A number of key ideas have informed both the design of the new Programme standards and practices and IB workshops, including Planning for programme evaluation.
Ecosystems: The IB and each IB World School are living eco-systems that are designed so that people have agency to change, transform, adapt and grow. Seeing both as eco-systems draws attention to the dynamic and symbiotic relationship between the IB and IB World Schools. The IB works with schools to help them grow organically within their specific context.
Learning organizations: The IB and IB World Schools place learning at the centre. This includes student learning, staff’s professional learning and organizational system learning. In an IB World School this learning is informed by an IB philosophy and pedagogy that promotes individual agency, global citizenship and responsible action. The Head of School is the designer, steward and teacher of the school(s) as an organization that is continually learning. They see the big picture, create a shared vision (purpose), nurture systems (environment) that place a premium on the lifelong learning of all, create and sustain a collaborative culture grounded in inquiry and reflection, and create connections within the IB global network.
Sense-making: Each school needs to make sense of what it means to be an IB World School within their own specific context. There is no one model of being an IB World School – instead it is about a symbiotic relationship between the IB and its schools focused on organizational growth. The Programme standards and practices offers both an aspirational (the standards and practices) and base-line (the requirements and specifications) framework of what it means to be an IB World School.
Adaptive organizations: All organizations today need to be highly adaptive and flexible to respond to technological, economic, social and political change. Understanding this, workshop leaders work with workshop participants to develop their (IB) leadership intelligences to meet the increasingly complex situations they will face.
Overall Purpose
This workshop engages participants, as representatives of their IB programme(s), with each component of the programme evaluation process: the preliminary review, self-study, evaluation visit (if applicable) and final report, and how these combine to impact more meaningfully on student learning through focused programme development. The primary aim of IB programme evaluation is to support schools in continuously developing their capacity to implement IB programmes in order to have a greater impact on student outcomes through the development of teacher and leader practice. Participants will reflect upon how this process supports the school—as a learning community—to develop their capacity to work intentionally and strategically to further develop their IB programme(s), as well as enable schools to better direct their efforts and resources. Participants will leave with ways to communicate their understandings to others in their own school context.
RECOMMENDED AUDIENCE Administrators, Coordinators, Leaders of learning planning the programme evaluation process
Conceptual Understandings
The conceptual understandings of this workshop enable participants to:
effectively use IB documentation and engagement with school stakeholders during the programme evaluation process
prepare for and organize the programme evaluation process
consider the IB and IB World schools as learning organizations, recognizing that stakeholders have rights and responsibilities that include transparent and meaningful processes
thoroughly explore how the programme evaluation process encourages continued programme development and professional inquiry aimed at improving learning.