Assessment is not an unfamiliar word. Throughout our lives, we have been subjected to one form of assessment or another.
What comes to mind when we hear the word assessment? Tests, grades, scores, performance, exams, quizzes… and the list goes on!
For many of us, this association goes back to our own school days. I remember burning the midnight oil, offering a few extra prayers (in case it was a final exam), keeping my fingers crossed hoping I get scores that would meet my parents’ standards, and experiencing those sweaty palms as the teacher walked around handing back corrected assignments. And who can forget the desperate negotiations with teachers for that extra half mark? After all, that little half mark could make all the difference between rounding up and going home to face the music!
And then comes the post-results drama! “She’s not telling anyone her scores… maybe she got less!” Or the other classic: “How does she always manage to get such good marks?” And, of course, the timeless favourite: “The teacher is so partial! I wrote exactly the same thing, but I got less!” Suddenly, a simple test result becomes a full-blown investigation, complete with suspicion, comparisons, and a little drama in the classroom. Ah, the extra peer pressure that comes free with every report card!
Looking back, I can’t help but wonder: Did assessment sometimes take away the joy of schooling? Or was it simply that we had learnt to associate learning with marks, grades and the all-important question, “How much did you get?”
Well, in the IB PYP, things are a little different… in a way that aims to make learning less stressful for both children and teachers. This often leaves parents wondering: “So, are there no assessments? How does the teacher know how the students are doing? And as parents, how do we know how our children are progressing?”
The answer is yes, there are assessments! But here’s where the PYP takes a slightly different approach. Rather than viewing assessment simply as a way to measure performance, assign grades, or compare scores, we see it as a way to understand where children are in their learning, what they are ready to explore next, and how teachers can best support them. In other words, the purpose of assessment is not just to measure learning, but to “inform teaching and learning” (IB, 2023).
I remember a parent once asking me, “Could you please send me the exam timetable?” It made me smile because it highlighted how naturally we associate assessment with exams, timetables, and that familiar preparation routine! But in the PYP, assessment happens in many different ways and is woven into everyday learning. It is not just about preparing for a test on a particular day; it is about understanding what children know, how they are making sense of their learning, and what they need to move forward.
The word assessment comes from the Latin word assidere, meaning “to sit beside.” Quite a lovely idea, isn’t it? But it seems to have taken a bit of a detour over the years! Instead of sitting beside students, we often picture teachers buried under a mountain of test papers, armed with red pens and a never-ending supply of patience. And students? They are seated far enough apart to make passing a secret message seem like a mission impossible, sometimes with dividers thrown in for good measure! Somewhere along the way, sitting beside seems to have turned into sitting apart.
In the PYP, however, we like to bring sitting beside back into the picture! Learning is not a solo act, and assessment certainly need not be one either. We encourage students to learn from one another, spot and fix their own errors, revisit their work, and give feedback that helps their peers grow. Instead of seeing a red pen as the final word, we see feedback as the beginning of the next step in learning. Gone are the days when the teacher was the only one holding the magic red pen and deciding what was right or wrong! Our aim is to develop assessment-capable learners—children who can look at their own work, recognise what they are doing well, identify what they can improve, and take steps to get there. Along the way, they learn to become more reflective about their learning and principled in the way they give and receive feedback. After all, the goal is not just to get the work right, but to learn how to make it better!
This year, at Riverstone International School, we are working towards further strengthening our assessment practices across the PYP. As we continue on this journey, we look forward to sharing more articles that offer insights into how assessment supports teaching and learning in the PYP.
Look out for more information on assessments in the PYP in our following newsletters.
