Pursuant to Article 34 of the Statute of the International School, at the meeting held on the 09.07.2021., the Board of International School adopted the following:
Assessment Policy
Basic Provisions
Article 1
Assessment is the process of evaluating students’ work and attainment against specific assessment and learning objectives and required criteria.
The purpose of assessment is to:
- Empower students to achieve better results;
- Measure students’ attainment;
- Monitor students’ development;
- Provide feedback;
- Promote students’ learning process
- Provide reflection on teaching to the teachers.
While the prime responsibility of the assessment outcomes rests on the students themselves, the process of assessment also includes teachers and parents.
Assessment Principles
Article 2
Assessment is criterion-referenced, which means that it assesses students’ skills, knowledge and competencies against a fixed predetermined set of standards. This way, the International School encourages its students to achieve great results and obtain quality international education.
Since the assessment goal is to monitor, evaluate and improve students’ competencies, International School presents the following assessment principles:
- Suitable forms of assessment are used;
- Criteria, assessment objectives and learning objectives are clearly presented to students;
- Assessment components may be differentiated in order to improve students’ competencies and results;
- Assessment and evaluation process can be done in different forms;
- Assessment and evaluation process is fair to all students;
- Assessment outcomes are considered as guidance for improvement for both teachers and students;
- Assessment modifications can be done in order to support the inclusion policy;
- Students’ achievement is marked in accordance with the subject assessment objectives and criteria.
Types of Assessment
Article 3
Assessment can be formative and summative.
Formative assessment is a daily or weekly check of students’ level of achievement, while students are also given feedback on their competencies. Formative assessment can include, but is not limited to:
- Quizzes;
- Homework;
- Coursework;
- Team projects in team collaborated-activity;
- Class discussions;
- Experiments.
Summative assessment represents the evaluation of the students’ knowledge and skills, usually at the end of a unit or a module. These assessments are done in a controlled environment and include, but are not limited to:
- Formal Assessments;
- Tests;
- Final exams;
- Essays;
- Mock exams
- Components for the final exams.
The International School encourages the teachers to provide clear and timely feedback after summative assessments through an assessment revision, unless the assessment is conducted externally.
For all the assessments, the Academic Honesty Policy and the Regulations on schoolwork, homework and examination assignments, plagiarism and copyright violations apply.
Assessments’ Timetable
Article 4
Teachers are allowed to conduct as many formative assessments as they think it is needed for the students’ to improve their competencies.
Nonetheless, International School encourages time for students to reflect on their work and development, which is why a student can have only two homeworks per subject in a period of one month.
Article 4a
Teachers are obliged to track their students’ progress weekly, using different forms of formative assessments during their lessons, except for homework, which can be assigned per subject only twice a month.
Formal Assessments are scheduled in the School Academic Calendar and posted on the School’s official website page. Students are obliged to sit their Formal Assessments during the scheduled Assessment Weeks.
If the student is prevented from sitting the assessments during the period of Assessment Week, a parent/legal guardian is obliged to inform the school’s administration and request for postponing the assessment for that student.
The International School may ask for a piece of evidence that supports this request, such as a medical report, a letter from the sport club or an explanation letter.
After Formal Assessments, teachers are obliged to revise the assessment in collaborated activity with the students and provide them with clear and affirmative feedback.
If more than half of students in the class obtained an unsatisfactory grade (F or 1), the teacher is obliged to schedule a retake only after revision period, but not later than two weeks after scheduled Assessment Week.
Article 4b
Teachers are allowed to schedule tests and assign essays if they feel that might help students’ learning process.
Article 4c
Mock exams are scheduled in the School Academic Calendar during Mock Exams’ Week. Students are obliged to sit all their mock exams prior to the exam series. Students are eligible to take the international exams provided they pass the threshold of 40% at mock exams for Cambridge International examination and 50% for International Baccalaureate examination.
If the student is prevented from sitting the mock exams during the period of Mock Exams’ Week, a parent/legal guardian is obliged to inform the school’s administration and request for an additional time slot for sitting a mock exam.
The International School may ask for a piece of evidence that supports this request, such as a medical report, a letter from the sports club or an explanation letter.
The International School may refuse this request at its discretion. The decision of the International School is final.
Article 4d
Official international exams take place in the May/June and October/November series.
The exam timetable is determined by the international examination organisations.
The International School is obliged to notify the students and the students’ legal representatives about the timetable of the international exams via email not later than 10 days prior to the first exam in the examination period.
The timetable from paragraph 2 is published on the international examination organisations’ website and cannot be altered upon the request by the students or their legal representatives.
If the student does not show up for the international examination at the scheduled time, it is considered that the student was absent from the examination.
Predicted grades that are required by the international examination organisations will be calculated based on the student’s achievement in mock exams.
International exams are marked in accordance with the marking scheme determined by the international examination organisations’ regulations. The School cannot in any way influence the marking.
Report on student’s achievement
Article 5
The Report on student’s achievement in the International School will be:
- Affirmative;
- Honest and fair;
- Consistent and standardised in compliance with the international examination organisations’ criteria and regulations;
- Regular and in timely manner;
- Clear and understandable;
- With a clear feedback on the mistakes and how to improve the work in the future.
Complaint and appeals
Article 6
If the student is not satisfied with his/her assessment results, they can file an official complaint to the school administration.
The school administration will reassess the student’s work and gather all the evidence, within 8 days from the day a student filed a complaint.
The school administration will communicate with the student and his/her parent/legal guardian and make a decision based on all the available evidence.
If the decision or an outcome is not satisfactory for the student or his/her parent/legal guardian, they can file an appeal.
The School Administration will form an Appeal Board that includes: subject teacher who does not teach the student in this case, School’s Principal and the School Counsellor.
The Appeal Board will make a final decision based on all the available evidence not later than 15 days after the day the appeal was submitted to the School.
The Decision of the Appeal Board is final.
Complaints and appeals regarding the final exams’ marks can be filed to the international examination organisation. The complaints and appeals are submitted by the School’s coordinator and the decision of the international examination organisation is final.
International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme Assessment
Article 7
In the International Baccalaureate Diploma programme (Year 12 and Year 13), students take formative and summative assessments and are graded in accordance with the criteria set by International Baccalaureate Organisation.
The marks present the attainment as following:
| Mark | Percentage % |
|---|---|
| 7 - Excellent Performance | 92 - 100% |
| 6 - Very Good Performance | 84 - 91% |
| 5 - Good Performance | 76 - 83% |
| 4 - Satisfactory Performance | 68 - 75% |
| 3 - Mediocre Performance | 60 - 67% |
| 2 - Poor Performance | 50 - 59% |
| 1 - Very Poor Performance | 0 - 49% |
The Core matrix includes Creativity, Activity and Service, Extended Essay and Theory of Knowledge. The Theory of Knowledge and Extended Essay are marked as following:
| Mark | Percentage % |
|---|---|
| A | 80 - 100% |
| B | 70 - 79% |
| C | 60 - 69 % |
| D | 50 - 59 % |
| E | 1 - 49 % |
| U | 0% |
The Core matrix contributes to the final mark as following:
| TOK/EE | A | B | C | D | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | |
| B | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | |
| C | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | FAIL |
| D | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| E | FAIL |
