Assessment

Assessment in Pre-K and Kindergarten and the first three grades of Primary (K-3) is entirely in-house. The national system does not allow students to receive grades, so report cards provide a summary of progress based on specific criteria.

Primary School (1-4) and Middle School (5-8)

From Grade 4 to Grade 8 students are required to be assessed in all subjects through a mixture of exams, projects, homework, and in-class work. The weighting of the final report grade at the end of each semester is based on the number of hours of instruction in each subject area per week, multiplied by the grade in each subject and then averaged. All subject grades are stated as a percentage. The schools strictly adhere to the assessment requirements of the Ministry of Education, and exams for each subject area reflect the rules in vigour at any time. The school also meets the assessment requirements of the IB PYP and MYP programmes.

Within the IB Primary Years Programme much emphasis is given to the quality of formative assessment for which a clear policy exists in the school covering Grades PreK to 4, and the reporting of progress with particular emphasis on how far learners are adopting the IB learner profile, one of the key principles underpinning the IB curricula in all programs. There are six detailed reports per year after each unit provided to parents (PreK to 4), with a regular opportunity for parents to meet teachers in a formal setting to discuss their children’s progress. Children are also integrated into the assessment process, as outlined in the school’s policy, and, at the end of the academic year, children have an opportunity to present their portfolio to parents centred around an individual conversation about their progress, with concrete examples of their work throughout the year. At the end of the Grade 4 student are required to work collaboratively to prepare and present an exhibition in which the PYP knowledge, skills and attitudes are displayed in summative fashion. This is intended to showcase the type of learning which they have undertaken on the PYP programme.

The MYP programme, like the PYP, incorporates formative assessment as an integral part of achieving the outcomes of the planned units of inquiry in the main subject areas. At the end of each unit there is a summative assessment, based on the learning focussed on in each unit, which follows the assessment criteria guidelines laid down by the MYP programme for that subject. At the end of the academic year an MYP report provides an overall grade to students and parents based on the average of the assessments of all units of inquiry in all subjects over the academic year. Assessment incorporates the required knowledge, skills, and attitudes focussed on in all the MYP subject units and interdisciplinary units and the final MYP grade is allocated based on a best fit model.

The assessment policy, set at a national level, requires all grades to be entered into a special Ministry of Education Website (e-okul) on a regular basis by each school. Every semester, i.e. two times a year, students receive an official Education Ministry required school report. All reports are official documents signed by the principal and are, therefore, given special attention. Also parents can reach these reports through the official e-school system.

Teachers are required to give regular feedback to students on performance in exams, on homework, and on project work, and to maintain updated and accurate records. The students are ranked on graduating from the school and the top students, based on yearly averages on continuous assessment and exams from Grade 4 onwards, are given special mention at the end of Grade 8. The top 20 students in Grade 8 are awarded full or partial scholarships in the Özel Bilkent High School.

Özel Bilkent Primary and Middle Schools, in addition to the government e-school system, have a web-based computer program that has been developed in-house which is used to put grades and homework topics onto the internet. This program is then regularly accessed by parents so as to keep up to date with their children’s progress. The System also contains a messaging facility which allows regular contact between individual families and the teacher, or whole class/family communication.

Many teachers also have individual or departmental websites for more course specific information, or use Moodle as a means of communicating homework and course related work.

High School

Continuous Assessment is required at each level with written exams and oral grades counting towards the final end of term grade. The minimum number of exams per subject is regulated according to the relative weight of the subject.

It is possible for students to have to repeat a year if their end of year grade point average (GPA) is lower than 3.0 (out of 5.0). Up until 2013, if students were failing the year, they were allowed to take special end of year exams to increase their GPA in order to pass to the next grade level. Since September 2013 students are expected to pass the year. However, they can still move to the next level with a maximum of three failing grades.

In order to gain a high school diploma students have to have achieved a minimum GPA of 3.0 (out of 5) in their final year, plus a minimum of 55% in each subject area average over the 4 years from Grades 9 to 12.