Page 42 - THE ONTARIO CURRICULUM, GRADES 11 AND 12 | Canadian and World Studies

THE ONTARIO CURRICULUM, GRADES 11 AND 12 | Canadian and World Studies
Criteria and Descriptors
To further guide teachers in their assessment and evaluation of student learning, the achievement chart provides “criteria” and “descriptors”.
A set of criteria is identified for each category in the achievement chart. The criteria are subsets of the knowledge and skills that define the category. The criteria identify the aspects of student performance that are assessed and/or evaluated, and they serve as
a guide to what teachers look for. In the Canadian and world studies curriculum, the criteria for each category are as follows:
Knowledge and Understanding
• knowledge of content
• understanding of content
Thinking
• use of planning skills
• use of processing skills
• use of critical/creative thinking processes
Communication
• expression and organization of ideas and information in oral, visual, and/or written forms
• communication for different audiences and purposes in oral, visual, and/or written forms
• use of conventions, vocabulary, and terminology of the discipline in oral, visual, and/or written forms
Application
• application of knowledge and skills in familiar contexts
• transfer of knowledge and skills to new contexts
• making connections within and between various contexts
“Descriptors” indicate the characteristics of the student’s performance, with respect to
a particular criterion, on which assessment or evaluation is focused. Effectiveness is the descriptor used for each of the criteria in the Thinking, Communication, and Application categories. What constitutes effectiveness in any given performance task will vary with the particular criterion being considered. Assessment of effectiveness may therefore focus on a quality such as appropriateness, clarity, accuracy, precision, logic, relevance, significance, fluency, flexibility, depth, or breadth, as appropriate for the particular criterion.
40