Article: Parents See Benefits of IB Program

                Parents are beginning to see the benefits of the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Program that was implemented at Northern Heights Elementary School a year and a half ago.

                The International Baccalaureate (IB) Programme is an inclusive program that requires involvement of all students. The program was implemented at Northern Heights Elementary in 2011, and at Bellingham’s Wade King Elementary in 2010. Currently these are the only two elementary schools with the IB Primary Years Program World School status in Washington state, as stated on the IB website.

                “The IB Program embraces internationalism,” Wendy Barrett, principle at Northern Heights said.

                Northern Heights has a high number of ethnically diverse families; 19 different languages are spoken in the homes of Northern Heights Elementary students.

                “We wanted to celebrate that and engage that as an asset in our school community,” Barrett said.

                Implementing the IB Program did not come without its costs; the school has to pool money from multiple sources to fund the project.  

                The elementary school was forced to prioritize exciting funds in their budget, teacher's allocated money from the professional development portions of their salary and the Bellingham School District helped by financially supporting the Roseta Stone Spanish Language Program. Additionally, the PTA put significant dollars toward to the IB Program budget line, Barrett said. There is a staffing cost to the program as well.  

                When the school first implemented the IB Program they put a great effort toward parent education. Barrett said the school sent home information in their newsletters as well as surveyed parents and received overwhelming positive feedback. There were only a handful of families that responded negatively and Barrett addressed their questions and worked through their concerns.

                A focus of the IB Program is on critical inquiry.  This involves the synthesis, analysis and manipulation of knowledge and means as part of their curriculum students are required to look deeper into a problem.

                “Take water for example. Student’s don’t just look at this issue on a personal or community level, but as a global concern; they understand that access to water is not the same around the world and they understand there are political ramifications around this resource,” Barrett said.

                Inquiry is one of the fundamental approaches to the IB Primary Years Programme and allows for students to take an active role in their learning. There are eight concepts used in the Primary Years Programme that guide the student’s line of inquiry, form, function, causation, change, connection, perspective, responsibility and reflection, according to Barrett.

                “I like the way they question things in their inquiries, especially in the older grades,” Cristin Scheer said, who has a daughter in first grader at Northern Heights.

                Encouraging students to question their world and what shapes it is only one part of the program.

                The IB Learner Profile is a part of the Primary Years Program that acts as a guide for teachers in their educational practices and for students in learning.

                There are 10 characteristics of the IB Learner Profile that teachers and students are to aspire to embody: to be inquirers, knowledgeable, thinkers, communicators, principled, open-minded, caring, risk-takers, balanced and reflective.

                “They live and model all of the Learner Profile attributes and we have embedded them in our entire school community,” Barrett said.

                The IB Primary Years Program views bilingualism as being an increasingly important part of growing up in the 21^st century and has emphasizes this in the program.             

                 At Wade King Elementary School the Rosetta Stone program is used to teach its students Mandarin Chinese. At Northern Heights Elementary School Spanish is the second language learned, according to Barrett.

                “Having the Spanish unit now is different than when I went to school, but I believe it’s been very beneficial,” Sarah Montioni, mother of a first grader at Northern Heights, said. 

                Each school offers online access to these programs so students can continue their learning online.

                Northern Heights soon may not be only one of two elementary schools to offer this program in the state.

                “Other schools are getting on board, but it’s not a short process. There is a school in Tacoma area that is two thirds the way there and other schools are visiting to learn more about the program,” Barrett said, adding that she sees a shift as finances get better.