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CURRICULUM PROCEDURES FOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS
ASSESSMENT, EVALUATION, GRADING AND REPORTING
Working Draft – June, 2007
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The Wellington Catholic District School Board wishes to express appreciation to
• the Waterloo Catholic District School Board for the use of their Assessment, Evaluation, Grading and Reporting document which was used as a basis for this working document.
• all Department Heads who reviewed and revised the draft versions.
• the members of the Secondary School Assessment and Evaluation Committee, 2006-2007 namely,
Vince Campolongo Brian Capovilla Eileen Clinton Terry Donaghy Linda DiPieri Amy Marando James McAvoy Heather McDonald Paul McNamara Ann Melnyk Tom Reidel James Seguin Joe Vadala Vince Venneri Heather Yates
and former members,
Pat DaMaren Tom Doyle Stacy Hicks Brenda Kenney Ted Laxton Will Lenssen Val Marks Janice Teeter
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Rationale 3 Guiding Principles 4 Assessment and Evaluation of Student Achievement of Curriculum Expectations 6
Assessment and Evaluation of Learning Skills 7
Late and Missed Assessment and Evaluation Activities 8 Grading 9
Chart For the Conversion of Levels To A Mark In Each Category 11
Chart For Determining A Report Card Comment For Students Who Have Achieved A Grade Of Less Than 50% 12
APPENDICES
Course Overview 13
Cheating and Plagiarism 16
Rationale The educators of Wellington Catholic District School Board uphold the philosophy that assessment and evaluation practices are means: • to improve student learning; • to recognize that Catholic schools are communities of formation; • to enter into relationships which honour the value and dignity of persons; • for Catholic educators to develop their own Christ-centred personhood; • to challenge students to develop all dimensions of their personhood—physical, intellectual, emotional, psychological, moral, and spiritual; • to foster a commitment to excellence; • to create a consciousness of the global community and our responsibility to the common good of all people; • to integrate knowledge, skills, and values which provide opportunities for students to re-create themselves in the image of Christ; • to affirm that forgiveness and healing are essential for Christ-centred personhood.
Guiding Principles A well-designed system of assessment, evaluation, and reporting based on clearly stated curriculum expectations and achievement criteria allows teachers to focus on high standards of achievement for all students and promotes consistency in these practices across Ontario. (Program Planning and Assessment, p. 13) The primary purpose of assessment and evaluation is to improve student learning. Information gathered through assessment helps teachers to determine students’ strengths and weaknesses in their achievement of the curriculum expectations in each course. This information also serves to guide teachers in adapting curriculum and instructional approaches to students’ needs and in assessing the overall effectiveness of programs and classroom practices. (Program Planning and Assessment, p. 13) Educators within the Wellington Catholic District School Board are committed to designing and implementing authentic assessment strategies that promote improved student achievement of the provincial curriculum expectations and the expectations for the Ontario Catholic School Graduate. Authentic Assessment practices include assessment, evaluation, grading and reporting. The primary purpose of each of these practices is to improve student learning. “Assessment” is the process of gathering evidence that accurately reflects how well a student is achieving the identified curriculum expectations. Assessment data serves to guide teachers in adapting curriculum and instructional approaches to students’ needs and in assessing the overall effectiveness of programs and classroom practices. As part of assessment, teachers provide students with feedback that guides their efforts towards improved performance. Assessment activities allow students to practise demonstrating their knowledge and skills before a summative or final evaluation of student achievement is made. “Evaluation” refers to the process of making a judgement about the quality of student work on the basis of established criteria. Evaluation involves “marking” individual samples of student work and the assignment of a level or score to represent the quality. “Grading” is assigning a percentage mark (see Section 4.7) to represent the level of student achievement over a period of time. The purpose of grading is to report and document student achievement at designated times throughout the learning process. “Reporting” is the formal process of communicating student achievement of the identified curriculum expectations by means of the Provincial Report Card, Grades 9-12. In order to ensure that assessment and evaluation are valid and reliable, and that they lead to the improvement of student learning, teachers must use assessment and evaluation strategies that: • Address both what students learn, as outlined in the Ministry expectations and Catholic School Graduate outcomes, and how well they learn, as outlined in the Achievement Levels of the Categories of Knowledge and Skills; • are varied in nature, administered over a period of time, and designed to provide opportunities for students to demonstrate the full range of learning; • are appropriate for the learning activities used, the purposes of instruction, and the needs and experiences of the students; • are fair to all students; • accommodate and/or modify for the needs of exceptional students, consistent with the strategies outlined in their Individual Education Plan; • accommodate and/or modify for the needs of students who are learning the language of instruction; • ensure that each student is given clear directions for improvement (i.e. next steps); • promote students’ ability to assess their own learning and to set specific goals; • include the use of exemplars that provide evidence of achievement (e. g. samples of students’ work, teachers’ examples, Ministry exemplars); • are communicated clearly to students and parents at the beginning of the course and at other appropriate points throughout the semester. 1. Assessment and Evaluation of Student Achievement of Curriculum Expectations 1.1 Teachers in all discipline areas will use the subject-specific Achievement Charts in The Ontario Curriculum, Grades 9 and 10 and The Ontario Curriculum, Grades 11 and 12 curriculum documents as a framework for assessing, evaluating, grading, and reporting student achievement of the learning expectations.
• Knowledge / Understanding • Thinking • Communication • Application 1.3 Each respective system subject department will determine the percentage weighting for the four categories of knowledge and skills for each course. This weighting will be determined by clustering the expectations for the course according to the four categories of knowledge and skills. This clustering will clarify that, in a particular course, some of the categories may have a greater emphasis than others and that the weighting will be balanced accordingly. (The weighting may not necessarily be a 25% weighting for each category.) 1.4 At the beginning of each semester, teachers will distribute a student/parent Course Overview package to their students. This package will summarize the curricular expectations for each of the four categories of knowledge and skills and will outline the assessment and evaluation methods and strategies for the course. (See Appendix 1 for outline of course overview.)
1.5 All curriculum expectations must be accounted for in instruction, but evaluation focuses on students’ achievement of the overall expectations. A students’ achievement of the overall expectations is evaluated on the basis of his or her achievement of the related specific expectations. Teachers will use their professional judgement to determine which specific expectations should be used to evaluate achievement of the overall expectations, and which ones will be covered in instruction and assessment but not necessarily evaluated. 1.6 Teachers will use a variety of assessment methods, strategies, and instruments 1.7 Students will be provided with numerous and varied opportunities to demonstrate the full extent of their achievement of the curricular expectations, across all four categories of knowledge and skills. (Program Planning and Assessment, p. 15) 1.8 Teachers will use diagnostic assessment activities as required to determine students’ strengths and learning needs in order to plan, modify, adjust instruction, or provide alternate learning opportunities. 1.9 Ongoing formative assessment activities will be used to monitor student performance and to provide feedback in an effort to enhance and improve learning and instruction. Formative assessment data will be recorded to support teachers’ professional judgement in the determination of report card grades for “progress” and “final” reports. 1.10 Teachers will use data gathered through summative evaluation activities to evaluate and grade student performance. Summative evaluation activities may be subtasks completed part way through a unit or culminating tasks at the end of a unit or grading period. Summative evaluation activities will be valid and appropriate activities and will take place after students have had an opportunity to develop the required knowledge and skills and have received feedback to improve their performance. Summative evaluation activities, therefore, will be final evaluation activities for curriculum expectations. 1.11 The achievement charts found in the curriculum policy document for each discipline will provide a reference point for all assessment and evaluation practice, including the assignment of percentage grades when the teacher grades student performance at designated reporting times. 1.12 As part of regular assessment practices, when an assessment task is introduced in class, teachers will communicate the overall and specific learning expectations, assessment criteria and strategies to their students. 1.13 When evaluating student performance on individual assessment activities, teachers will assign and record levels of achievement to track performance of overall expectations.
1.14 When a student has attempted an evaluation activity and not demonstrated sufficient achievement of the curriculum expectations to meet even the criteria identified for level 1, teachers will use “R” to indicate that remediation and/or additional learning are required before the student can achieve the expectations to a passing level. The R may also be a sign that accommodations and/or program modifications through the development of an IEP may be required to support student learning. 1.15 The final 30% evaluation component for the course will require students to demonstrate, through appropriate evaluation strategies, achievement of the overall course expectations related to the four categories of knowledge and skills. 2. Assessment and Evaluation of Learning Skills 2.1 Learning skills will also be used as evidence to support the assessment of Catholic Graduate Expectations. 2.2 The report card will provide a record of the learning skills demonstrated by the student in every course, in the following five areas: • Works Independently • Teamwork • Organization • Work Habits • Initiative 2.3 The learning skills will be evaluated using a four-point scale: • E – Excellent • G – Good • S – satisfactory • N – needs improvement 2.4 Although learning skills have a significant impact, positive or negative, on achievement, the evaluation of the learning skills will not be included in the determination of the student’ percentage grade. (Program Planning and Assessment, p. 19) 2.5 Learning skills will be assessed according to criteria that will be clearly communicated to students, as outlined in Living and Learning Skills Assessment Rubrics. (See Appendix 2) 3. Late and Missed Assessment and Evaluation Activities 3.1 While absences and lates may significantly impact on student achievement, attendance and punctuality will not be used in the determination of the student’s percentage grade. 3.2 Students are expected to complete and/or submit all assessment and evaluation activities on the date determined by the teacher. The teacher (and/or the principal when necessary) will decide if such a late activity will be accepted for evaluation purposes or only for formative assessment with no level/mark recorded for grading. 3.3 When a student fails to complete a summative evaluation activity because of a legitimate reason, the teacher will provide the student with an opportunity to demonstrate that he or she has met the respective expectations. If the late assignment is accepted, marks will not be deducted; neither will a zero be assigned for lateness.
3.4 When a student fails to complete an assessment or evaluation activity because of a non-legitimate reason, the teacher will record an “M” in the teacher records to indicate a missed activity. If the evaluation is summative, the parent will be contacted by the teacher and, under certain conditions, the student may be expected to complete the evaluation.
3.5 Students and parents will be advised in the student / parent Course Overview that failure to complete assessment and evaluation activities reduces the body of evidence upon which the teacher can evaluate student achievement of the curriculum expectations and could jeopardize the granting of a credit for the course. 4. Grading 4.1 The final grade for each course will be determined as follows: • Seventy percent (70%) of the grade will be based on evaluations conducted throughout the course. This portion of the grade should reflect the student’s most consistent level of achievement throughout the course, although special consideration should be given to more recent evidence of achievement. • Thirty percent (30%) of the grade will be based on a final evaluation in the form of an examination, performance, essay, and/or other method of evaluation suitable to the course content and administered towards the end of the course. The final evaluation should reflect the percentage weighting for the four categories as determined in section 1.3. This evaluation may involve more than one assessment activity. 4.2 Teachers will use the following process to determine the student’s grade for term work (section 1.3):
i. Assessment evidence will be examined in each category, and the student’s most consistent level of achievement will be determined based on this evidence. Special consideration should be given to the student’s more recent achievement when appropriate. ii. A percentage will be determined for each category based on the chart below. iii. The percentage for each category will be converted to a mark based on the weighting for each category (section 1.3). iv. These four marks will be summed to determine the grade for term work.
Where the number of M’s and/or R’s is a significant part of the student achievement, the teacher will conference with the Department Head before assigning a grade. 5. Reporting
Learning skills are evaluated on a 4 point scale (E-excellent, G-good, S-satisfactory, N-needs improvement). CHART FOR THE CONVERSION OF LEVELS TO A MARK IN EACH CATEGORY
CHART FOR DETERMINING A REPORT CARD COMMENT FOR STUDENTS WHO HAVE ACHIEVED A GRADE OF LESS THAN 50% 4.3 If the final grade is less than 50%, a percentage mark between 25% and 45% will be assigned as an indication that the student is not meeting course expectations. The following comments will be used on the final report card.
APPENDIX 1 COURSE OVERVIEW
SCHOOL NAME COURSE OVERVIEW COURSE TITLE: COURSE CODE: CREDIT VALUE: SCHOOL YEAR: TEACHERS: COURSE DESCRIPTION: (to be the same as the description in the course calendar) HOW THIS COURSE SUPPORTS THE ONTARIO CATHOLIC GRADUATE EXPECTATIONS: (to be taken from the Course Profile. Include as a last statement: Please see the Course Calendar/Catholic Student Planners (Faith Planners) for a listing of the Ontario Catholic Graduate Expectations.)
UNIT TITLES (TIME AND SEQUENCE): EVALUATION: Evaluation is based on the overall expectations of the course. These can be found at http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum/secondary/subjects.html (A summary of course grade weightings and category weightings should be included in a chart such as shown below. Include within the chart a general statement indicating the types of assessment strategies that will be used in the course.)
LATE/MISSED EVALUATIONS: Failure to complete assessment and evaluation activities reduces the body of evidence upon which the teacher can evaluate student achievement of the curriculum expectations and could jeopardize the granting of a credit for the course. Cheating and Plagiarism: Please see information regarding this topic in the Catholic student planners. General Course Information: (may include textbook, other resources used, fees, departmental policies) Parent/Guardian/Student Signature: My signature below indicates that I have read and understood the course overview. Student Signature: Date: Parent/ Guardian Signature: Date: This signed course overview document must be kept in the student notebook.
APPENDIX 2 CHEATING AND PLAGIARISM 1. Academic Honesty
1.2 Students have the responsibility to ensure that all work submitted is their own or appropriately attributed to its source.
1.3 It is the responsibility of the students to abide by this procedural document.
2. Definitions
2.1 Cheating is the direct attempts to use another’s work, as one’s own, an act of deliberate dishonesty. It involves activities such as using unofficial cheat sheets, copying all or some of another student’s work and claiming it as one’s own original work, or allowing another student to copy one’s own work.
2.2 Plagiarism is a form of cheating that is a serious legal, ethical and academic offense, be it intentional or unintentional.
2.3 Plagiarism is defined as the following:
3. Strategies For Avoiding Plagiarism (Teachers)
4. Strategies For Avoiding Plagiarism (Students)
5. Consequences of Cheating
For a culminating activity, a mark of 0 may be given for those portions of the task achieved through cheating only after consultation with department heads, and administrators.
5.2 The student will be interviewed by the respective teacher, department head, and vice-principal of program. An appropriate disciplinary measure will be determined and may include suspension.
5.3 The parent(s) will be informed of the infraction and the disciplinary measure.
6. Consequences of Plagiarism
For a culminating activity, a mark of 0 may be given for those portions of the task that have been plagiarized only after consultation with department heads, and administrators.
6.2 The student will be interviewed by the respective teacher, department head, and vice-principal of program. An appropriate disciplinary measure will be determined and may include suspension.
6.3 The parent(s) will be informed of the infraction and the disciplinary measure.
6.4 An account of the plagiarism infraction will be noted and placed in the documentation file of the student’s OSR. An example of a report form is shown in Section 7.
7. Cheating and Plagiarism Report
Student: _____________________ Date of Incident: _____________________
Course: _____________________ Assessment Task: _____________________
Teacher: ______________________
Details of the Cheating / Plagiarism Infraction
_____ The use of unofficial cheat sheets
_____ The copying of all or some of another student’s work and claiming it as one’s own original work
_____ Allowing another student to copy one’s own work
_____ The use of another person’s ideas, opinions, or theories, without giving proper acknowledgment of the original creator
_____ The use of any facts, statistics, graphs, email, visual images, art work, music compositions, data structures, notes, or any information that is not common knowledge, without giving proper credit to the original author or source
_____ The fabrication and citing of non-existent information and resources
_____ Using quotations of another person’s actual spoken or written words, without giving proper credit to the original author or source
_____ Paraphrasing another person’s spoken or written words, without giving proper credit to the original author or source
_____ Submitting as one’s own work, work that has been conceived jointly with others, without giving proper credit to the contributions of others
_____ The use of informational software, the Internet, or electronic translation resources, in whole or in part, and claiming it as one’s own work, without giving proper credit to the original author or source
Consequences of the Cheating / Plagiarism Infraction
_____ An “M” indicator has been recorded for each of the expectations being assessed on the above task, by the respective teacher.
_____ The student has been interviewed by _____ the teacher, _____department head, and _____vice-principal of program.
The following disciplinary measure has been implemented:
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____ The parent(s) have been informed of the infraction and the disciplinary measure.
_____ An account of the plagiarism infraction has been noted and placed in the documentation file of the student’s OSR.
Student’s Signature: ___________________________ Date: _________________
Teacher’s Signature: ___________________________ Date: _________________ Department Head Signature: ___________________________ Date: _________________ Principal’s Signature: ___________________________ Date: _________________
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