Page 36 - The Ontario Curriculum, Grades 9-12: English As a Second Language and English Literacy Development, 2007

THEONTARIOCURRICULUM,GRADES9–12 | ESLandELD
clarity, accuracy, precision, logic, relevance, significance, fluency, flexibility, depth, or breadth, as appropriate for the particular criterion. For example, in the Thinking category, assessment of effectiveness might focus on the degree of relevance or depth apparent
in an analysis; in the Communication category, on clarity of expression or logical organi- zation of information and ideas; or in the Application category, on appropriateness or breadth in the making of connections. Similarly, in the Knowledge and Understanding category, assessment of knowledge might focus on accuracy, and assessment of under- standing might focus on the depth of an explanation. Descriptors help teachers to focus their assessment and evaluation on specific knowledge and skills for each category and criterion, and help students to better understand exactly what is being assessed and evaluated.
Qualifiers. A specific “qualifier” is used to define each of the four levels of achievement – that is, limited for level 1, some for level 2, considerable for level 3, and a high degree or thorough for level 4. A qualifier is used along with a descriptor to produce a description of performance at a particular level. For example, the description of a student’s perform- ance at level 3 with respect to the first criterion in the Thinking category would be: “the student uses planning skills with considerable effectiveness”.
The descriptions of the levels of achievement given in the chart should be used to iden- tify the level at which the student has achieved the expectations. In all of their courses, students should be given numerous and varied opportunities to demonstrate the full extent of their achievement of the curriculum expectations across all four categories of knowledge and skills.
EVALUATION AND REPORTING OF STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT
Student achievement must be communicated formally to students and parents by means of the Provincial Report Card, Grades 9–12. The report card provides a record of the student’s achievement of the curriculum expectations in every course, at particular points in the school year or semester, in the form of a percentage grade. The percentage grade represents the quality of the student’s overall achievement of the expectations for the course and reflects the corresponding level of achievement as described in the achieve- ment chart for the discipline.
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 per cent or higher. The final grade for each course in Grades 9 to 12 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 one or a combination of the following: an examination, a performance, an essay, or another method of evaluation suitable to the course content and expectations. The final evaluation should be administered at or towards the end of the course.
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