Assessment in the PYP

St. Luke school - kindergarten

As we have discussed at Curriculum Night and in classroom presentations, our philosophy on assessment is changing as we continue down the journey towards IB authorization. We are beginning to assess beyond the level of KNOWLEDGE ACQUISITION and are more interested in whether or not our students are able to MAKE MEANING of the content being presented or researched. Our goal is to have students truly understand concepts so that they can TRANSFER knowledge learned to an unfamiliar situation in the future.

As example of assessing KNOWLEDGE ACQUISITION would be stating what was learned or describing it to someone new. Assessing, MEANING MAKING of content, could be to ask a student to explain why they think something is important or significant. An example of assessing TRANSFER of knowledge could be asking a student to analyze and/or evaluate the pros and cons of a unit concept.

Take a look at this kindergarten assessment on how 'Our choice to follow rules can create fair and just communities'. Students have been learning about rules in different settings and then were asked to think of a rule for a setting not already taught in class. Notice how we are asking students to go beyond the knowledge explicitly taught and are guiding them to a deeper understanding of how content being taught applies to the the world outside the classroom walls.