Parents as Partners

Parents as Partners
Nov 9, 2001, 6:00pm

Parents will agree they are intimately involved in their children’s education during the earliest years. As a baby progresses toward walking, the toddler develops speech and the preschooler learns social mores, parents are the source of education. This system is effective because parent and child have an interest in the outcome and they understand the techniques and implications of what they are doing; they are both stakeholders.

Middle School English teachers meet to discuss possible course level questions.

The IC faculty and its directors are engaged in a process to continue and enrich the parent/child educational partnership to include school. The working process the College is employing is identified by a series of acronyms: IB (International Baccalaureate), PYP (Primary Years Program) and PBLA (Performance Based Learning and Assessment).
The College has incorporated the IB into its secondary curricular offerings. PYP is the IB foundation designed for preschool and elementary students. One of the basic tenets of the IB and PYP is that parents understand the philosophy and function of the program and be involved in their children’s education.

On Friday, November 9 the Ras Beirut Elementary and Preschool will join forces to present a seminar for parents. The presentation will demonstrate the inquiry based learning system currently being used throughout IC with PBLA as one of its methodologies. Attendance at the seminar offers an opportunity to be involved in your child’s education while becoming informed of the how and why of PYP. Directors Beidas and Khoury are hoping for 100% turnout from parents.

Science teachers from all levels meet to develop a series of questions that will frame an inquiry based curriculum of their design.

As part of their on-going professional development, IC teachers and directors have been engaged in the process of rewriting their curriculum since September 1998. Their objective is to create an integrated framework for all the IC curricula including the IB, French Bacc, Lebanese Bacc and College Preparatory Program. In order to accomplish this they are applying a method developed by Dr. Michael Hibbard.
Dr. Hibbard’s approach emphasizes the application of knowledge as a means to attain deep understanding. It integrates teaching, learning and assessment in a performance based setting. His expertise as a curriculum specialist is recognized and respected by educators around the world. He has done work for the Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development based in the U.S. and has been a contributor to their publication, Educational Leadership.

ERC Director Raouf Ghusayni and Senior Vice President Mishka Mojabber Mourani worked together to arrange for Dr. Michael Hibard and his team of specialists to guide and collaborate with IC faculty and directors in their work to integrate IC programs of study.

Dr. Raouf Ghusayni, Director of the Educational Resource Center at I.C. and Senior Vice President Mishka Mojabber Mourani, knew of Dr. Hibbard’s exceptional work. In 1998 the ERC arranged for Dr. Hibbard’s initial visit to I.C. Since then he has returned to the College annually with his team of subject specialists to collaborate with the IC faculty and directors on the project that has been the substance of in-service days for the last three years.
In June of this year, Dr. Hibbard came to IC to teach teachers how to run workshops for curriculum development. On Wednesday, August 29 all IC teachers and directors came together on the Ras Beirut campus for 3 days of intensive workshops. The objective of these workshops is to generate a structure of questions across discipline, course and unit level while incorporating all grade and age levels. Mrs. Mourani estimates it will take about two more years to complete and points out that the process is more important than the end result.

Teachers worked in groups for three days this summer to share their experience and knowledge for the creation of their own curriculum.

In spite of, or rather because of, a long standing tradition of excellent to perfect results in Brevet and Baccalaureate exams, the College has dedicated itself to examination and integration of curriculum at all levels. This year, as is customary, all IC students passed the Brevet exams with 72% achieving honors. At the secondary level, all our students passed the official French Baccalaureate with half making honors. All except one of the one hundred twenty-five candidates for the Lebanese Baccalaureate succeeded with 68% taking honors in general Sciences. Mrs. Mourani reflects that we have the results and this situation gives us the luxury of examining and working on our process – the curriculum.