Page 8 - Growing Success: Assessment, Evaluation and Reporting in Ontario Schools. First Edition, Covering Grades 1 to 12. 2010

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GROWING SUCCESS | assessment, evaluation, and reporting in Ontario schools
INTRODUCTION
The Ministry of Education’s assessment, evaluation, and reporting policy has evolved significantly over the course of the last decade. Previously, aspects of the policy appeared in a number of documents and were not fully aligned across the elementary and secondary panels. In addition, stakeholders often expressed concerns about unevenness in the way the policies were being implemented among boards and schools. The present document updates, clarifies, coordinates, and consolidates the various aspects of the policy, with the aim of maintaining high standards, improving student learning, and benefiting students, parents,1 and teachers in elementary and secondary schools across the province. The document is intended to ensure that policy is clear, consistent, and well aligned across panels and across school boards and schools, and that every student in the system benefits from the same high-quality process for assessing, evaluating, and reporting achievement.
This document, in its forthcoming final edition, will outline a comprehensive policy for the assessment, evaluation, and reporting of student achievement in Ontario schools, from Kindergarten to Grade 12. The policy is based on seven fundamental principles, the first of which tells us that assessment, evaluation, and reporting practices and procedures must be fair, transparent, and equitable for
all students. At the same time, students and parents need to know that evaluations are based on evidence of student learning and that there is consistency in the way grades are assigned across schools and boards throughout the province. With this knowledge, students can have confidence in the information they use to make decisions about secondary pathways and postsecondary opportunities. The policy outlined in this document is designed to move us closer to fairness, transparency, and equity, as well as consistent practice.
Successful implementation of policy depends on the professional judgement of educators at all levels, as well as on educators’ ability to work together and to build trust and confidence among parents and students. It depends on the continuing efforts of strong and energized professional learning communities to clarify and share their understanding of policy and to develop and share effective implementation practices. It depends on creative and judicious differentiation in instruction and assessment to meet the needs of all students, and on strong and committed leadership from school and system leaders, who coordinate, support, and guide the work of teachers.
Recognizing that the needs and circumstances of individual boards vary widely, the policy outlined
in this document provides flexibility for boards to develop some locally focused guidelines and implementation strategies within the parameters for consistency set by the ministry. Education stakeholders throughout the province have voiced the need for greater consistency in assessment, evaluation, and reporting practices among the schools within a board, and initiatives to achieve improvement in that regard are strongly encouraged. Board guidelines should always be developed in collaboration with all the schools in the board, and in consultation with the school community.
1. Throughout this document, parents is used to refer to both parents and guardians.