Assessment Policy The purpose of this document is to communicate the assessment policy to all stakeholders (students, parents or guardians, teachers, and administrators) to ensure student success as they progress through the IB Middle Years Program Anthem K-8 School.

Mission Statement Our mission is to foster a love of learning and to prepare students to face future challenges by being responsible members of local, national, and global communities.

Anthem K-8 School believes that students:

• Learn at different paces
• Manifest different learning styles
• Bring various levels of previous experience to different classes
• Require timely and meaningful feedback from teachers and supervisors
• Need to be given learning goals for all courses. Students achieve their greatest success when they’ve been exposed to purposeful instructional approaches.
  
  

Assessment must be:

• Reflective of the attitudes and natural inquiry of IB students
• Designed to match the skills or objectives studied in the IB curriculum
• Created by teachers incorporating a variety of teaching and learning strategies
• Criterion-referenced incorporating rubrics created from IBO guidelines
• Reflective of the IB Learner Profile General Anthem K-8

Grading Policy and Procedure Report cards are issued at the end of each nine-week grading period. Semester grades are mailed home the week after the end of each semester.
Grade Performance Grade Points:  

• A (90-100) Excellent
• B (80-89) Above Average
• C (70-79) Average
• D (60-69) Below Average
• F (59 or below) Failure

Teachers must enter at least one formative and one homework assignment per week. Semester grades include a final exam which constitutes no more than 20% of the overall semester grade. Teachers input grades using the program SYNERGY. Students can access the grades using Student VUE and parents can access the grades using ParentVUE. Grades are on a live update, so parents and students can monitor student progress and also inquire about possible errors.  

Anthem IB Teachers use the following grade scale for students in IB classes:

• 7 – EXCELLENT
• 6 – VERY GOOD
• 5 – GOOD
• 4 – SATISFACTORY
• 3 – MEDIOCRE
• 2 – POOR
• 1- VERY POOR

In assessment, Elementary IB grades are determined using criterion-referenced rubrics created by the IB Team (using the IB’s Standards and Practices for each IB course.)  School-based grades are separate from IB subject area grades. The school-based grades consist of formative assessments, class attendance, and a variety of learning tools.

All Anthem IB MYP teachers attend training to deliver the IB curriculum. Teachers also use the IBO as a resource for keeping current with IB guides, communicating with others like IB course teachers around the world, reviewing examiner feedback, and accessing teacher resources for their IB course.

Formative Assessments provide an ongoing evaluation of student progress through the IB courses. These assessments provide feedback for the IB teacher about the students’ strengths and possible weaknesses. Self-reflection on both parties, the IB teacher and the MYP student, is paramount to success. By using the formative assessments, IB teachers can appropriately evaluate student progress and work effectively to improve areas needing attention. Homework assignments are tasks which are to be completed outside of class that are necessary to enhance the learning occurring during class time. Homework should provide students with opportunities to apply concepts being studied. Homework should never be tedious, repetitive tasks. Rather, it should provide opportunities for students to solidify concepts and build understanding of current coursework with previously learned concepts or skills. A reasonable total of time needed to complete homework should not exceed two hours per course, per week.

Summative Assessments. Students are assessed at the end of each unit. Teachers create the summative assessments and may include common district exams. The data from the summative assessments guide preparation for subsequent units.

Assessments may be in two or three different papers or projects  and are taken on different days and consist of a variety of question types including: multiple choice, short answer, essay, data analysis, problem solving, projects.

Students and parents are encouraged to communicate directly with the IB teacher and IB MYP Coordinator for questions or clarifications. Future Changes The Anthem K-8 IB Team meets regularly to collaborate and share best practices. Additionally, the Anthem K-8 IB Steering Committee meets to review and revise policies as necessary to maintain quality documents for our successful Anthem K-8 IB Middle Years Program. Any amendments or revisions will be communicated to all stakeholders including students, parents, teachers, Anthem K-8 Administration and the FUSD Governing Board.