Traditionalists may scoff to learn that students at Safford Magnet Middle School build with Legos in the classroom, but Sarah Costello says this simple act puts children ahead of the curve.
The toy-tinkering is part of the beginning stages of the International Baccalaureate program at the middle school. The program is a learning track that adds to international core subjects by giving students experience in humanities, technology, engineering and more.
Costello, the IB coordinator at Safford, says that the goal of the new program is to educate students for a global society and see connections between different areas of learning.
What’s more, the students seem to enjoy it.
“The sixth grade has been very positive about it,” says Costello. “They love learning French, and they love the technology classes because they are hands-on.”
Safford is the second school in Pima County to begin implementation of an IB program, coming on the heels of the Cholla Magnet High School, which implemented the first IB Diploma Program in Pima County in 2009.
The hands-on, Lego learning in middle school translates into beyond-the-classroom experience in high school. Throughout the two-year program at Cholla, spanning grades 11 and 12, students are required to complete 150 hours of extracurricular community service-type experience, be it ballet folklórico performances or out-of-state exchanges.
When it comes to a second language, students have their choice of Spanish, German, Arabic and Chinese. French will soon be added to the list.
Joyce Meyer, IB coordinator at Cholla, says that the all-encompassing nature of the IB program has given Cholla students a thirst for knowledge not often found in the average high schooler.
“Five years ago, students laughed if you wanted to go to school,” she says. “There’s an attitude change in the culture here. I see kids sitting down and having intellectual conversations and talking about in-depth subjects.”
That new attitude has translated into college readiness, which is the ultimate goal of the program. In addition to noticeable spikes in SAT and ACT scores, Meyer has watched her students in the program receive acceptance letters from many choice colleges, sometimes with scholarship money attached.
“Our kids are predominantly [members of the] Hispanic population,” says Meyer. “They have now seen that they have a chance to go to college, and about half of them are going out of state.”
The success of the IB program inspired its introduction at Safford Middle School. Meyer says Robbins Elementary School is next on the list.
But the road to a successfully certified IB program is a lengthy one—for Cholla, it was a three-year ordeal. Safford submitted its application for feasibility last year, which was approved by the IB Organization.
This completes the first part of the application, and Costello says the second part, which includes a formal examination of the program, should conclude within the next year.
Costello says the current strand of sixth graders going through the program is like a test round, and within the next three years she hopes to have IB-certified strands in all middle school grade levels.
One of the main challenges is teacher education. Strict standards require that teachers undergo rigorous training to ensure American students are on par with international students.
Meyer says teacher expenses take up the largest chunk of Cholla’s $80,000 to $100,000 yearly budget for IB operations.
A monetary barrier is presented when students must pay for their own yearly exams used to measure progress.
Cholla has tackled this problem by giving students free or reduced lunches, using the TUSD post-unitary plan to cover the cost of exams. Two-thirds of Cholla’s senior students are on free or reduced lunch, according to Meyer.
Safford’s decision to forge ahead with the implementation process suggests the program benefits outweigh the expenses.
To those students who are reluctant to take part in a program with so many demands, Costello makes it clear that the program is not “exclusive.”
“When you say ‘rigor’ it scares people, but if you give them the scaffolding to go along with it, then they can succeed,” Costello says.
