Several parent and student meetings are held in September to acclimate both students and parents to academic expectations for their grade level. “We want our families to feel well-equipped for the year ahead,” explains Kip Cummings, Secondary Principal. “The sessions are separated out for grades 6-10, a college counseling night for the older high school grades, and a senior class meeting focusing on graduation and beyond.”
Middle Years Programme (MYP) Grades 6-10 Session
Michelle Bradley, Island Pacific Academy’s Middle Years Programme (MYP) Coordinator, and Cummings held a session open to all parents with a student in grades 6-10 explaining the International Baccalaureate (IB) MYP curriculum and how students’ work is assessed.
A video about the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme provides a good overview of the program as described by students and teachers. Click here or on the image above to watch the video.
“I started the meeting by playing a video that has IB students explain the MYP. To hear students describe the program and what they like about it, what they gain from it, is powerful,” says Bradley. “Then I spend time introducing the parents to ManageBac, an organizational computer program we use for students to monitor their coursework and assignments. Parents have a ManageBac login as well and can see assignments and grades received.”
Cummings and Bradley also explained the IB criterion method used to assign a number score to assessments (tests, quizzes, homework e.g.) that are given to students. “A lot more information about a student’s work, the quality of it and ways that it can be improved, are provided when you grade this way,” says Bradley. “We also take time to explain the IB’s number grading scale of 1-8 so parents can interpret a score of a 4 the right way, “ says Cummings. “A score of 4 is okay, it doesn’t translate to 50{ecf245a61dbeb35a782c86c44f242cdc7d98fa7632a752b76c5afca81a7454ba}.”
Michelle Bradley, MYP Coordinator, and Kip Cummings, Secondary Principal, were on hand to answer parent questions at the MYP student and parent meeting this week.
Specialized meetings help juniors, seniors, and their parents prepare for their final two years here at IPA: College Counseling Movie Night and a Senior Class Student and Parent session. Read more about those meetings here.
