Assessment Policy

ASSESSMENT POLICY

This policy applies to students in the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme (MYP) at School-Gymnasium №201, covering MYP 1-5 (Grades 5–9). The document is based on the IB’s philosophy of learning and assessment and is aligned with the Republic of Kazakhstan’s educational standards and local regulations.

The policy presents an overview of the school’s assessment principles, types of assessment, grading systems, and reporting practices that combine IB standards with Kazakhstan’s national education requirements.

2. Purpose and Principles of Assessment

Purpose

Assessment is a key component of the learning process and serves as a continuous cycle of gathering, interpreting and communicating information about student learning. Its purpose is to:

• enhance and support student learning;

• provide evidence for evaluating achievement;

• inform teaching and curriculum planning;

• communicate progress to students, parents and educators;

• ensure fairness, transparency, and consistency across subjects and grade levels.

Principles:

• Support Learning. Assessment promotes improvement through feedback and reflection, focusing on progress as well as performance.

• Encourage Positive Attitudes. Assessment is designed to develop confidence, motivation and responsibility for learning.

• Promote Understanding. Assessment tasks connect to real-world contexts, allowing students to apply conceptual understanding.

• Develop Higher-Order Skills. Tasks are designed to stimulate analysis, evaluation and problem-solving. 

• Reflect International-Mindedness. Assessment considers multiple perspectives and cultural contexts.

• Support Holistic Development: Address all aspects of student growth. 

• Ensure Equity and Inclusion. Assessment practices accommodate diverse learners and linguistic needs.

• Inform Teaching. Teachers use assessment data to plan instruction, differentiation and curriculum development.

3. Roles and Responsibilities

4. Types of Assessment

Assessment at school is both continuous and balanced, combining formative, summative and self-assessment strategies.

3.1 Assessment for Learning (Formative)

Formative assessment is a continuous process embedded within daily teaching and learning. It aims to monitor student progress, guide teaching strategies and encourage reflection to enhance learning outcomes. 

Formative assessment:

• is integrated throughout the learning process rather than limited to specific moments;

• provides timely and constructive feedback that supports improvement;

• informs subsequent teaching strategies and individual learning goals;

• encourages students to reflect on their performance and take ownership of their learning;

• helps teachers identify misconceptions and adjust instruction to meet diverse learning needs.

3.2 Assessment of Learning (Summative)

Summative assessment measures what students know and can do at the end of a learning period. It:

• evaluates achievement against subject-specific IB criteria;

• occurs at the end of units, terms or projects;

• informs final reporting and grading.

Summative assessments take into account the requirements of students with access arrangements ( Inclusion & Language Policies).  

Examples: Compositions, creation of solutions or products in response to problems, essays, portfolios, process journals, examinations (multiple choice, open ended questions), investigations, research, presentations (verbal/multimedia), etc.

The GRASPS model for assessment is encouraged at school. GRASPS promotes authentic assessment and helps teachers ground tasks in the real-word.

3.3 Assessment as Learning (Self- and Peer-Assessment)

Students are active participants in the assessment process. Self- and peer-assessment:

• help students monitor their own progress;

• promote independent and critical thinking;

• develop skills of evaluation and feedback

5. Assessment in the MYP ContextAssessment in the MYP is continuous and criterion-related. It focuses on what students know, understand and can do in relation to subject-specific objectives.

Core Features:

• Each MYP subject has four assessment criteria (A–D), each assessed on an 8-level scale (1–8).

• Teachers use task-specific clarifications derived from IB descriptors.

• All criteria are assessed at least twice per year in each subject.

• Teachers make holistic “best-fit” judgments when determining final criterion levels.

• Final MYP grades are determined using the IB 1–7 grade scale.

Assessment Criteria for all subject groups 

Each subject group has four different criteria against which student achievement is assessed. The advantage of these criteria being subject specific is that a student receives detailed information on what they can do to improve in that subject in each of the key areas that matter in that discipline.

In MYP years 1–3, the school offers Arts as a compulsory subject group delivered through discrete arts disciplines, with Visual Art and Music taught as separate courses in accordance with national curriculum requirements. Each discipline develops its own MYP unit planners aligned with the Arts objectives and assessment criteria.

Student achievement in Visual Art and Music is assessed using the MYP Arts criteria. Evidence from both disciplines is considered collectively to determine a single MYP Arts achievement level for each student. This approach ensures valid, reliable, and consistent assessment and compliance with the minimum requirement of 50 teaching hours per subject group per academic year.

In MYP years 4 and 5, in accordance with subject-group flexibility outlined in MYP: From principles into practice, students study six subject groups and choose Physical and Health Education to fulfill the Arts/Design/PHE requirement.

During grade 9, students undertake their final assessments as per the illustration below.

• Students can be registered for the external or internal exams. External exams are marked by the IB examiners, internal exams are marked by school teachers. Students who sit for English, one Language Acquisition, Mathematics, History/Geography, one Science, and submit the Personal Project and one e-Portfolio (either Physical and Health Education, or Design or one of the Arts), are eligible for the MYP certificate. The MYP certificate is awarded if students achieve at least a level 3 in all the examinations and have a total score of at least 28 points.

• External exams are not compulsory and the registration for external or internal exams is always taken in the best interest of the students. Parents, students, and the MYP coordinator collaborate to determine the most suitable pathway for each student, with the final determination resting with the MYP coordinator.

6. Integration of IB Assessment with Kazakhstan’s National Standards

School-Gymnasium №201 operates within both the IB and Kazakhstan’s national frameworks. Therefore, assessment must meet IB expectations while fulfilling the requirements of the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

6.1. Mapping IB Grades to National Grades

To maintain consistency in national reporting, the following conversion is used:

6.2 Implementation

• Teachers record MYP achievement levels for each criterion (A–D) in Google Workspace  or the electronic gradebook.  Example of gradebook: Gradebook

• At the end of each semester, the final MYP level (1–7) is converted into a Kazakhstan grade (1–5) for official reports.  

• Both sets of data are kept in school archives for transparency during authorization and inspection.

• Example of reporting file: Example of Reporting - Google Sheets.pdf

This Report card is used twice a year to report student achievement to parents and students. It also includes a section for documenting students’ ATL skill development.

Academic Integrity in Assessment

Students are expected to submit authentic work that reflects their own learning. They must properly acknowledge the work of others and avoid any form of malpractice.

Teachers explicitly teach academic honesty skills such as:

• How to cite sources appropriately

• How to work independently

• How to collaborate ethically

Cases of academic misconduct are addressed according to the school’s Academic Integrity Policy.

7. Grade Moderation

Purpose
Grade moderation ensures that internal assessment marks are consistent, fair, and aligned with global IB standards. It allows teachers and students to have confidence that marks reflect the true quality of student work.

Moderation is a checking procedure whereby an external examiner reviews a sample of teacher-assessed coursework and establishes whether the teacher-awarded marks are correct, too harsh, or too lenient. In cases where teacher-awarded marks differ from the IB standard, a moderation factor is applied to all student marks for that component to ensure global consistency.

Scope
Grade moderation applies to all summative assessments in the MYP, including unit tasks, projects, e-Portfolios, Personal Projects, and internal examinations. 

Principles of Grade Moderation

• Global Consistency: Students’ work is assessed to ensure that marks awarded are consistent with IB standards worldwide.

• Internal Standardization: Within the school, teachers standardize marking practices to ensure alignment across classes and subjects before submission for IB moderation.

• Transparency: Teachers and students are informed about the moderation process, purpose, and potential outcomes.

• Professional Dialogue: Teachers collaborate to review, discuss, and calibrate assessment decisions based on IB criteria.

• Documentation: All moderation decisions, outcomes, and feedback are recorded for accountability, reflection, and improvement.
  
  

Roles and Responsibilities

Process for Internal Moderation

1. Pre-Moderation
   Teachers select a representative sample of student work for each summative task, including examples of high, , and low achievement, covering the full range of student performance.

Heads of Departments ensure that task instructions, assessment rubrics, and application of IB criteria are consistent across classes.

2. Internal Standardization Meetings
   Teachers meet to review and discuss the samples, calibrating their judgments against IB descriptors and task-specific clarifications.
   Adjustments are made to ensure consistent application of grading criteria across all students.
   
   

3. Post-Moderation Recording
   Moderated grades are finalized in the school’s internal gradebook.
   Records include original teacher-assessed marks, moderated marks, and notes on adjustments.
   Patterns of discrepancy are documented to inform teacher professional development.
   
   

External Moderation

• The IB selects a sample of internally assessed student work for moderation.

• The external examiner checks whether teacher-assessed marks are correct, too harsh, or too lenient.

• Where discrepancies occur, a moderation factor is applied to all marks for that component.

• The school receives feedback on how its marking compares with global IB standards.

• The ideal outcome is alignment with the global standard, requiring no adjustments.

Frequency

• Internal moderation occurs at least once per unit per subject and prior to each reporting period.

• End-of-year moderation reviews final summative grades and ensures readiness for external IB moderation.

Documentation and Reflection

• All moderation meetings, grade adjustments, and IB feedback are recorded.

• Heads of Departments, subject teachers, and the MYP Coordinator review documentation annually to identify trends, gaps, and professional development needs.

• Outcomes of moderation are used to refine teaching strategies, improve assessment design, and ensure consistency in future academic years.

8. Reporting

The school regularly informs parents about student achievement in all subjects throughout the school year: 

Bilim class (prev. Kundelik.kz) is used for meeting national reporting requirements. It provides parents and students with access to local grades, attendance, homework, and teacher comments in accordance with Kazakhstan’s educational regulations. Bilim class displays national curriculum grades only and does not represent the official IB MYP assessment.

IB MYP Reporting (Excel System)

For the IB Middle Years Programme, the school uses a separate IB reporting spreadsheet (Excel-based).

The Excel report includes:

• Criterion-based results (A, B, C, D)

• Feedback on student learning

• Records of ATL skill development

This report is issued twice a year and represents the school’s official communication of IB progress.

Parent Meetings

The first parent meeting of the year is dedicated to general MYP orientation, where parents receive clear information аbout:

• the structure of the MYP

• ATL skills and their purpose

• how criteria-related assessment works

• unit planning and curriculum frameworks

• school expectations for learning and behaviour

This aligns with IB requirements for ensuring parents understand the philosophy, structure, and assessment basis of the programme.

Subsequent meetings throughout the year focus on:

• student progress

• wellbeing

• ATL development

• academic support

Parent–Teacher Open Days (Assessment-Focused)

Open Days are designed specifically to provide transparent access to assessment practices, consistent with IB’s guidance on communicating learning evidence. During these sessions:

• Teachers show parents samples of student work

• Explain how IB criteria are applied

• Demonstrate how assessment levels are determined

• Clarify how criterion totals are converted into the final 1–7 MYP level

Parents may also arrange additional meetings with teachers at other times if needed. 

Policy Review

This Assessment Policy is reviewed annually by the school leadership team in collaboration with teachers and other stakeholders. Revisions are made based on reflection, feedback, and evolving IB requirements.

References

1. Middle Years Programme. MYP: From principles into practice, 2014 

2. International Baccalaureate. Programme standards and practices, 2020 

3. International Baccalaureate. Learning diversity and inclusion in IB programmes.

4. International Baccalaureate. Assessment principles and practices - quality assessments in a digital age, 2019

5. Middle Years Programme. Interdisciplinary teaching and learning in the MYP, 2021 

6. Middle Years Programme. Approaches to learning and approaches to teaching in the Middle Years, 2022 (updated 2023)