Overview
Welcome to Assessment: A Whole-School Approach.
In 2021, the IB published their research into the role of assessment as an important aspect of whole school practice, titled “Teaching and learning informed by assessment in the Diploma Programme” (IB website requires MyIB Login). The publication was an outcome of a process of reflecting on the role of formative assessment and the ambition to offer a cohesive but contextually sensitive framework for using assessment for and as learning.
This publication uses this research and its conclusions as a starting point; it is not a summary of the findings and recommendations in the 89-page publication. Instead, it is supplementary, taking the research as a base and looking to support schools reflecting on their understanding of assessment and therefore their assessment practices. It is also not the only publication by the IB that references assessment. The following IB publications are worth consulting, if necessary:
• Assessment principles and practices—Quality assessments in a digital age. (IB website requires MyIB Login)
• What is an IB education? (IB website requires MyIB Login)
• Programme standards and practices. (IB website requires MyIB Login)
• Diploma Programme: From principles into practice. (IB website requires MyIB Login)
• Diploma Programme: Approaches to teaching and learning. (IB website requires MyIB Login)
The underlying principle of this publication is that assessment is constant in a school’s existence and therefore ongoing throughout the student’s learning. This learning is both academic and personal, focused not just on preparation for pre-tertiary summative assessments, but also on their ability to develop motivation, metacognitive awareness self-regulation, and self-evaluate their own work (Carless: 2011 (1)). These abilities can be captured under the umbrella term of ‘independent learning’ and are key to the OECD’s Transformative Competencies for 2030 (2).
1. David Carless, From Testing to Productive Student Learning: Implementing Formative Assessment in Confucian-Heritage Settings, Routledge
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