PHILOSOPHY AND PRINCIPLES OF ASSESSMENT
St.Elizabeth Public School embraces / recognizes assessment to test the achievement of students, to assess the effectiveness of the teaching — learning process and to maintain standards. Moreover, they are utilized for providing a criterion for certification and placement, besides providing remedial measures.
PURPOSE / AIMS OF ASSESSMENT
- The aim of assessment is to enhance student learning.
- Assessments shall be criterion – related performance assessment.
- Assessment focuses on all areas of learning in ST.ELIZABETH PUBLIC SCHOOL — Academics, co-curricular and extra-curricular.
- Assessments shall be linked to the teacher and school system performance and instructional improvement
- Assessments shall be communicated to all the stake holders of the school (students, parents, teachers, Management)
- Assessments produce feedback for students, teachers, parents and management.
- The published results of DP assessment (that is, subject grades) must have a sufficiently high level of reliability, appropriate of a high-stake university entrance qualification.
- DP assessment must pay appropriate attention to the higher- -order cognitive skills (synthesis, reflection, evaluation, critical thinking) as well as the more fundamental cognitive skills (knowledge, understanding and application).
- Assessment for each subject must include a suitable range of tasks and instruments / components that ensure all objectives for the subject are assessed.
- The principal means of assessing student achievement and determining subject grades should be the professional judgment of experienced senior examiners, supported by statistical information.
Throughout the curriculum and instructional process assessment should:
- Account for a variety of learning styles.
- Be differentiated to account for the diverse backgrounds of learners.
- Be both formative and summative.
- Beon-going and reflective.
ASSESSMENT METHODS
ST.ELIZABETH PUBLIC SCHOOL deploy variousassessment methods to monitor student progress in a non-threatening supportive environment. It involves regular descriptive feedback, a chance for the student to reflect on the performance, take advice and improve upon it. It involves students’ being an essential part of assessment from designing criteria to assessing self or peers. If used effectively it can improve student performance tremendously while raising the self-esteem of the child and reducing the work load of the teacher.
Some of the main features of our assessment are listed below:
- Is diagnostic and remedial
- Makes the provision for effective feedback
- Provides the platform for the active involvement of students in their own learning.
- Enables teachers to adjust teaching to take account of the results of assessment.
- Recognizes the profound influence assessment has on the motivation and self-esteem of students, both of which are crucial influences on learning.
- Recognizes the need for students to be able to assess themselves and understand how to improve.
- Builds on students’ prior knowledge and experience in designing what is taught.
- Incorporates varied learning styles into deciding how and what to teach.
- Encourages students to understand the criteria that will be used to judge their work.
- Offers an opportunity to students to improve their work after feedback.
- Helps students to support their peers, and expect to be supported by them.
Our assessment is thus carried out during a course of instruction for providing continuous feedback to both the teachers and the learners for taking decisions regarding appropriate modifications in the transactional procedures and learning activities
OUR ASSESSMENT STRATEGIES
ENGLISH
- Communicative competence (Using four skills (LSRW); interpreting genres of Literature, dramatization and transformation to other Genres.
- Response and appreciation (appreciating various pieces of writing; think, access and process information in the spoken and written form)
- Oral presentations
- Group activities
- Systematic analysis (critical thinking; comparing and contrasting texts; compiling, collating, adapting, reproducing; applying knowledge and cultural elements: free response)
SECOND LANGUAGE
- Group activity — Oral (Role Play, dialogue, skit, relay instructions)
- Concept Test — (Quiz, Vocabulary, Puzzles, Problem Solving)
- Imbibe knowledge through creativity — (poster / Chart making, Invitation card , notices, announcements, bulletin designing)
- Application techniques (make sentences, translate) .
- Listening / reading comprehension (match, fill in, choose, synonyms)
MATHEMATICS
- Diagnostic assessments
- Oral assessments
- Exploration tasks
- Investigative tasks
- Modelling / Hands on activity tasks
SCIENCES
- Activities [Quiz, puzzles, Labwork, Group discussion, Role-Play]
- Presentations [Oral, multimedia]
- Assignments [Project, portfolio, lab reports, research work]
- Activity sheets, poster making, think-pair-share
- Exit tasks [Concept maps, topic summary, quick review, minute report]
COMPUTER SCIENCE
- Problem based learning
- Use of IT skills
- Classroom activities
- Oral Assessment
- Social and ethical issue in IT
MONTHLY ASSESSMENT
Monthly assessment is carried out at the end of a month of learning. It measures how much a student has learned from the course. It is usually a graded test, i.e., it is marked according to a scale, set of grades or marks.
Assessment that is predominantly of summative nature will not by itself be able to yield a valid measure of the growth and development of the child. It, at best, certifies the level of achievement only at a given point of time.
MONTHLY ASSESSMENTS STRATEGIES
1) Unit tests
2) Written examinations
3) Projects / Assignments
4) Internal Assessment
CONCLUSION
At St. Elizabeth Public School our motto “to be the light of the world” is achieved through a well-defined academic assessment policy which gives our students an edge over others in the dog eat dog world. Well defined assessment policy of our school offers the students and teachers a new horizon of academic excellence as well.