Robert Pearson’s empty fuel tanks. Flight 143 had to glide to safety.

MYP criteria are four subject-specific dimensions, labelled A, B, C and D, that teachers use to judge different kinds of evidence in a student’s work. For a parent used to Cambridge Checkpoint strands, the practical shift is from tracking performance mainly by content area to reading several dimensions of performance within each subject.

In 1983, Captain Robert Pearson and First Officer Maurice Quintal were flying Air Canada Flight 143 when the Boeing 767 ran out of fuel over Canada. The aircraft’s fuel quantity had been calculated incorrectly during Canada’s transition to metric measurement. Pearson and Quintal had an aircraft, a fuel figure and a familiar unit of measurement, but those pieces did not share the same system.

Pearson glided the aircraft to a former airfield at Gimli, Manitoba. All aboard survived. The event, later known as the Gimli Glider, is documented in the Canadian Aviation Safety Board’s aviation occurrence report.

A Cambridge report and an IB MYP report can create a much smaller version of the same translation problem. The letters and numbers may look familiar, but reading them through the wrong assessment system can produce the wrong conclusion.

Checkpoint strands and MYP criteria answer different questions

Cambridge Checkpoint reporting can help a family see how a student performs across strands or content domains. In mathematics, for example, a parent may be accustomed to looking for strengths and gaps across areas such as number, algebra, geometry or statistics.

That encourages a useful question: “Which part of the subject needs attention?”

MYP criteria add another set of questions. What knowledge did the student show? How effectively did the student investigate or work through the task? Could the student communicate the reasoning? Could the student apply learning in context?

The exact meaning of Criteria A, B, C and D depends on the MYP subject group. Parents should therefore resist turning the letters into universal labels. Criterion B in one subject may assess something different from Criterion B in another.

Each criterion also contains strands. Those strands describe the particular evidence the teacher expects within that criterion. In other words, a strand still exists in the MYP vocabulary, but it sits inside a broader assessment criterion rather than functioning as a direct equivalent to a Checkpoint content strand.

Read A, B, C and D inside the subject

MYP mathematics offers a useful example. Its four criteria cover knowing and understanding, investigating patterns, communicating, and applying mathematics in real-life contexts.

A student might handle familiar calculations confidently under Criterion A but struggle to explain a general rule under Criterion B. Another might reach a sound answer yet lose marks because the mathematical communication under Criterion C is incomplete. Criterion D asks whether the student can use mathematics appropriately in a real-life context, which may expose a gap that a routine exercise does not reveal.

This does not mean one result is correct and the other is misleading. They are measuring performance through different frames.

The same caution applies outside mathematics. Do not carry the mathematics labels across to language and literature, sciences or individuals and societies. Ask for the relevant subject’s criterion descriptions and the task-specific clarification used for that assessment.

That small step prevents a common error: treating “Criterion C is low” as a complete diagnosis. The useful follow-up is, “What evidence did Criterion C require in this subject and on this task?”

Translate the report before choosing support

When a family moves from Checkpoint into MYP, place the two reports side by side and build a translation sheet. Keep it simple:

• Write down the Checkpoint strands in which the student was secure or developing.
• List the MYP criteria assessed in the recent task.
• Note the specific criterion strands the teacher highlighted.
• Add one example from the student’s work beside each concern.
• Separate missing subject knowledge from difficulty investigating, communicating or applying that knowledge.

This matters when arranging tutoring. “Needs help with mathematics” is too broad if the student knows the mathematics but cannot justify a pattern or present a solution clearly. A tutor matched to the MYP curriculum should be able to work from the criterion language, the task instructions and the student’s actual response.

The family should also avoid converting an MYP criterion score directly into a Cambridge percentage or grade. MYP criteria use achievement levels and subject-specific descriptors. Schools then apply their reporting practices within the programme. A familiar-looking number may carry a different meaning.

For a wider view of this problem, Curriculum Transitions: What the Gimli Glider Teaches About Report Cards examines why labels need translating before families act on them.

Bring the right evidence to the first tutoring conversation

Before the first lesson, gather the recent task, teacher comments, criterion descriptors and any marked rubric. Include the earlier Checkpoint report if it helps show the student’s subject history. The goal is to identify whether the immediate need concerns knowledge, method, communication, application or a combination.

Accelerate Tutors’ parent registration records the student’s curriculum, subjects, goals, availability and learning support needs. Curriculum-specific matching matters here because an MYP tutor needs to recognise what the criteria demand, while a Checkpoint tutor may organise the same subject through a different assessment structure.

Flight 143’s fuel figure failed because the people handling it did not share one measurement language. When a family changes curriculum, the safest first move is equally plain: translate the assessment language before deciding what the student needs next.