Nov 15, 2007

School looks at international offerings

International Baccalaureate Organization to visit Berkeley High

By Doug Oakley / Daily News Staff Writer

The International Baccalaureate Organization will visit Berkeley High School on Monday and Tuesday as part of an application to teach the prestigious academic program there.

Berkeley school officials hope to become certified by the end of the school year in the program that emphasizes an internationally focused education in language, science, math, societies and arts.

"When the team leaves, we should have some sense from exit interviews whether it went well or it went horribly," said Berkeley Unified School District spokesman Mark Coplan. "But we won't get the official word until the end of the year."

Seven schools in the Bay Area and 68 statewide run an International Baccalaureate program. The organization has its programs at 2,145 schools in 125 countries for students ranging in age from 3 to 19. Berkeley High started the application process last year.

In the program, which is based in Geneva, students are assessed internally at the school and externally by the organization in their junior and senior years.

"Externally marked examinations form the greatest share of assessment for each subject" according to information on the program's Web site. Students can expect to pay about $250 to take five tests to get the degree. The school district will pay about $10,000 to train up to 20 educators to teach the program, Coplan said.

The school expects about 900 of its approximately 3,000 students to participate.

Berkeley High School currently has six academic programs for students to choose from, but the new program "will be the most structured and formal program based on their requirements," Coplan said.

Cathy Campbell, president of the Berkeley Federation of Teachers, said "it certainly will be the program tied to the most external standards and protocols."

She said the program has the potential to be "a huge help in achievement at Berkeley High."

She said it would take a year or two to give the school an idea whether the program works.

Mark van Kreiken, president of the Berkeley High School Parent Teacher Student Association, said he likes the idea of the International Baccalaureate program because it has high standards and further breaks the school down into smaller worlds where students feel comfortable.

"I would say this is part of a trend to take large, faceless high schools and turn them into smaller, identifiable programs where students are more comfortable and they get familiar with the teachers and develop personal relations with them," van Kreiken said. "And if you get an International Baccaleaurate program, it is being taught the same way in Berkeley as it is in London or Paris, and that means a lot. Your stuff will be read by teachers in foreign countries."

Deborah Carlin, a Berkeley High parent whose child is a freshman and hopes to get the baccalaureate degree, said there is a lot of excitement among parents and students.

"From everything we have been told, it looks very good," Carlin said. "I think the main thing is you have to have commitment and energy from the school, and it's there. It's a great thing to be prepared to be a citizen of the world rather than being focused just on the United States."



E-mail Doug Oakley at doakley@ebdailynews.com.