Northern Heights Becomes Second International Baccalaureate Elementary School in State

Northern Heights Elementary has become the second authorized International Baccalaureate Primary Years Program in the state. The school, along with Wade King Elementary, is now one of nine such programs in the Northwest, according to International Baccalaureate Organization’s website.

The school began the process in 2008, Principal Wendy Barrett said, and was officially authorized in January. Northern Heights will implement the full curriculum this fall.

“It’s been an interesting journey,” Barrett said. “We have spent a lot of time developing the curriculum and we’re very excited.”

Barrett said the strength of the school’s staff as well as the diversity of the student body – there are at least 17 different languages spoken in students’ homes -- made Northern Heights an excellent candidate.

“We knew that our students needed a set of skills wider and deeper than what other schools could offer,” Barrett said. “It’s about cultural understanding and realizing that there are different perspectives everywhere.”

While the school’s curriculum will still meet state standards, Barrett said, the approach will be different. International Baccalaureate programs are framed by six “transdisciplinary” themes: who we are, where we are in place and time, how we express ourselves, how the world works, how we organize ourselves and sharing the planet.

The program also encourages students to fulfill the principles of its “Learner Profile,” which emphasizes risk-taking, open-mindedness and reflection among other characteristics, she said.

“There’s a long history of International Baccalaureate students graduating as critical thinkers, problem solvers and leaders who understand quality and hold themselves to high standards,” Barrett said.

There are currently 273 Primary Years Programs in the United States and more than 3,000 International Baccalaureate programs worldwide reaching around 925,000 students, according to the organization’s website. As an authorized program, Northern Heights will be able to share information and gain advice from any of these schools, which span 140 countries.

International Baccalaureate authorization is a four-phase process. First, the school enters a consideration phase, in which they assess the feasibility of implementing the program. The school then applies for candidacy, paying a $7,300 application fee.

Walking into Northern Heights, it would be difficult to miss the next phase, in which teachers begin introducing some of the program’s concepts; student illustrations of the learner profile, for instance, hang on the walls of nearly every hall.

There is also Northern Heights’ Spanish lab, where at any given time about 30 students don headphones and sit at computers, interacting with Rosetta Stone software; part of this trial phase requires the school to teach a second language.
Finally, International Baccalaureate representatives visit the school and determine its eligibility for authorization.

Leanne Finlay, Northern Heights’ IB coordinator, said the program’s international mindset encourages students to conceptualize rather than memorize lessons. She pointed to one fourth grade central idea, “Conflicts Change Society,” as an example.

“The value is that students aren’t just learning facts,” Finlay said, “They’re learning the concepts of conflict and change. So, no matter what they encounter, whether in middle school or beyond, they will have a foundation of those concepts they can fall back on.”

Second grade teacher Rick Lingbloom, who has taught at Northern Heights for nine years, said while developing the curriculum was an intensive process for the staff, he has noticed positive developments among the students.

“I’ve noticed more student involvement,” Lingbloom said. “There’s cohesiveness in the classroom that comes from a common language with the central ideas and lines of inquiry. I hear those attributions all the time.”

Finlay agreed.

“In order to make a program like this work, you have to have full staff support,” Finlay said. “It’s been an intensive, sustained process; it’s been challenging to think differently; it’s also been amazing to see the engagement in the classroom.”

The next step, Finlay said, is for the school to continue incorporating the students’ families in the process. She said while teachers have been updating families with newsletters at the beginning of each unit, the school can also use them as a resource for the students.

“We are thinking about how we can tap into the family community,” Finlay said. “As kids take their learning home with them, we want to keep opening up the conversation and connecting with the community.”