VISTA VERDE MIDDLE SCHOOL
IB PROGRAM
since 2006

INTERNATIONAL BACCALAUREATE MIDDLE YEARS PROGRAM

Vista Verde is pleased to announce another beginning of an IB Middle Years Program for the 2008-2009 school year. This program will eventually span four different grade levels (7-10) between Vista Verde and North Canyon High School, home of Paradise Valley Unified School District’s IB Diploma Program. The Middle Years Program recognizes the challenges of adolescents between the ages of 11 and 16. This program helps students develop the knowledge, attitudes and skills they need to participate actively and responsibly in a changing and increasingly interrelated world. Evaluating information critically and learning how to learn are important fundamentals of the program. The IB Middle Years Program stresses holistic learning, intercultural awareness, communication, inquiry and critical thinking.

The IB Middle Years Program concludes in 10th grade with a “personal project,” an independent and significant piece of reflective work that is led by the student with supervision by a teacher. The personal project must be accompanied by a document in which the student describes the approach and the method that has been followed and provides a personal response to the issues concerned. The school uses published assessment criteria to assess the project.

The curriculum of the Middle Years Program encompasses eight subjects. These are: English, a world language, humanities (social studies), sciences, mathematics, arts, physical education and technology. All teachers who teach in the IB programs must be trained by the IB Organization. Schools themselves must go through a comprehensive evaluation process to ensure the program offered adheres to the international standards.

If you are interested in finding out more about the IB Programs, visit their
website at: www.ibo.org. If you are interested in having your students become a part of
Vista Verde’s exciting Middle Years Program, e-mail either Sue McInturf, counselor and coordinator, at smcinturf@pvschools.net or Elaine Jacobs, principal, at ejacobs@pvschools.net. You may also call the school at (602) 449-5300.

Elaine Jacobs
Vista Verde Principal
ejacobs@pvschools.net

IB Brochure

 The International Baccalaureate Organization 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 IBO works with schools, governments and international organizations to develop challenging programs of international education and rigorous assessment. These programs encourage students across the world to become active, compassionate and lifelong learners who understand that other people, with their differences, can also be right.

 The International Baccalaureate Middle Years Program (MYP) is designed for students aged 11 to 16.
This period, encompassing early puberty and mid-adolescence, is a particularly critical phase of personal and intellectual development and requires a program that helps students participate actively and responsibly in a changing and increasingly interrelated world. Learning how to learn and how to evaluate information critically is as important as learning facts.

NEED MORE INFORMATION ?

INTERNATIONAL  BACULARATE PROGRAM WEBSITE:   
www.ibo.org

VISTA VERDE MIDDLE SCHOOL:
http://cmweb.pvschools.net/vvmsweb/

Ms. Jacobs, VVMS Principal  
EJACOBS@PVSCHOOLS.NET

Mrs. McInturf,  VVMS IB MYP Coordinator  
SMCINTURF@PVSCHOOLS.NET

North Canyon High School IB Program
http://cmweb.pvschools.net/nchsweb/IB.html
Principal Mrs. Carol Pollack

            IB Coordinator: Mr. Robert Black
Phone: 623-780-4200

Paradise Valley Unified School District:
http://cmweb.pvschools.net/siteweb/

Vista Verde Middle School
2826 E. Grovers
Phoenix, AZ 85032

Phone: 602-449-5300
FAX:  602-449-5305

Vista Verde Middle School is pleased to announce that they have been designated as a candidate school for the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Program (MYP) and is now able to offer this program to 7th and 8th grade students.  In the next two years VVMS will complete the application process and will become a certified IBO MYP school. The Middle Years Program continues into the 9th and 10th grades at North Canyon High   School and prepares students to enter the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme offered in the 11th and 12th grades at North Canyon.

   2006-2007 was the first school year that MYP classes were offered to incoming 7th grade students on our campus. For the 2007-2008 school year, both 7th and 8th graders will be offered MYP classes.   Essentially the MYP is a ‘school within a school’ with IB students clustered for all of their core academic classes. 

    The typical IB student is a bright, academically motivated student who thrives in a challenging educational environment interacting with other bright students with similar interests and capabilities.  Students can expect a rigorous curriculum that includes all core area subjects, the arts, technology, foreign language and physical education

Frequently Asked Questions:

Q. How does my child apply to this program?

  A. Admission to the program is by application.  Students are selected based on their test scores, grades, teacher recommendations and a writing sample. You can contact VVMS for an application.

Q. What if my child does not live within the VVMS boundaries?

  A.  All students who are accepted into the program are guaranteed a transfer.  Parents need to keep in mind that transportation is provided by the school only if the student lives within the VVMS attendance area.  Many students who live out of the attendance area car pool with one another.

Q.  What are the core subjects?

  A. English, Math, Humanities (social studies) and Science.

Q. Where is VVMS located, and what is the school like?

  A.  Vista Verde Middle School was built in 1985 and has around 800 students.  We are privileged to have a diverse population, a convenient location and a dedicated staff, passionate about student achievement.  Located on the NE corner of 28th street and Grovers, VVMS is convenient to both the loop 101 and the 51 freeway.  Our school hours are 7:54am to 2:30pm.  We are the only PVUSD middle school to offer the MYP.

 Important Components of the MYP:

MYP curriculum components
are applied through 5 areas of interaction: 

These provide the main focus for developing the connections between the disciplines, so that students will learn to see knowledge as an interrelated, coherent whole.  More particularly, the five areas of interaction:

-are embedded in the subjects and developed naturally through them

-provide both an organization and an extension of learning within and across the subjects, through the exploration of real-life issues

-inspire special activities and interdisciplinary projects

-form part of the framework for student inquiry and take investigative learning further than subject boundaries

-are a vehicle for refining conceptual understanding through different perspectives

-guide reflection and lead from knowledge to thoughtful action.

IB Applications
You can open a .pdf file, then select save to desktop, edit information, then send forms in as an attachment.
- or you can open an .html file. copy and paste into a word processing document,
edit information, then send forms in as an attachment.
Send Forms to: Ms. Jacobs, VVMS Principal   ejacobs@pvschools.net

- - Or - - - IB Application Form

- - Or - - - IB Application Essay Form

- - Or - - - IB Behavioral Contract

- - Or - - - IB Student Reccomendation Form

- - Or - - - MYP Student Application