Every five years, IB visitors visit IB schools across the nation to explore different ideas and promote the IB mission. According to IB’s official website,the IB mission is to create better global citizens and that process starts by educating the youth to be knowledgeable, caring and curious about the world to bring peace through them having an education that allows them to see other perspectives and cultures, building respect and understanding.
The IB visitors made memorable notations of Taft’s success of being an IB school. Every Taft student is an IB Student. The IB visitors mentioned the work and dedication of the teachers who embrace the use of IB learner profile traits in the classroom through their lesson plans and creating a safe and comfortable learning environment, which promotes healthy student and teacher relationships.
Learning experiences at Taft through the use of IB programs such as DP and CP help expose students to a variety of opportunities, allowing students to be more engaged and overall promoting student growth.
Taft reached the five year mark since its current IB visitation and evaluation, the week of Oct. 1st 2024, will mark a new Taft, as Taft reviews the comments made by the IB visitors and works towards improving and keeping on the right track.
Taft plans in the future to explore the opportunity of exceeding vertical alignment. Vertical alignment is the process of having student’s core classes align with one another so students can continue their education at a steady and consistent pace.
Tanya Bateson, the IB Department Chair at Taft, shared her thoughts about IB. “First of all, IB is a great program! As an IB student, you consider multiple perspectives, examine local and global contexts, and have opportunities to explore your interests in different settings,” said Bateson through an email.
She continued, “IB Projects such as the MYP Personal Project, the DP Extended Essay, and the CP Reflective Project allow students to investigate something that they are interested in. Students in non-IB schools don’t get this opportunity. Secondly, the IB curriculum is rigorous and supportive enough that IB schools prepare students well for college, or any other post-secondary goal they may have.”
Bateson went on to discuss the overall experience with IB schools going through IB evaluations. “This is a five-year cycle that focuses on continuous improvement. IB expects that schools develop in alignment with their Standards. These IB Standards focus on the school’s purpose, environment, culture, and learning. To prepare for evaluation, schools spend a year gathering evidence aligned to each standard, survey the school community, and create a self-study,” said Bateson.
“At Taft, every student is an IB student. This means that all seventh through tenth graders are part of the IB Middle Years Programme. Students in grades eleventh and twelfth have access to the IB Diploma Programme, either as Candidate or Course students, and also the IB Career-related certificate, ” said Bateson.
She continued, “Each IB school creates a rich and rigorous curriculum that focuses on the development of the whole child. This means that IB schools focus on academic, social, and emotional development for their students.”
Taft senior, Jenny “Jackie” Hoffman is a student in the IBCP program. She was also interviewed by the IB visitors. “IB classes are a good way to challenge yourself-the workload can be a bit much but overall, IB helps better prepare students for college,” said Hoffman.
She continued, “When I got interviewed for IB, it was very professional. They asked questions such as my experience with taking IB classes at Taft, and they wanted me to give them a deep analysis of my opinion on being an IB student.”
Hoffman went on to mention how she believes taking IB classes is a good thing for students to try out especially if they want to challenge themselves. She also mentioned that there are a lot of opportunities available to IB students, in her case being able to be a part of ROTC.
Taft continues to create educated students, as all Taft students are IB students. Taft works towards preparing for the next IB evaluation, until then “Go Eagles.”
