Hillside High School -

The committee in charge of designing, revising this document for the year 2024-2025 consists of a multidisciplinary team and HHS staff who represent the interests of the community. This committee and policy will be updated annually.

• Principal - Dr. Joshua Mallory

• Assistant Principal - Ms. Margaletta Reid

• Diploma Programme Coordinator - Dr. Sanders Benkwith

• Middle Years Programme Coordinator - Ms. Keshetta. Henderson

• MYP Language and Literature - Savannah Bowman 

• English Teacher - Ms. Leslie Street

• Math Teacher - Mr. Adam Shore

Hillside High School’s mission is to inspire students to become globally aware citizens, lifelong learners, and responsible leaders in their communities.  This will be accomplished by creating challenging learning experiences that emphasize collaboration, critical thinking, and respect for all people.   Hillside High School International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme staff will expose our students to the necessary assessment tools and strategies in various forms that align with the requirements of the Diploma Programme.  These tools and strategies allow HHS IBDP staff to monitor and analyze student performance so that they will be most prepared for the rigors and challenges of the assessments of the IB Diploma Programme.  We expect our students to be able to acquire knowledge and skills, make meaning of the big ideas and transfer their learning in new and meaningful ways in order to function successfully in a global society.  

This document includes:  

• descriptions of the various types of assessments used at Hillside High School 

• detailed assessment practices at Hillside High School

• links to integrity policy and other policies & grading practices

• roles & responsibilities of HHS IBDP staff and students

• deadlines and due dates of assessment components

Formative Assessments

HHS IBDP staff create unit plans using the IBDP unit plan template.  Formative assessments are embedded throughout the daily lessons and unit plans, and they are designed to provide continuous feedback to teachers and students at different times throughout their lessons.  With this consistent data, teachers can determine student progress and teacher effectiveness.  The staff at Hillside staff has implemented the principles of the  Instructional Core model and best practices training by Hillside administrators and other HHS faculty.  

Summative Assessments

Summative assessments are product-oriented or unit-ending assessments.  At Hillside, these types of assessments include, but are not limited to, final examinations, research papers, projects, performances, portfolios, presentations, etc.  These assessments can be graded in various ways, including using the IB Criterion-Reference rubrics and the Durham Public Schools (DPS) Grading Scale (as outlined in grading practices section).   Parents and students have access to their student’s grades through the Power School’s Parent and Student Portals in which they access by username and password.  

MYP Standardization

Each semester, faculty/staff engage in the standardization process for our IB MYP assessment - Personal Project. The following process is provided:  1) to make sure we understand the criteria, the command terms, and the achievement level descriptors 2) Examiners look at our final score to see how well we understand them and the grading should be a) consistent b) fair c) and have a common interpretation 3) Must use a best fit approach meaning “compensation should be made when a piece of work matches different strands of a criterion at different levels”.  

Three roles are assigned - Reader, Recorder, and Reporter.  Teachers are given a copy of the evaluation rubric, two sample reports, and a scoring sheet.  They must read and review all documents and then proceed to individually and collectively score each strand within the criterion and then provide an overall score. Discussion ensues until a consensus is reached. Thereafter, we provide the examiner comments to see how closely aligned their comments/scores were to the examiners. This process occurs twice to ensure a standard has been achieved. Scoring has improved allowing for students to obtain final certificate scores of 4s and 5s exceeding the world average. 

IB Internal Assessment Components & Scoring Standardization

IB Internal Assessments (IA) are IB-determined assessments that must be completed within each subject that IB students take during the 11th and 12th grade year.   The internal assessments are assessed by the classroom teacher, but samples are sent to external IB examiners to ensure international consistency of expectations.  The IB Staff collaboratively develops a Deadlines of Due Dates document each year for each grade level to ensure students’ IA due dates do not overlap in order to lower students’ stress levels and  help guide them in self-management. 

Each year we conduct PD on the importance of using IB standards and rubrics when assessing student work. When scoring internally assessed work, teachers within the same content area grade the same work and compare their scores to ensure consistency in grading. Finally, teacher’s make use of the previous year’s moderated marks to reflect and modify their grading practices to better fall in line with the expectations of IB.  Examples of internal assessments include but are not limited to, oral commentaries, historical investigations, simple experiments, and scientific investigations.  

IB External Assessment Components

IB External Assessments are IB-determined assessments that must be completed within each subject that IB students take during the 11th and 12th grade year.   IB External assessments are assessed by IB examiners from countries all over the world.  Examples of external assessments include but are not limited to, the Extended Essay, Theory of Knowledge Essays, the Higher Level Literary Essay, Spanish, French, and Mandarin and Literary Essays.  

Reporting, Recording and Deadlines for Assessment Components

All external & internal assessment components are either mailed or uploaded to various IB subject examiners located in different parts of the world.  Each Diploma teacher has access to the IB reporting forms for their respective subject and sets their internal deadlines at the beginning of each school year.   It is each teacher’s discretion as to how and when they share internal assessment grades with their students.  The examiners mark the assessments using a set “markscheme” (answers) which is applied to all IB student assessments.  The internal assessments and the external assessments (papers or final examinations) are combined to make up the final grade for the subject, which is scaled from 1 – 7 (see IB Marking Scheme under grading practices).    More detailed information about the breakdown of percentages per subject for the assessment components of IB classes can be found in Hillside’s IB Diploma Handbook.  

IB Examinations

Another form of external assessment components is the IB Examinations or papers.  IB Diploma students take a series of papers or examinations for each of the subject areas.  The IB Examination Schedule is set by the International Baccalaureate Organization and the examinations are held within a 3 week period beginning in early May.  Students who sign up for the classes in August and complete registration paperwork in September must sit for the examinations in May.  There are no make-up dates for IB examinations during the May session.  These examinations include various assessment types including but not limited to, short-answer, essay, multiple choice, open-ended, case studies, and commentaries.  Examinations are mailed to IB examiners all over the world to be graded and combined with internal assessment components to compile the student’s IB final score.

Scoring Student’ Work

• Be sure that your scoring ranges between 0-100.  Assigning massive points to student work is very difficult for students and parents to interpret and calculate with assignments scored in a normal range (0-100).  See your PLT leader for guidance on scoring if you believe there is a need to score beyond 100 points.

• Use rubrics as often as possible.  Rubrics are designed to describe in detail the expectations for the assignment as well as what students should do to earn the maximum number of points. Each DP subject teacher will address the type of assessment and IB grading rubric that will be used for the respective subjects’ assessments since there are various types in each DP Subject Group.   Don’t confuse a rubric with a scoring guide.  They are not the same.   Grade boundaries are used for IB Diploma courses to familiarize IB students with IB scoring.  

Feedback on Student Work

• Be descriptive and detailed in your feedback.  Feedback should be informative telling students specifically, what they need to improve and how to improve it or what they did well and why you evaluate the work as such.

Recording Student Grades in PowerSchool

• Make sure your grades are updated EVERY TUESDAY at a minimum.  Do not keep hoards of work and then grade all of them before progress reports or report cards are distributed.  Scoring work in a timely manner is just as important as assigning the work to students.  Immediate feedback is non-negotiable.  This approach will also keep both parents and students informed of their progress encouraging parental involvement and student responsibility.

• Grades weights should be 50% Product and 50% Process.  Do not break those percentages down any further as all too often, we have only one or two assignments in a category.  This does not allow students sufficient opportunities to develop him/herself in that category.

• Be sure the descriptions for the grades include learning goals.  In fact, after you have unpacked standards, everyone should use learning goals instead of objectives.

DPS Grade Scale

In all grade levels in which letter and/or numerical grades are given, the grading scale shall be as follows:

IBDP Grade Scales

This Diploma Points Matrix shows how bonus points are earned in the EE and TOK external assessments for an IB Diploma Candidate.

See the Hillside IB Diploma Handbook, for more specific assessment details.

See Hillside’s Academic Integrity Policy

IB School Responsibilities

The IB School will…

• Foster lifelong learning skills

• Provide rigorous & balanced university coursework

• Focus on internationalism and responsible citizenship

• Provide excellent preparation for college

• Receive & maintain authorization from the IB Organization

• Include inquiry, independent research, interdisciplinary activities, international-mindedness & exposure to a holistic view of knowledge

• Incorporate IB philosophy, strategies, & assessments with standards, goals, & objectives of NC Standard Course of Study while using Understanding By Design® unit plans & Learning Focused® lesson plans.  

• Provide access to IB training for teachers

• Provide various resources to promote student success such as IB Prepared books, IB Assessment Preparation Sessions, and Smartbacc Online Study Courses. 

Student Responsibilities, Requirements & Expectations

IB Students are expected to maintain a mutually respectful learning environment at all times.  A student is accountable for their academics and behavior at all times.  Since IB aims to develop students to be independent and self-reliant in order to be a productive and responsible citizen, maintaining a high standard for personal behaviors is important.  The Learner Profile is an excellent reminder of what is expected from IB students. The Durham Public Schools Expectations: MYP & DP Contract has more specifics about what is expected as an IB student and is detailed below: 

Hillside IB Middle Years & Diploma Programme Students will…

• Demonstrate conscientious academic effort & a strong commitment to learning 

• Regularly complete assignments & assigned projects

• Participate constructively in lessons, activities, etc.

• Be self-motivated, intellectually curious, independent thinkers, & able writers

• Have a desire to excel & an interest in community service

• Display a high standard of personal behavior and responsibility    

Middle Years Programme (MYP - 9th and 10th grade) students should…

• Successfully complete the coursework and the examinations from each of the 8 subject groups.

•  Complete at least one arts course during Year 4.

•  Complete Health & PE Course during Year 4.

•  Complete at least 1 language acquisition course each year, but complete through level 3 before 11th Grade. 

•  Complete through NC Math 3 before 11th Grade.

•  Complete "Service as Action" community service per year.

•  Complete IB Culminating Assessment, the MYP Personal Project (process journal, report, product, presentation)

  during Year 5.

• Note that Biology & Chemistry will not be taken during the same semester.

•  Complete at least one design course before 11th grade. 

Diploma Programme (DP – 11th and 12th grade) students should…

• Attain a final grade of "C" in each IB course

• Be assigned to the IB school by the district's lottery process

• Complete preferred course prerequisites

• Complete the coursework, internal assessments, and examinations for each of the six 2-year IB courses

• Assume responsibility for cost of 6 exams if the IB budget or NC State budget does not cover the cost

• Complete the Theory of Knowledge (TOK) course and essay

• Complete the Extended Essay (EE) in one of the IB subjects

• Attend at least one Saturday Academy or IB Prep Session per quarter

• Complete & document Creativity, Activity, and Service experiences

• Complete all summer assignments

• Follow DPS Code of Conduct and the Hillside Honor Code

Requirements for Middle Years Programme and Diploma Candidates

Middle Years Programme scholars and Diploma Candidate students should choose the IB courses and level based on their academic strengths and weaknesses, interests, and future education plans.  It is strongly recommended that students consult with parents, teachers, administrators, counselors, and the IB coordinator as decisions are made about course selections.  Feel free to set up individual conferences with the IB Coordinator.  Students should keep in mind that it is their responsibility to research the universities of interest to them to determine which courses and scores are accepted.  You may visit the IBO website to see a list of universities in Canada and the United States that recognize IB courses. 

An IB Middle Years scholar must choose classes from the following 8 IB MYP subject groups:

• Language & Literature

• Language Acquisition

• Individuals & Societies

• Sciences

• Mathematics

• Arts

• Design

• Physical and Health Education

…as well as select an elective. 

Here are the current course offerings per each year of IB MYP.

An IB Diploma Candidate must choose one course from each of the following six IB curriculum subject areas and complete all assessment components in order to maintain diploma candidate status:

• Group 1: Language A - Literature

• Group 2: Language B (Language Acquisition – Second Language)

• Group 3: Individuals and Societies

• Group 4: Experimental Sciences

• Group 5: Mathematics 

• Group 6: Arts or one other subject from groups 1 – 4

Additionally, all IB Diploma Candidates must:

• Take the Theory of Knowledge (TOK) course including assessment components

• Complete an extensive 4000 word research essay called the Extended Essay (EE)

• Complete and document at least 150 Creativity, Action and Service (CAS) Hours

Each IB Diploma Candidate must choose three HL and three SL courses for the two year period. HL courses must have at least 240 contact hours and SL courses must have at least 150 contact hours.  A list of Hillside course offerings in each subject is listed below:

Revision: June 2025