Kelly Elementary Applying for International Baccalaureate Program

Staff and parents at Carmichael's are currently working with the International Baccalaureate Organization toward becoming an International Baccalaureate Primary Years Program candidate school beginning this fall.

With enrollment declining, potentially leading to school closures, the administration encouraged the district’s schools to create an identity for themselves.

“We wanted to come up with something that was marketable, unique and desirable”, said Deanna Terry, Kelly Elementary principal. Terry led an informational session about the IB PYP program for interested parents in the school’s library this past Thursday.  

If authorized to be a candidate, Kelly Elementary would become the first elementary school in Sacramento County to provide an IB PYP.

Full authorization of a IB PYP school is a multi-year process. ’s and Mira Loma High School currently operate an IB Middle Years Program and IB Diploma Program, respectively.

Students will continue to learn traditional subjects required for standardized testing, but those subjects will be integrated with the new IB program developed by the staff.

The IB program emphasizes inquiry-based learning where students learn to think creatively and critically. It also encourages a global perspective, teaching international mindedness.

"One of the requirements of IB is that students are exposed to a second language," Terry said. Parents will be involved in the selection of that language.

The program emphasizes, through a "learner profile", the development of the whole student -- physically, intellectually, emotionally and ethically.

The learner profile outlines different areas in which students will engage, such as inquiring, being principled, or risk-taking. For example, a student may realize risk-taking by overcoming a fear of raising his or her hand in class to speak.

Terry and the school's IB coordinator has already begun administrative training.

"The more we got into it, the more excited we got," said Terry.  Curricular training for the faculty and staff are soon to follow.

One parent, Sarah Hamner, recently visited Sierra Elementary, an IB school in Rocklin, with other teachers and shared her experience with the rest of the informational session attendees on Thursday.

Hamner said her first impression was a visual one: the display of other countries' flags hanging in the gym, a possible reference to the international emphasis of the IB program.

"I really liked that. You don't usually see that in an elementary school," Hamner said.

Hamner was also glad to observe a math class and see that it was a standard math class.

"That was perfect because I didn't get how the standards were going to be incorporated, so it was good for me to see that," she said. "They were just doing regular math with textbooks. So that doesn't change."

In a fourth grade class she saw how the kids are incorporated into the learning.

"For instance, the students write the class rules," Hamner said, adding that the rules on the classroom wall were created by the students collaborating themselves. "They're creating the environment they want to learn in."

In another fourth grade class she saw students working on a research project about the Gold Rush from the perspective of someone from another country. 

"What I liked about that was that they were teaching the kids to go online and research it," she said.

The students had to go to the computer lab and find maps online and print them out themselves.

"I was impressed with that," Hamner said.

She also sat in on a sixth grade Spanish class, where the teacher spoke only Spanish to the students.

"They were just on it," Hamner said. "They were singing songs. They were answering questions. It was amazing."

Overall, Hamner said she was very impressed with the program.

"All the students seemed to be processing more," Hamner said, adding that the students were asking questions more than what she was used to seeing, and really focusing on the learner profiles."

Hamner said that what she really likes about the IB program is that it makes kids stop and think about things. She also likes how kids learn to research and how they learn to be responsible.

Whether or not Kelly Elementary students go on to Churchill Middle School to continue the IB program, Terry said she feels that any number of years in the program are valuable.

"Those are skills the kids are going to learn for a lifetime," she said.

The deadline for open enrollment  for the fall is March 15, although parents can still enroll their kids through inter-district and intra-district transfers after that. Students residing both inside and outside of San Juan Unified boundaries are eligible to enroll at Thomas Kelly Elementary.

For a more in-depth look at the program, two more informational sessions for interested parents are scheduled for March 24 and April 7 in the library at 7 p.m.