IB Middle Years Program
Today at the board of education meeting, we discussed the implementation of the IB Middle Years Program. This program is scheduled to begin next year at Annapolis, Old Mill North and MacArthur Middle schools. Currently the proposal is to have 100 students (6th grade) start in the program next year, once community forums are conducted and more input is given on the program, this will determine if all students will be participating in the program at those schools in a 3 year cycle. Now before you get excited and tell me how bad that sounds, the IB Middle Years Program is a methodology, or way of teaching, not like the diploma program in the high schools. The idea behind this implementation is to use these teaching practices with the current curriculum to boost achievement and test scores, if you didn't know, those three schools have had difficulties making AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress, a way of measuring schools to see if they are meeting the No Child Left Behind standards) I would like to know your feelings on this program and whether or not you believe that all students should be included over time in this program at these schools.
IB Middle Years Program
Personally, I think that this is a BAD idea!!! I'm not certain on the other two schools,but for Bates and Annapolis, all the "smart" kids will run over to go to Annapolis, and make Bates look really bad. Annapolis will become overcrowded, but no parent is going to send their kid to Bates if their child is supposedly getting a better education at Annapolis, right? This program is totally unnecessary, and is furthermore extremely confusing to parents, no help given by the fact that the IB program is totally different from the Middle Years one.
IB Middle Years Program
Thank you for your concern, just to let you know, only 100 students will be admitted outside of their school district into Annapolis middle, the students will be coming from all of the annapolis area elementary schools, so in turn this will not overly affect the performance of
Bates, the program is sort of like a test, who knows, it will work very well and it may be extended to all Middle Schools, but we wont know until we try. As far as the over crowding goes, Annapolis is under capacity and like I said before only 100 extra students will be admitted from the surrounding elementary schools.
IB Middle Years Program
i honestly dont like the idea at the moment! i know i dont know that much about this situation but my point is still relevant! I dont think that the 5th graders going into 6th grade have the maturity level to make a decision that would either make or break an education, in a way!
I think that the parents will be thinking for their kids. and everyone knows that parents think highly of their kids, and force them into the program that i dont think they are ready for! If a kid is pushed into something they'd just be set up to fail.
correct me if i'm wrong.
IB Middle Years Program
did you read the info sara?? Its not a rigorous program like that on the high school level...it is the way they learn, they will still be learning the same thing as everyone else and if the superintendent has his way, every student on the middle school level at those three schools will be in the program eventually, the IB middle years program is just a new way to learn, teachers get trained to give instruction in a different way that will make use of the time they have in the class room. Of course if the students are coming from another school outside of that feeder the parents will be ultimately making the decision but don't you think at that age parents probably know what is best?? Im not going to sit here and convince you that the program is good, but I am just trying to give you some more information on it
IB Middle Years Program
the point is still relevant! I think that the students might not be ready at that point! i know i would of been a little pushed when i was in 5th grade! i think the way IB is taught is harder to understand than the basic learning strategy! I am going to research it more though and respond back! :oops: i should of researched it more in the first place!
IB Middle Years Program
If the basic learning strategy was working these schools would be fulfilling state requirements
IB Middle Years Program
[color=purple]i think this would be a good idea because i am in the process of applying for the IB program in Annapolis High and i don't want to leave my friends because i go to central middle and should be going to south river, but i don't want to leave my friends but have to if i want to do the IB program and if we put it in all the middle schools in the county they would have to put it in more high schools and then people wouldn't have to leave their friends as much. also, it is a great opportunity for the middle schoolers and then maybe the program would be more familiar to the high schoolers and we would have more particapants.[/color] :? :D
IB Middle Years Program
Well, I will be at the Nov. General Assembly at Old Mill answering questions about the MYP
IB Middle Years Program
I think that it is an okay idea but it will be a lot of students. I am from old mill middle north and did go to the thing with SGA. i just did today. so i think that they could have a special school for those kind of kids. That is just my opinion though.
IB Middle Years Program
I think this is an intresting idea But i think it should have more thought put into it maybe start with a smaller number of kids and have all those kids keep giving you updates about how everything ( learning and social ) is going i am mainly concered about the participants self estem we all know that kids can be very harsh the might consider them "outsiders" or "geeks" I really don't want that to happen to them cause it does hurt when it happens belive me i have experience.
IB Middle Years Program
Could you explain what the philosophy of the program is, and how it works? From the little I know, it seems to have a great, diverse curriculum. It just seems sad that it is reserved for a few kids, when I think all the teachers in the county could benefit from copying some of the IB methods. Also, how much will this cost? We have so many problems in the middle schools right now. maybe it would be better to spend on programs that reach more students.
IB Middle Years Program
The main philosophy of the program is somewhat aligned with the methodology used in the High School IB program. More interactive lessons that engage the students early on and what not. The program for the first year which has already been approved by the board is about 145,000 dollars which includes teacher training and resources. If we could put this program in more schools we would but that brings me to two points, the cost and that it would be in its first year and we all know that there is no shoe that fits every foot, meaning that the IB MYP may not suit the needs of every school. In the same respect for high school IB, if we could put it in more schools Im sure we would. But right now as you know the Middle School Task Force and ideas shared at the Middle School summit are being carefully reviewed so we as policy makers and Dr. Maxwell can determine what is needed to bridge to gap between middle schoolers and highschoolers, we are all aware that if a student has a poor foundation he or she will have an immense amount of issues when it comes to application of skills learned in middle school to the high school level. I am confident that the IB MYP will keep many of our kids in public school, it will keep many parents from sending students to private school which benefits all. Also I believe that the teachers in middle school will share the training they receive. At the three schools this program will be at many of the teachers share lesson plans and eventually the skills and lessons used in the IB classes will spread into the other classes. Remember they are all learning the same thing, just in a different way.
Not so great
I think this is a bad idea as well because this year I am a 8th grader and my whole class is going throught the stress of applying to IB and I just don't think as a 5th soon to be 6th grader would be able to handle the pressure or all the work they will have to do.