New BCC Middle School Curriculum - IB?

[Anonymous]

Does anyone know if the new BCC Middle School will have the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme like they do at Westland? I heard a rumor that it would not and sent an email to MCPS to clarify but haven't heard back yet. It seems nuts that they'd split our kids out of Westland and then offer us fewer class options so my gut is to not believe the rumor but then, nuts things have happened before.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone know if the new BCC Middle School will have the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme like they do at Westland? I heard a rumor that it would not and sent an email to MCPS to clarify but haven't heard back yet. It seems nuts that they'd split our kids out of Westland and then offer us fewer class options so my gut is to not believe the rumor but then, nuts things have happened before.

Would not surprise me at all if IB is NOT offered at the new MS. This will be the next big fight -- to make sure that the new middle school is of the same quality academically as Westland -- same offerings, same quality staff, same outcomes. And, also to make sure that the offerings at Westland do not diminish -- this is a real possibility because each school will have a smaller population and may find it harder to find enough kids to make more unusual offerings like advanced math or languages or less popular language offerings.

[Anonymous]

When will the new school open?

[Anonymous]

it is supposed to open in 2017.

[Anonymous]

Isn't there an accreditation process for IB? And isn't it school level? So maybe they'd offer the program but not one that was yet accredited at the time of the school opening.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Isn't there an accreditation process for IB? And isn't it school level? So maybe they'd offer the program but not one that was yet accredited at the time of the school opening.

Yes, and it takes years.

[Anonymous]

What's the best way to engage with MCPS to ensure there is IB at the new middle school?

[Anonymous]

Remember, BCC is an IB high school. It would seem they would need IB middle schools feeding into it, right? Does any school besides Westland, which is IB, feed into BCC? I don't think so. The new middle school will feed to BCC as well, so it should be IB.

[Anonymous]

But this is not the case everywhere. Sligo ms and newport mill ms feed to einstein IB but only newport mill has IB.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Remember, BCC is an IB high school. It would seem they would need IB middle schools feeding into it, right? Does any school besides Westland, which is IB, feed into BCC? I don't think so. The new middle school will feed to BCC as well, so it should be IB.

High school IB does not require MS IB. The kids attending RM IB have not necessarily attended IB middle schools. I know plenty of kids who entered WIS for high school from other schools. And not everyone at BCC is in the IB program. They have a mix of options.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Remember, BCC is an IB high school. It would seem they would need IB middle schools feeding into it, right? Does any school besides Westland, which is IB, feed into BCC? I don't think so. The new middle school will feed to BCC as well, so it should be IB.

Nope - many High Schools in MoCo have IB, but the only full program option is College Gardens ES/ Julius West MS/ Richard Montgomery HS, or very recently a private K-6 school called Seneca Academy. It takes many years to apply, and it's expensive with a significant amount of training required for the school & teachers. If the funding and paperwork isn't already in the works I'd suspect it would be too late for certification by 2017.