International Baccalaureate Official Visit

I hope you enjoy reading about our IB re-authorization visit.  Please feel free to share a comment about how the program has impacted your child.

Oxford Elementary School hosted representatives from the International Baccalaureate Organization on Thursday, January 21st and Friday, January 22nd.  Every five years, the organization evaluates the fidelity with which we use and improve the program.  Our visitors were veteran educators from Florida and Arkansas who have visited numerous schools and also taught in the program.  While we won't get our official results for 4-6 months, I wanted to take this opportunity to share some reflections from the visit while they are fresh in my mind.

They noted several areas as exceptional.  For several years, we have been putting on student run assemblies where we have a 3rd, 4th and 5th grade class in the cafe together.  One class takes on the job of presenting learning to the other two classes.  Over the course of the year, each class gets to present twice.  Our visitors said they had never seen or heard of doing this before and loved the idea.  I know that many of you have watched these assemblies, but I wanted to spotlight how exceptional this process is.  If you haven't seen one yet, I highly recommend it.  The confidence with which our students can speak publicly blows me away at each assembly.  This skill is as valuable as any to our students future.

Another area that stood out was the amount of student generated action happening at Oxford Elementary School.  With the help of our Student Action Team, our students certainly take more action than most.  While we may not have saved the world just yet, we are creating the type of service minded students that will one day do something amazing.  

As part of the visit, our guests visited every classroom.  Every classroom could have been visited at any time.  During those observations, they were extremely impressed by the quality of teaching and learning happening.  They specifically mentioned how well our students listened and interacted with each other, even when the teacher was working in one area of the room while some students worked in another.  They also mentioned the quality of conversations they heard between partners and the high quality questions that students asked.  They felt that the quality of lessons was outstanding and that this was because of the high degree of teacher buy in that we have.  They felt that the mission on our wall is living each day in our classrooms.

A group of 14 parents met with our visitors on Thursday.  They were impressed by the level of knowledge our parents have about the program.  The stories our parents shared gave clear evidence of the quality of our program.  The high level of parent participation in 5th Grade Exhibition was also noted.  Both the parent group and our visitors mentioned our Chinese program as a strength.  

Finally, our 5th Grade Exhibition process is exceptional.  They specifically mentioned the amount of volunteers we get and the variety of local experts who share their knowledge.  

Fortunately, they also shared many ways that we can continue to grow.  This visit is much more than a rubber stamp.  Our staff will begin reflecting on these on Thursday and we will build an action plan over the next several months that will help guide our next 5 years.  When we get our official report, we will be sure to share it with you.  The visit validated many of our current practices, but even more importantly, it pushed our staff to think about ways to serve our students even more.  This process will make us a better school.

I would like to formally congratulate the staff and students of OES for their outstanding accomplishments.  This isn't happening in very many places.  Most of our children have spent their entire educational careers in an IB World School.  All of our children have enjoyed teachers that are 100% committed to delivering the best possible instruction to your child each day.  I have known this for many years.  Now that has been validated by expert educators from outside of our district.  I am amazed by our faculty and students each and every day.  I look forward to receiving our formal results and continuing to push ourselves to improve.

Educationally Yours,
Jeff Brown, Principal of OES, an IB World School