The Aspen School District has become the first International Baccalaureate (IB) school district in the state of Colorado after Aspen Elementary School received authorization to run the IB Primary Years Programme in June.
The IB curriculum is designed to encourage inquiry, confidence, and compassion in students, and it attempts to encourage learners to “take ownership” of their own education.
In a press release on Friday, Aspen School District officials said the program encourages students to learn about different cultures, and its assessments are meant to improve instruction, rather than act as a measure of success.
The Aspen School District fine tuned its implementation of the IB Primary Years Programme (PYP) during the 2023-2024 school year.
Aspen Elementary School Principal Ashley Bodkins has overseen the curriculum development process, alongside Superintendent Tharyn Mulberry.
She says her students are already using the program’s Learner Profile, a set of 10 core values established in the IB curriculum, in conversations with family and friends.
“The most rewarding part of the process is the outcomes for our students,” Bodkins said. “They have fully embraced the Learner Profile in their everyday language in the classroom, on the playground and at home. Students take ownership of their learning through inquiry-based units.”
Now that Aspen Elementary School has been officially authorized to teach PYP by the International Baccalaureate Organization, IB lessons will be available from Pre-K through 12th grade, connecting the framework across age groups and making core concepts familiar to students as they age.
In the summer of 2023, Aspen Middle School was authorized as an IB Middle Years Programme, while Aspen High School has offered its IB Diploma Programme since 2001.
The Aspen School District made this announcement roughly one week after Harpreet Mehta, who’s been working on the elementary school’s IB rollout this past year, stepped into the role of Director of IB Continuum and Student Learning for all Aspen public schools.
Mehta said that PYP offers a student-centered approach to learning.
“Every learner in a PYP school will always have some of the IB Learner Profile traits at one time or another. This makes
learners see themselves as successful and adept, therefore having self-efficacy.”
The learner profile describes IB students as inquirers, communicators, principled, caring, risk-takers, and reflective, among other qualities.
