The Spring term began well with two days of professional learning on assessment and inquiry. It was a good way to start the term as assessment is the PYP professional development focus. As coordinator, I have followed this up with further opportunities for the staff to use the learned students assessment protocol, which provides an opportunity for a small group of teachers to share their assessment task and get collegial feedback. The feedback is a mixture of warm and cool and focuses on the information that can be gathered from the assessment sample, not only content but also on transdisciplinary skills, how the assessment was used to further student learning and how the task was or could be differentiated. The best aspect of revisiting the use of the assessment protocol was that the teachers were engaged in collegial discussion about student learning with colleagues from the EYP, PYP and Specialist teachers and the feedback was that they valued the opportunity.
In addition we are trailing a new format for collegial planning - starting our planning with exploring opportunities for students and staff to demonstrate or undertake action and to record conceptual learning goals.
Bench-marking of PYP 1-6 students in English and mathematics was recorded in a system that enabled students progress throughout the PYP to be identified numerically and visually.
