At Verdala International School, assessment is an essential part of the learning process. It helps students, teachers, and families understand what has been learned, how well it has been understood, and what the next steps in learning should be. In the IB Primary Years Programme (PYP), assessment is not an endpoint, it is ongoing, meaningful, and designed to support each child’s growth. Assessment enables students to take ownership of their learning, reflect on their progress, and develop the confidence to set and pursue personal learning goals. It also informs teaching, guiding educators to adjust learning experiences based on what students know, understand, and can do.

How We Assess Learning

We use a balanced and intentional assessment framework composed of three interconnected dimensions:

• Assessment for Learning: Teachers use ongoing assessments to gather insights into student thinking to inform teaching and learning to meet student needs.
   

• Assessment as Learning: Students take an active role in assessing their own progress, reflect on feedback, setting personal goals, and developing ownership of their learning.
   

• Assessment of Learning: At key points such as the end of a unit, students complete performance tasks that synthesize their understanding of central ideas, concepts, and skills. These assessments provide evidence of learning in meaningful, often interdisciplinary ways and help inform progress reports and family communication.
   

Assessments at VIS are:

• Ongoing and purposeful – embedded in everyday learning to guide progress.
   

• Student-centered – designed to empower reflection, action, and growth.
   

• Authentic and connected – rooted in real-world contexts and relevant experiences.
   

Our assessment practices reflect the transdisciplinary, inquiry-based nature of the PYP and ensure that each child’s learning journey is visible, supported, and celebrated.

Assessment Tools and Approaches

To support effective assessment, Verdala uses a variety of strategies and tools:

• Holistic Rubrics: Used to assess overall performance, holistic rubrics provide student-friendly descriptions of various levels of achievement. They are developmentally appropriate and promote self-reflection.
   

• Single-Point and Analytic Rubrics: These provide detailed feedback by outlining specific success criteria or performance levels across different components of a task. They support goal-setting and student ownership.
   

• Observation and Dialogue: Teachers regularly observe students in action, ask questions, and engage in learning conversations to better understand student thinking.
   

• Student Portfolios: Portfolios are curated collections of student-selected and teacher-curated work that reflect growth in understanding, conceptual thinking, skill development, and application across disciplines.
   

• Self and Peer Assessment: Students are encouraged to give and receive feedback, building metacognitive skills and empathy.
   

• Running Records: Teachers use running records to assess reading fluency and comprehension, and collect writing samples to track growth across genres. These tools inform targeted instruction and monitor progress over time.
   

Assessment Expectations at VIS

Teachers are expected to:

• Conduct ongoing assessments at least twice per discipline per unit to monitor and support student understanding, knowledge, and skill development.
   

• Use these assessments to provide timely feedback and adjust teaching as needed.
   

• Facilitate a comprehensive end-of-unit assessment that includes an integrated performance task. This summative task is supported by a holistic rubric and reflects the knowledge, concepts, and Approaches to Learning (ATL) skills explored throughout the unit.
   

• Support students in identifying meaningful opportunities to take action as a result of their learning, whether personal, social, or academic. These expectations ensure assessment is consistent, purposeful, and rooted in the lived experience of learning.
   

• All assessments must be documented and evidenced on Toddle.
   

PYP Assessment Descriptors

At Verdala, student learning is described using the following developmental levels:

• Emerging – The learner demonstrates limited understanding of the required concepts, knowledge, and skills, and can apply them only in familiar contexts with support.

• Developing – The learner shows a general understanding and can apply knowledge and skills in familiar contexts. Some higher-order thinking is evident.

• Consolidating – The learner demonstrates solid understanding and can apply knowledge, skills, and conceptual thinking effectively in a variety of contexts.

• Extending – The learner consistently shows deep understanding, applying knowledge and skills independently and creatively in new and complex situations.

These descriptors are embedded in assessment rubrics and guide teacher feedback, student reflection, and progress reporting.

Communicating Student Progress

We are committed to keeping families informed and engaged throughout the year. Key ways we share student learning and progress at VIS:

• Three-Way Conferences: During the first semester, students, teachers, and families meet to reflect on progress and set new goals together. These conferences create a shared understanding of how to support each child’s next steps. Time slots can be booked through SchoolsBuddy, and we encourage early booking.

• Student-Led Conferences: During the second semester, students take the lead in sharing their learning journey to their families, curating work samples, reflecting on their growth, identifying strengths and areas for improvement, and sharing personal learning goals. This process fosters ownership, confidence, and metacognition, and reinforces the belief that students are active participants in their own learning.

• Progress Reports: Families receive two written progress reports each year—mid-year and end-of-year. These reports include narrative feedback based on ongoing assessment of your child’s learning. Teachers describe what your child knows, understands, and can do, using a range of evidence gathered throughout the year.

• Portfolios: Each student builds a digital portfolio on Toddle, showcasing growth across subject areas and units of inquiry. Portfolios include student-selected and teacher-curated work and are shared as part of the conference process. Physical artifacts may also be added to support the digital portfolio when relevant.

• Ongoing Updates: Teachers share regular updates and feedback through Toddle to keep families connected to what’s happening in the classroom.
   

MAP Assessments (Grades 3–5)

Students in Grades 3 to 5 complete the Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) assessment twice a year. These computer-based, adaptive tests provide data to help teachers personalize instruction and monitor academic growth over time.

Cognitive Abilities Test (CAT4) (Grades 3-5)

The Cognitive Abilities Test (CAT4) is an assessment administered to students in Grades 3, 4, and 5 at Verdala International School. It differs from traditional achievement tests (which measure what a student has already learned) by assessing a student's underlying cognitive potential and capacity for future academic success.

Purpose and Value of the CAT4

The primary goal of the CAT4 is to provide teachers and school leaders with deep, evidence-based insights into how each student processes information. This data helps us tailor our teaching and learning environment to meet individual needs, supporting our commitment to personalized learning within the PYP framework.

The CAT4 data is used to:

• Understand Individual Learning Profiles: Identify specific cognitive strengths and areas of potential challenge for each student.

• Inform Differentiated Instruction: Adjust teaching strategies, pace, and content delivery to align with a student's optimal way of learning.

• Identify Support and Extension Needs: Pinpoint students who may require targeted support (Learning Support) or extended academic challenge.

• Predict Potential: Provide an indication of a student's cognitive growth and their potential performance across various school subjects.

What the CAT4 Measures

The CAT4 is non-curricular and non-verbal, meaning it does not test specific school subjects. Instead, it measures core reasoning skills across four batteries that are critical for academic progress.

The four distinct areas measured by the CAT4 are:

1. Verbal Reasoning: This battery focuses on thinking with words. It measures the ability to reason, solve problems, and make logical deductions using language and vocabulary.

2. Non-Verbal Reasoning: This battery focuses on thinking with pictures and shapes. It measures the ability to find patterns and relationships in visual information, a skill crucial for scientific and mathematical thinking.

3. Quantitative Reasoning: This battery focuses on thinking with numbers. It measures the ability to reason and solve problems using numerical concepts, quantities, and their relationships.

4. Spatial Reasoning: This battery focuses on thinking with 3D space. It measures the ability to visualize and manipulate shapes in space, a skill vital for Design Technology and advanced mathematics.

By assessing these four distinct areas, the CAT4 provides an actionable profile that helps ensure we are maximizing every student's learning journey at VIS.