IB MATTERSJuly 2011

Al Zahra College aims to develop faithful, knowledgeable and wise citizens who take responsibility for creating a better and more peaceful world.

We will challenge our students to become active learners and critical thinkers who promote intercultural understanding and respect.

IB MATTERS

A monthly publication about trialling the

Primary Years Program (PYP) and

the Middle Years Program (MYP)

at Al Zahra College.

The International Baccalaureate

The International Baccalaureate (IB) is an exciting set of educational programs offered in more than two thousand school schools in over 120 countries around the world. The programs focus on student-centred inquiry-based learning and global concerns. They challenge students to think in sophisticated ways about the connections between ideas in different areas of study. They put learning into an international context.

Trialling IB at Al Zahra College

In 2011, Al Zahra College is a Candidate School for the PYP and a Candidate School for the MYP. The goal is for Al Zahra College to eventually offer all three programs to our students.

NOTE: AZC is undertaking a trial implementation of PYP and MYP. Authorisation can take several years and cannot be guaranteed.

The initial planning for PYP and other possible IB programmes at AZC began back in 2003.

Following first-hand experience with all three programmes (PYP, MYP and DP) in Qatar, Dr Darvall recommended trialling its implementation at AZC.

In 2008, AZC registered with IB as an Interested PYP School. Following a preliminary visit in

2009, AZC was invited to become a Candidate PYP School.

During 2010, AZC completed a Pre-Authorisation visit that considered our preparedness for authorisation as a PYP School.

At this stage, and with a lot more hard work, we plan to seek authorisation in late 2011.

In 2009, AZC registered as an Interested MYP School in preparation for the commencement of Year 7 in 2010. In 2010, AZC was accepted as a Candidate MYP School.

Information sessions are conducted to facilitate parent understanding of what PYP and MYP are all about - bringing learning alive.

PYP & MYP @ AZC

Year One is busy starting their

new unit for the 'How We Express Ourselves' transdisciplinary theme.

The central idea is: 'Imagination is

a powerful tool for extending our ability to think, create and express ourselves.'

Classroom discussions have been exciting this term, as children share their imaginative ideas during talking time.

Fantastic pictures of all kinds of fictional creatures, discovered during internet inquiry have been shared with the class.

We have also seen some very imaginative drawings of monsters and aliens and have enjoyed listening to others talk about them. As you can see from the photographs displayed, the Year One students have been very imaginative when making puppets.

They are looking forward to constructing a puppet theatre in the classroom to present short plays to the class.

Year 1: How We Express Ourselves

AZC ASSESSMENT AND REPORTING POLICY

As part of Al Zahra College’s Australian Government Quality Teaching Project the school has developed a new assessment and reporting policy. Below is a copy of the new document.

Assessment Assessment at AZC is an integral part of the planning, teaching and learning process. Teachers at AZC will be engaged in assessment for learning and assessment of learning. Assessment of students will be ongoing throughout the year. It will involve the collecting, analysing and recording of information about student progress towards the achievement of outcomes from the NSW syllabus for each KLA and IB PYP knowledge, concepts, skills, attitudes and action. All assessment items should accurately reflect the student’s ability to perform that task. Assessment methods will include:

• pre-assessment;

• self/peer assessment;

• formative assessment; and

• summative assessment. Formative assessment is interwoven with the daily learning and helps teachers and students find out what the students already know in order to plan the next stage in learning. Formative assessment and teaching are directly linked: neither can function effectively or purposefully without the other. It aims to promote learning by giving regular and frequent feedback. Formative assessment provides a good opportunity to assess PYP skills and NSW BOS Outcomes. Summative assessment happens at the end of the teaching and learning process and gives the students the opportunity to demonstrate and reflect on what has been learned. It can assess several elements simultaneously. Summative assessment provides a good opportunity to assess the students understanding of the Central Idea of the unit. Purpose of Assessment The purpose of assessment is to:

• promote student learning; • provide information about student learning;

• monitor the effectiveness of teaching programs;

• inform decisions about student’s future learning.

Principles of Assessment Effective assessment practices include:

• students’ knowledge and experience being assessed prior to the introduction of new learning experiences;

• express different points of view and interpretaions;

• both formative and summative assessment tasks;

• clear criteria for learning tasks. The criteria are transparent and known in advance by students, teachers and parents;

• utilising a range of assessment tools;

• monitoring and assessing student progress in the five essential elements – skills, attitudes, concepts, knowledge and (student-initiated) action;

• monitoring and assessing student progress in relation to the Learner Profile along with peer and student self-assessment;

• creating rich tasks that cater for a variety of learning styles, multiple intelligences and different abilities;

• gather evidence from which sound conclusions can be drawn;

• ensuring progress and performance in the subject domains and the Units of Inquiry are assessed and

• provide opportunities to support and celebrate student learning.

Assessment Practice Assessment strategies used by teachers will include:

• observations;

• performance assessments;

• process-focused assessments;

• selected responses and

• open-ended tasks. Assessment tools used by teachers will include:

• rubrics;

• exemplars;

• checklists;

• anecdotal records and;

• continuums Reference: MTPYPH – 2009 pp.48,49.

Reporting Feedback on student progress is given to parents through parent/teacher/student interviews, student-led conferences and report cards each semester. To comply with government requirements student reports will:

• be provided at least twice per year;

• be timely;

• deal with academic and non–academic learning;

• be in plain language to be readily understood by parents and guardians;

• be confidential;

• maintain the privacy of students;

• be followed by opportunity for discussion between the child, parents/guardians and teachers;

• give constructive advice about supporting the child’s further progress at school;

• include for each subject studied, an assessment grading of A, B, C, D or E,

clearly designed against specific standards (Note that Preschool reports will have their own grading method); and

• include the child’s achievement relative to the achievement of the child’s peer

group at the school. If a student undertakes a national standard assessment in reading, writing, spelling and numeracy at Year 3, 5, 7, 9, one of the student reports for the year must include:

• the result of that assessment against appropriate national benchmarks;

• the result of that assessment against achievement levels or bands; and

• the average achievement of the child’s peer group at the school against achievement levels or bands.

Updated July 2011 Due for review February 2012

page 10www.ibo.org

Latest IB Research on Students’ Post-secondary Achievement

The UK’s Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) has just provided the IB with a report on IB students studying at Higher Education In-stitutions (HEIs) in the UK. The report identi-fi es characteristics and trends of IB students compared with students holding the more tra-ditional A level and similar qualifi cations, and provides an overview of IB student character-istics and analysis of enrolment patterns at the ‘top’ HEIs, chosen fi elds of study, achievement and non-continuation rates, as well as activities approximately six months after leaving HEIs.

Findings indicate that IB students were more likely to:

- be enrolled at a top 20 HEI - achieve fi rst class honors and to leave with

an award in most subject areas- go onto further study after university

- be employed in graduate level jobs and in higher paid occupations

IB Research is also excited to announce the re-lease of three new studies on post-secondary achievement of IB Diploma Programme students in the US. SRI International, and independent, non-profi t research institute, looked at the col-lege enrolment, performance and graduation rates of Diploma Programme students from high schools within and outside the US who went on to enrol in US universities, and graduates from Florida high schools who enrolled in the Uni-versity of Florida. The studies examined enrol-ment patterns, destination types, and gradua-tion rates for more than 26,000 students. The Florida study examined the IB exam scores and college performance in the same subject.

Highlights include:

The majority of IB Diploma Programme students enrol directly in a “somewhat selective” or “more

selective”4-year institution (64% of domestic, and 79% of international students)

The most popular U.S. destinations for interna-tional students were University of Pennsylvania, Colby College, Harvard University and New York

University

Graduation rates for both groups were found to be generally higher than institutional and nation-

al averages

There is a positive association between students’ scores on an IB exam and grades in the fi rst col-

lege courses in that subject

These studies are part of a growing body of re-search on the IB as evidenced in part by the dozen plus papers presented last month at the annual conference of the American Educational Research Association, one of the world’s most infl uential educational research institutions. Presentations on the IB were given by individu-als from Harvard, University of Chicago, Univer-sity of Pennsylvania, and NYU among others.

To read more on these studies and oth-ers, please visit the IB Research Programme Validation Studies page: http://www.ibo.org/research/programmeval idat ion/ index.c fm.

For more information on, or questions about IB Research, please contact: research@ibo.org.

IB ANNOUNCEMENTS - RESEARCH UPDATES

Al Zahra College

The IB Learner Profile is the

attributes and descriptors that

define the type of student that IB

hopes to develop through its

programs (for example, MYP).

THE LEARNER PROFILE

Risk-TakersCaring

Communicators

ThinkersReflective

Open

Minded

KnowledgeablePrincipled

Balanced

Inquirers

AL ZAHRA COLLEGE

3 - 5 Wollongong Road, ARNCLIFFE. NSW 2205

P: (+61) 2 9599 0161

F: (+61) 2 9599 0162

E: info@azc.nsw.edu.au

W: www.azc.nsw.edu.au