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Chase Elementary School Honored with International Baccalaureate Status

December 2009

For three years, the staff and students at the Emma C. Chase Elementary School in Wurtsboro have worked tirelessly to adopt an internationally respected approach to teaching and learning that will prepare students for the challenges they will face during their educational experiences and in their future lives. As of December 7, 2009 the school has been officially authorized to teach the International Baccalaureate (IB) Primary Years Programme (PYP).

The basis of the IB program is to help students acquire the skills and knowledge necessary to be successful in the global economy and the 21st century world. The program is designed to inspire teachers and excite students through inquiry and reflection. Using the concept of transdisciplinary learning – merging the lines between subjects such as math, science and ELA – students are given the opportunity to take an active role in connecting multiple concepts and utilizing a variety of skills regardless of the individual lesson. These methods of learning help students actively participate in constructing knowledge. This is a shift away from traditional teacher-directed instruction.

Chase Principal Susan Gottlieb and IB coach Linda Holmes have successfully overseen the transition to ensure that the IB curriculum is aligned with the New York State Learning Standards. This has brought the quality of the educational experience at Chase to a higher level by providing additional richness and rigor to learning.

“By connecting concepts, a child becomes better at problem-solving, analyzing and utilizing his or her own creativity,” explained Ms. Holmes. “This helps keep students focused, engaged and self-motivated to learn.”

In the IB, students and teachers base their experience on a Learner Profile which includes the characteristics of being inquirers, thinkers, communicators, risk-takers, knowledgeable, principled, caring, open-minded, balanced and reflective - all things that help educate the whole person.

The IB was introduced to Monticello Schools by Superintendent Dr. Patrick Michel, who developed the program in the Pine Bush and Clarkstown school districts. Chase Principal Susan Gottlieb and her faculty felt that the IB was a good match educationally and philosophically to what was already happening in the school and to best practices in education. Thus in 2006, they began the professional development, collaboration and planning required for the IB PYP. Duggan, Cooke and Rutherford Elementary Schools are presently in various stages of the IB process toward authorization.

The IB also provides middle school and high school programs which may be explored by the district in the future. For more information, visit www.ibo.org.

Photo 1: Chase Elementary School Principal Susan Gottlieb is flanked by students from Eileen Kolaitis’ kindergarten class during a recent visit. The students, from left, Madison Lee, Jailyn Labuda, Danny MacDonald, Brenden McGar and Brandon Reside, participated in a science-based laboratory experiment about mixing colors – a fresh approach to the lesson designed to infuse excitement for learning in the students.

Photo 2: IB coach Linda Holmes, center, leads her weekly collaborative grade-level meeting with fifth-grade teachers, from left, Keith Babbitt, librarian Susan Couture, Marilyn Lounsbury and Karen Crofoot. During these sessions, lessons are designed and critiqued with the help of Ms. Couture, who has been instrumental to the success of the IB program which requires an abundant amount of research and literature.

Photo 3: Chase Elementary School third-graders like the IB curriculum which helps them become more aware of their behaviors and encourages them to be kind and caring to others. In their study of maps and geography, it also helps them understand the many similarities between their culture and other world cultures.

Photo 4: Chase’s official IB PYP certificate.

Example of how second-graders’ inquiry into “personal choices affect the environment” inspired them to independent action

In class, students participated in discussions, projects, experiments and research about systems to recycle, reduce and reuse waste as well as each individual’s responsibilities toward the environment. The IB structure of the lessons encouraged students to connect their learning to their lives and the world around them. It was also designed to develop higher-level thinking and a deeper understanding for different concepts, thus creating a greater self-awareness and self-empowerment in the students. Subsequently, independent of the school requirement and with reflection on what they had learned, various students took the initiative to implement community and family projects. One student collected old jeans to donate for a program that uses denim for housing insulation. Another student organized a litter pluck for her family. While many other second-graders implemented and enforced stringent recycling rules at home for themselves and their relatives.

IB Mission Statement

The International Baccalaureate aims to develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect. To this end, the organization works with schools, governments and international organizations to develop challenging programmes of international education and rigorous assessment. These programmes encourage students across the world to become active, compassionate and lifelong learners who understand that other people, with their differences, can also be right.

IB History (from www.ibo.org)

The International Baccalaureate was founded in Geneva, Switzerland in 1968 as a non-profit educational foundation. A group of talented, forward-thinking teachers at the International School of Geneva, with assistance from several other international schools, created the IB diploma Programme. What started life as a single programme for internationally mobile students preparing for university, has today grown into three programmes for students aged 3 to 19. The IB offers high quality programmes of international education to a worldwide community of schools. There are more than 775,000 IB students at 2,816 schools in 138 countries. Carrying forward the ideals and dreams of the IB founders, the organization exists to provide high quality education for a better world.