S’s Upcoming Frequently Asked Questions about NP

Frequently Asked Questions about NPS’s Upcoming
International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme (IB MYP)
Note: Hillside Middle School, Meads Mill Middle School, and Northville High School are all
currently IB candidate schools for both MYP and DP. Much of the material present originated in
links provided.
Also note: MYP is currently transitioning into their “Next Generation Model,” which impacts our
current design and future implementations. Northville will transition to this model during the 201415 school year, when all documents should be available.
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What is IB MYP?
What does MYP mean for students?
What are the benefits of IB MYP?
What does the IB model look like?
What are the major components of an IB unit?
What courses will students need to take?
How will Academic Enrichment be affected by MYP?
How does MYP coincide with Common Core?
What will MYP look like in Northville Public Schools?
When will I know that students are experiencing MYP components?
What work has been done and how have staff members prepared for MYP
implementation?
How do we plan to support MYP students at all three NPS secondary campuses?
What is the MYP Learner Profile?
What is the MYP Personal Project?
What are MYP Approaches to Learning?
How does MYP’s service component work?
What is International Mindedness in the MYP?
What’s new in the future of MYP?
How will MYP help prepare students to be college and career ready?
What are the assessment components of the MYP program?
Will these criterion referenced assessments replace the more traditional grades?
Will all students matriculating in the MYP need to be IB Diploma students at NHS?
Can students with special needs participate in the IB MYP Program?
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What is IB MYP?
As the IBO explains, the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme (IB MYP) is
designed for students ages 11 to 16 (grades 6-10 in U.S. schools). It provides a framework of
learning that encourages students to become creative, critical, and reflective thinkers. The MYP
emphasizes intellectual challenges, encouraging students to make connections between their
studies in traditional subjects and the real world. It fosters the development of skills for
communication, intercultural understanding and global engagement, qualities that are essential
for life in the 21st century. Importantly, the MYP is flexible enough to accommodate the demands
of most national and local curriculums.
Students do not sign up for IB MYP. Instead, all sixth through tenth grade students will
participate.
For more information on the above see http://www.ibo.org/myp.
What does MYP mean for students?
As indicated on the IBO website, the IB MYP creates a student-focused curricular framework that
works towards the following:
 Addresses students’ intellectual, social, emotional and physical well-being
 Enables students to understand and to manage the complexities of our world, and
provides them with the skills and attitudes they need in order to take responsible action
for the future
 Requires students to study at least two languages to support understanding of their own
culture and that of others
 Provides the opportunity for students to undertake an independent project (i.e., Personal
Project) in an area of interest
 Ensures breadth and depth of knowledge and understanding through the study of eight
subject areas
What are the benefits of IB MYP?
As a program designed specifically for grades 6-10, the student-centered focus will do the
following:
 Emphasize holistic learning, communication, and international awareness
 Integrate information technology
 Focus on decision-making and self-reflection
 Offer a range of academic subjects that encourage mental and physical balance
 Help create a sequenced and academically rigorous curriculum
 Build inquiry process, which causes students to ask and respond to questions
 Build confidence to explore new roles, ideas, concepts, and strategies
 Connect learning to the real world
 Provide framework for a commitment to action, service, and responsible citizenship
For more information on the above see http://www.ibo.org/myp.
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What does the IB model look like?
The MYP offers a curricular framework that allows school-specific—national, state, provincial, or
other—and subject-specific curricular requirements to be met, while maintaining the IB mission
and philosophy. The MYP requires schools to teach a broad and balanced choice of subjects in
every year of the program, currently organized into eight subject groups:
• Language A (English)
• Language B (a second modern
language)
• Humanities (social studies)
• Sciences
• Mathematics
• Arts
• Physical education
• Technology/Design cycle
The program model is based on the concept of balance. This is important for a number of
reasons that follow:
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The program provides learning in a broad base of disciplines to ensure that students
acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to prepare for the future.
The subject group objectives include skills, attitudes and knowledge in addition to the
understanding of concepts; the aim is to ensure that students are not only
knowledgeable about a subject area, but also develop a genuine understanding and
an ability to apply these in new contexts, in preparation for further learning.
The program promotes the principle of concurrency of learning, whereby students
deal with a balanced curriculum each year in which different subjects are studied
simultaneously. As students mature and develop higher-order thinking skills, they
explore the disciplines in increasing depth and realize how those disciplines are
linked to each other and to local and global issues.
The program encourages the use of a variety of teaching and learning methodologies
to foster a climate in which students discover how they learn best in different
situations.
The program emphasizes the development of the whole person—affective, cognitive,
creative and physical—and its effective implementation depends on the school’s
concern for the whole educational experience, including what students learn outside
of the classroom.
For more information on the above see the following:
http://www.ibo.org/informationfor/universitiesandgovernments/guides/documents/IBMYPfinalEngli
sh.pdf
http://www.ibo.org/myp/curriculum.
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What are the major components of an IB unit?
IB is in the process of updating its MYP unit plan in order to better align it with both the Primary
Years and Diploma Programmes. At this time, units need:
 A unit question that is timeless and can span across different subjects
 A significant concept – what is so important that students should remember the
learning 20 years from now
 One perspective from the Areas of Interaction (AOI) which provides a lens for the
learning and makes the learning relevant to students. AOI’s include:
o Human Ingenuity – How do we create? What are the consequences?
o Health and Social Education – How am I changing? How can I look after myself
and others?
o Community and Service – How do we live in relation to each other? How can I
contribute to my community?
o Environments – What are my responsibilities? What resources do we have or
need?
o Approaches to Learning in every lesson – organization, communication,
reflection skills, etc.
 Assessments, which can happen during and at the end of the unit. Assessments at the
end of the unit are termed culminating. These provide students with further opportunities
to demonstrate their learning in an authentic situation. All IB MYP students are held to the
same rigorous assessment standards throughout the world.
What courses will students need to take?
Sixth through eighth grade students will need to take eight subjects all year, every year. Ninth and
tenth grade students need to enroll in at least six of the eight subjects. Students must enroll in
Language A (English), Language B (world language), Science, Mathematics, and Humanities
(social studies). They must enroll in at least one of the following for a full year: the Arts, Physical
Education, and/or Technology courses.
How will Academic Enrichment (AE) be affected by MYP?
AE will still continue as a daily class in both of the middle schools. Students who qualify can still
enroll in Academic Resources, and students who need additional assistance can still work with
Learning Consultants and resource teachers. Whenever appropriate, these learnings will use the
IB MYP framework. Those students who are mainstreamed in the regular AE program will all
rotate through the same instructional units per grade level in language A, math, science, and
humanities. All units will be taught using the IB principle and unit model.
How does MYP coincide with Common Core?
IB MYP principles and philosophy align with Common Core standards and establish more
rigorous expectations. IB MYP is not a curriculum itself; instead, it provides a framework – a
method of and for planning and organizing student-focused curriculums – that presents students
with differentiated learning opportunities and that ensures congruency between learning and
assessment and between practicing and preparation.
In NPS secondary schools, work is underway on curriculum understandings and respective
adjustments. As well, work is underway not only to build on learning from one year to the next,
but also to overlap learning between subjects in alignment with the Common Core for grades 6Northville Public Schools
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10, as both the IB MYP framework and Common Core requirements will coexist and complement
one another.
Please see the comprehensive document that follows:
http://www.ibo.org/iba/commoncore/documents/CommonCorePresentationIBConferenceoftheAm
ericas.pdf.
For more information on the above see as well the following links:
http://www.ibo.org/iba/commoncore/
http://www.ibo.org/iba/commoncore/documents/IBCommonCorePositionStatement.pdf
http://www.ibo.org/iba/commoncore/documents/CommonCorePresentationIBConferenceoftheAm
ericas.pdf.
What will MYP look like in Northville Public Schools?
IB MYP will take several years to fully implement. Each year, teachers will create and implement
additional at least one unit that has all the components of IB MYP, assess students according to
the predetermined IB criteria, and with students reflect on that unit in order to revise or refine that
unit for the future.
Students should begin using some of the IB terminology from the Learner Profile when describing
characteristics about themselves and others. They will also be encouraged to ask relevant
questions and seek to find answers.
When will I know that students are experiencing MYP components?
Classroom teachers should post the unit question and during these beginning years and notify
students that the unit is an IB MYP unit. After a few years, the IB components and philosophy
should be interwoven and form the basis for all teaching and learning.
Looking at the history of American twentieth-century schools, most traditional classrooms have
been primarily been teacher-centered and lecture-based, environments with students focusing on
mastering content and answering questions correctly. In contrast to such histories, IB MYP
requires that classrooms become student-centered. In such classes that follow best-practices,
students engage in carefully sequenced inquiry-based learning experiences. These experiences
are framed in units that cause students to think and answer the unit questions from which
students understand how the components in the unit connect and build toward the assessments.
Action-based lessons, group collaboration, and developing habits of mind will integrate the socialemotional component of learning. IB MYP (and DP) also embraces and utilizes best practices of
differentiated instruction, helping challenge and support all students – from those who are
struggling to those who are advanced. This student-centered learning allows for a wide range of
involvement for the student, which in turn encourages students to become life-long learners,
connected to their world and others who inhabit the world with them.
For more informational about interdisciplinary studies and MYP see:
http://www.ibo.org/research/programmedevelopment/programmedevstudies/documents/Curriculu
mIntegrationintheMYPeng.pdf.
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What work has been done and how have staff members prepared for MYP
implementation?
To date, over 40 staff members have received a three-day training from various IB workshop sites
and others have attended several local symposiums. During the 2012-13 school year, all
secondary teachers received a one day training from IB MYP consultants. Following this training,
they began to draft one unit that met the requirements of IB and began to share the philosophy
and practices with students. This training was made possible through the generous support of the
Northville Education Foundation (NEF).
Additional training sessions occurred on professional development days and early release time.
PTA groups have met with the MYP coordinator and administration and have begun to support
different building initiatives and sponsor activities, which showcase IB.
Parent meetings have also been made available to share info and answer questions. These
opportunities continue to be planned during the upcoming school year.
How do we plan to support MYP students at all three NPS secondary
campuses?
Opportunities abound for dialog among campuses both fact-to-face and electronically. Secondary
committees have been formed between and within departments, to further dialog and build
understanding. In addition, professional development workshops target teachers from all three
buildings to work and learn in collaborative groups.
What is the MYP Learner Profile?
The IB learner profile is the IB mission statement translated into a set of learning outcomes for
the 21st century. The IB Learner Profile helps establish common language and themes for
instruction and self-reflection. All IB students are currently asked to analyze and to look for areas
of growth in the following areas:
Inquirers
They develop their natural curiosity. They acquire the skills necessary to conduct inquiry
and research and show independence in learning. They actively enjoy learning and this
love of learning will be sustained throughout their lives.
Knowledgeable
They explore concepts, ideas and issues that have local and global significance. In so
doing, they acquire in-depth knowledge and develop understanding across a broad and
balanced range of disciplines.
Thinkers
They exercise initiative in applying thinking skills critically and creatively to recognize and
approach complex problems, and make reasoned, ethical decisions.
Communicators
They understand and express ideas and information confidently and creatively in more
than one language and in a variety of modes of communication. They work effectively
and willingly in collaboration with others.
Principled
They act with integrity and honesty, with a strong sense of fairness, justice and respect
for the dignity of the individual, groups and communities. They take responsibility for their
own actions and the consequences that accompany them.
Open-minded
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They understand and appreciate their own cultures and personal histories, and are open
to the perspectives, values and traditions of other individuals and communities. They are
accustomed to seeking and evaluating a range of points of view, and are willing to grow
from the experience.
Caring
They show empathy, compassion and respect towards the needs and feelings of others.
They have a personal commitment to service, and act to make a positive difference to the
lives of others and to the environment.
Risk-taker
They approach unfamiliar situations and uncertainty with courage and forethought, and
have the independence of spirit to explore new roles, ideas and strategies. They are
brave and articulate in defending their beliefs.
Balanced
They understand the importance of intellectual, physical and emotional balance to
achieve personal well-being for themselves and others.
Reflective
They give thoughtful consideration to their own learning and experience. They are able to
assess and understand their strengths and limitations in order to support their learning
and personal development.
For more information on the above see the following:
http://www.ibo.org/programmes/profile/documents/Learnerprofileguide.pdf.
What is the MYP Personal Project?
The personal project holds a very important place in the program in that it provides an excellent
opportunity for students to produce a truly personal piece of work of their choice and to
demonstrate the skills they have developed through their MYP experience. It is a reflection of
students’ ability to manage and direct their own inquiry, and is a significant body of work
produced over an extended period. The process of completing the personal project is led by the
student, with supervision from a mentor teacher. The student is required to demonstrate the
appropriate commitment, as well as the ability and initiative to work independently.
Work on the project begins in ninth grade and is completed during grade ten. The projects are
displayed, so all can see and understand the work that was involved. All students who have been
in Northville Public Schools for at least their ninth and tenth grade years are expected to complete
the Personal Project.
It also serves as good preparation for those students who go on to complete the IB Diploma
Program or other college or career preparatory programs.
In short, although under guidance, the personal project is a culminating assessment of students’
ability to work independently.
For more information on the above see the following:
http://www.ibo.org/informationfor/universitiesandgovernments/guides/documents/IBMYPfinalEngli
sh.pdf
http://www.ibo.org/myp.
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What are MYP Approaches to Learning?
Approaches to learning (ATL) represents general and subject-specific learning skills that the
student will develop and apply during the program and beyond. The focus of this area is on
teaching students how to learn and practice organizational and presentation skills and on helping
students find out about themselves as learners so that they can develop these skills and become
independent learners.
This focus precedes the Diploma Program’s Theory of Knowledge coursework and
interdisciplinary ties. As explained in the Next Chapter information, the developing changes offer
a greater emphasis on ATL as a way to develop learner profile attributes. The aim of ATL is to
produce self-regulated learners who have been explicitly taught the skills of effective thinking and
learning, from information processing to managing emotions.
For more information on the above see the following:
http://www.ibo.org/iba/workshops/documents/MYPGlobalContextforteachingandlearning.pdf
http://www.ibo.org/informationfor/universitiesandgovernments/guides/documents/IBMYPfinalEngli
sh.pdf
http://ibo.org/myp
How does MYP’s Service component work?
The action component of the MYP can involve service in the widest sense of the word: service to
fellow students and to the wider community. This can be both inside and outside the school and
can meet an authentic need, becoming meaningful service—working with people rather than for
them. Through such service, students are able to grow both personally and socially, developing
skills such as cooperation, problem-solving, conflict resolution, and creative and critical thinking.
These actions are ways in which the students exhibit their commitment to the attributes of the
learner profile.
Service also considers how a student engages with his or her immediate family, classmates and
friends as well as in the outside world as a member of these communities. Through effective
planning and teaching, students can learn about their place within communities and be motivated
to act in a new context.
Each sixth to 10th grade level will have a minimum number of hours that needs to be met. These
will be part of their classwork and become an expectation of the class. Each student will be
responsible to track and record their own service hours electronically.
For more information on the above see the following:
http://www.ibo.org/informationfor/universitiesandgovernments/guides/documents/IBMYPfinalEngli
sh.pdf
http://ibo.org/myp
http://www.ibo.org/iba/workshops/documents/MYPGlobalContextforteachingandlearning.pdf.
What is International Mindedness in the MYP?
Intercultural understanding develops intercultural understanding and international-mindedness
through conceptual transfer. Such international-mindedness facilitates the transfer of learning
across global contexts as students engage with concepts and conceptual understandings as
reflected across unique and varied cultures. As well, such analysis encourages inquiry into global
issues of concern that draw out the multiple perspectives and situations of different cultures and
nations.
All IB programs support international-mindedness and understanding of other cultures.
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For more information on the above see the following:
http://www.ibo.org/iba/workshops/documents/MYPGlobalContextforteachingandlearning.pdf.
What’s new in the future of MYP?
MYP is in the process of updating some components to increase the relevance for students and
better align the practices to the Primary Years Program and Diploma Program. The “Next
Generation” components are these revisions. As MYP moves towards the Next Generation,
Areas of Interaction are going to give way to Global Contexts. According to the Next Generation
documents, MYP is favoring Global Contexts because all effective learning should apply to other
subjects and/or the real world. In the MYP, learning contexts should be (or should model)
authentic world settings, events and circumstances. The global contexts developed through
MYP: The Next Chapter provide possible directions for contextual learning in MYP schools
through issues and ideas of personal, local and global significance. Most importantly, they are
answering the question Why?. What is the purpose of the inquiry? Why is this concept important
and relevant for students?
The MYP has always been a concept-based curriculum, but this is now being articulated more
specifically. The new guides will each include three to four Key Concepts.
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Key concepts are broad, organizing, powerful ideas that have relevance within the
subject group but also transcend it, having relevance in other subject groups.
Key concepts facilitate disciplinary and interdisciplinary learning, as well as
connections with other subject groups.
Key concepts provide a transferable focus for any unit and are a powerful tool of
inquiry.
Key and related concepts are used to create “big ideas” that the students need to
retain for the future. Teachers can consider the unit to be taught and identify which
key concept will be used to drive the unit.
Key concepts have been selected to serve as unifying and organizing tools for each
subject group and are provided in the chart below.
The key concepts for each subject group are stated in the subject guides. Although
each key concept listed in the subject guide must be used at least once in the final
two years, teachers are not limited to
o Key concepts listed in the subject guide and are encouraged to use more when
appropriate to the unit.
The key concepts currently stated in the subject guides are as follows:
Aesthetics
Change
Connections
Creativity
Form
Global interactions
Perspective
Relationships
Time, place, and space
Communication
Culture
Identity
Sustainability
Communities
Development
Logic
Systems
Among other changes, the names of some MYP Subject Groups/Departments will change to
better align with the DP, or to better describe their role in a balanced education. Other subject
groups will continue to keep the titles (i.e. math, science, arts). Changes are as follows:
• Language A (English) will become Language and literature.
• Language B (world languages) will become Language acquisition.
• Humanities (social studies) will become Individuals and societies.
• Technology will become Design.
• Physical Education will become Physical and health education.
For more information about these developing changes see the following:
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http://www.ibo.org/iba/workshops/documents/MYPGlobalContextforteachingandlearning.pdf.
How will MYP help prepare students to be college and career ready?
MYP schools not only help students by enhancing local, state, and national curriculums (see
sections above in this FAQ about the Common Core and about best practice instruction), but
studies show that the curricular framework also helps improve students’ attitudes about their
educational environments.
What are the assessment components of the MYP program?
Assessment in the MYP is best described as internal because the assessment tasks, strategies
and tools are designed, developed, and applied by teachers working with students in their
schools. The IB believes that teachers are best placed to assess the work of their MYP students;
the assessment model supports the professional judgment of the teacher in deciding the levels of
achievements of individual students.
The MYP assessment model is described as criterion-related, as it is based upon pre-determined
criteria. The MYP identifies a set of objectives for each subject group, which are directly related to
the assessment criteria of that particular subject group. Teachers are responsible for structuring
varied and valid assessment tasks that will allow students to demonstrate achievement according
to the required objectives within each subject group. These include, but are not limited to, openended, problem-solving activities and investigations, organized debates, tests and examinations,
hands-on experimentation, analysis, and reflection.
The most important aim of MYP assessment is to support and to encourage student learning,
recognizing the importance of assessing the processes as well as the products of learning. To
this end, students know the criteria at the beginning of the unit and have an understanding of
what it will take to achieve the criteria level they aspire to. They also receive feedback from
teachers letting them know where they are on the criterion rubric scale. These assessment
criteria will be shared in the beginning of the unit, and the scores will be shared at the unit’s
conclusion.
For more information on the above see the following:
http://www.ibo.org/informationfor/universitiesandgovernments/guides/documents/IBMYPfinalEngli
sh.pdf
http://ibo.org/myp/.
Will these criterion referenced assessments replace the more traditional
grades?
IB assessment scores or points are universal so all students are held to the same standards.
These points can be converted to letter grades, however, letter grades cannot be converted to IB
scores.
Students can receive two scores during and at the end of the unit: one for the IB selected criteria
rubric and the letter grade. Once teachers have begun to implement the IB units, the letter grades
will be shared with students and parents.
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Will all students matriculating in the MYP need to be IB Diploma students at
NHS?
No. All students interested in becoming part of the IB DP at NHS will have to apply to participate
in the IB Diploma Program. If a student wishes to take one or more IB courses and does not wish
to be a DP candidate, then they will have individual course applications to complete. In other
words, much like current AP classes, students can take IB courses in an “a la carte” manner at
NHS, but these enrollments must be approved by the DP application team after examining the
respective course recommendation forms. Students who enroll in individual courses will receive
be considered “Diploma Program (DP) course students” – formally knows as certificate students –
and their transcripts will note the IB courses in which they were enrolled.
Nevertheless, because of the overall value of the earned diploma, we encourage students
interested in IB to participate in all aspects of the program to earn “The Diploma of the
International Baccalaureate.”
Can students with special needs participate in the IB MYP Program?
The IBO has established policies for accommodating students with special needs. Northville
Public Schools has drafted a Special Education Policy #5405 which outlines specific information
as it relates to the school district. For general IB related information, please refer to the following
IBO publication:
For more information see http://www.ibo.org/programmes/pd/special/.
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