Dubai English Speaking College
Assessment
Policy
Written by:
MCO
Reviewed:
June 2014
Approved by:
SLT
Next Review:
June 2015
Introduction
For many teachers and school managers alike, the topic of assessment is often synonymous with
emotions of fear, hate, reluctance and a good measure of apathy. This may be partly due to a
misunderstanding of the important role that assessment plays in the development of a student’s
learning, but could also be a result of the often convoluted and muddled nature of a school’s
assessment policy. To that end, this guide aims to disseminate the important information that staff
require with clarity.
As teachers we are constantly assessing our students, some may even argue that we over-assess.
The key theme of this document is not just the amount of assessing we are carrying out, but also
the manner in which we do it.
It is important to note that the most important end users of assessment outcomes are the
students themselves.
Aims and principles: We use assessment at DESC to:
 Provide baseline information for all new students that enter the school.
 Diagnose specific strengths and areas for improvement for all of our students for all of their
subjects.
 Assist in the prediction of future attainment and target setting.
 Monitor the academic performance of students as they move through the school
 Encourage the use of assessment as a tool in students’ learning
 Develop students’ ability to become expert peer and self-assessors
 Ensure all departments are consistent in their approach to assessment
 Inform teachers’ planning so that it responds to the needs of the students
What is assessment?
‘Appraising, assessing a value; the process of documenting, usually in measurable terms,
knowledge, skills, attitudes and beliefs’.
Simply put: assessment is the opportunity to demonstrate knowledge and abilities. Therefore, any
opportunity that students have to demonstrate their learning could be deemed an ‘assessment
event’, whereby a students’ level of understanding can be judged. An assessment event could be
anything from a formal exam to a Q&A session, a pop-quiz to a role-play, a presentation to a mindmap.
One principle that is clearly agreed upon is that ‘classroom assessment is absolutely central to the
teaching and learning process’ . It must be collaborative and focused; ‘Assessment must be an
interactive process. Teachers need to know about their existing students’ progress and difficulties
with learning so that they can adapt their work to meet their needs – needs which are often
unpredictable and which vary from one student to another.”
Assessment is the process by which students, teachers and parents are able to make judgements
that allow them to monitor progress, evaluate the learning experience, improve planning, diagnose
difficulty, identify progression, assist personalisation and improve the quality of teaching and
learning.
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Assessment Policy
WHY DO WE ASSESS?
The three main aims of student assessment can be summarised as:
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Managerial – teacher targets, appraisal, monitor progress - SUMMATIVE
Communicative – reports, league tables, - SUMMATIVE
Pedagogical - evaluate the success of teaching, inform teaching, evaluate and improve
learning – FORMATIVE
At DESC, we believe that the main purpose of assessment data should be its formative use, whilst
accepting that some information needs to be used for reporting and managerial purposes.
ASSESSMENT TYPES
Within education there are four key strands of assessment:
Summative assessment - often referred to as assessment of learning. This covers those
assessment events that aim to provide information about how much a student has actually learned
at the end of a particular section/unit of work. Our end-of-year exams are summative assessments
Ipsative assessment – assessing a student’s performance based on their previous attainment,
normally over a number of assessment events. This can be highly motivational as there is no direct
comparison with other students.
Formative assessment - often referred to as assessment for learning. ‘This is the process of
seeking and interpreting evidence for use by students and their teachers to decide where the
students are in their learning, where they need to go, and how best to get there’. (1)
Diagnostic Assessment – Any assessment event that seeks to identify a student’s strengths and
weaknesses.
Although it is Formative Assessment that is often referred to as Assessment for Learning (AfL), it is
clear that diagnostic assessment must also fall within this sphere, although this is normally taken
as read. What is also clear is that ‘formative assessment…is at the heart of effective teaching’.
METHODS OF ASSESSMENT
The various strands of assessment available to teachers and students have differing degrees of
effectiveness. Focus Education lists the four most effective as (in order):
1.
2.
3.
4.
Self evaluation
Questioning and immediate verbal feedback
Collaborative assessment and feedback
Written comments by teachers in exercise books (marking)
Assessment and National Curriculum requirements
As an English Curriculum School in Dubai we broadly follow the National Curriculum and the
accompanying Assessment Framework. All departments should monitor the Programmes of Study
(and examination syllabi at KS4/5) to create schemes of work. These should identify opportunities
for students to be assessed against attainment targets using the levels of attainment as set down
in all subject statutory orders.
Departments are required to report NC levels (sub-levelled) at Key Stage 3 for the three reports
that are issued per year. Each department will need to assess students using NC levels at least
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Assessment Policy
once per half term. Opportunities for NC assessment must be built into the departmental scheme
of work:
A student’s level of attainment should be judged using the description that best fits the student’s
performance. When doing so each description should be considered alongside the description for
the adjacent levels.
It is strongly recommended that departments provide student-friendly NC level descriptors which
are on display, along with progress-record sheets for students to monitor their own progress
through the year.
Assessment is one of the four core areas of development as described in the Vision 2016 plan. It is
the expectation that 2014/15 will be the last year when NC levels and sub-levels are used. We aim
to have a replacement system for reporting attainment in place for Sept 2015.
WRITTEN FEEDBACK
All departments are required to use the ‘Box & Bubble’ method when providing written feedback to
students... See appendix 3
The Purpose of marking must be clear. It should:
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Improve learning
Monitor progress against attainment targets
Provide feedback to student and teacher
Improve student motivation and self-esteem
Help teacher and student to identify strengths and weaknesses, be constructive
Be set against clear criteria, focused and shared with students
Be frequent, though not weekly
Be consistently applied across a school/department
Not used to make (overt) comparisons between students
Be standardised within the department
It is recommended that departments carefully judge the frequency with which they provide detailed
written feedback. It is unrealistic to assume that it can happen on each piece of work. Detailed
feedback every 2-3 weeks is probably sensible and is much more likely to result in improvements
in learning.
It is highly recommended that the comments that a teacher gives direct the students towards
completing a new task. It could be in the form of a question that further challenges the student, or a
request for the student to find out more about a particular topic. This dialogue between the teacher
and the student PERSONALISES the assessment experience. It is the acting upon comments that
lies at the centre of successful assessment.
At DESC, assessment results are communicated to students in a sensitive, personal manner.
Whole class results must never be shared with a group of students.
Comments given to the students should be:
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Clear and concise
Focused on the assessment criteria – avoid “Good work” or “Good effort” – what has the
student done that has led to success?
Motivating
Informative – areas for improvement should be clearly highlighted
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Assessment Policy

A starting point – teachers should use the assessment process to extend the learning
experience for the student
The use of a whole-school coding system was implemented in September 2009. This should be on
display in all classrooms and is contained within the student planner.
VALUE ADDED
At DESC we use MIDYIS, YELLIS and ALIS data to produce end of Key Stage target levels or
grades. HODs or teachers are expected to communicate these teacher-generated target grades or
levels to the students. The students should know when they are assessed summatively whether
they are below, on or above target in relation to these grades or levels.
In may be noted that the ‘average’ UK student would be expected to make 2 levels progress over
Key stage 3, or approximately 2 sub-levels per year.
Year 7
Year 8
Year 9
Beyond expectations
Level 8
Level 7
Level 6
Level 5
Level 4
Level 3
At level expected
Below expectations
After public or internal examinations it is possible to calculate RESIDUAL values. These are poorly
understood by many in education, so a brief explanation will be given here.
If a student has a target grade of B for a GCSE subject, but attains an A grade then we can work
out how much extra value the school has given to that student. First we convert the grades to
numbers – B being 6 points and A being 7. So the student in that subject has a +1 residual value. If
we add up all of the positive and negative residual values for a particular group, and divide that
number by the number of students, then we have an overall residual value. This can be done for a
class (to enable comparisons to be made between different teaching groups), for a subject (to
allow comparisons between different departments) or for a whole cohort (to enable year on year
comparisons to be made). The whole school residual is one value that is calculated by dividing the
total of all of the residual values (for every student in every subject) by the total number of entries.
Care must be taken when analysing these residual values.
RECORD KEEPING
Effective record-keeping must be ongoing, cumulative, accessible and informative, easy to
interpret and based upon evidence drawn from the learning process. It must also be accessible to
line-managers upon request. Most teachers at DESC have developed an electronic markbook
using Excel, with a central departmental store of results.
Departmental records are the responsibility of individual teachers and departments. They must
follow the following principles:
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Enable the department to be aware of students’ progress
Enable HODs to identify patterns and trends of individuals and groups
For use in formative assessment and to assist with future planning
To be able to pass on information to other staff, parents and the student
To assist with target setting
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Assessment Policy
TARGET SETTING
Why do we need to set targets?
Once a baseline has been established, students need to know what needs to improve and, more
importantly, how to make the improvements. Targets must be generated by students (with our
guidance) and focus on learning goals as well as performances goals. Target setting is only
effective when student-centred. Students are more motivated by targets that they set for
themselves – again this requires some modelling by the teacher.
Academic targets:
Students will sit MIDYIS or YELLIS tests on their arrival to the school so that baseline data can be
generated, from which target levels or grades can be produced. HODs will have responsibility for
the setting of target levels and grades, which are to be based primarily on the MIDYIS and YELLIS
data.
At KS3, it is the responsibility of HOD to produce end of year target levels that will allow students to
reach their end of Key Stage target that has been set. These target levels must be communicated
to students by the end of the first term, so that the students themselves will be able to track their
own progress over the course of a year.
At KS4 and 5, it is the responsibility of the HOD to produce target grades that students can
compare their assessments against over the duration of the course. Again, these target grades
must be communicated to the students by the end of the first term in Year 10 or Year 12.
It is highly recommended that a discussion takes place between teacher and student so that an
agreement can be reached on the target grade or level. Targets must be seen by the students as
something that has been generated intelligently, as opposed to being plucked out of the air.
Targets must be realistic, but challenging.
Targets must be reviewed at the beginning of each subsequent year, so that students that have
made above average progress are still set challenging, achievable targets for that year.
Termly Target Setting – the role of the Tutor:
After each of the parental reporting periods (R1s, R2s and R3s) tutors need to spend a couple of
minutes with each student in their form to discuss the outcomes of the report. This REVIEW
session follows the REPORTING session at each point; the aim is to evaluate the positive and
negative aspects of the report. At the end of the conversation, students should produce a set of
targets for the next period of learning time. This should not be a long list of targets – it should be
restricted to no more than 3 personal targets. These targets should be recorded in the student’s
planner for the tutor to track.
Targets should be SMART: Specific, Measureable, Achievable, Realistic and Time based.
REPORTING
The school provides regular updates to parents on the progress of students. There are currently 3
reports per year (2 for Year 11, 12 and 13). Mock exam results are also communicated to parents
using a simple Report Card format. There are two parent/teacher meetings per year for each year
group to discuss the progress of their child with the subject teacher. The schedule of
reporting/meetings is available in the Staff Handbook.
 Interim reports (R1 & R2) report a NC level/GCSE grade, general progress and attitude to
learning.
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Assessment Policy
 Full reports contain summative information and include some statements as well as narrative
content that identifies strengths, areas for development, targets and approaches that need to be
taken by students to improve. At Key Stage 3 reports contain a level, at GCSE and A-level a
grade. The end of year examination result is reported to parents alongside the level of
attainment. Full reports include a tutor statement making reference to extra-curricular activities,
community service, and other related aspects relevant to the year of study. To improve the
quality of reports, guidelines are issued for writing reports that deal with common errors and
issues of spelling, punctuation and grammar. There is also a proofing system in operation.
PUPIL TRACKING – THE ROLE OF THE DATA MANAGER
Data will be collected from departments at SIX points throughout the year. This will enable
students to be tracked by HODs, HOH and teachers. This data will be inputted into e1 at various
points throughout the year (see appendix for more details on dates). It is the responsibility of the
Data Manager to produce information packs for SLT, HODs, HOHs and class teachers that will
enable users to identify students who are underachieving. These packs will compare current
attainment against target levels or grades for:
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Year groups
Classes
Micropopulations (gender, SEN, Emiratis)
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Assessment Policy