The International Baccalaureate Programme at Poe Middle School

Poe Middle School is part of the Annandale Pyramid’s continuum of IB Programmes. The Middle Years Programme partnership between Poe Middle School, Holmes Middle School and the Diploma Programme also at Annandale High School provides an educational framework which seeks to develop students who are actively creative and compassionate individuals who are life-long learners. We do this by promoting global awareness and understanding as well as expecting our students to communicate and collaborate using creative and critical thinking.  All IB Programmes worldwide operate under the fundamental philosophy that by educating students, we create a better world.

The IB Mission

The International Baccalaureate aims to develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect.  

To this end, the organization works with schools, governments and international organizations to develop challenging programmes of international education and rigorous assessment.  

These programmes encourage students across the world to become active, compassionate and lifelong learners who understand that other people, with their differences, can also be right.  What is an IB education?

The IB Learner Profile – The Mission Statement in Action

The IB learner profile is the IB mission statement translated into a set of learning outcomes for the 21st century. You can read about the IB learner profile in more detail, and watch a video here.

The learner profile provides a long-term vision of education. It is a set of ideals that can inspire, motivate and focus the work of schools and teachers, uniting them in a common purpose.

Grading

As an authorized IBMYP school, teachers create and implement assessments which are documented in the SIS gradebook.

Rubrics will be shared with students ahead of time and use an 8 point scale. Teachers meet to ensure standardization of grading tasks through an Interrater-reliability method. The conversion from rubric scores to FCPS grades is below:

•  FCPS/IB Grading Rubric

Approaches to Learning

FCPS is committed to provide opportunities for students to demonstrate learning in more authentic ways. “Developing Portrait of a Graduate (PoG) attributes is a high priority for FCPS. While still focusing on academics, the Portrait of a Graduate also allows FCPS to move beyond the high-stakes testing environment and develop the skills in our students that employers are seeking for their workforce.”(www.fcps.edu) These Portrait of a Graduate (POG) attributes align with IB Learner Profile Traits and Approaches to Learning (ATL). 

“ATL skills can be learned and taught, improved with practice and developed incrementally.  They provide a solid foundation for learning independently and with others. ATL’s provide a common language that students and teachers can use to reflect on the process of learning.”  These skills help to develop students who are able to:

• Exchange thoughts and information with others effectively
• Read critically and write well for different purposes
• Work effectively with others
• Manage time and tasks effectively
• Persevere, self-motivate, focus, and overcome distractions
• Bounce back after adversity, mistakes and failures
• Reflect and self-assess
• Find, interpret, judge and create information
• Interact with media to use and create ideas and information
• Think critically
• Analyze and evaluate issues and ideas
• Consider ideas from multiple perspectives

The focus of ATL Skills  in the MYP is to help students develop the self-knowledge and skills they need for a lifetime of learning. ATL skills empower students to succeed in meeting the challenging objectives of MYP subject groups and prepares them for further success in rigorous academic programs.

The Diploma Programme

Upon completing grades six, seventh, and eighth at Poe Middle School, during the Tenth grade at Annandale High School students have an opportunity to continue their IB Education in the Diploma Programme as11th and 12th graders.  You can learn more about why students choose the Diploma Programme from this video, which features students, teachers and parents from Garfield Senior High School in Woodbridge, Virginia, a neighboring school from the Prince William Public Schools District.