Philosophy Statement

The aim of assessment is to support instructional practices and student learning, as well as inform and support student achievement. To this end, various forms of assessment are integral to the instructional practices and learning processes at Coconino High School.

Assessments

Fig 1. Feedback Loop for learning from the Student Agency in Learning course. The teacher serves as the facilitator of instruction in this model. 

Formative Assessments

Formative assessment is a process used by teachers and students during the learning cycle in order to provide feedback and adjust ongoing teaching and learning. Formative assessment improves students' achievement on criterion-referenced intended instructional outcomes. Information is gathered from formative assessments to inform on-going teaching and learning. Some examples of formative assessments may include but are not limited to teacher observation, homework, quizzes, class discussions, performance tasks, presentations, peer feedback, and self-assessment.

Summative Assessments

Summative assessments provide teachers a means to measure student performance against the district, state, and Diploma Program assessment criteria. Summative assessments are assessments of learning and occur following the learning cycle. Some examples of summative assessments include, but are not limited to: presentations; projects; end of unit exams; end of course exams; IB internal and external assessments.

Internal Assessments

These are components of IB courses that are assessed by the local teacher and moderated by the IB. Examples include oral exams for language courses, research papers for mathematics courses, and laboratory experiments for experimental science courses and work samples from other IB courses. Marks for these assessments are recorded and sent to the IB by the teacher. To verify that teachers are grading internal assessments according to IB standards, teachers also send samples of internal assessments to the IB for evaluation; these samples are chosen by the IB, and all student marks may be adjusted according to their findings. There is a fee associated with IB exams which can be located in the fee schedule in the IB Student Handbook (Coming Soon). The fee will be waived for the following graduating year cohorts: 2022 & 2023.

External Assessments

These are components of IB courses that are assessed by external IB graders. Examples of external assessments include certain written assignments for Language A courses, recordings of group performances for music courses, and the end-of-course examinations that take place at the end of the course for most Diploma Program courses offered by Coconino High School. There is a fee associated with IB exams which can be located in the fee schedule in the IB Student Handbook (Coming Soon). The fee will be waived for the following graduating year cohorts: 2022 & 2023.

Assessment Practices in the Diploma Programme at Coconino High School

• Homework Expectations and Responsibilities
• Grading and Feedback Expectations and Responsibilities
• Reporting Grades Expectations and Responsibilities

 Rev. 1/14/2020