The International Baccalaureate Middle Years Program is currently being implemented in the 6th through 10th grades at WRMS and WRHS. IB offers high quality programs of international education to a worldwide community of schools. The goal of the program is to develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect.

The Blaine County Education Foundation approached Fritz Peters, the Middle School Principal, and Dr. Jane Walther, the new IB Coordinator for the Middle Years Program, for an update on where the schools are in the process. Also, BCEF wanted to provide more on Dr. Walther’s background. The BCEF promotes academic rigor, teacher excellence, equitable education opportunities and a healthy and sustainable student environment. All BCEF programs support the BCSD Strategic Plan, and IB is part of the Strategic Plan.

For information on how you can help support the implementation of IB at WRMS and Wood River High School, please contact the BCEF, hcrocker@blaineschools.org. For more information on the International Baccalaureate Program, please visit www.ibo.org/myp.

Dr. Jane Walther comes to the Wood River Valley from Boise where she worked at the Riverstone International School. She has a Masters and EdD in Curriculum and Instruction from Boise State.

Jane always knew she wanted to be a teacher, and one of her first jobs was teaching French at the Community School in Sun Valley in the mid-nineties. She was also a French instructor at Riverstone where she worked for 11 years, five of which were under the IB program. When she completed her doctorate Jane felt she was ready for the next level, and she was delighted to find the position for an IB coordinator opening up at WRMS.

“I met School Board Chair Julie Dahlgren in the doctoral program at BSU,” says Jane, “and she helped score the critical thinking tests I administered to students in the Advanced Placement or IB program. Julie mentioned that the Blaine County School District was considering adopting the MYP.” The administration went through three rounds of interviews over a period of six months, and they were never fully satisfied with the applicants until Jane walked through the door.

When she was hired Jane expected that her first year of coordinating IB would be quite difficult. “Instead”, she says, “I have been so impressed at how organized they are at WRMS and at WRHS, particularly in terms of getting people trained.” According to Jane and Fritz Peters, over 50 % of the Middle School and High School teachers have been sent to MYP training sessions all over the country to learn the methods used by the International Baccalaureate Program. That is approximately 55 teachers, in math, science, language arts, humanities, technology, and world languages.

Another challenge Jane thought she would face was resistance to the IB Program, but she says that the vast majority of teachers like the philosophy behind the program and are not only eager to adopt the core values, but enthusiastic about implementing their ideas for IB curriculum. “IB was deemed most compatible with the existing WRMS approach to multidisciplinary teaching,” said WRMS Principal Fritz Peters.

One of Jane's goals for this year is to help the teachers develop their ideas in weekly meetings so that most teachers have written one IB Middle Years Program unit by the end of the school year. For example, currently Jane is working with a team of teachers in seventh grade where the unit question is “Who am I becoming?”

Each of the core curriculum teachers develops that theme according to their subject area, so while Sue Harley the Social Studies teacher will guide the students in a look at their personal background and heritage, Julie Nelson and Donna McKelvey the Language Arts teachers will have their students write a personal narrative from the perspective of one of their ancestors. Jill Clark’s science students will study genetics and consider the fundamental question “What does it mean to be alive, a living organism?”-- while in math Bruce Clark will focus on “What is a typical seventh grader like in terms of statistical averages?”

Also by the end of the year an application required by the International Baccalaureate Organization demonstrating that WRMS has completed all of the requirements in the “Consideration Phase” of implementing IB is due. Jane plans on getting the application completed four months early in December, so that the district can move on to their first year as a candidate school for 6th through 10th grades in January.

There are three main phases as a candidate school with set goals and “penalties” in the form of fines if the school does not reach the goals in the allotted time. Jane hopes for full authorization as an IB institution for the MYP program in 2012/2013. The timeline follows the recommendations made by the IB program for implementation. “We have accelerated the schedule as much as the IB program allows,” says WRMS Principal Fritz Peters. “We’ve been able to do this because of tremendous interest from the teachers and support from the community. Most schools are not in a position to expand programs right now.”

IB sets a foundation for learners called “the learner profile”, which consists of ten attributes. The IB literature states, “The aim of IB programs is to develop internationally minded people who, recognizing their common humanity and shared guardianship of the planet, help to create a better and more peaceful world. IB learners strive to be: Inquirers, Knowledgeable, Thinkers, Communicators, Principled, Open-minded, Caring, Risk-Takers, Balanced and Reflective.”

During a school's first year as a candidate, the staff at WRMS and WRHS will strive to create a “culture of IB”. This will begin with teachers incorporating the learner profile in their classes. The staff lounge at WRMS already has a series of IB posters created by the teacher teams that have written phrases describing each of the profiles and then a visual symbol for the profile. Students in Leadership classes have created posters for each grade and will hang them in the hallways of the school. The idea is to immerse the school in the learner profiles, so that students and teachers incorporate these positive principles into the daily interactions.

Another goal for the WRMS and WRHS staff this year is to put all of the essential information about the IB MYP program on the school website, linked from the district’s website.

For more information about the MYP, contact Dr. Jane Walther at jwalther@blaineschools.org. For information about donating to the IB program, particularly professional development for educators, contact Heather Crocker at hcrocker@blaineschools.org.