Assessment Principles and Practices 2018 – IB) o

 

 

Assessment principles
and practices—Quality
assessments in a digital age

Overview ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 5

Table of contents

Table of contents

Foreword

Why read this document?

Using this resource—different routes through the document

Introduction

What are assessment principles and practices?

Which IB programmes does it cover?

Who is this resource for?

What does the tag line “quality assessment in a digital age” mean?

How does this resource relate to other IB resources and guides?

Introduction and overview of this resource ……………………………………………………………………………………. 21

Assessment using technology

Language of assessment

Emerging terms for eAssessment

What is assessment about?

Fit for purpose? Validity

Elements of the validity chain

Defining standards

Marking assessments

What is a good assessment?

IB’s principles of assessment

What do we mean by a practice?

Reporting candidate achievement

Roles and responsibilities

Section A—Principles of Assessment ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… 39

Describing success— candidate achievement for summative assessment

Section B—IB assessment practices ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… 108

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Integrity of the assessment

Fairness for all—meeting candidates’ needs

The assessment cycle

Examination paper preparation—development and quality

Standard setting—Preparing examiners for marking

Examinations

Marking

Moderation

Grade awarding (and aggregation)

“At risk” based quality checks

The final award committee

Preparation for release of results

Setting next year’s assessments

Feedback to schools

Enquiries upon results (EUR), appeals and general feedback

What are programme-specific processes?

Elements common to all programmes

IB Diploma Programme

IB Career-related Programme

IB Middle Years Programme

IB Primary Years Programme

Moderation of internal assessment

Roadmap for creating a validity argument

Bibliography

Glossary

Section C—IB programme-specific processes …………………………………………………………………………… 211

Annexes …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 237

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Assessment principles and practices—Quality assessments in a digital age

Overview

Table of contents

This resource has been designed to have many routes through, depending on the interests and needs

of the reader. The following table of contents is intended only as a reference list of all the chapters

rather than a suggested order in which they should be read. We would encourage you to start with

the chapter on Using this resource, to understand how to navigate to the sections which are most

important to you.

Foreword

“Everything that can be counted does not necessarily count; everything that counts cannot
necessarily be counted.

— (Albert Einstein/William Cameron 1963)

“Clearly, if the other criteria are less reliable than the examinations, greater reliance on them
will lead to less reliable selection decisions.

— (Mike Cresswell 1986)

These two quotes indicate the scope of the challenge that we face with assessment. Many of the

objectives for an International Baccalaureate (IB) education are not easy to assess, but without

detailed assessments of our learners, important decisions that will affect their lives will be made on

less fair and reliable grounds.

IB programmes are taught in over 140 countries by schools representing a wide variety of educational

contexts and traditions. In some of these contexts, the philosophy and approaches adopted by the IB

in assessing their students will seem familiar, while to others, the system might seem mysterious and

In this document, we are seeking to explain the principles the IB has adopted to make sure that the

assessment we undertake is meaningful, fair and in the best interest of the students involved.

obscure.

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Assessment principles and practices—Quality assessments in a digital age

Overview

Such clarity is even more important during a period of change, and the impact of technology

on education, including assessment, will continue to be felt over the next decade. We strongly

believe that technology should support assessment and the move towards computerized on-screen

examinations will not change our principles; but it may open up new possibilities in turning these

principles into practices. More details on this can be found in the chapter on Assessment using

technology.

We believe that it is important that everyone in the IB community understands how our external

assessment process works, what its strengths and limitations are, and the reasons why decisions are

taken. Increased transparency can only lead to better understanding and ultimately a better education

for our students. By using the opportunities offered by on-screen resources, we hope to provide
teachers with a clear guide that is accessible but also contains the depth of information they need to

understand IB assessment.

Figure 1: All assessments are a balance

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Assessment principles and practices—Quality assessments in a digital age

Overview

All assessments are a balance between conflicting demands and many concerns about testing

processes fail to take this into account.

An example might be the tension between reducing the assessments burden and the risk of

candidates only having one opportunity to show what they can do.

For more information on this see the section on validity.

Need to balance between conflicting priorities

Another aspect of balance is the fact that the focus of the IB is to develop students through a holistic

programme of study, and we must reflect this in our approach to assessment. This means we should

make decisions about the impact on the overall programme, not a narrow focus on one subject,

discipline or assessment.

In order to understand the nature of the IB assessment philosophy and operation, it is necessary to

provide some background on the historical and theoretical development of assessment practice.

Many significant issues are only briefly touched upon, but it is important to highlight them as they

have a significant impact on current practice. For readers who wish to find out more, the academic

papers quoted in the text will make a suitable starting point for further investigation.

We started by recognizing the difficult task the IB sets itself; to focus on what is important to assess

and not what is easy. This is perhaps most eloquently expressed by Alec Peterson, the first Director

General of the IB:

“What is needed is a process of assessment which is as valid as possible, in the sense that it
really assesses the whole endowment and personality of the pupil in relation to the next
stage of his life, but at the same time sufficiently reliable to assure pupils, parents, teachers,
and receiving institutions that justice is being done. Yet such a process must not, by its
backwash effect, distort good teaching, nor be too slow, nor absorb too much of our scarce
educational resources.

— (Peterson 1971)

We hope the rest of this resource explains how we believe we can deliver on this challenging

objective and support the wider educational intentions of the International Baccalaureate in providing

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Assessment principles and practices—Quality assessments in a digital age

Overview

a world class experience for its students. If you have further queries which are beyond the scope of

this resource please contact IB assessment staff, by emailing assessment@ibo.org.

Why read this document?

Because assessment results have an impact on students’ lives

The majority of the content of this document refers to the way in which the IB assesses candidates

to award Diploma Programme (DP), Career-related Programme (CP) and the optional Middle Years

Programme (MYP) outcomes, which are then used by students to progress into further education or

work.

Like everything else, assessment is only a tool which can lead to positive or negative outcomes for

those being evaluated with them. As a teacher, parent or student, you are involved in assessments

and should understand the strengths, weaknesses and decisions that those offering and using

assessment need to make. Below are some of the common questions and comments we receive from

teachers and how this document will help answer them.

This is the heartfelt question that we often hear from teachers and students when faced with

external assessment. By reading this document you should understand the principles that drive our

“Why would the IB do that?”

assessment practices.

“It’s not fair sir, I needed a higher grade!”

For students, a great deal will depend on their examination results, such as university entrance and

future career; and they need to understand why decisions are made. Assessment is all about balancing

conflicting and competing demands and this document will help you to explain to students the wider

implications of bending the rules in their case, and maybe even convince them that their grade was

“fair”.

“I had not thought about it like that before.”

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