Columbus Municipal School District is one step closer to joining only 10 other school systems in the country to offer the full range of International Baccalaureate programs.
As of January, Sale Elementary International Studies Magnet School officially has been designated an IB World School, putting it into an “elite class,” said Columbus Superintendent of Education Dr. Del Phillips.
The primary years program (ages 3-12) focuses on developing “the whole child as an inquirer,” according to the IB website, www.ibo.org. Curriculum is based on six transdisciplinary themes — who we are, where we are in place and time, how we express ourselves, how the world works, how we organize ourselves and sharing the planet.
Full indoctrination into the program takes three years once a school is accepted as a candidate.
“There”s been a lot of hard work that”s gone into this,” said Nancy Bragg, school principal. “It”s usually a three-year process. Sale has completed its qualifications in 2 1/2.”
Teachers have gone through IB training and written programs of inquiry “unique to the school” as part of the IB standards, Bragg said. A panel of IB faculty members makes the final call on whether or not a school makes the cut.
Bragg got the news on Jan. 30 but held off on making a formal announcement to faculty and students until Tuesday, since the school was in its success days at the time. Sale is one of two 11-month schools in Columbus, and success days are incorporated as days for enrichment and remediation.
“It”s a tremendous accomplishment for Sale, the teachers at Sale and especially the students, because they were a tremendous part of the school becoming an IB World School,” Phillps said.
Kay Ellis, Sale”s IB coordinator, touted the program as one that “works with the whole child.”
“Building character, to be an inquirer, you”re never too old to learn, to be tolerant and appreciated — those are just a few characteristics we focus on throughout the year,” Ellis said.
Sale now is one of three schools in state offering the IB primary years program; five schools in the state offer the middle years program (ages 11-16); and four schools, including Columbus High School, offer the IB diploma program.
IB standards can lead to college scholarships and the ability to skip freshman-level college courses, and the programs are internationally recognized.
“It allows us not to just be viewed on a state level, but it allows us to have comparisons to schools across the world,” Phillips said.
“It”s a global concept,” Bragg said.
Once Columbus Middle School is approved as an IB World School, Columbus schools will be one of 10 systems in the country where students can begin the IB program in kindergarten and continue the program throughout their K-12 years to earn an IB diploma.
CMSD”s middle-school teachers received the first round of IB training last summer.
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