Re: Winerip on NY Exams & alliances to challenge craziness

["dancinglight" <dancinglight@sbcglobal.net>]

Joe wrote:

> 1.   Fascinating that Winerip offers IB as a good alternative to NY
exams -
> IB courses were criticized last year because, at least in one national
> commission's view, they moved to quickly, and focused too much on the exam
students
> have to take.   The IB exams are, in some ways, even more high stakes than
some
> state exams.   Students get only 1 chance to pass them,   whereas students
> often get several changes to pass state exams. I realize IB exams are not
a
> graduation requirement.

This is an interesting point for me, since I am a trained (and practicing)
IB teacher at the primary level.  I didn't realize that there were "must
pass" exams in the diploma program.  I know that high school teachers use
them, but I didn't think they were mandated by the IBO.  Of course, I teach
the Primary Years Program, so I don't really know what they are doing with
the Diploma program, which translates to jr and sr year of high school.  At
that level, the IB program is not intended for all students, and not
intended as a "standard" for graduation.  It is intended to ensure that the
graduating sr is prepared for university admissions and work level at any
university in the world.

At the primary level (age 3 - 12), there are no tests.  There is an
instructional philosophy and a structure.  A school writes and delivers its
own curriculum based on that philosophy and structure.  The philosophy is
inquiry-based instruction.  The entire year is organized around 6 units of
inquiry.  Each unit has formative and summative assessments designed by the
teachers who write them, as well as a student self-assessment.  The units of
inquiry are developed and written by the teaching staff on site at the
school.  The units are the curriculum.  Of course, we have to incorporate
our standards and state-required curriculum into the activities done within
the unit.  This can be challenging, since the IBO PYP favors depth over
breadth.   It is difficult to "cover" the breadth of our state requirements
and still engage in the depth of thinking required by the IBO.  The PYP is
for all primary students, not just for those "university bound."  I just
wondered; each individual PYP school (there aren't that many in the U.S.)
writes its own units, and while they must reflect the philosophy and
structure of the IBO, the writers bring their own ideas about how to teach
and assess to the process.  Does it work like this for high school, too?
Does the IBO actually write tests that students have to take, or are those
tests a local decision about how to assess learning?

KM

? ? ?

> 1.   Fascinating that Winerip offers IB as a good alternative to NY
exams -
> IB courses were criticized last year because, at least in one national
> commission's view, they moved to quickly, and focused too much on the exam
students
> have to take.   The IB exams are, in some ways, even more high stakes than
some
> state exams.   Students get only 1 chance to pass them,   whereas students
> often get several changes to pass state exams. I realize IB exams are not
a
> graduation requirement.