How are students graded in Personal Project?
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Students will experience both formative and summative assessments during the project. Formative assessments are used to monitor and support learning as the student engages in the process of the project. Formative assessments use individual feedback rather than traditional letter grades as a way to provide students with insights into the ongoing development of knowledge, understanding, skills, and attitudes related to the project. Additionally, formative assessments provide evidence to the student and the teacher about where they are in their learning and where they need to go next.
Summative assessments are used at the end of the course to provide evidence for evaluating student learning. These assessments are scored using the IB Personal Project rubric which provides a summary of student proficiency levels on the course objectives: planning, applying skills, and reflection. Final summative assessment scores do not use a mathematical average to determine a final score, rather the evidence provided by the student is used to determine the best representation of student learning. This best representation is used to determine the semester grade of credit or no credit at the end of the course according to the table below.
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The Huron Personal Project grade is assessed using three equal criteria as shown in the outline below.
A) Planning
Students will:
- state a learning goal for the project and explain how a personal interest led to that goal
- state an intended product and develop appropriate success criteria for the product
- present a clear, detailed plan for achieving the product and its associated success criteria
B) Applying Skills
Students will:
- explain how the ATL skill(s) was/were applied to help achieve their learning goal
- explain how the ATL skill(s) was/were applied to help achieve their product
C) Reflecting
Students will:
- explain the impact of the project on themselves or their learning
- evaluate the product based on the success criteria
The table below shows the four acheivement levels that describe student performance on the criteria. Rubrics are used to determine achievement levels and can be found on the course material page.
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Achievement Level Level Descriptor 7-8
Produces high-quality, frequently innovative work. Communicates comprehensive, nuanced understanding of concepts and contexts.
Consistently demonstrates sophisticated critical and creative thinking.
Frequently transfers knowledge and skills with independence and expertise in a variety of complex classroom and real-world situations5-6
Produces generally good-quality work. Communicates secure understanding of concepts and contexts.
Demonstrates critical and creative thinking, sometimes with sophistication.
Uses knowledge and skills in familiar classroom and real-world situations and, with support, some unfamiliar real-world situations.3-4
Produces work of an acceptable quality. Communicates basic understanding of many concepts and contexts, with occasionally significant misunderstandings or gaps.
Begins to demonstrate some basic critical and creative thinking. Is often inflexible in the use of knowledge and skills, requiring support even in familiar classroom situations.1-2
Produces work of limited quality. Expresses misunderstandings or significant gaps in understanding for many concepts and contexts.
Infrequently demonstrates critical or creative thinking. Generally inflexible in the use of knowledge and skills, infrequently applying knowledge and skills.0 No evidence of meeting the standard
