Learners inspiring learners to be inquisitive in life

Learners inspiring learners to be inquisitive in life, principled in character, and bold in vision. American School of Brasilia Portuguese External Diagnostic Assessment 2017 Engaged | Principled | Collaborative | Contributing

Portuguese External Diagnostic Assessment The American School of Brasilia conducts an annual external diagnostic assessment of Portuguese with 5 th, 7 th, 9 th and 11 th grade students for the following purposes: · to assess the student´s skill in reading, interpretation and writing · to verify if the performance of students at EAB is aligned with the performance of students from public and private schools in the Distrito Federal and wider Brazil that also follow the Brazilian curriculum. The department adopted a method to compare the assessment results with the national results by using a performance scale from SAEB/Prova Brazil in Portuguese. Learners inspiring learners to be inquisitive in life, principled in character, and bold in vision.

Portuguese External Diagnostic Assessment The external diagnostic assessment is characterized by: - using articles for reading from the SAEB evaluation reference matrix, adjusted by the Theory of Item Answer (TRI); - making on-line tests available , guaranteeing the confidentiality of imediate answers returned to each student; - adopting a comparison methodology of reading tests results, with the national results, by using the SAEB/Prova Brasil performance scale in the Portuguese Language; - following the external writing corrections and presenting results related to the correspondent performance levels , to each evaluated requirement of students’ writing; - publishing reading and writing evaluation results in two personalized reports for each student, sent by e-mail to the school, and then from school to students; From the evaluation it is possible to diagnose students’ skills in Portuguese and identify which need to be improved. This means that it is possible to identify specific learning needs that provide clues for future teaching activities choice or forwarding students to studies extra help with subjects that have not been mastered skills. Information from the assessment are, therefore, useful for the articulation of the results obtained by the classes with the instructional planning of the evaluated subject. The diagnostic evaluation has become an important instrument of teaching improvement and, consequently, for obtaining better students’ performance results. Learners inspiring learners to be inquisitive in life, principled in character, and bold in vision.

Portuguese External Diagnostic Assessment The last 4 years results from 2014 to 2017 for reading, interpretation and writing from the 5 th, 7 th, 9 th and 11 th grade students, exceeded the average of students from private and public schools in the Distrito Federal, according to the results analyzed by the department for assessment, Fundação CESGRANRIO. The tests applied to the students of the American School of Brasília in grades 5, 7, 9 and 11 used items provided by the Bradesco Foundation, adjusted by the Theory of Item Answer (TRI), according to the large-scale national assessments. Learners inspiring learners to be inquisitive in life, principled in character, and bold in vision.

Portuguese External Diagnostic Assessment SAEB/Test Brazil 2015 and American School of Brasília 2014, 2015, 2016 & 2017. Learners inspiring learners to be inquisitive in life, principled in character, and bold in vision.

Reading Results obtained by the American School of Brasília students, on reading tests, were inserted on a scale comparable to the SAEB scale, which has a range of 0 to 500. The averages are presented by grade: Learners inspiring learners to be inquisitive in life, principled in character, and bold in vision.

Reading Results Grade 5 = 246, 2 Average is above 200, 0, considered adequate level for 5 th grade. Learners inspiring learners to be inquisitive in life, principled in character, and bold in vision.

Reading Results Grade 7 = 265, 2 Average is above 237, 5, considered adequate level for 7 th grade. Learners inspiring learners to be inquisitive in life, principled in character, and bold in vision.

Reading Results Grade 9 = 281, 7 Average is above 275, 0, considered adequate level for 9 th grade. Learners inspiring learners to be inquisitive in life, principled in character, and bold in vision.

Reading Results Grade 11 = 349, 9 Average is above 291, 7, considered adequate level for 11 th grade. Learners inspiring learners to be inquisitive in life, principled in character, and bold in vision.

Writing Results Reading tests applied to students in grades 5 and 7 were composed of 40 items. For students in grades 9 and 11 there were 50 items. Multiple choice items contained four answer options for 5 th, 7 th and 9 th grades, and five options for 11 th grade. The proposals for text production were adequate to each grade level. Students were requested to write: 5 th grade – adventure narrative; 7 th grade – personal report; 9 th grade – argumentative letter; 11 th grade – opinion article Learners inspiring learners to be inquisitive in life, principled in character, and bold in vision.

Writing Results Grade 5 Average class percentage represents a performance above 88%. Learners inspiring learners to be inquisitive in life, principled in character, and bold in vision.

Writing Results Grade 7 Average class percentage represents a performance above 91%. Learners inspiring learners to be inquisitive in life, principled in character, and bold in vision.

Writing Results Grade 9 Average class percentage represents a performance above 85%. Learners inspiring learners to be inquisitive in life, principled in character, and bold in vision.

Writing Results Grade 11 Average class percentage represents a performance above 93%. Learners inspiring learners to be inquisitive in life, principled in character, and bold in vision.

Students received their reports, with all results, in December, 2017. Teachers will use the results to reinforce the necessary content in each grade. It is gratifying to see that, through the great results, our curriculum and teaching practices are more and more aligned with EAB and Brazilian curriculum expectations. Congratulations to students and teachers for their performance in all grades. We remain committed to expanding our students’ academic background. Thank you families for your partnership. Brazilian Program Team Learners inspiring learners to be inquisitive in life, principled in character, and bold in vision.