Assessment and Evaluation

In line with the philosophy of the IB Primary Years Program, the primary goal of assessment in our schools is to provide feedback on the learning process and to improve our teaching processes.

At our primary school, the individual differences of NÛN students are embraced. Special studies are carried out to carry out assessment and evaluation with the most appropriate tools. Our goal at NÛN Schools is to help our students make self-assessment by reflective thinking and thus become lifelong learners.

The assessment and evaluation component of the NÛN Primary School curriculum is divided into three subgroups: evaluation, recording and reporting.

How Do We Assess?

Pre-Assessment

In NÛN Primary School, pre-assessment involves learning and analyzing students' current knowledge, what they can do, and how they feel at the beginning level of learning. In addition to observing students' success in learning, evaluating their prior knowledge and experiences enables our teachers to plan and organize their teaching styles accordingly.

At the beginning of every academic year, NÛN Primary School conducts readiness tests for all subjects. These include open-ended, descriptive and argumentative questions that will evaluate students' prior knowledge. This information is extremely important for us as it will determine the track of the development process. Rubrics are used in the assessment of courses such as Art, Music, Physical Education and Applied Sciences. Throughout the learning process, at the beginning of each inquiry unit, teachers use various techniques to measure students' prior knowledge and plan the curriculum accordingly.

Process Assessment

NÛN Primary School process assessment provides the information needed to plan the next stage in learning. Process assessment and teaching are interconnected and in terms of purpose, they develop together. We aim to contribute to learning by providing regular and frequent feedback to our students through process assessments.

We believe that giving effective feedback is more important than teaching for student's development. For this purpose, students are evaluated at the end of each activity by using various assessment and evaluation tools (self-assessment, peer assessment, rubrics, etc.). Our students are also involved in the assessment process, as it is very important for our students to understand their strengths and weaknesses. Each result is analyzed and used in the planning of the education and training process.

Result Evaluation

NÛN Primary School aims to provide teachers and students with a detailed understanding of their students' understanding by conducting outcome assessments. It allows students to demonstrate what they have learned and carefully measures factors that show how well the main idea is understood and encourages them to take action.

NÛN Primary School students are evaluated at the end of each quarter as part of the outcome assessments. The findings are compared with the results of the readiness tests held at the beginning of the year to evaluate the development of the student.

Recording

NÛN Primary School collects and analyzes assessment information to answer the question of “How will we know what we have learned?” using tools and strategies to answer the question. "The strategies are the methods or approaches that teachers use when gathering information about a student’s learning. Teachers record this information using a variety of tools, which are the instruments used to collect data. When choosing appropriate strategies, it is important to take into consideration which tools are most applicable and relevant to that strategy. This helps to ensure that an effective assessment of the learning experience takes place."

(Making the PYP Happen: A Curriculum Framework for International Primary Education, p.47)

Tools - Strategies

NÛN Primary School determines every tool and strategy used following the students' levels, interests and skills. Differentiation studies are carried out so that each student is evaluated in the best way they can express themselves.

Some of the strategies used for this purpose are:

• Observations
• Performance assessment
• Process-focused assessment
• Selected responses
• Open-ended tasks

Some of the tools used for this purpose are:

• Rubrics
• Exemplars
• Checklists
• Anecdotal records
• Continuums

Reporting and Documentation

The basis of the reporting of assessment and evaluation is the objective presentation of what our students know, understand and can do. These reports describe students' progress and weaknesses in the areas they have learned in a way that contributes to the impact of the IB Primary Years Program at our school. Making the PYP Happen: As stated in A Curriculum Framework for International Primary Education, "assessment without feedback is merely judgment." Feedback is the evaluation that allows us to understand the judgment and improve our work.

At NÛN Primary School, reporting can be in meetings or in written form. It includes parents, students and teachers as a “learner community”. It is honest, fair, comprehensive and reliable.

Three-Dimensional Goal Setting

At the beginning of each academic year, parents are invited to our school, and the data obtained from the assessment and evaluation studies carried out until that time is used to contribute to the academic and social goal-setting process for the students themselves. They discuss possible methods for achieving these goals, and a roadmap is shared between students, teachers and parents. At the end of the year, this study is reviewed and it is questioned how close the targets have been and whether the given responsibilities have been fulfilled.

Parent-Teacher Conferences

Through these meetings, NÛN teachers come together with parents to get more background information about their students, answer parents' questions, address their concerns, if any, and determine their role in the learning process. The information obtained from the assessment and evaluation studies is shared with the parents, and the requirements regarding the development process of the students are planned.

Development Reports

Each quarter, reports are written four times in total, showing the students' cognitive, affective and psychomotor skills and developments and the achievements and comments of all the courses in that semester. This development report is prepared with the contributions of teachers, parents and students, who are the stakeholders of the process.

Portfolios

Believing that portfolios indicate an active mind working, NÛN Primary School organizes portfolio days for the students. At the end of the academic year, students are asked to prepare a portfolio by choosing a project from their portfolios. Students make presentations to parents, teachers, and other students, stating their reasons for choosing their project. Portfolios are evaluated by students, teachers and parents.

IB Primary Years Programme (PYP) Exhibitions

"In the final year of the PYP, students participate in a culminating project, the PYP exhibition. This requires that each student demonstrates engagement with the five essential elements of the programme: knowledge, concepts, skills, attitudes and action. It is a transdisciplinary inquiry conducted in the spirit of personal and shared responsibility, as well as a summative assessment activity that is a celebration as students move from the PYP into the middle years of schooling." (Making the PYP Happen: A Curriculum Framework for International Primary Education, p.53) In line with this expectation and understanding, our 4th-grade NÛN Primary School and Primary Years Program - PYP graduate candidates present a personal project they have been working on throughout the year to the school community.

IB Primary Years Programme (PYP) Exhibitions

NÛN Primary School students (except for Grade 4 students who organize the IB Primary Years Program Exhibit) share their learning experiences with parents through the IB Primary Years Program (PYP) Mini-Exhibits. In these exhibitions, stage performances are exhibited with the products that students put forward in the inquiry units are presented. Around the same idea, studies are carried out in various branches with a transdisciplinary approach.

As a result, our goal is to raise a generation of those who love and are loved, respected and respected, read, act justly and defend justice, research, question as much as they should and then trust and try to combine what they have learned or noticed consciously with their world and put them into practice.