Press Releases

December 1999

Dear Parents:

Even without each final "piece" firmly in place for announcing an opening date for the ISM preschool, our enthusiasm and anticipation for the start-up are very high.

The enthusiasm is generated because the preschool beginning is part of a bigger dream for a comprehensive school based on an International Baccalaureate philosophy and the International Schools' Curriculum Project specifically. This philosophy promotes a type of learning and thinking that allows for individual development and carries the expanded goal of embracing a fully integrated curriculum that combines all disciplines into a coherent whole.

The above curriculum works by focusing on central concepts, such as connection, perspective and responsibility, while exploring transdisciplinary themes that have been selected on the basis of their relevance and importance within a body of knowledge. This has local and global significance, for it helps develop essential skills, fosters positive attitudes and provides for meaningful action and social service. The curriculum, of course, is monitored for age appropriate development.

We are convinced that this approach to learning and living will be exciting for students and parents and provide the type of environment all children deserve for schooling.

You can see why we are enthusiastic and perhaps why our anticipation is like that of a child standing in front of a Christmas tree under which are enticingly wrapped packages - we can't wait! We will continue to keep you abreast of developments as the final key components are settled for us to announce the beginning date.

Enjoy a wonderful holiday season.

Dr. Stuart J. Young
Managing Director
International School Monterey

News on the ISM Charter

ISM Board Chair Kathryn Poling-Krone and Charter Committee Chair Chris Hasegawa made a presentation to the Pacific Grove Unified School District Board on Thursday evening, December 2, 1999. The Board was introduced to ISM's current direction and efforts, and was invited into a partnership which would result in a Charter document that would be favorable to all concerned. While some questions were raised, particularly regarding financing the school, the presentation was received well and enthusiasm for the concept was expressed by some members of the audience. The questions raised are all addressed in the Charter document, and that information will be shared with folks in the District, on the Board, in the Teachers Association, and in the community.

Dr. Jack Marchi, superintendent of PGUSD, and Robin Blakley, Assistant Superintendent, Business Services, have agreed to meet with Kathryn and Chris to work out the details of the Charter application in early January. Although the work of the Charter committee resulted in a substantial document, the identification of a specific school district allows the insertion of focussed language that targets PGUSD, which will set the application in the proper context. Dr. Marchi and Mr. Blakley have been very helpful in assisting ISM in getting to this point and their support has been appreciated. We encourage you to express your appreciation to PGUSD for their fine reception to ISM throughout this process if there is any opportunity for you, as a member of the ISM community, to do so. Chris and Kathryn will continue to share information about the process as we move along.

First $50K Matched

The Fundraising committee is pleased to announce that the first $50,000 of the $250,000 matching grant donated by Harold "Red" Poling has been achieved. The milestone was reached on December 5th, thanks to donations by Board Members, CPA members and friends of ISM.

The grant, which has been set up to be matched in $50K blocks, has also been given an extension into 2000 to match the remaining $200,000. We have applied for a number of grants from foundations and corporations as well as approached members of the CPA and the community to reach our goal. Thank you to all those who have contributed. And to those who still wish to, now is the time. Contact Fundraising committee chair, Kathryn Poling Krone (624-0648) or simply send your gift to ISM, PO Box 1557, Pebble Beach, CA 93953.

Site Committee Waiting in the Wings

The ISM Site Committee, the smallest (yet mightiest) of the CPA sub-groups, has been patiently waiting in the wings to finalize our site plans. Since the initial negotiations involve financial considerations that only the ISM Board can determine, the Site Committee has been dormant. But rest assured that Joe Schmidt, Skip and Ann Marie Hagn, Nathan Stoopes, James Felli, Erin Morita, and Tarah Nutter will be ready to swing into action when we are near finalizing our site choices.

As of today, the pre-school, which is not part of the charter, will be opening at the St. James Episcopal Church in Monterey. The ISM Board has been looking at land to possibly purchase or lease on the HWY 68 corridor, thereby keeping the school centralized. But that is a long term goal. Our short term needs for September of 2000 look more promising in Pacific Grove.

At the beginning of the month several board members approached the Pacific Grove School District and asked them to consider two requests: one, to accept our charter via their district and two, to rent or lease us empty classrooms that may become available next fall. The district, to date, has not finalized their site plans, so an answer will not be forthcoming in 1999. It is our hope that they will lease us classrooms at the David Avenue School Site, regardless of our charter status with the Pacific Grove School District.

We are still looking at other short-term options, such as warehouse space, etc. So if anyone knows of any other properties for the short terms (i.e. usable buildings) or long term (land suitable and zoned for a school), please contact either Keith Krone (624-0648) or Joanne Storkan (655-3236). We are aware that site is very crucial to many people, so rest assured that we will let you know as soon as we have something concrete.

Material Donations for the Preschool

As milestones such as securing a site and licensing issues are tackled for the opening of the preschool, we must also look to materials that are needed for the day-to-day activities. As the year quickly draws to a close, please browse through the list below to see if you, someone you know, or a company may be willing to donate and receive the tax deduction for 1999. (Of course, gifts will not be denied after December 31st.) Please contact either Esther Hobbs (373-2312) or Dorothy Lank (394-7203) to arrange for drop-off/pick-up.

ISM Database

A database is only as accurate as the information contained within it. People move, telephone numbers change, information gets lost in the shuffle. We have attempted to keep our database up to date with the help of some student interns at CSUMB as well as phone trees through various committees, but have found that incorrect phone numbers, email addresses as well as physical addresses make it nearly impossible to update everyone's information. If you believe your information may not be up to date, please take a few moments to visit our website and fill out the information form. This information will be updated in our database within 24 hours.

From the International Community

The following article is an excerpt from IB World, a magazine put together by the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO). For other such articles, please visit their website at www.ibo.org.

The effect of the IB on a comprehensive high school

By Jerry Chris
IB World, April 1999


In the fall of 1986 Mission Viejo High School became the first high school in Orange County, California to be authorized by the International Baccalaureate Organisation (IBO) to offer the Diploma Programme. Despite the obvious prestige of the programme this entrance was accompanied by a plethora of questions and trepidations. Can a public school achieve competitive scores? Will the 10 to 20 diplomas each year justify the expenditure? Will the teachers perform at higher levels without pay raises? Does a well respected school with a very successful Advanced Placement (AP) programme need the International Baccalaureate (IB)? Is the programme elitist, thereby creating greater polarity among the student body? What impact will the it have on the entire school? The press, with full page articles, joined the community and staff in asking these questions. Now, with more than a decade of diploma holders behind us, we have the extremely important answers to these questions.


Numbers

Mission Viejo now averages 32 senior diploma candidates each year, with a school population of 2,100. We expect 66% of those candidates to be awarded the diploma. We have over 220 students following the IB programme if we include students in the pre-IB programme; this is roughly 10% of the entire school population from year to year. Of these 220, nearly 40% are either intra- or inter-district transfers who come to the school specifically for the added academic offerings of the IB. This movement, affectionately known as the infamous "brain drain" on other schools, has significantly helped our scores on all standardized tests, such as the SAT (American pre-university tests) and AP tests.

Ninety-six percent of our IB students participate on an athletic team or with a musical or drama group. We have found, to no one's surprise, that the top academic students do well in all facets of education. The evidence is clear that public school students who are involved, who have a vested interest in the school, who enjoy their four years, will succeed in the classroom no matter what the time commitment. During this past year (1997-98), both our band and our drama troupes, well fortified with IB students, were awarded top accolades at state level competitions.

Every IB student also takes AP tests. Our philosophy has always dictated that our top students use every resource to gain university admission; at this time, in the state of California, this includes the AP examinations. We have never had a student drop the AP programme in favour of the IB, although occasionally a second semester senior (class 12 student) has opted out of a final, single AP test after taking a battery of both IB and AP examinations in May.


Physical Plant

From the first planning stages the administration and faculty agreed that all money spent to improve the physical plant in readiness for the IB should be spent with the average and below average student in mind. For example, we originally committed $15,000 over a three-year period to improve library resources. However, technological products, such as the newsbank, were purchased with the idea that they could be used with ease by non-IB students. With the intent of raising the level of research to community college standards, volumes of historical writings were added and literary criticism was updated. Because 95% of our extended essays are written in history or language A English, regular additions are imperative. At no time have we restricted library facilities to IB students and at no time have they been given special privileges not given to other students. The school now has 25 Internet stations, again with equal access for all students.

The changing curriculum for the Language B requirement has meant acquiring materials that may actually be of greater benefit to non-IB than IB students. Language B now requires the use of newspapers and magazines written in the language being studied—in our case Spanish, French, and German. As one would expect in a California public school, we have a significant number of native Spanish speakers for whom English is a second language. These students are now able to come to the library and enjoy leisure reading in publications such as La Opinion, a Spanish newspaper emphasizing Spanish culture and interests.

Further evidence of the effect of the IB can be seen in the science labs. The IB demands far more experimentation than Advanced Placement so we originally spent $10,000 to purchase additional lab equipment. As science teachers began training in the IB curriculum they used these acquired methods for the rest of the school's curriculum; thus the equipment benefitted the entire student body. Recently, the state has granted our school a $2,000,000 modernization grant, as the school facility is now 30 years old. A large portion of that money will be used to update the science labs to meet the growing needs of the IB curriculum, once again benefitting the rest of the school


Teaching Methodology

I suppose it is the case in every state and country that accountability is the major buzz word in educational discussions. While all standardized tests offer some form of accountability, the IB system alone compares performance on an international scale. No one can claim that the IB is too easy or too hard or does not measure what is supposed to be taught at a particular level. The IB—a world community—sets the standard and demands a carefully monitored syllabus. Our teachers are well aware that the scores of their students (the top students in the school) are on display, without the shield of the many excuses that can be offered for other exam systems. Further, because the diploma is dependent upon a combination of scores, all of our teachers know exactly which departments lead to our successes and failures.

The value of this can be illustrated simply. Our psychology, drama, and foreign language departments are consistently high producers and consistently gain the admiration of the entire staff and administration. They are at the top and do everything possible to remain at the top. Another department, however, severely hurt us in back-to-back years, costing us several diplomas. The pressure to produce was placed squarely in their hands. Amazingly, they reversed their scores in one year and now receive just praise for their efforts.

One of the major benefits for our staff has been teacher training. More than one-quarter of the staff has attended an IB training workshop. We have a faculty of 99 teachers, but no one teaches only IB classes and all have students spread across the ability spectrum. Therefore, although the training may be specifically designed for the IB classes, the methodology reaches all students. The science department, for example, has designed a particular format for conducting and recording experiments, in accord with IB directives; this is now used even in the lowest ability classrooms. The concept of writing across the curriculum, a near requisite for preparing students for the essay portion of the IB exams, has spread as far as the mathematics and physical education departments.

The Socratic seminar was first brought to the school with the idea that it would provide a firm foundation for dialogue in Theory of Knowledge (TOK) classes. Now, three years later, one-half of the staff uses the Socratic seminar format, with heaviest use in English and social science, followed closely by science, where the teachers have discovered it is an ideal way to discuss subjects such as the ethics of cloning. Each of our professional training days begins with faculty seminars on topics such as the teaching of virtue, the absoluteness of truth, or the comparative creative value of art and science—all TOK subjects. In addition, we also hold an extremely popular, monthly Socratic seminar for parents from the community.

Perhaps most importantly, the IB has pulled up the middle rather than dragging down the top, as many state-sponsored programmes tend to do. Although an unquestionable polarity among the students does exist and some charges of elitism remain, the fact is that the IB classes set the standard for the entire school. As IB teachers bring the curriculum to all their classes in some form, the students themselves must decide whether they want to meet these higher expectations. For example, most history classes, across the ability spectrum, now answer document-based questions (DBQs). The curriculum of the original Spanish 3 was combined with Spanish 2, making way for a whole new Spanish 3 which leads directly to Spanish 4 and the IB examinations. Before we had the IB at our school Spanish 4 was nearly wiped out for lack of interest. We now offer four sections of Spanish 4 and one Spanish 5. English 3 AP now studies works such as The Stranger and A Doll's House in addition to the basic American Literature list. All college preparatory students are expected to take four years of mathematics.

Finally, the ever changing IB curriculum prevents stagnation. In the old days a teacher could offer the same lessons, the same assignments, perhaps even the same worksheets for 20 years, but with the IB lessons classes must be revamped constantly. The dark ages of straight teacher lecture have passed. We hope that as money permits, pre-IB and IB teachers will be trained and retrained. Exciting new methodology will be shared and used throughout the school, as happened with the Socratic seminar.


Class Offerings

Only one class is exclusive to IB students: IB psychology. The exclusivity of this class is due entirely to its popularity, not to a mandate for IB-only students. Nearly 80% of our diploma candidates are examined in psychology because it has consistently given us our highest scores. The class must be restricted to 35 junior (class 11) students intending to complete the requirements for a full diploma.

In contrast, Theory of Knowledge (TOK) now has 90 class 12 students in three sections, even though we have only 35 diploma candidates in that class. Simply put, the TOK subjects, such as truth and ethics, are issues on every student's mind. The subject of ethics, with TOK as a foundation, now permeates almost every class, most often facilitated through the Socratic seminar. Plato's common good, Aristotle's moderation, and Kant's categorical imperative have become commonplace terms, even in the classes for students considered academically at risk.

Other popular additions to the school's curriculum are IB harmony, which leads to the standard level music exam, and IB drama. We now offer drama at both standard and higher level, with an average score of six at both levels. These two courses are in great demand from the entire student body and we have no trouble filling either offering.

This year we will offer statistics for the first time. We have required in the past all diploma candidates to take calculus; the mathematics department felt that any student who received the diploma should earn it by taking the most difficult classes. However, we were not necessarily serving the best interests of the students who were excellent in all subjects except math. In essence, we were dooming these students to an average mark in calculus. We now believe statistics will allow these students to pass the standard level mathematical methods examination and at the same time earn a high mark in their final mathematics class. As mentioned above, most college preparatory students, because of the influence of the IB, now feel they must take four years of mathematics to remain competitive. The addition of statistics offers them another alternative.


Final Thoughts

Certainly, not every teacher at every IB school would paint this bright a picture. Every school has its dissenters and every staff has those teachers who refuse more work without monetary compensation. But even those teachers who refuse to go along with the Diploma Programme would have trouble arguing that it has not had a dramatic, positive impact on the student body and the learning process. The IBO is not without its problems but conscientious coordinators and principals continue to fight for changes that they feel will best suit their schools.

Indeed, few areas of our campus remain untouched by the IB. From a new spirit of international understanding—as evidenced in our tendency towards world literature in the English classroom and foreign language periodicals in Spanish, French, and German—to an eight-hour community service graduation requirement for all students, the IB has left an indelible mark. The stock in our school climbs with every academic transfer who comes to Mission Viejo High School for the IB. While only 5% of any graduating class might actually earn the diploma, all the students are affected by the IB's presence. The school has been awarded in the past decade two "California Distinguished School" awards and two "National Blue Ribbon" designations; this can be attributed, without question, at least in part to our participation in the International Baccalaureate.


Jerry Chris teaches Theory of Knowledge (TOK) and is the IB coordinator at Mission Viejo High School in California.