Page 34 - The Ontario Curriculum, Grades 9-12: English As a Second Language and English Literacy Development, 2007

THEONTARIOCURRICULUM,GRADES9–12 | ESLandELD
are fair to all students;
accommodate the needs of students with special education needs, consistent with the strategies outlined in their Individual Education Plan;
accommodate the needs of students who are learning the language of instruction;
ensure that each student is given clear directions for improvement;
promote students’ ability to assess their own learning and to set specific goals;
include the use of samples of students’ work that provide evidence of their achievement;
are communicated clearly to students and parents at the beginning of the course or the school term and at other appropriate points throughout the school year.
All curriculum expectations must be accounted for in instruction, but evaluation focuses on students’ achievement of the overall expectations. A student’s achievement of the overall expectations is evaluated on the basis of his or her achievement of related specific expectations. The overall expectations are broad in nature, and the specific expectations define the particular content or scope of the knowledge and skills referred to in the over- all expectations. Teachers will use their professional judgement to determine which spe- cific expectations should be used to evaluate achievement of the overall expectations, and which ones will be covered in instruction and assessment (e.g., through direct obser- vation) but not necessarily evaluated.
The characteristics given in the achievement chart (see pages 36–37) for level 3 represent the “provincial standard” for achievement of the expectations in a course. A complete picture of overall achievement at level 3 in a course in English as a Second Language or English Literacy Development can be constructed by reading from top to bottom in the shaded column of the achievement chart, headed “70–79% (Level 3)”. Parents of stu- dents achieving at level 3 can be confident that their children will be prepared for work in subsequent courses.
Level 1 identifies achievement that falls much below the provincial standard, while still reflecting a passing grade. Level 2 identifies achievement that approaches the standard. Level 4 identifies achievement that surpasses the standard. It should be noted that achievement at level 4 does not mean that the student has achieved expectations beyond those specified for a particular course. It indicates that the student has achieved all or almost all of the expectations for that course, and that he or she demonstrates the ability to use the specified knowledge and skills in more sophisticated ways than a student achieving at level 3.
The Ministry of Education provides teachers with material such as exemplars that will assist them in improving their assessment methods and strategies and, hence, their assessment of student achievement. Exemplars include samples of student work that
illustrate achievement at each of the four levels. (Adaptations can be made within the exemplar documents to align them with the revised curriculum.)
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