Â鶹Çø

Hector P. Garcia Middle School 

Assessment Policy 

Hector P. Garcia Middle School is an authorized International Baccalaureate MYP World School.

For further information about the IB and its programmes visit .

School Mission and Vision Statement

Our vision: Transform Hector P. Garcia into an exemplary campus where all scholars will have the opportunity to reach their full academic, emotional, and social potential through intercultural understanding and respect.

Our mission: Leading transformation as a model of excellence through action-oriented service and college and career-ready expectations.

Philosophy & Commitment, 

The goals of assessments at Garcia MS are to drive instruction and support and encourage learning by providing feedback on the learning process. 

All educational stakeholders work in partnership to enable students to demonstrate mastery on a variety of classroom assessments to show what they have learned and to verify their strengths and areas for growth.  Teachers use both formative and summative assessments throughout each unit of study. Formative assessments are designed to inform students of their learning and progress. They are the grounding and preparation for students to learn the skills needed for larger, interim assignments as well as the unit summative assessments. Additionally, formative assessments provide opportunities for students to make managed errors and learn from their mistakes. Summative assessments, on the other hand, are the teachers’ final opportunity to assess the accumulation of learning before moving on to new topics or skills. There are 2 grading periods within each semester. The formative learning throughout the semester, with corrective feedback, should result in improved student performance over time and should directly impact the semester's grade. The semester grades take into account the summation of all learning shown by the student within these grading periods and indicate the level of knowledge the student has attained as demonstrated on their Academic Course Performance (ACP) Assessments.

Approaches to Learning

Additionally, assessment in the  MYP plays a significant role in the development of approaches to learning (ATL) skills.  These processes of thinking should enable students to arrive at an enhanced understanding of their strengths and limitations. To support ATL skills, the program stresses the importance of both student and teacher self-assessment and reflection throughout the entirety of the Unit.  

 Types of Assessment: Formative vs Summative

Mandatory Assessments

All teachers must administer the following assessments per district and state guidelines:

• STAAR (State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness)

• Academic Course Performance (ACP) Assessments.

• District Common Assessments for core content courses

Using MYP Criteria and Determining Achievement Levels for All Subject Areas

To determine a student’s achievement level, teachers will use a criterion-related approach. Student performance will be measured using pre-determined assessment criteria based on the aims and objectives of each subject area. To determine a student’s overall semester achievement level, teachers will gather evidence from various summative assessments and make a professional and informed decision guided by criteria. 

Recording and Reporting Summative Assessments

• Student work on a summative assessment is assessed using the Middle Years Programme (MYP) subject group criteria. Teachers use MYP-published criteria for summative assessment tasks during the year.

• Objectives from all eight required subject groups are assessed using MYP-published criteria multiple times during the school year.

• Teachers use the Year 1 or 3 of the published rubric appropriate to a student's year in the programme. Sixth-grade teachers use the Year 1 rubric consistently. Usually, 7th-grade teachers use Year 1 for the 1st semester and Year 3 for the 2nd semester. Eighth-grade teachers use the Year 3 rubric consistently.

• MYP scores are awarded according to how well the student has demonstrated mastery of the published criteria

• Rubrics MUST be provided to students before the start of the assessment. 

• All teachers and students must use the rubrics to inform their progress throughout the assessment period. 

Equivalency Chart: MYP scores to Â鶹Çøscores

• Teachers need a grade out of 100% when entering Powerschool grades.

• Allows students to get IB and DISD credit for assessments. 

  • Using task-specific rubrics from subject guides students earn an IB grade (0-8) and a DISD grade (0-100)

Subject groups must address all strands of all four assessment criteria at least twice in each year of the MYP. In the MYP, subject group objectives correspond to assessment criteria. Each criterion has eight possible levels of achievement.

Reporting on Learning

At Garcia MS, we believe that parents, teachers, and students are partners in education. Students and parents are kept informed in the following ways:

• Open-house or parent night (not sure)

• Powerschool (online grade book)

• Teacher and/or counselor e-mails, phone calls, and meetings

• Teacher-student feedback

• Reports:

  • Progress reports are sent out to families every three weeks 

  • Report cards are shared with families every nine weeks 

• Individual Education Plan (IEP) meetings for special needs students and LPAC meetings for English language learners

The Learning Community

• Teacher's Responsibilities

  • Clearly outline assessment expectations in advance using written guidelines and rubrics. 

  • Give timely and detailed feedback on assignments

  • Create opportunities for students to assess their own work 

  • Give opportunities for students to assess and be assessed by their peers

  • Plan meaningful assessments that clearly contribute to learning 

  • Create assessments that require the use of the application and analysis

  • Modify teaching based on formative assessment data throughout the unit

  • Analyze assessment data to identify student performance and needs

  • Work in collaborative teams to create learning opportunities that allow students to succeed on common assessments

  • Compare common assessment data with other teachers to assess where students are learning in Look Back PLC meetings and Admin Team Meetings (A-team)

  • Show an awareness of the diversity of the learning styles of the class by using a variety of assessment and teaching strategies

  • Give feedback on formative assessments before assessing summatively

  • Enter both formative and summative assessments in Powerschool.

  • Work with the Special Education, Dyslexia, and Campus Instructional Leadership Team (CILT) to design assessments that will effectively assess students' learning with specific learning needs. 

  • Communicate with students' advisors and parents when students have excelled or been challenged by an assessment

• Student Responsibilities

  • Act as autonomous learners by thinking independently, assessing progress, and taking responsibility for deadlines

  • Analyze and monitor their own formative and summative assessment data to assess their progress

  • Arrange meetings with subject teachers to get additional support when needed and personalized feedback.

  • Prepare for all assessments to maximize growth

  • Submit work on or before the assigned due date

  • Follow academic honesty guidelines and ensure that any work that is submitted is your own and referenced using MLA format. 

• Family/Community Responsibilities

  • Review assessment results with student

  • Set goals with the student and review them periodically

  • Talk to your student about the importance of statewide tests (STAAR) and the importance of reviewing all assessments

• MYP Coordinator, and Secondary Administration Responsibilities

  • Observe and encourage peer-to-peer observations that cultivate a culture of reflection regarding the assessment of learning and the use of instructional best practices.

  • Support summative assessment

  • Ensure each subject group accesses each prescribed criteria using IB rubrics (Task-specific) each year

  • Ensure each strand of each subject group is assessed twice yearly

Policy Review

This policy is reviewed and updated on an annual basis in August. To adjust the policy for the upcoming year based on the previous year.  

Policy Communication

This policy is shared annually with all school constituents via Staff and Parent Newsletters as well as campus meetings and professional development.  This policy will also be available to staff and parents online.

References:

International Baccalaureate Organization (May 2014). MYP: From principles into practice. Accessed October 18, 2022, from