International Baccalareate Oranization

February 8, 2006 8:46 PM

Can anyone tell me experiences or firsthand knowledge regarding elementary schools that use the International Baccalaureate Organization curriculum?

We're in the midst of looking at first grade options for our daughter, and there is a charter school here in town that uses the IBO as their model. The information I can glean on the web seems to suggest it's challenging, but beyond that I can't really get at any subtext, good or bad. I'm not looking to be a maverick with my kid, but I have some pretty mixed feelings about the public schools in Oregon.

Thanks.

posted by docpops to education (9 comments total)

docpops -

I have no experience with the IB Primary Years Programme, but I went through the Diploma Programme (for high schoolers) just in the last few years. Would you be interested in my impressions of the organization as a whole? Let me know and I'll spend some time tomorrow morning composing an answer, as I'm home sick and have some free time.
posted by Sfving at 9:00 PM on February 8, 2006

Being a 20 year old living in, and from Oregon, and having gone to public schools, I share your caution. Then again, Im not sure its really different elsewhere.
posted by VillainousJester at 1:08 AM on February 9, 2006

What are your mixed feelings about the public schools in your neck of the woods based on, exactly? Are you talking to other parents? What does your child's kindergarten teacher think? The neighbors?

You don't mention if you've sent other children through Oregon schools, but if you haven't, make sure you're not drowning in misplaced criticism/optimism from state-level school officials, the local media, politicians, and others who haven't seen the inside of a classroom for 30 years and have ulterior motives. Other teachers and parents are probably your best resource.

It's also worth talking to the education departments at any local universities and seeing if they've got any professors or researchers who've got some personal experiences with local schools and can point you toward new/exciting/positive things for your daughter.

FWIW, my IB diploma gave me enough credits to skip my first year of college. It was wonderful for me in high school (and a good way to save money on tuition). Good luck.
posted by mdonley at 1:17 AM on February 9, 2006

docpops -

I work with an educational children's publishing company. E-mail me (see profile), and I'll send you a copy of a preview book from our world history series. It's the kind of thing that you could read to her as a bedtime story, and she'd absorb a lot of history.
posted by Alt F4 at 5:27 AM on February 9, 2006

I took the IB. I have no real memory of the younger grades but can tell you that when I got to (my fairly respected) US college, I was stunned at the low level of intellectual rigor and the light workload in my freshman classes. I feel I got more of an advanced education in my last two years of high school doing the IB than I got in all my college years. (Then again, I went to small, very tough international schools in Europe, which probably had a lot to do with it.)
posted by CunningLinguist at 6:04 AM on February 9, 2006

Speaking as a former middle grades IB teacher, I'd say go with it. In the elementary years the lessons might not be significantly different than the public school's program, but at IB schools there is an intentionality not found in many public schools. (I've found that many public schools just brush the surface of their required curriculum and don't go deep. IB schools have a focus on connecting the disciplines to create a holisitic approach to teaching and learning.) In order to maintain their IB good standing they have to show that they're deliberately following the IB models and exposing the students to the "Areas of Interaction" which are supposed to help students take responsibility for their own learning and understand how concepts work together in the world. There's an international focus as well which is priceless for young American kids who are taught through TV that the world revolves around them. Get on the IB website and poke around and then go to the school and ask to speak with the IB coordinator and a teacher.
posted by orangemiles at 6:34 AM on February 9, 2006

Thanks everyone. These are very helpful responses. My fears, in general, about public schools here are hard to define, but here goes: My kids seem pretty bright, but I also recognize that I was a real screw-off in school. Had I not had a really committed, motivated environment where it was assumed that hard work and a good college was part of the education process there's no way I'd be a physician right now. The families and kids I meet here, and I expect this is typical of most areas outside of metro regions, do not seem especially concerned about whether their kids go to college, or else I see the occasional brilliant student who is so ambivalent about college she winds up at a mediocre local university with no real goals. So I just want the few hours my kids get in school, before we inevitably try to pick up the slack, to be around kids that share similar goals, if that makes any sense.

But I'm also leery of sending them to an expensive private school around all the kids of docs and professionals, esp. since I'm not sure the curriculum is any better.

Thanks for everything so far.
posted by docpops at 7:14 AM on February 9, 2006

Also, sfving, yeah, I would like more input. Anything would be useful. Did you feel like your classmates were motivated? What were your teachers like? Did you feel like the curriculum was focussed on actual, practical knowledge that one would need for later pre-reqs in chemistry/math etc?

Thanks. Hope you feel better.
posted by docpops at 8:28 AM on February 9, 2006

I'm in the middle of the IB diploma for high school. I don't know how it works for elementary schools, but it's probably somewhat more challenging. Are there actually 1st grade IB classes with IB scores and everything? I am generally opposed to subjecting children to more standardized tests than necessary. Or do the teachers just model the curriculum after the IB curriculum?
More than AP, IB focuses on relating the various disciplines and creating well rounded students. In a lot of cases, this just means that we end up taking English classes that are disguised as math and science classes, but I am thoroughly enjoying Theory of Knowledge, which is IB's class about "how we learn" which is design to help us relate the disciplines. Also, the fact that they expect him to teach newtonian physics without calculus annoys the physics teacher, but that won't be a problem for first graders.

The quality of the teachers/other students really depends on the quality of the schools, not the quality of the IB program. There are fantastic IB teachers and there are terrible ones.
Also, seconding what dcmiles says about elementary and middle schools being too surface-level.
posted by martinX's bellbottoms at 3:39 PM on February 9, 2006