At ABIS we use the IB Middle Years Programme 1-8 grading system to grade all the summative work students do in their classes. I like to think of the grades received as being in one of four bands with 7-8 being great work, 5-6 being good work, 3-4 being minimally adequate work, and 1-2 being work that needs a lot of improvement.
Each subject area uses four grading criteria that teachers use to build a picture of the overall performance of our students. We call them A,B, C, and D, but each subject has its own set of criteria. Here is the entire set.
During each marking period, teachers create at least two assessments within each criteria. They use these to gain an understanding of student performance and skills in each criteria.
A child’s understanding is a complex thing that is not easily represented by a single value. This is why we use formative assessments to allow for practice and feedback. Students should use these opportunities to understand their own learning and to note what they must do to improve. During the year your child can look in Managebac to see their marks by assignment.
A challenge comes at the end of a semester when we must award a single grade to each student. Simplifying a child’s long term understanding is not simple but using the MYP gives us a common approach we apply identically in each subject area.
Once teachers decides on the overall grades students have demonstrated in each criteria we add these 4 values together for each student. This sum is then converted to a score on the International Baccalaureate’s 7-point scale. This scale is not simply a numerical value (which can be limiting when describing the complexities of human cognition). At ABIS these sums represent a clear description of a student’s work in their classes.
These descriptions can be applied to each content area since they describe an entire semester’s work overall quality in general terms.
In the Diploma Programme each subject area has its own unique set of 1-7 descriptions more in tune with the specific content area. We provide a simplified version of this table in every report we make to give descriptions of quality for all grade levels and subjects.
We always stand ready to answer questions you may have about this process.