IB MYP

I. Purpose

At Ranchview High School and Barbara Bush Middle School, we believe in high achievement for all students and that academic honesty should be maintained at all times in support of that goal. “Academic honesty must be seen as a set of values and skills that promote personal integrity and good practice in teaching, learning and assessment. It is influenced and shaped by a variety of factors including peer pressure, culture, parental expectations, role modeling and taught skills.” (IB Diploma Programme Academic Honesty, July 2011) The IB mission statement strives to create lifelong learners who are caring and respectful while creating a better more peaceful world. IB students shall be knowledgeable, principled thinkers according to the Learner Profile in order to better understand the importance of academic honesty while honoring the work and intellectual properties of others.

• Knowledgeable – We develop and use conceptual understanding, exploring and knowledge across a range of disciplines. We engage with issues and ideas that have local and global significance.
• Thinkers – We use critical and creative thinking skills to analyze and take responsible action on complex problems. We exercise initiative in making reasoned, ethical decisions.
• Principled – We act with integrity and honesty, with a strong sense of fairness and justice, and with respect for the dignity and rights of people everywhere. We take responsibility for our actions and their
  consequences.

II. Definitions (from MYP Principles to Practice, 2014)

Plagiarism – the representation, intentionally or unwittingly, of the ideas, words or work of another person without proper, clear and explicit acknowledgment.

Collaboration – working together on a common aim with shared information, which is an open and cooperative behavior that does not result in allowing one’s work to be copied or submitted for assessment by another.

Collusion – when a student uses fellow learners as an unattributed source.

Intellectual property rights – patents, registered designs, trademarks, moral rights and copyright.

Paraphrasing – The rewording of text to give meaning.

Duplication of work – The presentation of the same work for different assessment components and/or IB requirements.

Authentic piece of work – Work that is based on the student’s individual and original ideas, with the ideas and work of others fully acknowledged.

Academic Misconduct – A behavior that results in or may result in the student or another student gaining an unfair advantage in one or more assignment component.

III. Academic Honesty Policy Requirements

It is the role of the school to:

• Ensure communication about the policy to parents, students and teachers.
• Promote values and skills of personal integrity and good practice in teaching, learning and assessment.
• Support vertical alignment of age appropriate teaching practices so that all students gain understanding of intellectual property and authenticity.
• Maintain records of instances of academic malpractice and deliver appropriate consequences for each instance in consultation with student, parent, and appropriate school personnel.

It is the role of the teacher to:

• Be knowledgeable about the definitions related to academic honesty and teach students those definitions as relates to their discipline.
• Instruct students in the necessity and practice of paraphrasing, summarizing, quoting and citing using appropriate formats.
• Use the skills of Approaches to Learning including self-management, social, communication, research and thinking throughout the program to develop positive, academic practice.
• Report instances of academic malpractice to the Heads of Schools and IB Coordinator for appropriate action to be taken with student and in notifying parent.

It is the role of the student to:

• Be knowledgeable about the definitions related to academic honesty and submit only his/her own work.
• Willingly practice paraphrasing, summarizing, quoting and citing using appropriate formats for various assignments.
• Use the skills of Approaches to Learning including self-management, social, communication, research and thinking throughout the program to support positive, academic practice in themselves and their peers.

It is the role of the parent to:

• Be aware of the Academic Honesty Policy and guide students’ understanding and adherence to the policy
• Expect students to produce independent work that is their own intellectual property

IV. Consequences of Academic Malpractice

The determination that a student had engaged in academic dishonesty shall be based on the judgment of the classroom teacher or other supervising professional employee, taking into consideration written materials, observation or information from students. Incidents of malpractice will be documented and students can receive any consequence that is aligned with the CFBISD policy.

V. Additional Pages

• Samples of citation taught to students
  • BBMS teachers scaffold MLA citation style in years 1-3 to prepare students for years 4-5 at RHS
• Scenarios of what constitutes academic misconduct
• Clarification of distinction between legitimate collaboration and unacceptable collusion

I. Philosophy

At Ranchview High School and Barbara Bush Middle School, we recognize that teaching, learning and assessment are fundamentally interdependent.

• Assessment is designed to improve student learning and helps to measure effectiveness of teaching strategies and materials.
• Assessment is anchored in authentic tasks.
• Assessment utilizes a balanced range of strategies for formative and summative tasks.
• Timely, specific and supportive feedback is central to all learning and teaching.
• Students should have wide variety of assessment opportunities (written tasks, oral presentations, field work, practical work, exhibitions, lab reports, performances, examinations, research papers, etc.)
• Students should have an active role in peer and self-assessment.
• Reflection is an essential process within assessment and indicates understanding over time.

II. Assessment Practices

Assessment tasks should reflect the objectives and assessment criteria of the Middle Years Program and may take a variety of forms.

Formative Assessment

Assessment should be formative (for learning) to assist students in building understanding, skills and knowledge. Through a variety of methods, ongoing and regular assessment will be used during the teaching and learning process to inform teacher and students about how the is developing. Formative assessment and teaching are directly linked and provide feedback that is responsive to student needs and informs teaching practice.

Summative Assessment

Assessment should also be summative (of learning) to assess what students understand, know and are able to do. Summative assessment happens at the end of the teaching and learning process or experience but is planned at the beginning of the unit. The assessment is designed so that students can demonstrate their learning in authentic contexts and apply it in new ways.

III. Additional Requirements

Local school policy requires that, per progress reporting period, students be given three formative assessments which count for 25% of the student’s grade and one summative assessment which counts for 75% of the student’s grade. If a student scores below a 70 on the summative assessment, then the student must attend tutorials in order to repeat the summative task. Parents are notified in writing of their student’s progress.

Students in the RHS-BBMS partnership take all state and locally mandated tests. This includes common unit assessments in core subjects as provided by the local school district. These assessments are not graded with the MYP criteria because they do not meet the requirements of an MYP assessment.
The State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness (STAAR) occurs annually in grades 6-8 in reading, writing, math, science and social studies. The STAAR End of Course (EOC) examinations are taken by 9th
graders for Algebra I, English I, and Biology.

Grading in the Middle Years Program

The MYP criteria for each specific subject will be described in the course overview/syllabus and discussed with parents and students at the beginning of the school year. Students will be assesses on each criteria at least twice during the course of the year, thereby allowing them the opportunity to achieve at the highest levels of the descriptors. Continual student progress toward these criteria will be recorded when particular MYP tasks are assessed. (This will be done in tandem with the assigning of traditional percentage grades (1-100%) for assignments to accommodate state and local requirements.) Teachers can then collaborate to determine student growth and development in each MYP subject. The sum of these final achievement levels, as determined by current MYP grade boundaries, establishes the student’s final MYP grade for the course. MYP grades will be reported to students and parents through an official grade report at the end of each semester (January and June).
Additionally, MYP progress can be reported through whole school parent-student-teacher conferences that occur twice a year (November and March). Grade equivalents will be as follows:

MYP Grade	CFB Grade Book Equivalent
8	100
7	93
6	87
5	81
4	75
3	70
2	60
1	50
0	0

Additional policies:

Students who have Special Needs and/or have Language needs will be assessed to the most appropriate level of criteria, taking into consideration their Individualized Education Plan and their level of academic English. Students shall be assessed in multiple ways as appropriate to document their achievement of local standards and IB expectations.

Review of Assessment Policy

This policy shall be reviewed by all stakeholders each year to ensure continued alignment with IB and local district expectations. Newly hired teachers shall be trained about required assessment practices in throughout the first semester of their teaching contract. Parents and students shall be made aware of this policy through normal communication channels at the beginning of each semester.

All students are considered MYP students and have access to MYP courses. All BBMS and RHS students are expected to engage with the IB Philosophy and learn and demonstrate Learner Profile Attributes,
global-mindedness, and service in action. Students are assessed with MYP rubrics to the individual appropriate level. Students are not excluded from IB because of a disability. There are no financial issues with supporting special needs in the IB program. We are an open admissions school.

Inclusion Philosophy

The mission of Barbara Bush Middle School and Ranchview High School is for each student to graduate prepared to pursue the post-secondary education of his or her choice and with the tools needed to succeed in a global society. In order to give students with special needs access to the same opportunities as their non-disabled peers, Barbara Bush Middle School and Ranchview High School provides inclusive classrooms and experiences for all students.

Students with disabilities and IB

Special education needs refers to candidates with individual learning, physical, sensory, behavioral or social needs who have the intellectual ability to meet all curriculum and assessment requirements of IB,
and who require accommodations to demonstrate their level of achievement. This may include students eligible for special education services requiring specially designed instruction, as well as students served
through Section 504.

Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD has a Child Find obligation to locate, evaluate, and identify students’ birth through 21 years of age with a disability, eligible for special education services. In the State of Texas, an
Admission, Review, and Dismissal (ARD) Committee reviews evaluation data, determines eligibility for special education services, and puts an Individual Education Plan (IEP) in place. The IEP includes
supplemental aids and services and appropriate accommodations for students to help them succeed in the general curriculum. These accommodations are required for all undertakings, including the IB Middle
Years Programme, that the student participates in. Students with the following special needs participate in IB MYP: Speech and Language Impairment, Learning Disability, Auditory Impairment, Visual Impairment, Autism, Orthopedic Impairment, Emotional Disturbance, and Other Health Impairment.

Barbara Bush Middle School and Ranchview High School ensure that students with disabilities are educated to the maximum extent appropriate with their non-disabled peers. The goal is to provide access to the general curriculum and educate students with disabilities in a general education classroom with supplemental aids and services to the maximum extent appropriate for each individual student’s needs.

At the start of each school year, the Barbara Bush Middle School and Ranchview High School staff participates in professional development activities on special education, inclusive practices, and the use of accommodations for students with disabilities.

Special Needs Policy Review

This policy is evaluated every two years by the Head of Schools, IB Coordinator, Director of Advanced Academics, Special Education Department Chair, and Special Education teachers. It is the responsibility of the IB Coordinator to ensure the success of the special education needs policy review.

Language Philosophy

The Barbara Bush-Ranchview MYP Partnership recognizes that language is central to learning as it develops critical thinking, intercultural awareness and global citizenship. (From Language and Learning in IB programmes, 2014) Language study, including English, modern languages and mother tongue languages, reinforces cultural identity, enhances personal growth and promotes effective communication. The partnership views all teachers as teachers of language, all parents as essential contributors to the language learning process and all students as language learners. Language instruction in the Middle Years Programme values students’ multiple learning styles and individual growth.

Learning to communicate in more than one language is fundamental to the development of intercultural understanding in the IB. (MYP From Principles into practice, 2014) The school community fosters language learning by encouraging mother tongue fluency, thereby maintaining cultural identity. Using technology and information resources are essential to communication and language learning in a global society. Therefore, to these ends, the partnership will:

• Model language through everyday use, intentionally teaching vocabulary and procedural terms.
• Plan effective, relevant, and significant engagements to improve proficiency in all forms of language.
• Create opportunities for listening, speaking, reading, and writing in all subjects, using key concepts.
• Empower students to use language as they discuss, act, and reflect on their learning.

Language Profile

Diversity of Language

The partnership community encompasses a diversity of languages ranging from Spanish and Urdu to Korean and Arabic. However, the majority of students speak English. The native language serves as the foundation for English language acquisition as cognitive skills transfer from one language to another and students competent in their first language will apply these skills, and other academic proficiencies, in the second language. The school is committed to empowering English Language Learners (ELL) to become competent in understanding, listening, speaking, reading, and writing the English language through the development of literacy and academic skills in all disciplines. CFB teachers attend training in the Guided Language Acquisition Design model (GLAD). STELLAR training (Strategies for Teachers of English Language Learners Achieving Results) is also utilized at the campuses to support acquisition of the mother tongue.

Legal Requirements

The BBMS-RHS partnership complies with the national and state requirements for ELL students. Upon entrance into the Carrollton-Farmers Branch Independent School District, all students complete a Home Language Survey (HLS) to determine the mother tongue. In response to the results of the HLS, students complete a language assessment to determine the level of proficiency in the mother tongue. A Language Proficiency Assessment Committee (LPAC) classifies each student according to the language in which the student possesses primary proficiency. If test results indicate the student needs assistance in development of the host school language, the student has the opportunity to participate in the English as a Second Language (ESL) program. The Language Proficiency Assessment Committee (LPAC) regularly reviews the decision to change a student’s educational language placement. Annually, all ELL students are assessed with the TELPAS (Texas English Language Proficiency Assessment Scales) to ensure growth in listening, speaking, reading and writing skills. Finally, since most ELL students are taking regular courses, most teachers have their state certification in English as a Second Language.

MYP Language Policy

Mother tongue fluency, central to the development of cognitive skills and identity in children, facilitates maintenance of the mother tongue. The recognition of mother tongue and the culture associated with it increases students’ self-esteem and sense of well-being. The partnership offers a variety of opportunities for students to experience various languages and cultures through parental and community involvement in music or art events, and curricular units. Teachers are encouraged to recognize students’ mother tongues and home cultures inside and outside the classroom. Teachers encourage students to value and maintain their mother tongue, as well as the mother tongue of other students. Library resources attempt to include materials in every
mother tongue as is feasible.

The Middle Years Programme subject guides provide the curricular framework for Language and Literature and for Language Acquisition. The state of Texas specifies the curriculum standards known as the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) for each subject and grade level, 6-10. The partnership desires to fulfill the aims and objectives of both the state system and the Middle Years Programme. Outlines for each Language and Literature course and Language Acquisition course include suggested content and resources, use of global contexts and formative and summative assessment tasks. These outlines ensure continuity and development of language courses offered by the partnership.

Language & Literature

English is the language of instruction throughout the partnership, thus competency in this language is key to student success in other subject areas. English classes have an obvious role to play in teaching and reinforcing language skills needed in other subjects; however, all teachers have a responsibility to develop students’ language skills. All teachers facilitate standard usage protocols in spoken English as well as in the content of written work. Key Concepts and Global Contexts support the development of listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills.

Language Acquisition

At this time the partnership offers Spanish in years 1-5. Students are required to participate in a minimum of fifty hours of Language Acquisition every year in the programme. The long-term goal of Language Acquisition is to develop balanced bilingualism and an appreciation for the culture. (French is offered to grades 9-12 at Ranchview High School.)

Beliefs about Language Teaching & Learning

The ESL program is an intensive immersion program consisting of instruction in English from teachers trained in recognizing and dealing with language differences. The ESL program considers the students’ learning experiences and shall incorporate the cultural aspects of the students’ background.

The teachers and administrators involved in the ESL program place students in classes with other students of approximately the same age and level of educational attainment. Limited English Proficient (LEP) students participate fully with English-speaking students in regular classes provided in all subjects including the arts and physical education. Part of the ESL teacher’s role is to be an advocate for the student in the classroom and in the community. ESL teachers invite active inquiry in their classroom while supporting language acquisition. In addition they monitor students’ progress in regular classrooms, collaborate with classroom teachers to create meaningful learning engagements, assist in test modifications, and stay in contact with parents. Teachers assigned to ESL programs must obtain appropriate certification by the state as well as maintain yearly requirements for district mandated staff development. In years 1-3, a cultural ambassador program supports newcomers and helps ease the transition into the school’s culture. The ESL teacher is responsible for collaborating with the classroom teachers to develop appropriate modifications in order to assure the success of the ELL student. The ESL teacher and support staff monitor students’ progress in English acquisition as well as academic instruction.

Guiding Principles:

1. The native language serves as the foundation for English language acquisition.
2. Cognitive skills will transfer from one language to another and student’s literate in their first language will apply these skills and other academic proficiencies in the second language.
3. ELLs draw upon the resources of their language and culture as they acquire a new language and culture.
4. ELLs are at different stages of language acquisition and may exhibit different proficiency levels within the four language components of listening, speaking, reading, and writing.
5. ELLs undergo silent periods of varying durations when they first begin to learn a new language.
6. Limited knowledge of English structure and vocabulary does not necessarily relate to the students’ intellectual capabilities or their ability to use higher-order thinking skills.
7. Literacy development across the content areas is essential in building academic skills in a second language and can accelerate the learning of both English language skills and higher-order thinking skills

Review of the Policy

The Language Policy Steering committee (ESL Teachers, IB Coordinator, and District ESL/Bilingual Director) shall meet yearly to review the policy and see what revisions are necessary to meet the Standards
and Practices of the IB in addition to the requirements of the district and state.

Additional Policies

Admissions

At this time, partnership offers the MYP to any student in the Carrollton-Farmers Branch Independent School district who desires to be part of the programme. Any student living outside the partnership feeder school area must fill out a request for transfer in order to participate in the programme. In the future, this policy may need yearly review as the population and demands for more space increase.