We espouse STUDENTS'-LEARNING-CENTER (SLC) style of management, control, teaching and assessment. Education, at the end of the day, is all about what the learners learn, not what the educators educate, although the educators need to be mindful of what and how the learners are educated.
The following four criteria constitute our assessment:
1. Attendance
As we are students'-learning-centered and due to the fact that no one can learn in absence, parents and students are strongly requested not to take leave of absence as far as possible. We do not tolerate unexcused absence. We contact home and home-visit for long absence even if it is excused. We address and correct tardiness promptly. All students need to be present every period. This is our motto. We work hard to help our students attend the class regularly and when they are absent for a certain reason, we help them catch up with the lost time. We do not want our children jump the lessons beyond their capacity.
Class periods must never be wasted. This is our motto for teachers. Thus, no teaching period has ever been missed. If teachers are to take leave of absence, they must submit their lesson plans to the Principal and someone takes the sub-class. Lessons continue. There is no break in teaching and learning with us.
Class periods must never be wasted. This is our motto for teachers. Thus, no teaching period has ever been missed. If teachers are to take leave of absence, they must submit their lesson plans to the Principal and someone takes the sub-class. Lessons continue. There is no break in teaching and learning with us.
2. Behavior
Prevention is Better than Cure!
Our Behavior Management System (BMS) is comprised of two parts:
- The first part deals with PREVENTION, intervention, investigation and consequences of students' misconduct. Our BMS is aimed to prevent negative behavior even before it happens. If it happens, we intervene to stop it and if it is in our absence, we investigate the case. An the consequence follows as has been described in our BMS handbook. We do not use the term punishment for the consequence. Rather, we call it correction or loss of privilege for the sake of positive promotion.
- The second part deals with POSITIVE PROMOTION. This is done through awarding STICKERS to positive behavior in students. The Homeroom Teachers collect those stickers for reward. Students love these stickers very much and are truly motivated when they get rewarded for a certain number of those.
You can view or download our BMS below:
3. Learning Skills
We set 10 learning skills. On a daily basis, we rate our children on these ten skills. Children need excellent learning skills in order to be excellent children! Education, in a nutshell, is simply "learning how to learn," not 'learning what others have learnt."
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4. Performance on subjects
We prioritize the 21st century skills in assessing students' academic performance, namely, critical thinking, creativity, collaboration and communication (4Cs) leaving most of traditional standards of assessment behind. For example, in Myanmar, traditional assessment tests how much information a student can remember and reproduce or, in other words, how accurate is a student in repeating what the teachers has taught him/her. This results in test-centered teaching and learning and rote memorization of facts and information instead of promoting students' learning skills which leads to academic dependency. Therefore, we are here to promote students' learning skills in order that they may be academic-independent, thinking critically, creating themselves, collaborating with others and communicating what they have learnt in a very effective manner. We use rote memorization only for formulas and vocabularies. We focus more on "why" and "how" instead of "what", "who", "where" and "when."
Our assessment is based on lesson concepts. It is more formative than the chapter-end test which is currently the government's assessment system. We also employ chapter-end test, monthly test, mid-term test and year-end test as a form of summative assessment, assessment of what students have learnt. Our assessment is aimed to help our students learn more effectively and prepare them for the next lessons. Thus, it is very formative in nature - assessment for students' learning.
As a matter of fact, subjects are not meant to be the burdens of students. Rather, they are meant to be fun and platforms for students' critical thinking, creativity, collaboration and communication. This fact makes learning fun, child-friendly and challenging.
Our assessment is based on lesson concepts. It is more formative than the chapter-end test which is currently the government's assessment system. We also employ chapter-end test, monthly test, mid-term test and year-end test as a form of summative assessment, assessment of what students have learnt. Our assessment is aimed to help our students learn more effectively and prepare them for the next lessons. Thus, it is very formative in nature - assessment for students' learning.
As a matter of fact, subjects are not meant to be the burdens of students. Rather, they are meant to be fun and platforms for students' critical thinking, creativity, collaboration and communication. This fact makes learning fun, child-friendly and challenging.
Performance Expectations
We set 80% as our expectation for students' performance in all areas. We expect that our students will perform better than 80% in all areas of assessment.
Mid-term and Year-end award will go to those who have the overall score of A and above.
Mid-term and Year-end award will go to those who have the overall score of A and above.
Rules and other Expectations
We set several rules for teachers and staff, parents and students and have a high expectation from them to follow those rules. Our rules are simplified and condensed. They are discussed and reviewed together often.
Scoring and Grading Rubrics
We practice four types of marking students' performance, namely, letter grade (F to A+), percent grade (0-100), point grade (0.0 to 4.0) and rating, so that our students and parents get familiar with all of them. We use two rating styles, Failing, Below Expectation (BE) or Very Poor (VP), Approaching Expectation (AE) or Poor, Meet Expectation (ME) or OK and Exceed Expectation (EE) or Super. Our marking scale follows the international standard of five keys step such as in five stars rating, which can turn into thirteen steps when minus and plus are added.
It is wise to remember that no one can ever grade or rate someone accurately. The work of scoring and grading is the work of best approximation. So, it is wise to practice a more robust way of marking students' performance than rigidly sticking to one way.
It is wise to remember that no one can ever grade or rate someone accurately. The work of scoring and grading is the work of best approximation. So, it is wise to practice a more robust way of marking students' performance than rigidly sticking to one way.