We believe that effective assessment provides information to improve teaching and learning. We give our students regular feedback on their learning so that they understand how they can advance, develop and upgrade themselves. Parents are provided with regular reports on their ward’s progress so that teachers, students and parents can work together to raise the standards of all students.
Assessment:
Assessment is divided into two parts – Formative Assessment and Summative Assessment.
Formative Assessment (Assessment for Learning):
Formative Assessment includes checking students’ progress in knowledge, skills, understanding and the application of learnt concepts. It takes place as a day-to-day practice in the course of on-going teaching and learning.
Teachers and Learning Assistants monitor pupils’ performance on a continuous basis. This information provides an appropriate support or extension to evaluate teaching and plan future lessons.
Pupils measure their knowledge and understanding against learning objectives, and identify areas where they need to improve.
Enables pupils to take an active role in the learning process and the setting of short-term targets.
Parents gain a broad picture of where their child’s strengths and weaknesses lie, and what they need to do for improvement.
The range of approaches to gather information include:
Diagnostic exams at the start of the academic year.
Assessment tools, which may be written items, structured interview questions, or items prepared by teachers.
Students’ self and peer assessments.
A detailed analysis of each student’s work.
Day-to-day activities.
A simple written or mental note taken by the teacher during observation.
Formative Assessment is included in the final overall assessment of every student.
Aims and Objectives:
The aims and objectives of assessment are to:
Enable students to perceive and demonstrate their knowledge.
Use suitable forms of assessment based on expectations that are clear, realistic and understood by the children.
Ensure that all students experience challenges, which are indicators of success.
Use a range of assessment strategies such as verbal interaction, questioning, observation, discussion, peer and self-assessment to provide equal opportunities for students with varied learning styles and abilities.
Establish a consistent and coherent approach by maintaining a regular record of assessments, external benchmark outcomes and reporting these to parents.
Provide a clear picture of how and when assessment practice will be monitored and evaluated.
Measure students’ attainment and progress accurately and consistently.
Help students understand what they need to do to improve their work.
Allow teachers to plan work that accurately addresses the needs of each child.
Provide regular information to parents to help them support their child’s learning.
Provide the school leadership with information that enables analysis in order to make judgements about the effectiveness of the school.
Summative Assessment (Assessment of Learning):
This is used to identify learning gaps and misconceptions that need to be rectified for future learning.
This takes place after the completion of learning, focuses on pupils’ overall achievements and is used to provide quantitative information on the progress of pupils.
School leaders monitor the performance of pupil cohorts, identify where interventions may be required, and work with teachers to ensure that pupils are supported to achieve sufficient progress and attainment.
Teachers and Learning Assistants evaluate learning at the end of a unit or period and also analyse the impact of their own teaching.
Pupils evaluate how well they have learnt and understood a topic or course of work taught over a period of time. It should be used to provide feedback on how they can improve.
Parents are able to stay informed about the achievement, progress and wider outcomes of their child across a period.
Summative Assessment is also used formatively to support planning and to set medium or long-term targets.
It is used to evaluate students’ learning skill acquisition and academic achievement at the conclusion of the term.
Pre Primary:
At the Pre-Primary level, students are formatively assessed as they engage in their daily activities. In-house baseline and International Benchmarking Assessment of the GL progress are used to evaluate KG-I and KG-II children at the start and end of the academic year respectively. Individual profiling is done at the end of each term to record the achievements in all the areas of learning in both KG-I and KG II.
Primary:
In the primary section, the method of Assessment is as below:
The academic year is divided into 2 Terms.
Each Term comprises of ongoing Formative Assessment and two Unit Tests in the form of Summative Assessment.
A substantial portion of the syllabus is evaluated as part of the Summative Assessment.
Regular reports of students’ progress are shared with their parents.
Middle School (VI –VIII) and Senior School (IX – XII):
The academic year is divided into two terms. Formative and Summative Assessments are conducted in each term and regular feedback is given to parents.
The CBSE Board Examinations are conducted for students of Grade X and Grade XII at the end of the academic year.
As part of Dubai School Inspection requirements, DPS Dubai uses internal and external data to track attainment and progress.
Keeping in mind, the UAE National Agenda, students are assessed using International Benchmarks outlined by KHDA as follows:
| Exam | Targeted Grade | Cycle |
|---|---|---|
| CAT4 | All students of Grades III, V, VII and IX All new students who have just joined the schools and do not have any cognitive ability test data. |
Every 2 years |
| ASSET (English, Math and Science) | All students of Grades III to IX | Every year |
| TIMSS | Selected students of Grades IV and VIII | Every 4 years |
| PIRLS | Selected students of Grade IV | Every 5 years |
| PISA | 15-year-olds | Every 3 years |
| Thursday | 23.11.23 | Arabic |
| Reading Literacy | Grades I to X | Every year |
| Arabic Language (B) | Grades III to IX | Every year |
| OECD – PBTS | 15-year-olds | Every year |
