Assessment and Evaluation

Innocent Hearts’ assessment, evaluation policy is based on the new Ontario curriculum policies. It aims to set high standards of achievement for all students and promotes consistency in teaching and learning.

For assessment purpose, teachers at Innocent Hearts gather information from a variety of sources (including assignments, demonstrations, projects, performances, and tests) to accurately reflect how well a student is achieving the curriculum expectations in a course. They also provide students with descriptive feedback that guides their efforts towards improvement. Evaluation focuses more on judging the quality of student work on the basis of established criteria, and assigning a value to represent that quality. The value assigned will be in the form of a percentage grade.

A final grade is recorded for every course and a credit is granted and recorded for every course in which the student’s grade is 50% or higher. The final grade in the form of a percentage grade for each course will be determined as follows:

• Seventy per cent of the grade will be based on evaluations conducted throughout the course. This portion of the grade should reflect the student’s most consistent level of achievement throughout the course, although special consideration should be given to more recent evidence of achievement.

• Thirty per cent of the grade will be based on a final evaluation in the form of an examination, performance, essay, culminating activity and/or other method of evaluation suitable to the course content and administered towards the end of the course.

In order to ensure that assessment and evaluation are valid and reliable, and that they lead to the improvement of student learning, teachers at Innocent Hearts are required to use assessment and evaluation strategies that conform to the following criteria based on the seven fundamental principles from the policy document Growing Success:

• Are fair, transparent, and equitable for all students;
• Support all students, including those with special education needs, those who are learning the language of instruction (English or French), and those who are First Nation, Métis, or Inuit;
• Are carefully planned to relate to the curriculum expectations and learning goals and, as much as possible, to the interests, learning styles and preferences, needs, and experiences of all students;
• Are communicated clearly to students and parents at the beginning of the school year or course and at other appropriate points throughout the school year or course;
• Are ongoing, varied in nature, and administered over a period of time to provide multiple opportunities for students to demonstrate the full range of their learning;
• Provide ongoing descriptive feedback that is clear, specific, meaningful, and timely to support improved learning and achievement;
• Develop students’ self-assessment skills to enable them to assess their own learning, set specific goals, and plan next steps for their learning.