Policies and Procedures

EDMONDS‐WOODWAY HIGH SCHOOL – ADMISSIONS POLICY

Edmonds‐Woodway High School is a public high school, and our students must be residents of the
Edmonds School District to attend our school and enroll in the IB Program.

There are several pathways to attend Edmonds‐Woodway and join the IB Program:

1. Resident Family: These students are residents of our local area, zoned for our building. Once on our campus, they can select as many, or as few, IB courses as they wish to take.
2. “G” Students: Highly Capable/Gifted students who reside in the Edmonds School District can automatically select EWHS as their home high school. Once on our campus, they can select as many, or as few, IB courses as they wish to take. 
3. Non‐resident Family: Students who live in the district – but who are zoned to attend another high school – can use our open application process to attend EWHS. Interested students simply complete an online application in the Fall, and a multi-disciplinary committee reviews their academic progress for admission that includes: current student work in English/Language Arts or Social studies and Mathematics or Science, 7th grade academic history and application responses. Once on our campus, they can select as many, or as few, IB courses as they wish to take.
4. Transfer Request: Students can complete a High School Transfer form at any time from Grades 9‐12. Families must indicate they wish to access the IB Diploma program on their transfer form. These approvals happen at the district‐level. Once on our campus, they can select as many, or as few, IB courses as they wish to take.

Once students arrive at Edmonds‐Woodway, there are NO barriers to entry to any of our honors programs at Grades 9 and 10, and there are NO barriers to entry to our full‐IB program or to most of our IB program courses (pre‐requisite courses in Math SL, Biology HL, and Chemistry HL are the exception).

Because we have other options in Math and Science for students, there is nothing to prevent a student entering our doors from selecting the IB certificates or the full‐IB diploma pathway.

IC Reviewed, 09/2023

CURRENTLY UNDER REVIEW

CURRENTLY UNDER REVIEW

Edmonds Woodway High School IB Diploma Program Parent or Legal Guardian and Student Complaints Procedure

The Edmonds Woodway High School IB Diploma Program values constructive feedback and is committed to resolving concerns in a professional and timely manner. The following steps outline the procedure for addressing various types of complaints, including those related to staff, programs, and instructional materials.

General Complaints

1. Step 1: Discuss the issue with the relevant teacher, school counselor, or appropriate department staff. If the issue is not resolved,
2. Step 2: Elevate the concern to the school principal or supervisor. If the issue is school-wide or program-specific, this becomes Step 1. If the issue is not resolved,
3. Step 3: Contact the appropriate assistant superintendent's or executive director's office. If the issue is not resolved,
4. Step 4: Contact the Superintendent's Office.

The superintendent will develop procedures to handle complaints concerning staff or programs.

Curriculum and Instructional Material Complaints

1. Initial Discussion: Concerns about instructional materials should first be discussed with the certificated teacher and/or the school principal. All parties are urged to resolve the concern at this level.
2. Supplemental Material: If the concern is about supplemental instructional material, a written request may be submitted to the principal for the material to be withdrawn from the student without penalty. A meeting will be facilitated between the complainant(s) and appropriate school staff. A written decision will be provided post-meeting. Appeals may be submitted to the superintendent or designee for review by the Instructional Materials Committee (IMC).
3. Core, Alternative Core, or Intervention Material: If the material is core, alternative core, or intervention material, a request for reconsideration may be registered with the Superintendent or designee. This request will be forwarded to the IMC for review and public consideration, if appropriate.
4. Final Decision: All instructional material reconsideration decisions will be made by a majority vote of the IMC and are final. Decisions will be delivered in writing to the superintendent, complainant, and affected staff within ten (10) school business days.

Legal References:

• RCW 28A.405.300 Adverse change - in contract status of certificated employee Determination of probable cause Notice Opportunity for hearing
• Chapter 42.30 RCW Open Public Meetings Act

IC Approved; 10/23

ASSESSMENT POLICY OVERVIEW

ASSESSMENT POLICY TEAM
Our assessment policies are informed by work that occurs at both our grade level and course level, with regular input from the IB Coordinator. This process is ongoing, with the IB Coordinator taking the lead role in documenting assessment ideals which are firmly established in our common practices. Our Principal and Assistant Principals are responsible for implementing, evaluating, and reviewing assessments as a part of their formal evaluations of instructors. As a part of that evaluation process, the Principal and IB Coordinator make recommendations for additional professional development for instructors, beyond that of the regular schedule of professional development and trainings that are supported by our budget.

Note: A copy of our Assessment Philosophy can be found on the EWHS IB website. In addition, all of our
school’s course syllabi are public, and published on our IB teacher sites.

EDMONDS‐WOODWAY HIGH SCHOOL ASSESSMENT POLICY
As a part of its mission, the teachers, staff, students, and community of Edmonds‐Woodway High School are dedicated to empowering students to achieve educational excellence while demonstrating integrity and compassion through responsible citizenship. As a fundamental element of our mission is to achieve educational excellence, the philosophies and principles of student assessment must be well‐defined, consistent, clearly articulated, and – importantly – linked to standards of merit.

As we view IB assessments as one of the many authentic representations of the demonstration of student understanding, a central feature of our assessment policy is the expectation that ALL students – including ML students – who are taking an IB course be required to sit for the IB examinations associated with their coursework or diploma series. This is made clear in our IB program policy regarding the connection between coursework and examinations:

The IB program at EWHS is marked by the development and completion of a number of internal and external assessments. When an Edmonds‐Woodway student signs up for an IB course, they do so with the understanding that they should register for the IB examination that is aligned with that class, unless circumstances exist which disqualify them from examining. There are fees associated with IB exams, and they are published by the school each year. Note: WA State provides a 100% exam fee waiver for all students who qualify for free‐and‐reduced lunch; in addition, the building provides assistance for students in need. Finally, all students who qualify for an IEP or a 504 accommodation plan are required to contact the IB Coordinator during the exam registration process so that an IB exam accommodation request can be completed in a timely manner.

Assessment is one of many tools to help teachers to evaluate student success. All teachers regularly assess students by gathering, analyzing, and interpreting student work to measure understanding. We recognize that assessment can take a wide variety of forms ‐ from the evaluation of simple reflective pieces of on demand writing to public presentations, portfolios, or to more formal assessments and exams. Assessment is one of many tools to help teachers to evaluate student success.

FORMAL AND INFORMAL ASSESSMENT: GOVERNING PRACTICES

At the most basic level, structured assessments will take many forms, including (but not limited to):
• Individual oral presentations
• Internal assessments
• Reflective journals
• Written commentary
• Classroom discussions / Socratic seminars
• Simulations
• Essays
• Labs and lab portfolios
• Individual and Group projects
• Portfolio math projects
• Extended Research
• Performance and Composition
• Group presentations
• On‐demand writing
• Extended Essay (for full‐IB diploma candidates)
• Written IB examinations (May of each year)

Assessment of student learning, however, will also happen on an informal basis every day in the IB classroom. Effective instruction must be reflective, and our instructional methods are founded on the cornerstone of reflective practice by teachers who work to develop one‐on‐one relationships with students. Although observations may not typically be translated into grades, informal assessment is crucial for teachers to ensure that meaningful understanding of content knowledge is taking place. Formal assessment is transparent and standards‐based ‐ and clear, published, rubrics and exemplars are available to all students at all times. Instructors will work collaboratively during our defined collaborative planning time to develop specific, common rubrics to evaluate student performance – and they will work during professional planning time – throughout the year – to standardize the assessment of student work. 

A one year calendar of all major IB assessment deadlines will be published by the Coordinator each September, so staff and students can balance stress on both students and teachers. Finally, all student major written assignments – and all work being sent to the IBO – will be submitted to Turnitin.com for verification of authenticity, prior to grading. 

COMMUNICATION – THE KEY TO REFLECTIVE PRACTICE
Reflection is an essential element of any successful assessment, and students will regularly participate in, and reflect on, the assessment of their work. As clearly defined by the IBO, reflection helps students to be “a better judge of their own performance” as they work to develop their own strategies to improve themselves as learners. Full‐IB diploma candidates have this embedded in their program materials, as prescribed reflections are an essential component of CAS hours and the full diploma experience. In other subject areas, reflection is less formal, but still a feature of our coursework. Formal grading is a requirement of Washington state law, and the Qmlativ gradebook system (developed in association with WSYPSI, the Washington state grade reporting system) shall continue to be used by all instructors. As the system is web‐based, it is marked by its ability to have students and parents view assignments and grades at any time, from any web device. In this way, students can track their progress at all times.

The system is also marked by its data connection; teachers can use the system to broadcast messages to their entire class, subsets of any student population, or limit their communication to parents and guardians. Our instructors shall use these features on a daily basis as a way to inform students of deadlines and communicate student success with parents.

Our course expectations are public, and teachers will publish all of their course syllabi on their individual websites; the IB Coordinator will publish all of the IB course syllabi on the school’s IB website. Managebac shall continue to be used to track the academic progress of our full‐IB diploma candidates, the progress of the Extended Essay, the progress of our CAS hours, and as a tool to document Internal Assessments. Both Canvas and Managebac’s classroom features will continue to be used by the all IB instructors, who use the communication tools, classrooms, and forums to allow students to engage in dialogue that enriches their understanding of the curriculum.

Finally, our district shall continue to distribute formal progress reports to all students, four times a year,
and issues formal grades (using the A‐F scale) at the end of each semester. Teachers shall have the
opportunity to add additional written comments to parents and students at that time, although these
comments are not a part of the student’s permanent transcript record.

TOOLS OF REFLECTION
As a core part of our reflective practice, the Coordinator will distribute all assessment data, as it is received from the IBO, purchase released exams, and make inquiries, where relevant, when exam scores are not aligned with Predicted Grades. During our collegial professional development time at the beginning of each school year, the IB Coordinator shall distribute exam results, and teachers from shared content areas will work together to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of our program and make changes, where necessary.

Our complete grade set – both internal (gradebook bands) and external (IB Scores) is reported to our community and, importantly, included in the reported data sent to all colleges and universities (in our school profile).

IB DIPLOMA REQUIREMENTS: THE EXTENDED ESSAY
The Extended Essay is both a requirement of the IB Diploma Series and a graduation requirement of full‐ IB diploma candidates at Edmonds‐Woodway. Because it is a central element to the core, responsibility for supervision is embedded into our teacher contracts. Since the Extended Essay is one of the elements of the IB Core that is not placed into a particular classroom context, an effective use of resources and timing allows us the opportunity to place elements of communication into the Theory of Knowledge class, but in the workload of the IB Coordinator. We also use our Advisory sessions to instruct students regarding elements of the Extended Essay.

Students begin working on their Extended Essays about halfway through Y1, and work with a wide variety of instructors to identify subject interests and ideas for research questions prior to formalizing their mentor relationship with one instructor. When students have strong ideas for the Research Question, the IB Coordinator specifically “pairs” a student to an EE mentor. We use Managebac to track and monitor progress on the explicit deadlines that we have created to ensure that students demonstrate – and reflect upon – their learning. This works to both ensure the importance of reflection at the core of the EE experience, and ensure that the EE is the original work of the students. Our daily bell schedule includes an advisory period of 30 minutes, and this provides students informal connections to their mentors every single day. By requiring a completed – formal – outline before the end of the Junior Year, we allow students to focus on their coursework and their college planning in the fall, before returning to the culmination of their essay later in the Winter.

OTHER ACCOMMODATIONS
The Edmonds School District shall follow WA State law in the establishment of IEPs (Individual Education Plans) and 504 learning accommodation plans to help students find greater academic success. Our IB program will honor these legally‐binding accommodation plans when they involve school‐based assessments. The IB Coordinator shall use established IB policy for the filing of D1 forms (with the IBO) for students who seek additional accommodations for formal IB assessments.

 
IC Reviewed, 09/2023