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Schools

IB Program at Rippowam to Expand This Fall

Students entering the sixth-grade will be placed in the International Baccalaureate program at Rippowam Middle School.

The International Baccalaureate (IB) program at will be expanded to all students entering the sixth-grade this fall, Superintendent Joshua Starr said Tuesday night at the Board of Education meeting.

“Much of this comes from statements made by teachers and administration saying we need to be one school and that running two distinct programs in one school is difficult,” Starr said. “The IB organization recognizes it’s better for it to be one school and not a program within a school.”

What began as a pilot program in 2008, the IB organization officially authorized Rippowam Middle School as an IB Middle Years Programme in September 2010. Since, the school has agreed to provide a timeline to the organization as to when, if at all, it would transition to become an all-IB school instead of a separate program.

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According to Starr, teachers at the school have been trained and going forward with the program would essentially be cost neutral. The initial investment was $80,000.

The board decided Tuesday night to continue with a survey for parents with students in Rippowam’s feeder schools to gather information on their familiarity with the program.

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“I appreciate the board endorsing my authority to make Rippowam a full IB school next year,” Starr said. “We will immediately send out a survey that will gauge any concerns that folks might have to get a sense around whether parents who are feeding in still intend to go to Rippowam. We need to do extensive education and engagement for parents.”

Starr’s plan is to begin with the sixth grade and then roll up to the seventh and eighth grades in the following years, although no decisions on its future have been as of yet.

The IB program is part of a worldwide organization that encourages global awareness, interdisciplinary projects, and high-level assessments. It is currently being used in approximately 850 schools across 79 countries.

“The IB program looks at education quite differently from an intercultural, holistic perspective,” George Giberti, principal of Rippowam Middle School, said. “It asks you to go beyond the 20 mile radius of Stamford. I’ve never known an IB teacher who has taught in the IB program to want to teach anywhere else.”

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