MYP Assessment and Grades

Assessment is integral to all teaching and learning. In order to provide students with opportunities to achieve at the highest level, MYP teachers develop tasks that embrace a variety of assessment strategies and with different purposes. 

Formative assessments are for learning. They guide teacher instruction and give students feedback on their learning progress. As units of study unfold, teachers use formative assessments to monitor student learning along the way and adjust instruction where necessary to meet the needs of the students. Formative assessments are not calculated into the course grades communicated on progress reports and report cards (unless a student is missing summative assessments and the teacher must refer to formative work instead).

Formative assessment feedback may be communicated using the MYP criterion 8-point scale, a teacher-created system unrelated to the MYP criterion 8-point scale, and/or teacher comments. 

Summative assessments are summaries of learning. They are assigned to students at key points within a unit so students can demonstrate the knowledge and skills they learned. Teachers provide students with a MYP task-specific rubric with every summative assessment they assign so that students understand how they will be assessed on that specific assessment.

Summative assessment feedback is communicated using the four subject-specific criteria and the MYP criterion 8-point scale. Although each subject communicates subject-specific details within their rubrics, the chart below is a guide for understanding how the MYP criterion 8-point scale communicates learning progress in all subject areas.

0
No Evidence		 1-2
Limited		 3-4
Basic		 5-6
Proficient		 7-8
Advanced
Does not meet standard described / no evidence of meeting standard Currently below expectations Meeting at least some expectations Meeting and sometimes exceeding expectations Exceeding expectations

MYP semester grades are reported using an overall level of achievement (OLA) on a 7-point scale, as opposed to percentages and traditional letter grades. This MYP system for determining OLA scores allows students to be awarded for what is achieved by the end, as opposed to penalizing students for what they did not know or could not do at the beginning.

At the end of each semester, the teacher reviews the student’s summative assessment scores in each of the four subject-specific criteria and determines the “best-fit” score out of 8 for each criterion. The teacher is looking for trends within the scores and does not average the summative scores. 

Below is an example of criteria scores at the end of a semester in an English class.

MYP Language and Literature Criteria Example Semester Achievement Levels on 8-point criterion scale
Criteria A : Analyzing 5/8
Criteria B: Organizing 5/8
Criteria C: Producing Texts 6/8
Criteria D: Using Language 4/8
Sum of scores in all 4 criteria 20/32

Once a “best-fit” score is determined for each of the four criterion, the gradebook automatically calculates the student’s Overal Level of Achievement (OLA) score. The same scale and calculation are used by all IB MYP schools around the world. The highest score a student can achieve at the end of the semester in any MYP course is a 7. 

Sum of all 4 criteria OLA
score 		Overall Level of Achievement (OLA) Descriptions
(figured at the end of a semester)
28-32 7 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 situations.
24-27 6 Produces high-quality, occasionally innovative work. Communicates extensive understanding of concepts and contexts. Demonstrates critical and creative thinking, frequently with sophistication. Uses knowledge and skills in familiar and unfamiliar classroom and real-world situations, often with independence.
19-23 5 Produces generally high-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.
15-18 4 Produces good quality work. Communicates basic understanding of most concepts and contexts with few misunderstandings and minor gaps. Often demonstrates basic critical and creative thinking. Uses knowledge and skills with some flexibility in familiar classroom situations, but requires support in unfamiliar situations.
10-14 3 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
6-9 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.
1-5 1 Produces work of very limited quality. Conveys many significant misunderstandings or lacks understanding of most concepts and skills. Very rarely demonstrates critical or creative thinking. Very inflexible, rarely using knowledge or skills.
MYP & DP Letter Grade Conversion Overview