IB PYP curricula

[Anonymous]

Hi there,

Are there parents here whose children attend IB/PYP schools? Would you share with us your experiences in terms of your child's learning/knowledge&skills acquisition? Are there parents whose children's didn't thrive in this setting? For parents with older children, did you find they were fully prepared for higher education (be it middle/high school, beyond) in traditional math and science?

Thanks so much.

[Anonymous]

I could be wrong, but I don't believe that there are many public IB schools. Yu Ying is the only elementary school that comes to mind. Deal offers IB starting in middle and Banneker in HS. So, as far as a student getting a continuous IB education from pre-k to HS in public school, I don't think you will find it here. I believe that Washington International School does have a long history of IB, so you might want to pose your question there.

[Anonymous]

Shepherd Elementary is an IB school, but my children do nor attend. Any Shepherd parents out there?

[Anonymous]

College Gardens is one in MoCo. My children have attended. It is a good school. I have nothing to compare it to interms of IB/non-IB. I have a feeling it would not be a huge game changer to my children. Some of it seems contrived like incorporating the PYP attitudes in art and gym. The language exposure is minimal due to lack of funding for a real language teacher.

[Anonymous]

H.D. Cooke and Thompson are also authorized schools. It might be a good idea to reach out to them as well.

[Anonymous]

We attened Thomson during the application process and the first year of its implementation. There were tons of issues outside of the IB program including intensely adversarial relationship between principal and teachers (he has since left) and issues of poverty and large ELL population. So my feelings about the program may not reflect its wider implementation. I hated IB PYP, the focus was completely on student driven projects and they did not spend time making sure a child had a solid grasp on a subject because you were to avoid any drilling. I found it to be a disaster for my less than organized child.

[Anonymous]

WIS is supposed to be a great school and it is IB PYP.

Honestly, demographics have a lot to do with it. If you have a largely upper-middle class cohort of students, then student-driven learning is terrific. However, those are children who don't need to have discipline and self-control taught in addition to the curriculum (that they're already a year or two behind their high-performing classmates).

I see it working well at a school like Yu Ying. It looks more like bait (and switch) at a school like HD Cooke or Shepherd.

[Anonymous]

To 17:12: the things you are describing are precisely my worries -- that it's student-driven projects vs. traditional drilling, etc., and i am most worried about my child not getting the basics of math and spelling, etc.

[Anonymous]

23:23 it can work if you are willing to do the drilling at home. Both parents work full time in our household and we do not have the resources to hire after school tutoring. The IB system is just a disaster in my mind for many kids where their parents are just average either in income or resources. I also think in underestimating the value of content knowledge that a soso teacher may have a greater negative impact.

[Anonymous]

6:12 are you the one who was at Thomsen?
NP here with two working parents and without time to drill a lot at home. But us it really necessary?

[Anonymous]

College Garden parent again. I didn't really see much in terms of student driven projects. One group project at the end of 5th grade ("exhibition" was supposed to show what they learned all along. Unfortunately the class sizes are so large that they didn't seem to get much instruction/input. Basically spitting back some internet info with a bit of creativity in a power point or poster. Maybe that is all that can be expected from 5th graders. MoCo is not persuing any additional PYP elementary schools at this time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: Honestly, demographics have a lot to do with it. If you have a largely upper-middle class cohort of students, then student-driven learning is terrific. However, those are children who don't need to have discipline and self-control taught in addition to the curriculum (that they're already a year or two behind their high-performing classmates).

I see it working well at a school like Yu Ying.

I don't see it working all that well at YY, where a sizeable minority of students has been bumped to a non-immersion track, almost all of them AA. YY doesn't have a largely upper-middle class cohort of students - the student population is split between better-off kids (who don't speak Chinese at home), and poor kids (who don't speak Chinese at home). IB PYP is really designed for private international schools serving the children of diplomats, aid workers, private sector managers etc. It just sounds hip for DC public schools where at least half the kids are low to moderate-income.

[Anonymous]

I disagree with the poster above. I think the IB/PYP program works very well at Yu Ying. I have a child in 4th grade. Last Friday they had an exhibition on their electricity unit. It was pretty cool to see my child and the rest of the class explaining circuitry in both Chinese and English. Their exhibition last year in third grade on influential people was pretty cool too. They were able to get into character and explain their accomplishments in Chinese.

I do not feel that my child is behind in any subject because of either immersion or because of the IB/PYP curriculum.

[Anonymous]

FWIW, the IB PYP (and the MYP for that matter) is a philosophy and a framework, it is not a curriculum. It isn't until the DP that you see an actual curriculum. The point being, the PYP or MYP is only as good as the school, teachers and families doing the program. I think YY does is well, but my kids are "big picture, big idea" kids and get really frustrated learning minutia before putting it into practice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I disagree with the poster above. I think the IB/PYP program works very well at Yu Ying. I have a child in 4th grade. Last Friday they had an exhibition on their electricity unit. It was pretty cool to see my child and the rest of the class explaining circuitry in both Chinese and English. Their exhibition last year in third grade on influential people was pretty cool too. They were able to get into character and explain their accomplishments in Chinese.

I do not feel that my child is behind in any subject because of either immersion or because of the IB/PYP curriculum.

You speak Mandarin? You have Mandarin speaking relatives, or at least close friends? So know that your kid's Mandarin is good? We speak Chinese fluently, as do our children, we talk to Yu Ying kids in Chinese and generally aren't terribly impressed. It's easy to tell that they aren't learning the language from peers, Chinese-speaking parents involved at the school, or at home (other than for a handful who have Chinese-speaking friends, the pals of our Chinese au pair). The IB/PYP program works well at the international schools we attended growing up, in Hong Kong etc. Yu Ying does a better job than a great many schools in DC, but, objectively speaking, it's a stretch to say it's all that great.