Principles and practices

The major principle behind our assessment policy is that student should be able to reach their maximum potential with the support of a professional and continuous assessment. 

We believe that students learn better if they: 

• Are fully aware of what is expected by them.
• Get feedback on the quality of their assignments.
• Receive advice on how to improve. 
• Take part in the evaluation process themselves, for instance by evaluating their own work. 

Students enrolled on our IB Diploma Programme will receive assessment on all work done (tests, quizzes, essays, oral presentation, and other activities) either in a summative or formative manner or a combination of these. Summative assessment employs the use of grades 1-7 in accordance with the subject specific criteria. Formative assessment with qualitative feedback focuses on how to improve including self-evaluation where the candidate practices on identifying strengths and areas that can be improved upon.

This is both to help students in their advancement, but also in order for us to properly monitor students’ progress towards their goals. The school has a published Activity Calendar where all internal deadlines are presented which in combination with unit plans aims to provide regular formative assessment.

Subjective teachers ensure standardization of this assessment through evaluation of assessment in curriculum review with teachers from the same discipline/subject as well as marking of internal assessment and other assignments to ensure consistency in applying assessment criteria.

The school also has a published Extended essay Calendar to help students in the process of completing their Extended essay. This is to help student plan their studies and to avoid unevenly distributed workload. 

All subject teachers will act as language teachers, supporting students by assessing both written and spoken language in line with the schools language policy. 

The Activity Calendar and the Extended essay Calendar are published on Managebac and all assessments will be recorded on Managebac where both students and parents* have access. Semester grades is required to be recorded in VIS. 

*After the student’s 18th birthday, reports are no longer available for parents without the candidate’s permission. 

Assessment

Our academic year is divided into two semesters. In the beginning of each period, the subject teacher is responsible for publishing a plan where topics, criteria, and major assessment timeframes are included. The teacher is also responsible for explaining the criteria to the students. This plan is published on the Managebac platform at the beginning of each period.    

At the end of every period, students and parents will receive a more thorough summative and formative assessment in all subjects. These reports will be made available to students and parents/guardians.

These reports are monitored by the IB-coordinator and contact teacher and students and parents will be called to the IB-coordinator for individual talks on how to improve if necessary. Students and parents are always welcome to make appointments with subject teachers and/or the IB-coordinator for individual talks.   

Automatic progression from IB1 to IB2 is dependent upon achieving a grade 3 in all academic subjects by the end of IB1 and on track with TOK, CAS and EE.  

IB grades

IB assessment is summative by nature and grades are based on several components in every subject; some of these are graded by the teacher while others are externally graded.  Students sit their external exams in May the final year.

To ensure students are well prepared, the school organizes mock exams prior to the final exams and smaller mocks for students in IB1 at the end of the school year.  The grading system on the IB-programme ranges from 1 to 7 where 7 is the highest grade.

Grade descriptors as follows:

• 7  Excellent performance  
• 6  Very good performance  
• 5  Good performance  
• 4  Satisfactory performance  
• 3  Mediocre performance  
• 2  Poor performance  
• 1 Very poor performance  

Engagement grade

In addition to a subject grade, students receive a grade for engagement in their subjects:  

A – Good  

Consistently: 

• attends class regularly  
• is punctual  
• comes to classes prepared  
• completes homework regularly  
• participates in class regularly  
• completes in-class assignments  
• works well independently and with others and has a positive attitude towards learning 

B - Requires Attention

At least one of the criteria above needs requires significant attention. 

C - Unacceptable  

Student’s level of effort and motivation are unacceptable, and the student is not reaching his/her potential.

TOK and EE

The TOK-teacher is responsible for explaining the assessment criteria in the subject.

The EE coordinator will explain the overall assessment criteria for the extended essay and the designated supervisor will explain subject specific criteria and provide formative assessment during the different stages leading up to the completion of the EE. The EE coordinator will explain all expectations and deadlines to be met during the process in connection with the introduction of the extended essay. 

For TOK and EE grades range from A to E with A being the highest grade.

The descriptors are the following: 

• A –  Excellent performance 
• B –  Good performance 
• C – Satisfactory performance
• D  – Mediocre performance
• E  – Elementary performance

Failing condition: Note that if a candidate attains a grade E in either TOK of EE (or in both) the student will not obtain the diploma.   

Theory of Knowledge/Extended Essay matrix from 2015.
Source: Implications of the changes to the diploma programme matrix for the extended essay, addendum to pages 21-22 of the extended essay guide (2013 version)  

CAS

The CAS handbook outlines the requirements for this course.

CAS is internally assessed, and students need to provide evidence for having achieved all learning outcomes of CAS to obtain the diploma. 

Failing conditions

A candidate will not obtain the IB Diploma in case he or she  

• is rewarded with less than 24 points including TOK and EE  
• is rewarded with less than 12 points in the HL subjects  
• is rewarded with less than 9 points in the SL subjects  
• has not met the CAS requirements   
• is rewarded a grade E in either TOK or EE (or in both)  
• is rewarded a grade 1 in one or more subjects  
• is rewarded a grade 2 in three or more subjects  
• is rewarded a grade 3 or below four or more times  
• has gained fewer than 12 points in HL subjects  
• has gained fewer than 9 points in SL subjects  

Retakes

A candidate who is not rewarded with the IB Diploma can register for a retake session in one or more subjects.

Retake sessions are in November the same year or in May the year after.

Innlandet fylke offers one free retake session. 

Source: Samordnaopptak.no

Extra points for languages and natural sciences

Du kan få inntil 4 språk- og realfagspoeng. I tabellen under ser du hvilke fag fra IB du kan få poeng for. Du får ikke poeng for engelsk, skandinaviske språk eller språk på Ab initio-nivå. 

Du må ha karakteren 3 eller bedre for at fagene i tabellen skal gi språk- og realfagspoeng.

University requirements for Norwegian universities: at least 20 points in the diploma, grade 3 or more in all subjects, pass in TOK and EE and satisfy CAS requirements. In addition to documented competence in Norwegian (Note Norwegian B SL is not sufficient).

Review

This assessment policy document will be reviewed after each school year.

The IB-coordinator is responsible for the reviewing process of the document.