Policies
Review our British Columbia course policies.
Assessment and Evaluation
Assessment in education is the process of gathering information as evidence of student mastery over concepts and/or skills. Continuous assessment provides ongoing feedback that creates a transparency between teacher expectations and student learning outcomes.
Assessments in the Continuing Teacher Education – BC courses, have been developed based on competency-based assessment in accordance with the Professional Standards for BC educators.
Formative and Summative Assessments
While instructors will provide you with feedback on an ongoing basis throughout the course, you will receive a formal assessment of your overall progress at two check-in points during the course.
Your instructor will complete two rubrics throughout the course to evaluate your progress. The Formative Assessment rubric will be completed halfway through your course. The Summative Assessment will be completed at the end of your course and will include your final mark.
Those who do not meet the minimum expectation will receive an Unsatisfactory (US) for that criteria. If you are given an Unsatisfactory in any criteria in the Formative Assessment, you are expected to take the feedback from your instructor and incorporate it into the next assignment to demonstrate understanding.
Those who do not demonstrate a progression in learning and receive an Unsatisfactory for the same criteria across both assessments will receive a final mark of Fail for the course.
If you receive more than five Unsatisfactory criteria levels in the Formative Assessment you will receive a final mark of Fail. If you receive more than one Unsatisfactory levels on the (course culminating) Summative Task Assessment, you will receive a final mark of Fail.
Those who receive more than one Unsatisfactory on the (course culminating) Summative Task Assessment will receive a final mark of Fail.
Rubric Qualifiers
| Knowledge and Understanding | ||
|---|---|---|
| A+ Level | B+ Level | |
| K1 | Articulated a comprehensive knowledge of the ideas, issues, relationships, and questions in the course through research driven theory and practice | Addressed some new concepts, issues, relations, and questions from the course |
| K2 | Crafted evidence-based and data-driven information | Based understanding mainly on personal experiences and/or anecdotal information, with little reference to evidence-based data |
| K3 | Multiple sources have been consulted to gather information and form a solid understanding of content | Used few external resources are sourced to present understanding of course material |
| Thinking | ||
| A+ Level | B+ Level | |
| T1 | Considered various approaches to construct a specific position that connects theory to practice | Constructed simplistic ideas with limited evidence to prove a position |
| T2 |
Considered various perspectives of different stakeholders Carefully evaluated the importance of these factors when presenting ideas |
Demonstrated limited awareness of perspectives and/or stakeholders when presenting ideas |
| Communication | ||
| A+ Level | B+ Level | |
| C1 | Identified and tailored content for audience, purpose, and the circumstances surrounding the task | Demonstrated some attention to the audience’s identity, knowledge, and context |
| C2 | Clearly identified the purpose and demonstrated how the communication achieved its purpose | Identified the purpose, using communication that is somewhat appropriate to the purpose |
| Application | ||
| A+ Level | B+ Level | |
| A1 | Demonstrated practical and theoretical evidence of changing ideas, questions, growth and new understanding related to course content | Correctly identified information from the course content but rarely connected them to other theories, trends or future practice |
| A2 | Demonstrated how knowledge and skills will be transferred to future professional experiences | Showed limited interest in applying course knowledge, skills, and understandings to future professional experience |
Progress Updates – Candidate Participation
In addition to the formative and summative assessments of your overall progress in the course, you will also be assessed specifically on your participation. You will have the opportunity to self-assess and compare your assessment to the instructor’s evaluation of your participation.
Each Progress Update includes the following:
- Progress Update Self Evaluation
- Evaluation of acceptable participation criteria
- Evaluation of exceptional participation criteria
- Evaluation of overall participation
- Evidence of participation
- Progress Update Instructor Evaluation
- Evaluation of acceptable participation criteria
- Evaluation of exceptional participation criteria
- Evaluation of overall participation
- Explanation of evaluation reasoning, discussion of any discrepancies with self evaluation, and suggestions for next steps
Assigning a Grade
At the formative and summative assessment stage the rubric is converted into an overall grade for the course.
| Overall Grade | |
|---|---|
| A+ | Candidate received exceptional participation and A+ grade on the most critical aspects of the course |
| A | Candidate received acceptable participation and/or A grade on the most critical aspects of the course |
| B+ | Candidate received either one unacceptable participation evaluation, and/or B+ on the most critical aspects of the course |
| U/S | Full or partial resubmission of assignment is required as the assignment does not meet the expectations for A+, A or B+. This is a temporary designation and failure to resubmit as required will result in a mark of Fail |
| Fail | Any criteria achieved that do not meet the requirements for A+, A or B+ |
Late Assignments
Additional Qualification Courses are designed so that candidates work through the same modules at the same time. All assignments will be accepted up to the due dates identified in the course outline. Although assignment submissions to instructors need to be uploaded by the module's due date, discussion tasks must be completed within the time frame of the specific module, allowing candidates enough time to read and respond to each other's posts.
Candidates who are unable to meet the due dates for any assignment due to extenuating circumstances must request additional time from the instructor. Extensions are given at the discretion of the instructor. Candidates who do not request extensions and who make more than one late posting to a discussion or submit more than one late assignment cannot be considered for an A+ grade in the course.
Please note that a candidate who has completed 75% of the required work by the end of the course will not qualify for an extension and will receive an automatic Fail.
Resubmissions of Assignments
Candidates who receive Unsatisfactory on over four or more subsections of the Formative Assessment must contact the instructor for further guidance on improving their level in the course. This process will usually involve resubmission of the assignment(s).
Candidates who receive a Fail grade at the end the course may appeal by following CTE’s Appeal Process.
For additional information, please see The Appeal Process for a Failing Grade.
Course Accommodations
Applicants who require special accommodations are asked to follow these steps:
- Contact the Coordinator of Academic Personnel of Continuing Teacher Education, Julie Lackie at julie.lackie@queensu.ca at least 2 weeks prior to the start of the course to allow enough time for appropriate accommodations to be made.
- Provide necessary documentation upon request.
- Develop an accommodation plan with the manager of CTE that will be implemented and communicated with your course instructor.
Failed Grade Appeal
- Course participants have the right to appeal a failed grade assigned in a course subject to the marking scheme set out by the course instructor(s).
- As a first step, the course participant should email their instructor and request an informal review of the grade. Instructors are strongly encouraged to consent to this review. This request should be made within 10 working days of the grade being received. Normally the instructor will provide a reconsidered grade and notify the candidate by email within a further 10 working days of receipt of the request and any further information being submitted by the course participant.
- If the request for an informal review by the instructor is denied or if the course participant is not satisfied with the decision, a formal appeal may be submitted to the Coordinator of Academic Personnel of Continuing Teacher Education, Julie Lackie at julie.lackie@queensu.ca. The appeal must be submitted in writing with copies of all relevant documents not later than 10 working days after the reconsidered grade being received. The appeal will be reviewed by a third party within 10 business days of receiving the appeal.