Middle Years Programme

This agreement is designed to promote the Shaker Heights City School District’s high standards of scholarship and create a safe learning environment that enhances the ideals of the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme (MYP). All students of the Shaker Heights City Schools are dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge, committed to learning, and understand that cheating in any form makes true scholarship and learning impossible. The faculty of Shaker Heights High School is committed to teaching students to become ethical users of information and ideas. This agreement represents the Shaker community’s dedication to:

1. Maintaining personal integrity by internalizing and living the Honesty Policy
2. Maintaining the integrity of the learning community by helping others live by the Honesty Policy

A successful Honesty Policy depends on the mutual confidence and trust among students, teachers, parents and administrative staff. The responsibilities of each party include the following:

Student Responsibilities: Students are expected to submit authentic, original work that follows the instructions and deadlines set by the teacher. Students who are having difficulty are expected to seek help and ask questions of appropriate sources, such as their teacher, a librarian, etc. Students are to follow the style (MLA, APA, etc.) as directed by their teacher, including citing sources correctly and accurately.

Teacher Responsibilities: Teachers are to provide detailed assignment instructions as well as rubrics and guidelines for the completion of a project or paper, and they will offer clarity regarding the acceptable amount of help from peers or other adults. Teachers are responsible for assisting students who are having difficulty locating, evaluating, and citing information and for assisting students in managing deadlines, formatting, and composing. They may also conference with students as needed.

Parent Responsibilities: Parental support in the development of children’s ethical development is crucial to students’ long-term success. Parents should encourage their children to take advantage of the extra resources available, including study circles, the tutoring center, and teacher conferences. To encourage early intervention, parents should contact the teacher whenever they suspect that their child is experiencing difficulty in a class. If a child is caught cheating or plagiarizing, parents should keep in mind that this is a learning experience and should help the child accept the consequences of his or her actions.

The MYP offers a quality education that not only ensures knowledge and problem-solving skills, but also cultivates the virtues of principle, honor, and perseverance. Of these virtues, honor is of great importance, for it is personal integrity that will influence and finally determine many of our actions and beliefs. To support the development of such values, the MYP Honesty Policy has been established, maintaining the tradition of excellence for which Shaker Heights City Schools are known and respected. The Honesty Policy was written to clarify expectations for students and emphasize their importance.

By signing this form, students of the MYP shall be honor-bound to upholding the following beliefs:

• All members of the Shaker Community have valuable ideas and should present them with their own voice and writing, not those of others
• It is OK to say “no” when asked to help another student cheat
• Cheating and plagiarism prevents students from showing what they know, hindering further success
  • Examples of cheating include:
    • Copying from another’s test
    • Using unauthorized study aids in place of reading an assigned text
    • Allowing another to copy one’s own work
    • Taking another’s information from online, in text or in person,     and presenting it as his/her own
    • Using a cheat sheet or “crib” sheet
  • Plagiarism is defined as:
    • Submitting another’s ideas or words, in whole or in part, whether intentionally or not, from a print or non-print source, and representing those ideas or words as one’s own.
    • Paraphrasing another’s ideas or words without crediting the source.
    • Deliberately and/or consistently submitting papers or projects without proper documentation and/or citations.

Any individual violation of the Honesty Policy compromises each member of the community; therefore, the entire community has a deep-rooted investment in the honesty of every person in the Shaker Heights City School District. Students are duty-bound to take action to stop any violation of the Honesty Policy, including speaking directly to the offender and/or speaking privately to a teacher. Not taking action implies that the student-witness approves of the inappropriate behavior. Living in a manner that is consistent with this Policy will produce an atmosphere of trust, freedom, and integrity that distinguishes Shaker Heights High School and its IB Program as a school of academic excellence and strong values.

References:

• Discovery College MYP Programme Academic Honesty Policy and Procedures
• International Baccalaureate Academic Honesty
• Shaker Heights High School International Baccalaureate DP Honor Code.

Philosophy & Purpose

The Shaker Heights Middle Years Programme (MYP) believes that assessment is an on-going approach to evaluate individual student progress in a learning continuum. Assessments are intended to be meaningful, relevant and purposefully designed to reflect students’ current level of content knowledge and 21^st Century Skills. Teachers use assessment to guide progress in the classroom and communicate achievement to both students and parents, maintaining open-communication and transparency with grading practices. Students are expected to be active participants in the assessment practice of the Shaker Heights MYP, enhancing their knowledge and skills by reflecting upon meaningful, clear feedback from their educators.

The development of our above goals and the details of assessment discussed below was a combined effort between the MYP coordinators and staff of Woodbury, the Middle School, and the High School. The MYP coordinators drafted the original assessment policy based on MYP’s From Principles into Practice, and then sought feedback from the District’s MYP leadership team. After refinement, teachers from each school provided their thoughts and insight into the continued development of the policy, an annual process to reflect our growing experience and knowledge. Most recently, our assessment practices have undergone rapid development as informed by the best practices of Rick Wormelli, Lynn Erickson, Carol Dweck, and the overall philosophy of MYP. We have combined our professional training, years of experience, and these various experts’ wisdom to create the current assessment policy.

Essentially, the Shaker Heights MYP believes in two major categories of assessment; the assessment for learning and the assessment of learning. Both of these aspects of assessment can be performed using criteria-related approaches, meaning that students are evaluated against pre-determined criteria provided by the MYP and clarified by the teacher. The criteria-related approach allows assessments to reflect a

student’s knowledge and skills as a whole, creating a “best fit” score that reflects where the child is in their educational journey at that time. The types of assessment and MYP criteria are discussed in detail in the following pages.

Assessment for Learning

Teachers and students must each use assessments to improve and enhance the learning process. In this regard, pre-assessments and formative assessments are those made for a student’s learning, the instructional stepping stones on the way to a student’s mastery of content knowledge and skills. These assessments for learning provide clear feedback on a student’s areas of success and where extra attention is necessary. Teachers will utilize two broad categories of assessment for learning to guide their teaching and students’ growth:

Pre-Assessments: These experiences occur prior to the teaching of a unit or lesson and are intended to illuminate what students already know on the topic. Results of pre-assessment are used during lesson design and planning so that teachers can capitalize on students’ prior knowledge and be responsive to their previous experiences. Pre-assessments may be formal, such as pre-quizzes on content, or informal, such as KWL charts, pre-writes or brainstorming discussions.

Formative Assessments: This type of assessment occurs on a daily basis and spans a wide array of assessments, from formal quizzes and homework to teacher observation and discussion. The goal of formative assessments is to provide a genuine reflection on how each student is progressing so that a teacher may make critical choices in the direction of the class or differentiate for individuals. Some formative assessments may be graded and others may not; regardless, formative assessment shows how a student is doing on a day-to-day basis.

Assessments for learning seek to enhance and support the learning experience for each student by:

• Having clear instructions and expectations, aided by exemplars and rubrics
• Varying in nature and medium
• Supporting students to grow in reflection and ownership of their learning experience
• Informing teachers of student progress so that they may modify unit planning as warranted
• Stimulating problem-solving, inquiry and other higher order thinking skills
• Providing real-world and relevant connections with content
• Providing prompt and specific feedback on how students can achieve greater levels of mastery
• Allowing for students to master missed content and display new knowledge

Assessment of Learning

Culminating at the end of each unit is a summative assessment. In a summative assessment, students are given an opportunity to display what it is that they have experienced and learned in the unit. The format of this assessment may be a test, project, essay or some other assignment that allows students to show the maximum extent of their achievement. Many summative assessments are designed to allow a student to apply what they have learned in unfamiliar and authentic situations, conveying not only their mastery of content knowledge but also their ability to apply it.

MYP Units include at least one summative assessment that will be graded with criterion-specific MYP rubrics. These rubrics help teachers to assess concepts and skills necessary to be successful in each of the subject areas while clearly communicating to students the expectations of an assignment. The MYP rubrics are modified to the appropriate grade of the MYP to ensure that students clearly understand what is expected of them and how they will be graded. To ensure that all students in the same course in the MYP are having a relatively equitable experience, teachers collaborate with one another in the interpretation and specification of rubrics, aligning expectations and opportunity for student success.

MYP Assessment Criteria

Assessments are evaluated against the MYP’s assessment criteria for each subject. These criteria clearly describe the expectations for learners in each year of the MYP, ultimately helping the partnership to develop common understanding of assessment practices across grades 5-10. This sequential scaffolding also helps students to consistently grow and develop over the course of the program This deliberate use of the criteria means that all teachers have a better vision of what skills and knowledge students are coming with, targeted areas for growth, and clearly defined final expectations for our Year 5 graduates.

Each building in the partnership is focused on the assessment criteria that MYP provides, with 5^th and 6^th grade teachers using the prescribed criteria for Year 1, 7^th – 8^th grade teachers using the criteria for Year 3, and 9^th and 10^th grade teachers using those for Year 5 (see p. 6 for an example).

To ensure that each teacher understands the expectations set forth in the MYP criteria, subject-groups practice and exercise the collaborative scoring of assessments using MYP rubrics. This process includes teachers working together to analyze examples of student work, scoring them, and comparing results.

Individual teachers justify their score with specific evidence from the work sample, and then share out their analysis with colleagues to seek common interpretation and application of the rubric. Nuanced differences between scores are then discussed between teachers, seeking a clear understanding of what the rubric is truly asking for, how it relates to the assessment, and how the student achieved against the criteria. This is also an opportune time to reflect on how well the assignment is aligned with the criteria and rubric; it is essential that any assessment that is being evaluated with an MYP rubric allows students to reach the highest possible achievement level.

Ultimately, teachers use their professional judgment to determine achievement levels for all MYP assessments. This professional judgment has been informed by MYP training, collaborative scoring, and their own personal experience. In Shaker Heights, we believe in teachers’ professional judgment, trusting them to provide true reflections of student achievement through the use of the MYP rubrics.

Communication of Student Progress

One goal of our assessment strategy is to continue the development of our communication of student growth to parental stakeholders. For this reason, the recording and reporting of students’ achievement level on assessments is essential. Teachers are expected to record MYP criteria-related scores and communicate their meaning to students and parents. Clear communication of the scores to all stakeholders provides a deeper understanding of students overall areas of mastery, growth, and necessary development. In other words, it tells us a lot more than just a letter or percentage!

Achievement Level	% Score Used in Grade Book
0	45
1	60
2	65
3	70
4	75
5	80
6	85
7	95
8	100

 

It is sometimes necessary for MYP scores to be “translated” into percentages in order to be reported. It is important to note that percentages for MYP criteria scores are not calculated based on a student’s score divided by 8, rather collaboratively translated based on the professional judgment of individual departments. In essence, this means that an achievement level of 4 (out of a possible 8) is not equivalent to a 50%, but the value that the department has determined is appropriate for that assignment (e.g., a 4 may be a 75%). This example is helpful to illustrate the challenge and rigor of achieving even a 4 on many MYP rubrics, providing a clear and common set of objectives for all of our students to achieve. This also exemplifies the importance of departments working collaboratively to define our interpretation of MYP criteria and rubrics. One example of a translation chart for an assignment is shown right:

Future Directions

We will continue to develop our assessment policy and practices as we further grow as an MYP District. First and foremost, a plan for determining final achievement scores for students is necessary. Final achievement scores provide useful data on a student’s progress towards mastery of each MYP objective by showing a child’s overall achievement level at the end of the year. This final achievement level is based on scores from previous summative assessments, a student’s trend data, and the professional judgment of the teacher. In order to most reliably reflect the final achievement level, each objective must be assessed at least twice a year in each subject area. This requirement will inform the continued development of MYP units and the variations in our summative assessment tasks.

We’re also working with teachers and our current technology to enhance ways of communicating to students and parents the meaning and parameters of MYP scores. Part of this includes what “happens” to an MYP score, namely whether feedback is the direct value from the MYP Rubric (i.e., 0-8) or a score that has been translated into the more “traditional” system of letters and percentages (e.g., A, 95%). As we continue to develop the program, a priority will be to educate the broader community on how the MYP criteria are being used to provide feedback on student achievement, and that each unit in every subject in every year will be assessed using at least one MYP rubric.

In the future, teachers, students, and parents will have a richer understanding of the holistic capabilities of students in such areas as analyzing in Language & Literature, communicating in Individuals and Societies, thinking creatively in Arts, and investigating patterns in Math. Our plan to achieve this level of utility in our assessments is articulated below.

Year	Assessment-Related Goals
2013-2014	2 units written and assessed Criteria-Related scores explained and reported to students and parents
2014-2015	Addition of 3rd unit using a previously unused criteria Further stakeholder education on MYP assessment practices and philosophy Professional Development on Collaborative Scoring of Assessments
2015-2016	Addition of at least 4th unit using final criteria Final Achievement Scores calculated for each criteria possible
2016-2017	Implementation of additional units to meet assessment criteria and State/District curriculum guidelines Professional Development on determining final achievement scores Final Achievement Scores calculated for each criteria possible
2017-2018	All units of study written and taught in MYP framework, utilizing each assessment criteria at least twice

 

Thoughts, questions and feedback on the continued development of the assessment policy may be directed to one of the three MYP coordinators. We encourage you to contact them at:

Middle School:	Addie Tobey	(216) 295-4788	Tobey_A@Shaker.Org
High School:	Kailey Uhl	(216) 295-4271	Miles_M@shaker.org

 

Example of a Criterion-Related MYP Rubric for Physical Education

Criterion C: Applying and performing

Physical Education: Volleyball Unit

At the end of year 5, students should be able to:

1. demonstrate and apply a range of skills and techniques effectively
2. demonstrate and apply a range of strategies and movement concepts
3. analyze and apply information to perform effectively.

Achievement level	Level descriptor	Task-Specific Checklist
0	The student does not reach a standard described by any of the descriptors below.	PLAY NOT ATTEMPTED (at this time)
1–2	The student: demonstrates and applies skills and techniques with limited success demonstrates and applies strategies and movement concepts with limited success recalls information to perform	LIMITED      Bump       Set       Underhand Serve       Limited strategies & movement      Recognizes feedback from game (teammates, opponents, position and instructor)
3–4	The student: demonstrates and applies skills and techniques demonstrates and applies strategies and movement concepts identifies and applies information to perform	BASIC      Bump       Set       Underhand Serve       Basic strategies & movement      Identifies feedback from the game (teammates, opponents, position and instructor)
5–6	The student: demonstrates and applies a range of skills and techniques demonstrates and applies a range of strategies and movement concepts analyzes and applies information to perform	PROFICIENT      Dig       Spike       Overhand Serve       Proficient strategies & movement      Tries to respond to feedback from the game (teammates, opponents, position and instructor)
7–8	The student: demonstrates and applies a range of complex skills and techniques demonstrates and applies a range of complex strategies and movement concepts analyzes and applies information to perform effectively	ADVANCED      Dig       Spike       Overhand Serve      Advanced strategies & movement  Analyzes and Applies feedback from the game to enhance performance (teammates, opponents, position and instructor)

 

The Shaker Heights City School District recognizes that language skills are one of the most valuable ways in which humans interact, collaborate and communicate their learning and knowledge: this is reflected within the School’s mission statement of developing students “who are confident, competent communicators…” To this end, Shaker Heights values the development of language skills in all students in all classrooms, developing not only the content knowledge of a discipline but the language skills necessary to effectively communicate in that discipline as well. This commitment to the development of language in all disciplines is reflected in the expectation that all students are:

• taught language skills by all staff and have opportunities to read, write, view, investigate, inquire, and present across the curriculum
• taught literacy skills in context
• exposed to a broad range of literature reflecting a variety of cultures and perspectives
• encouraged to share and develop their work in a social context
• encouraged to maintain and value their mother-tongue and to value the mother-tongue of other students
•  given ample opportunity to become proficient in more than one language

While Shaker believes, as supported by the Common Core standards, that all teachers are literacy teachers in their discipline, Language & Literature (English Language Arts) courses at Shaker display a wide range of exemplary literary choices and skill sets rooted in the MYP objectives. Students have enrichment choices in Language & Literature at the onset of our MYP program in the 5th grade, and the diversity of course level and content only grows from there: by 10th grade, students have choice between a great range of depth, or even a Language & Literature and Individuals & Societies (Social Studies) interdisciplinary course called American Experience.

Students who need extra support in developing Language & Literature skills may also engage in additional coursework at all levels of the MYP. At Woodbury (grades 5-6), students may choose to have additional reading support before, during and/or after school in the form of SuccessMaker Reading or Reading+. Additionally, some students experience the Repeated Reading Program in which a host of parent volunteers work on reading fluency with students in 3 minute breaks during Humanities class. Students at the Middle School (grades 7-8) who need additional support may take a reading class for one period a day which employs the programs SuccessMaker Reading, Leveled Literacy and Read180. The High School maintains the dedication of a daily period of reading and extends the use of Read180 to scaffold the student to language and literary success. The courses at the Middle School and High School may be taken in addition to a Language Acquisition (World Language) or in its place as students work to master their mother tongue.

Language Acquisition offerings are equally diverse, allowing students to choose French, Spanish, Latin, German or Mandarin Chinese in 6th grade and experiencing that language all the way to their 10th grade year and/or beyond. Special attention is paid to vertically aligning Language Acquisition courses across the continuum of grades 6-10, ensuring strong transitions from course to course and building to building. Chinese I, French I, German I, Latin I, and Spanish I are all offered at both the Middle School and High School; the vertical alignment allows students to have similar experiences in these courses no matter when they display the readiness to begin them. Varying levels of difficulty to these courses are introduced in the 9th grade, allowing students to self-select the difficultly and depth with which they wish to engage in a second language. If scheduling permits, students may also introduce a third language to their coursework sometime during the continuum. All students are expected to enhance mother tongue skills through language and literature while continuing the development of a second language, but some may also add the breadth of a third. This most notably occurs at the high school in which some students elect to take another modern language or ancient Greek. The middle school also offers additional opportunity to learn a third language during “Raider Time.”

While English is the language of instruction for nearly all courses in Shaker Heights, significant mother-tongue support is given to students who are English-language learners (ELL). Students who qualify for ELL support engage in ELL courses with Teachers of English to Speakers of other Languages (TESOL) educators. During ELL time, students are given help with reading, translating and completing core curriculum class work. In this way, students have continuous and concurrent English support in an immersion environment, helping them to learn English in context and remain successful in other content areas. ELL courses are constructed through an “additive” approach in which English skills are intended to increase success within the district, rather than replace mother-tongue skills. The MYP also intends to help our ELL students maintain connections with their home culture while sharing it with their peers in Shaker, supported by teachers that develop curriculum with international values and global contexts.

To assess the needs of students, the Language Assessment Survey (LAS) and the Ohio Test of English Language Acquisition (OTELA) are used to annually determine the level of support each student needs. In 2013-2014, Shaker identified (at least) the following languages from around the World that are spoken by our students: Spanish, Marshallese, Mandarin, Ibo, Arabic, Tagolog, Portugese, Swahili, Dutch, Chinese and French. When English proficiency has been reached (as determined by the LAS and OTELA), the student “graduates” from the ELL course and enters a period of monitoring for success without formal intervention. If, after the year of monitoring, the student, parent(s) and teachers feel as though the student is capable of maintaining success in his/her coursework, they are considered fluent English speakers and may use their ELL period for electives or other coursework of desire.

References:

Discovery College MYP Programme – Language Policy

The Shaker Heights City School District believes that all students can learn and that the IB provides a framework to ensure this philosophy. As stated specifically of the Middle Years Programme’s guidebook, From Principles to Practice,

The MYP is intended to be an inclusive programme that can cater for all students. The central place of approaches to learning (ATL) helps teachers and students respond in a flexible way to varied learning needs, including the needs of those who are learning in a language other than their mother tongue, or special educational needs of all kinds. (p. 5)

The Diploma Programme continues this stance of inclusivity by making explicit the opportunity it provides for all students through open-enrollment into the program, even in cases where students need additional accommodations in order to be successful. To guarantee this degree of inclusivity, teachers work to learn about their students and examine where each student is along the continuum of learning. By developing IB-aligned lessons, materials, and learning objectives that will best help each individual grow, teachers are able to maximize growth in all students, ranging from our highest achievers to those who face challenges on their way to success. This level of individualized attention allows for the inclusion of nearly all students in mainstream classes, oftentimes supported by intervention specialists that co- plan and co-teach with subject-area teachers.

Through the collaboration of subject-area teachers and intervention specialists in the MYP, students with special needs are at the core of all lesson plans, ensuring that each lesson is designed with access for all students in mind. This might include individualized scaffolding, additional time on assignments, break-out groups for differentiated lessons, and/or other supports while retaining the expectation for all students to be successful on the learning objectives. In classrooms without dedicated intervention specialists, as is common in the DP, communication between classroom teachers and students’ intervention specialists is maintained with Present Level of Student Performance (PLOP) forms, Observation Forms and annual IEP meetings.

The Shaker Heights City School District accepts all students that live within the City of Shaker Heights and is committed to providing a world-class education for each young person within its diverse population. One way that Shaker Heights does this is by providing a rich array of course offerings from which students may choose, varying in depth as well as topic. Counselors work with students to find the right fit, but Shaker also encourages students to challenge themselves by choosing courses that will stimulate their learning and development. One way that we promote rigor for our students is through the elective IB Diploma Programme (DP), a challenging set of courses which is shown to enhance college- readiness and prolonged success by great margins, including for those who may struggle with economic barriers or other environmental factors.

Our low student-to-counselor ratio allows counselors to really know our students and understand the coursework that may benefit them best. Counselors make personalized recommendations for courses and programs based on a student’s previous coursework, their knowledge about the attitudes, attributes, and learning dispositions of the student, and an understanding of the appropriate stretch and challenge a course may offer. Ultimately, however, each child and his/her family are able to choose which set of courses they find most appropriate through the Shaker Heights City School District’s commitment to open-enrollment, ensuring that each child finds themselves in the course that will serve them best. This open-enrollment policy applies to our DP as well, eliminating the barriers of prerequisites, applications or other deterrents for struggling learners. We believe that we offer each child an education that is highly tailored to their needs, life-goals, and passions and promote access to such.

This balanced philosophy of family advocacy and counselor advisement is inclusive to our students with special education needs as well. Students with special needs are provided with an individualized education plan (IEP) that has been developed by an intervention specialist with the input of classroom teachers, parents, counselors, and administration. These plans include life-goals as well as intended areas of growth, such as reading comprehension, organization, or potential vocational options. The development of IEPs is a good opportunity for the stakeholders in a child’s education to come together and ensure that each student has access to an education that best fits their needs. In addition to the support of IEPs, 504 plans may be put in place to ensure equal access to a quality education despite any impairment or disability a child may display. Using these tools, each child has the best opportunity to experience a quality public education with their peers.

Sometimes an IEP or a 504 results in a prescribed series of accommodations. Accommodations may be considered interventions that allow a student with a special need the opportunity to overcome obstacles and achieve academic success. Accommodations are tailored to each student, but some common examples include extended time for completing assessments, the chunking of assessments to allow breaks between sections, and small-group testing. These accommodations are accounted for in both the standardized tests that may be given during a student’s time in the MYP as well as the internal and external assessments of the DP. All accommodation requests for the DP external assessments are submitted to the IB well in advance under one (or more) of the “inclusive assessment arrangements” as described in the Handbook of procedures for the Diploma Programme.

While inclusion in the MYP and DP is our aspiration, sometimes a student may be best served under the guidance of a teacher in a resource room. In these courses, curriculum is modified and made appropriate for the students learning in this environment. There are currently resource room classes that include all core curriculum requirements for the State of Ohio (Language & Literature, Individuals & Societies, Maths and Sciences) and beyond. Despite these modified environments, the MYP philosophy is evident in these courses, focusing on the role of the Learner Profile and Approaches to Learning skills in the holistic development of each student. 10^th graders in the resource room, under the care of their teachers, participate in the Personal Project as well.

For more information on the Shaker Heights City School District’s Special Education Needs programming, such as special education testing and qualifications, public notices, health services and more, refer to the “Pupil Services” button under the “Parents & Students” tab on Shaker.org.