growth
• Assessments are differentiated and modifications are made when necessary to meet the needs of all students.

Assessment and Curriculum

• Assessments drive the curriculum and are aligned to the written and taught curriculum
• Curriculum and assessments are aligned vertically, building on prior knowledge and skills
• Teachers will write curriculum collaboratively including the unit planner, assessments, and rubrics
• Teachers in same subject area will use common assessments to guide instruction

Assessment Practices

• Assessment and evaluation practices and expectations are discussed at the beginning of each unit
• Students are involved in creating the checklist, criteria, and rubrics
• Sample of exemplary student work are made available to students

Assessment Tools

• Rubrics-an established set of criteria for rating students in all areas.  Students as well as teachers can develop rubrics.
• Exemplars-samples of students’ work that serves as concrete standards against which other samples are judged.
• Checklists-these are list of information, data attributed or elements that should be present.
• Anecdotal records-anecdotal records are brief written notes based on observations of student.
• Continuums-visual representations of developmental stages of learning.

Effective Assessments: We support and use the following criteria for effective assessments as sited by the IBO.

Effective assessments allow students to:

• Share learning and understanding with each others
• Demonstrate the range of knowledge, conceptual understanding and skills
• Use a variety of learning styles, multiple intelligences and abilities to express their understanding
• Know and understand in advance the criteria for producing a quality product/performance
• Participate in reflection, self and peep assessment
• Base their learning on real-life experiences that can lead to further inquiries
• Express different points of view and interpretations
• Analyze their learning and understand what needs to be improved

Effective assessments allow teachers to:

• Inform every stage of the teaching and learning process
• Plan in response to student and teacher inquiries
• Develop criteria from producing a quality product or performance
• Gather evidence that can be effectively reported and understood by the whole school community
• Collaboratively review and reflect on student performance and progress
• Take into account a variety of learning styles, multiple intelligences and abilities including different cultural contexts
• See scoring that is both analytical (separate scores for different aspects of the work) and holistic (single scores)

Effective assessments allow parents to:

• See evidence of student learning and development
• Develop an understanding of the student’s progress
• Provide opportunities to support and celebrate learning

How should we structure assessment?

• Assessment is structured according to our district’s testing window
• Classroom teachers as well as ELL and Special Education Teachers are responsible to administer tests
• Teachers keep all testing results in a personalized learning plan to be shared with students, parents, and other staff members.

How Should Assessment information be recorded?

• All teachers will have access to test results when available
• Test results will be put student personalize learning plan PLP 

How are the assessments reported?

• Students are given the results of assessments in a timely manner
• Assessment results are shared with parents through conferences
• For the MYP, parents have access to student progress through the parent portal

Review of Assessment Policy and Practices:

• Hazel Park Preparatory Academy will articulate the district assessment requirements per their subject/grade level.  These will include but are not limited to the assessments mandated by the state.
• Grade levels and departments will review their assessment practices annually and revise as needed.
• A committee will review the assessment policy.  The committee will review current policy, revise as needed, and communicate the assessment policy to the students, parents, and staff.