Eager for an Edge Opt for IB Classes In Grade Schools

Educators, Parents Eager for an Edge Opt for IB Classes In Grade Schools

By Ian Shapira
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, December 17, 2006; Page A01

Hunting for the best education for her three young children, Traci Pietra fretted about low test scores at her Arlington neighborhood school. Then the principal told her about Randolph Elementary's affiliation with one of the most prestigious and rapidly growing brands in education: IB.

International Baccalaureate is best known for a high school diploma program geared to the university-bound academic elite. But Pietra and her husband, Peter, were sold on the lesser-known elementary version of IB. Both were attracted to the IB emphasis on global understanding, Pietra said, and added: "He was like, 'Our kids are going to an Ivy League school, and we need an education that's going to get them on the right track.' "

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Randolph Elementary School Principal Renee Bostick talks to International Baccalaureate program fifth-graders.
Randolph Elementary School Principal Renee Bostick talks to International Baccalaureate program fifth-graders. (Photos By Jahi Chikwendiu -- The Washington Post)
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The Primary Years Programme, designed by the Geneva-based International Baccalaureate Organization, is becoming a hit in the United States with the Judy Blume and Beverly Cleary set. It's now in 72 U.S. schools, up from six in 2000. Driving the growth is a desire among education officials to ramp up the rigor, the earlier the better.

The program seeks to mold students, from preschool age on, into "transdisciplinary" and bilingual scholars who can deliver a major academic project by fifth grade and then move into deeper studies in secondary schools and beyond. (IB middle schools also exist.) Critics wonder whether it's all a bit much for a student demographic that still receives scratch-and-sniff stickers on written work.

"We initially hear from parents that they're a little worried about the amount of work," said Sandra Coyle, a regional marketing and communications manager for the IB organization. "But they do realize the way it expands their children's minds and teaches them how to learn and how it helps them to manage their schedules. We like to say that IB prepares kids for success in college but also for success in life."

So far, Randolph Elementary and the private Washington International and Rock Creek International schools in the District are the only ones in the region with authorized IB primary programs. But efforts to join them are underway in several local school systems. Prince William County is training staff for an IB rollout in eight elementary schools. Plans are made for five such schools in the District and three in Anne Arundel County. And an IB elementary awaits authorization in Montgomery County...