Growing Success: Assessment, Evaluation, and Reporting in Ontario Schools, First Edition, Covering Grades 1 to 12, 2010 sets out the Ministry of Education’s assessment, evaluation, and reporting policy. The policy aims to maintain high standards, improve student learning, and benefit all students, parents, and teachers in elementary and secondary schools across the province. Successful implementation of this policy depends on the professional judgement of teachers at all levels as well as their high expectations of all students, and on their ability to work together and to build trust and confidence among parents and students.

Major aspects of assessment, evaluation, and reporting policy are summarized in the general “Assessment and Evaluation” section that applies to all curricula. The key tool for assessment and evaluation in the Grade 10 course, Digital Technology and Innovations in the Changing World – the achievement chart – is provided below.

The Achievement Chart for the Grade 10 Computer Studies Course

The achievement chart identifies four categories of knowledge and skills and four levels of achievement in the Grade 10 course, Digital Technologies and Innovations in the Changing World. (For important background, see “Content Standards and Performance Standards” in the general "Assessment and Evaluation" section that applies to all curricula.)

Criteria and Descriptors for Grade 10 Digital Technology and Innovations in the Changing World

To guide teachers in their assessment and evaluation of student learning, the achievement chart provides “criteria” and “descriptors” within each of the four categories of knowledge and skills.

A set of criteria is identified for each category in the achievement chart. The criteria are subsets of the knowledge and skills that define the category. The criteria identify the aspects of student performance that are assessed and/or evaluated, and they serve as a guide to what teachers look for. In the Grade 10 computer studies course, the criteria for each category are as follows:

Knowledge and Understanding

• knowledge of content (e.g., facts, technical terminology, computational thinking concepts, programming concepts)
• understanding of content (e.g., processes, concepts, tools, computational thinking practices)

Thinking

• use of planning skills (e.g., identifying a need or problem, gathering information, selecting strategies and tools, setting goals, developing timelines)
• use of processing skills (e.g., analyzing a need or problem, carrying out a plan to create programs)
• use of critical/creative thinking processes (e.g., problem solving, research and inquiry)

Communication

• expression and organization of ideas and information (e.g., clear expression, logical organization) in oral, visual, and/or written forms (e.g., demonstrations, interviews, presentations, reports, flowcharts, pseudocode, code)
• communication for different audiences (e.g., peers, users) and purposes (e.g., to inform, to persuade, to solve problems, to collaborate) in oral, visual, and/or written forms
• use of conventions, vocabulary, and terminology of the discipline in oral, visual, and/or written forms (e.g., terms, programming language syntax, coding standards)

Application

• application of knowledge and skills (e.g., tools, computational thinking concepts, programming concepts and strategies) in familiar contexts
• transfer of knowledge and skills (e.g., tools, computational thinking concepts, programming concepts and strategies) to new contexts
• making connections within and between various contexts (e.g., connections to everyday personal situations; connections to social, cultural, economic, environmental, and ethical issues; connections between computer studies and other STEM [science, technology, engineering, and mathematics] subjects; connections to potential careers)

Descriptors indicate the characteristics of the student’s performance, with respect to a particular criterion, on which assessment or evaluation is focused. Effectiveness is the descriptor used for each criterion in the Thinking and Investigation, Communication, and Application categories. What constitutes effectiveness in any given performance task will vary with the particular criterion being considered. Assessment of effectiveness may therefore focus on a quality such as appropriateness, clarity, accuracy, precision, logic, relevance, significance, fluency, flexibility, depth, or breadth, as appropriate for the particular criterion.