Criterion based assessment is an inevitable part of learning and teaching in MYP. Each subject has a set of criteria which reflects objectives of the subjects. The objectives can be such as concepts, knowledge or skills. Each criterion has levels of achievements. The students are given the assessment criteria in advance, so they know what their goals are for each unit of learning. The student’s final achievement in the subject is reflected in the IBO final grade, which is issued twice in a school year, in January and in June.

If you ask a Math teacher, whatever the programme, what does he/she assesses, the reply would be as following: using numbers, application skills, problem solving skills, using Maths expressions etc. Each subject has a set of elements-objectives that are expressed in the criteria. As each subject is different, the criteria have to be different too. The reason why the criteria are weighed differently is that some elements are of higher value than the others. For example, in Maths, knowledge and understanding has the maximum value 8, whereas reflection and evaluation has the maximum value 6.

A rule of thumb that can help you is: the higher the level of achievement, the better your child’s performance. The levels have their descriptors which give a detailed account of the achievement

ATL or Approaches to Learning is one of the Areas of interaction which focuses on the students’ ability to learn independently, to organise their learning, to prepare for the lessons, to deliver the assignment tasks on time, their attitude towards learning and so on. The ATL can be at excellent, good or needs improvement level.

The criterion assessment informs the students in advance what is expected from them in each unit of learning. The students know precisely what their strong and weak points are and consequently they can set further goals in order to achieve improvement. This can lead towards competence and independency in life-long learning.