On Wednesday, December 3rd, our SPA members hosted a Coffee Morning session, welcoming middle school parents and guardians led by our MYP Coordinator, Ms. Annie Levasseur. This gathering focused on unpacking the core components and assessment framework of the IB Middle Years Programme (MYP), to best support student development.
Through this session, we aimed to strengthen our school-home partnership by helping families better understand the structure, philosophy, and purpose of the programme. The MYP in grades 6-10 are the foundational years leading into the Diploma Programme (DP) in grades 11 and 12. It plays an important role in building the skills, attitudes, and habits of learning that prepare students for success in the final two years of High School.
Ms. Annie focused the session in the student-centered nature of the MYP, emphasizing how conceptual understanding and inquiry-based learning are at the heart of the programme, and encouraging students to explore big ideas and ask meaningful questions that guide their own learning journey.
Another key part of the morning was deepening their understanding of MYP assessment, which included:
- The difference between formative assessment (ongoing feedback for learning) and summative assessment (evaluating student understanding at the end of a unit).
- How student achievement is assessed against four criteria in every subject, each designed to reflect subject-specific skills and understandings.
- Learn about the Grade 10 Personal Project (PP), a culminating MYP experience that allows students to explore a topic of personal interest while developing their self-management and communication skills, among others.
Many thoughtful questions were addressed during this session, allowing parents to gain a better sense of how student progress is measured. There was particular interest around how criteria-based assessment (1-8 scale) translates into the semester grade (1-7 scale), and how student growth is tracked over time. To clarify these important aspects of assessment, the following two short videos offered a helpful overview:
1. IB in About 3 Minutes: Assessment Overview
2. IB in About 3 Minutes: MYP Assessment Overview FAQ 1 (What do MYP Numeric Grades Mean?)
This session collected many thoughts and impressions from attending parents, a reflection of how these Coffee Mornings bring them onboard in each student's development and play a pivotal role in supporting them:
"It's interesting to imagine that even though many of our parents don't come from an IB background (just an assumption), they are tasking themselves with raising a child with a wide-range IB education. After watching the dialogue based discourse between the principals and Ms. Annie I felt very much like my daughter was in good hands. Wish we had more ways for parents to interact or view the caliber of our teachers."
- Cylinda Marquart Martin
SPA MS Liaison
Thank you to all the parents and guardians who joined us for this discussion and SPA for their continued support. Hosting these Coffee Mornings reflect our school’s commitment to the IB’s holistic mission of developing learners who are not only academically capable but also compassionate, principled, and internationally-minded.
- Coffee Morning
- MYP
- middle school