Assessment

• Completing the Student Self-Assessment
• Foundation Skills Assessment - FSA
• FSA - Confirming Student Mailing Address
• FSA Tech Support
• Interim Grade Reports
• Parent Sign-off for Student Learning Plans (SLPs)
• Understanding Your Report Card
• Understanding Your Student Learning Plan (SLP)
• Foundations Skills Assessment - FSA Q+A for parents

Completing the Student Self-Assessment

The ability to self-reflect is a life skill and student self-assessment is a central element of BC's curriculum. The K-9 self-assessment tool can be accessed in each student's homepage in Encom.

To complete the survey, simply follow these steps:

1. Go to the student's Encom home page.

2.  Click the Self-Assessment Survey button.

3. Read through this page in Encom:

4. Choose a number from the four point scale for each row.

5. Add a goal or two, and done!

Thank you for participating in student self-assessment.

Foundation Skills Assessment - FSA

The Foundation Skills Assessment is an annual, province-wide assessment of British Columbia students’ academic skills, and provides a snapshot of how well BC students are learning foundation skills in Literacy and Numeracy. These are assessments for students in Grades 4 and 7. 

The FSA is not optional unless students meet a very narrow set of requirements for exemption.

HCOS will be administering the assessments and families receive a package in order to carry them out at home. Here is some information to help you and your child prepare for the tests.

There are two categories of assessment; the assessments in total take about four hours. Here are the categories:

• Literacy
• Numeracy

The FSA will take your child about 4 hours to complete over a few days during a four week writing period. The assessments include online and written questions and a reflection activity.

The written parts of the assessment will be marked by teachers from HCOS and the results sent to your support teacher.

The results will be based on the following proficiencies:

• Extending – Sophisticated understanding of the concepts and competencies in relation to expected learning.
• Proficient – Complete understanding of the concepts and competencies in relation to expected learning.
• Developing - Partial understanding of the concepts and competencies in relation to expected learning.
• Emerging –Initial understanding of the concepts and competencies in relation to expected learning. 

FSA Questions and Answers

What does FSA stand for?	FSA stands for Foundation Skills Assessment and this test is given to all students in BC enrolled in grades 4 and 7.
What subjects are tested?	The student is tested in Literacy and Numeracy.
What is an invigilator?	An invigilator is a person responsible for supervising a test. The invigilator for the FSAs is either a teacher (in our case, with HCOS) or any person the administration deems as unbiased. This can be the parent of the child.
What time is involved for each test?	About 2 hours for each of the two sections.

 

FSA - Confirming Student Mailing Address

In order to ensure families receive the Foundation Skill Assessment (FSA) packages mailed out to grade 4 and 7 students, it helps tremendously to have mailing addresses in Encom up to date. 

Please make sure to update the STUDENT mailing list (not the parent one). Thank you.

Here is a quick set of directions on where to check this and how to make any changes needed:

1. login to Encom (please ask your support teacher if you are unable to)

2. Select My Contact Information in the top menu bar 

3. Scroll down to 'Mailing Address' (NOT Home address) and make sure it is correct for where your children will be receiving the FSA package.

It is important you state where you are currently living as we send FSA packages via email to families living outside of British Columbia at the time of writing (see example below).

If you are out of province / country, please change your mailing address to just your country (see example below).

Please also quickly check if the email address is correct while you are checking this page. Thank you.

4. Pleas click 'Save Changes' at the bottom of the screen if you updated your Mailing or Email Address. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FSA Tech Support

A few tips can help make the FSA process go smoother.

Pre-Administration System test:

This Pre-Administration System Test ensures that you have the correct Java Scripting components
enabled, that your browser is set to accept Cookies and that Pop-Up Blockers are disabled.

A successful result will have a "pass" for every line: 

Technical Information Sheet:

Text-Reader Software Tip Sheet:

Caching Preventing Tip Sheet:

Interim Grade Reports

In addition to two formal reporting periods, Heritage Christian Online School has developed an Interim Grade Report (IGR) to ensure families are aware of any challenges or concerns regarding their child’s progress between reporting periods. 

About the IGR:

• IGRs are an optional report designed for teachers to communicate to families any concerns that they may have with a student. For example:
• A student is performing below expectations
• A student has significantly dropped in their course progress or achievement
• There is a lack of communication with the teacher
• General concerns regarding a course grade
• If a student is in danger of failing a course
• An IGR can be sent out at any point; however, the natural checkpoints for teachers will be in November and April, the midway point for each term.
• It is possible for a student to receive more than one IGR in a school year.
• IGRs will be completed on a per subject basis. 
• For students in grades K-9, the support teacher may write one broad comment that addresses overall concerns in all subjects.
• For students in grades 10-12 or in any online courses, each course teacher has the option of completing an IGR.
• IGRs will not replace early interventions, ongoing communication, or formative feedback provided by a teacher.

How it will look:

• The IGR will include the teacher’s name, the current interim grade, the current course completion percentage (if applicable), and two comment fields. The teacher will identify their cause for concern, and provide information on ways to support learning in the comments.

Parents will receive an email with a PDF of the IGR when a teacher creates it, and can view it in Encom via the Interim Grade Report Button

Parent Sign-off for Student Learning Plans (SLPs)

Directions for SLP Parent Sign off

1. Log into Encom. If you have forgotten your password, please choose the "Lost your password?" option.

2. Read through your child's Student Learning Plan (SLP) to ensure it reflects your child's learning plan for the year. The SLP is a fluid document and should be updated throughout the school year. 

3. Once you've reviewed the SLP, please click the SLP Parent/Guardian Sign-Off.

4. You can view the SLP directly, by clicking the green Student Learning Plan button at the top of the page.

5. When you are ready to sign the SLP, please type your name into the Parent/Guardian Full Name, declaring that you collaboratively created the SLP in conjunction with your Support Teacher. 

6. Then sign your name by typing your full name into the Legal Signature box. 

7. Click Save SLP Sign off. 

You will need to repeat this process for each child enrolled in HCOS's K-9 program.

Understanding Your Report Card

HCOS has two reporting periods for all grades, Kindergarten through Grade 12. In addition to the regular reporting terms, teachers have the option of submitting an Interim Grade Report, which will be completed if a student’s level of performance is below expectations or the teacher has cause for concern.

We have designed the report card to give a clear picture of a student’s progress and learning. A list of the student's courses will appear connected with the teacher’s assessment based on the learning standards.

Grades will be reported using the following scales:

• Grades K-9 will receive a report using proficiency scales.
• Grades 10-12 will receive percentage grades.

Report Card Comments:

K-9

We want to ensure parents receive easy-to-read and informative comments regarding student progress. To accomplish this, we have created a system to ensure consistent, high quality comments from teachers that give parents and guardians the bigger picture, help identify areas of struggle and provide insight into your student’s success at school. The comments will focus on the following five areas:

Student Engagement and Behaviour
This section reports on your child's level of engagement in learning and their behaviour, focusing on their developing skills in the Core Competencies. These competencies include communication, personal and social thinking, and creative and critical thinking. For more information regarding the characteristics of the competencies, visit BC Curriculum: Core Competencies.
Literacy	Numeracy
Even though the new curriculum encourages students to dig into topics and broaden their knowledge through inquiry projects, it is still important that each child has a solid literacy and numeracy foundation. A specific comment will be written on literacy, identify the student’s skills and abilities based on reading, writing, speaking and listening across a variety of subjects.	Another comment will cover all aspects of numeracy to help identify skills and abilities to understand and apply mathematical concepts, processes, problem solving, and decision making.
Areas of Strengths
To celebrate successes, the teacher will highlight areas for celebration, projects completed, or skills and learning accomplished that term. The teacher will not focus on every project or area of learning, but rather on one or two that stand out and demonstrate your child’s strengths.
Ways to Support Learning
To encourage student learning, teachers will also include a constructive component that provides feedback on future learning. These comments are intended to support your child with ideas, strategies and tangible ways to address areas of concern, or areas to focus on in the following term.

Students will continue to receive a grade for every subject. Online Courses and Community Connections Plus courses will still receive subject-specific comments twice a year.

Grades 10-12

Students will continue to receive subject-specific comments twice a year. 

It is our hope that the Report Card will provide parents and guardians with a more accurate and concise reflection on how their student is doing at school.

Understanding Your Student Learning Plan (SLP)

At HCOS, it is our goal to develop learning plans for our students that are specific to each student's needs and abilities. These plans are for all subjects for a full school year and are worked on collaboratively between the Support Teacher and parent. Each Student Learning Plan is adaptable as student needs, interests, lessons, activities, and resources can change as a student works through their courses. With an open and flexible approach to how we build a student's yearly plan, the SLP captures the individual nature of each student and a new SLP is written for each school year. 

The SLP is made up of the following information:

• Overarching Goals - One Biblical Attribute goal, one Learner Profile goal, and one Core Competency goal.
• Subject Goals - For at least three subjects, what do you want your child to accomplish or understand? 
• Big Ideas - The overarching concepts of each subject.
• Instructional Format and Resources -What activities and resources are you planning to use? Share with your teacher plans and ideas you have for different subjects.
• Evaluation/Assessment - How will we check to see if your student has grown in their abilities? This is where your support teacher will evaluate/assess the work you send in.

Information your Support Teacher will collaborate with you to build:

• A list of the resources you plan to use during the current school year.
• A list of the additional activities in which you hope to enroll your child, such as music lessons, swimming, 4-H, etc. (These can be paid with your resource budget if they are in your SLP).
• A list of topics you plan on covering for Science and Social Studies. Often families with more than one child do these subjects together. If you are not planning on covering the topics for your child’s current year, let the teacher know if you have already covered the topic or at what future date you plan to cover it.

Your Teacher:

• Will work with you to build the SLP, sharing ideas and incorporating your input.
• Will post the SLP on Encom where you can review it. Be sure to tell your Support Teacher of any changes you would like to make and ask them any questions that you have.
• Will make suggestions regarding learning standards, resources, pacing, strategies and assessment.

Note: The SLP is a living document. This means that it should be reviewed by both the teacher and the parent throughout the year to ensure that it is current, and still reflects the education that is happening in your home. 

Once the SLP is completed, parents are expected to sign off on it in Encom. This indicates that the parent has participated in planning of the SLP. LINK: How to sign off on SLPs

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Understanding Your Student Learning Plan (SLP)

K-9 Individualized
During a home visit, the teacher and parents/guardians will collaborate to set goals aligned to the student's learning styles and interests, while also meeting the requirements set by the Ministry of Education. These goals will encompass personal goals related to the HCOS Biblical Attributes and Learner Profile, the BC curriculum Core Competencies, and subject-specific goals as appropriate. The intent is to create goals to address the student as a whole rather than having a goal for every subject, so the result should be a lower quantity, but a higher quality, of goals. The course-specific part of the SLP will revolve around resources and activities that will be used to meet student goals, along with an outline of how the teacher will assess each course. 

10-12 Individualized
Course-specific SLPs will be created within Individualized courses for students in the Grad Program. The intent is to create goals that address the student in the particular learning for that course, and to outline the necessary components needed in order to receive credit toward a Dogwood Diploma.

K-12
The SLP includes a section identifying the First Peoples Principles of Learning. The BC curriculum encourages learners to understand and respect their own and other cultural heritages. Teachers will select a few of the seven principles that naturally fit the student's educational journey and align with the values and perspectives of each family. We respect family choices, and recognize that this section will look different for each of our families.

Foundations Skills Assessment - FSA Q+A for parents

Q: How can I support my child in the completion of the FSA?

A: There are a variety of accommodations that are allowed during the writing of the FSA. If you typically use adaptations in Language Arts or Math on a daily basis (and we have correctly documented them), you are 100% free to use these with your children while they write the FSA tests (e.g. scribing where you write down what they say, giving instructions orally, voice-to-text, reframing questions, discussing assignments before/while working on them, etc.). These accommodations should be mentioned to your support teacher if you haven’t done so already so we can add them into our Educational Supports document for your student. A spell checker program is not provided for the online part of the FSA, however, this accommodation, along with supervised breaks or separate settings, may be used by all students without formal documentation. Also, talk to your support teacher as they can make suggestions and then document the Educational Supports used during the writing of the FSA in a student’s Student Learning Plan.

Q: For families with multiple children, should all booklets be sent back in one envelope?

A: No. Every single booklet has to go back in a separate envelope. The prepaid envelope stamp is for one booklet in the return envelope only. Otherwise, you might be charged more money by Canada Post.

Q: Are writing times firm?

A: No, you can take as much time as you need. The time on the instructions are suggestions, but if your child needs more time to complete the assessment (booklet or online), that is fine.

Q: Does it matter which component (booklet or online) we complete first?

A: No. Feel free to start with the one your child feels most comfortable with (2 components (literacy and numeracy) in the booklet and 2 components (literacy and numeracy) online).

Q: Is online exactly the same as the booklets?

A: No. They are different. 

In the booklet, there are:

• 2 Literacy components (1 in booklet, 1 online) 

• 2 Numeracy components (1 in booklet, 1 online)

• In the Literacy section in the booklet, there are 3 questions (remember to chose 1 theme only) 

• In the Numeracy section in the booklet there are 3 questions 

In the Online part,

• For Literacy there are 30 questions (multiple choice, checkbox, and matching) 

• For Numeracy there are 30 questions (multiple choice, checkbox, and matching) 

Q: Do we do both, booklet and online?

A: Yes. A total of 4 components:

• 2 in the booklets (one for Literacy and one for Numeracy)

• 2 online (one for Literacy and one for Numeracy)  

Q: If they run out of space in the booklet, can they finish their work on paper?

A: Yes. Please make sure to staple it to the page it belongs in the booklet (so it doesn’t get lost) and also adding your child’s name to the paper will help make sure their work stays associated with their booklet.

Q: What if we haven’t received the booklet by mid-October?

A: Please contact Christa (christa.eichenberger@onlineschool.ca) and she can send you the PDF version with all the  same instructions.

Q: Will we get the booklets back?

A: No. If you’d like a record of the work, please make a copy before sending it back. You can also share the work with your support teacher.

Q: Can my child use the keyboard for the written part?

A: Yes. Once you print the page, please make sure to staple it to the page it belongs in the booklet (so it doesn’t get lost) and it helps to have their name on their work too.

Q: Where can I see where my child is at with his/her scores compared to his/her peers in BC?

A: You can ask your support teacher about the HCOS results as they will receive an overview.

Also, BC schools results will be posted on several websites:

https://studentsuccess.gov.bc.ca/school-district/099/report/fsa

https://catalogue.data.gov.bc.ca/dataset/bc-schools-foundation-skills-assessment-fsa-

https://studentsuccess.gov.bc.ca/

http://www.fnesc.ca/how-are-we-doing-report/

As a school, we would caution looking at other school’s for comparison as each individual is a unique learner and the FSA is meant as a snapshot of where a student is at on a single assessment at a single point in a school year. It should be considered in light of them as a complete learning with all their interests and abilities reflected on along with the FSA results. The FSA is a good, general comment on a students general abilities in Numeracy and Literacy and should be treated as such. 

Q: My child didn’t have to do the Grade 4 FSA because they were doing an assessment (designation), do they have to do it now?

A: If your child has not received an exemption (due to an IEP designation), then yes, they will have to write the FSA. You can also talk this over with your support teacher.

Q: Is my child’s info (name, etc.) public record? And will the results be made public?

A: No, it would only be at HCOS and shared with the Ministry of Education and Child Care (MECC) as is done with all personal student records in B.C. This information is not shared with anyone else besides a child’s school. 

Q: If I am using educational supports with my child to write the FSA, do I let my support teacher know?

A: Yes please. It is important that we note these supports in the Educational Supports section of your child’s HCOS Student Learning Plan.

Q: What is the point of the FSA?

A: It generally helps HCOS see how are students are doing with applying Literacy and Numeracy skills and if there are ways we can help our Support Teachers work with our parents/guardians and students to help support skill development in the areas of Literacy and Numeracy. Specifically, FSA results help you and your support teacher see if there are Educational Supports that can support a student in their individual Student Learning Plan. Also, the FSA helps the MECC understand how students are progressing in their general understanding and application of Literacy and Numeracy skills.

Q: If my child is more at an ‘Emerging’ level on the proficiency scale used to assess their FSA work, do we have to change up the resources we use?

A: It would be best to talk this over with your support teacher. It might not be best to change everything because of a snapshot taken during the FSA. The FSA is a learning experience, not a failure if a low mark is received. Your support teacher could also help you put Educational Supports in place, rather than switching everything up.