Section+D+-+The+Student

= Section D: The Student =

** 1. How do you induct and integrate newly arrived students into the programme at the beginning of the school year and during the course of the school year? **

At the start of every semester, a day-long orientation is held for all new students and their families. As part of this orientation, each new student is paired with a returning student in the same grade who helps the new student get acclimated. All new High School students meet with their counselor; new IB students also meet individually with the DP Coordinator. When IB students apply to transfer to the SAS partway through the program, the Admissions Office immediately contacts the DP Coordinator, who facilitates communication with the previous school, in order to identify any curricular issues requiring attention.

During the school year, time is set aside during our IB Flex blocks for meetings of DP students. These may be devoted to CAS, the EE, to student self-assessment, or any other IB-related issues.

** 2. How does the school encourage a climate of service to the community? ** At SAS, a very strong culture of community service permeates the school, in accordance with the EAGLES, which state that "SAS students will be: ... Ethical human beings who demonstrate citizenship and generosity through authentic community service activities.” Even Elementary School students participate in service activities such as Roots and Shoots, and fundraising and clothing drives to benefit local and international organizations. As students progress through the school, a wider and wider range of service activities becomes available to them. At the High School level, all service activities are open to all students. Participation in service involves the whole community, students, parents, and faculty. We have very strong parent support through our booster club as well as community service events.

Teachers at SAS are positive role models for service through their sponsorship and participation in service activities. As an institution, SAS strongly supports community service by providing the venues, time, and teacher support for service activities. The school pays a stipend for teacher advisors of service clubs as well as the cost for chaperones on service trips, e.g. Habitat for Humanity builds, and tree planting for Roots and Shoots. Student initiatives for service-oriented goals are encouraged and supported in this way too. Examples of service clubs that are the direct result of student initiatives are:


 * 30-Hour Famine – fundraising in support of World Vision, and campaigns to raise awareness of hunger-related issues around the world
 * Leukemia Hospital Club – weekly visits to patients in a pediatric leukemia ward for play, crafts, and stories; also fundraising to provide financial support for the families of these children
 * Anhui Orphanage Club – fundraising and an annual visit
 * GIFTS Club – support for initiatives related to literacy for all
 * Animal Rescue Club

A couple of our most active service organizations highlight our ties to our local community. Through our Liming Service Project, now in its fifth year, students plan and teach after-school lessons in English and Art to students at a local school for the children of undocumented workers. This project has expanded to include a few Saturday visits by the Liming School children to our school, for a range of enrichment activities that make use of our more extensive facilities and resources. These efforts have been complemented by other initiatives by the PTSA, as well as the Middle and Elementary Schools, to benefit the Liming School. Our English Service Project is newer, but has taken off since its inception two years ago. Students working in this project plan and teach English lessons to the guards, cafeteria and cleaning staff of the school. Because of interest from students and from the school staff, this program has grown from a couple of classes weekly to multiple classes every day at lunch, plus some days after school. Individual students have also extended the idea to weekend English lessons for ayis (housekeeper/nannies) in their home compounds.

** 3. How do current practices ensure students fulfill the aims of the extended essay? **

Presentations to students and parents regarding the Extended Essay emphasize two main objectives:


 * To help students develop research and communication skills
 * To allow students to perform an in-depth investigation of a topic of significant interest

The formal introduction to the EE by the DP Coordinator takes place in January of the students’ first year in the Diploma Program. Students may arrange for their EE supervisor on their own, or request help from the DP Coordinator in doing so. There is a recommended maximum of three students per year per EE supervisor, and an absolute maximum of five.

Students are strongly recommended to write the EE's in one of their 6 IB subjects. However, we do also want to allow some degree of flexibility for students who have demonstrated a strong interest and background in a different subject. To balance these needs, we require a brief application from students who wish to write their EE in a subject which is not one of the subjects studied for the Diploma.

A formal timeline is used to provide structure for the 13-month task. We use our IB Flex blocks for additional sessions concerning different stages of the research process, and there are periodic deadlines the various stages of the work and for meetings between the student and the supervisor. The IB coordinator, in partnership with the EE supervisor, monitors the students’ progress and follows up with the student, teacher and if necessary, the parents.

Each year the IB coordinator provides students and EE supervisors with the general and subject-specific EE guidelines, and meets individually with any teachers who are supervising an EE for the first time.


 * === Standard D1 === || ** Requires significant attention ** || ** Shows satisfactory development ** ||
 * === Students learn to choose to act, and to reflect on their actions, so that they contribute to their own well-being and that of the community and the environment. === || === === ||= ====X==== ||

Much of this support occurs in informal interaction between students and adults in the school, but in addition:
 * === Practices === |||||||||||| ** Degree of implementation ** ||
 * === === |||| === Low === ||||||  || === High === ||
 * **1. The school provides a climate in which students learn to respect and value self-initiated action.** ||||||  ||   ||   || X ||
 * Evidence:
 * Large number of clubs and activities, including Student Council, Activities Council, and many that are centered around service, and taking action to effect change.
 * Student council representatives and officers are elected, as are the officers in many clubs.
 * Assemblies are planned by Student Council and Activities Council.
 * In addition to the Student Council faculty advisor, there is a Grade advisor for each grade, who works with the Class President and homeroom representatives on student initiated activities and fundraisers.
 * Students can propose new clubs and activities. Many existing clubs were started in this way.
 * The CAS Coordinator advises IB Diploma students on opportunities for involvement and action.
 * Student initiative in academics is harder to measure/document, but there is an overall climate of openness; for example, deadlines and test dates can be the subject of discussion between teacher and students. ||
 * **2. Opportunities are provided for students to develop the skills and attitudes that lead to taking action.** ||  ||||||   || X ||   ||
 * Evidence:
 * Participation in clubs can lead to leadership positions later on.
 * One purpose of the grade advisor structure noted above is to prepare students for possible school-wide leadership roles.
 * The Student Council has a very structured system of distributed and collaborative responsibility for various events.
 * [|STUCO election handbook.pdf]
 * [|2010-2011 STUCO projects.pdf]
 * Each club has a faculty advisor who guides students in planning their activities and events.
 * Students discuss their activities with their teachers, counselor, and in the case of IB Diploma students, their CAS mentors and the CAS Coordinator.
 * While we feel that opportunities for students to develop these skills and attitudes are varied and numerous, more could perhaps be done to help students understand the key distinctions between genuine initiative and action, compared to more superficial participation in a wide variety of groups. ||
 * **3. The school supports students in learning how to reflect on their experiences and make more informed, independent choices.** ||  ||||||   || X ||   ||
 * Evidence:
 * The counseling program includes a Career Inventory, an in-depth Junior Interview to begin planning for post-HS years, and a Senior Retreat.
 * The Course Description book promotes a "best-fit" philosophy for course choices. An approximate HW load for each course is included to help students make choices regarding their choice of courses.
 * [|Course Description Book - IB, AP, Best-Fit.pdf]
 * [|Course description book -- HW load example.pdf]
 * The Activities Office categorizes activities by hours and numbers of meetings per week and gives guidelines about appropriate choices of activities.
 * IB Diploma students engage in regular reflection through CAS.
 * IB Diploma students also write a self-evaluation covering all aspects of the program once per year. ||
 * **4. The school provides opportunities for student action to be an integral part of the curriculum and/or an extension of the curriculum.** ||  ||||||   || X ||   ||
 * Evidence:
 * A number of clubs and activities have clear connections to curricular areas, e.g. Roots and Shoots, language clubs, and Robotics, Model United Nations, WORD magazine.
 * Of course, for IB Diploma students the EE is an extension of the regular curriculum. ||
 * **5. The school provides opportunities for students to choose their own CAS activities and to undertake activities in a local or international environment as appropriate.** ||  ||||||   ||   || X ||
 * Evidence:
 * All CAS activities are freely chosen by the student, and there is a wide range of possibilities in terms of local and international action.
 * [|SAS Pudong HS ASA Matrix 2010-11.pdf] ||

The statement of conclusions
D1.5 Opportunities for choice and action through CAS ||
 * === Strengths === ||
 * D1.1 Climate that supports student initiative and action


 * === Practices in need of strengthening === || === Proposals for improvement === ||
 * D1.2, 3 While we feel that there are areas of strength within these practices as well, we are concerned that a significant number of students are over-extended and might benefit from a greater commitment to fewer activities. || The Activities Office already has guidelines designed to help students make appropriate choices. However, more could be done to monitor this at the level of individual students. IB Diploma students have CAS mentors to help them do this, but it is not clear who is best placed to do this for non-IB Diploma candidates. ||


 * === Standard D2 === || ** Requires significant attention ** || ** Shows satisfactory development ** ||
 * === In the final year of the programme, all students complete a programme-specific project that allows them to demonstrate the extension and development of their learning in the Diploma Programme. === || === === ||= ====X==== ||


 * === Practices === |||||||| ** Degree of implementation ** ||

|| === ===

Low
||||  || === ===

** High **
||
 * ** 1.Supervisors understand the requirements of the extended essay and how to assess it. ** ||  ||   ||   || X ||
 * Evidence:
 * When the current EE guide was introduced, the DP Coordinator facilitated a session during a Professional Development day to introduce it, including the marking of exemplar papers from the IB.
 * Each year, the DP Coordinator meets with supervisors who may be supervising an EE for the first time.
 * One of our teachers has participated in an IB online workshop on the EE in Biology, and another is an online workshop leader for the EE in Chemistry.
 * Experienced EE supervisors do report inconsistencies with the assessment of EEs from year to year, which does undermine to some extent our confidence in our own understanding. ||
 * ** 2.Supervisors guide students through each phase of the process. ** ||  ||   ||   || X ||
 * Evidence:
 * Our EE timeline provides for a step-by-step process, with guidance from the supervisor -- [|EE timeline 2011-12.pdf]
 * The DP Coordinator provides support to supervisors in trying to make sure that students stay on track with respect to the timeline. ||
 * ** 3. Students are provided with formative feedback throughout the process. ** ||  ||   ||   || X ||
 * Evidence:
 * Again, various opportunities for formative feedback are provided in the EE timeline. ||
 * ** 4. Parents are informed about the nature of the extended essay, its role in the programme and the work expected from the students. ** ||  ||   || X ||   ||
 * Evidence:

>
 * Parent presentation, including information on the EE -- [|AP IB Parent_night Nov 16 2010.pdf]
 * [|Parent survey -- EE.pdf] ||
 * ** 5. The school promotes the value of the extended essay as a research exercise. ** ||  ||   ||   || X ||
 * Evidence:
 * Parent and student presentations with general information about the EE.
 * [|AP IB Parent_night Nov 16 2010.pdf]
 * [|IB_AP_student_presentation_2011.pdf]
 * Information in course description book -- [|Course Description Book - IB, AP, Best-Fit.pdf]
 * Presentation to IB Diploma students about different stages of the research process
 * [|EE finding and evaluating sources.pdf]
 * [|EE Core Flex research question.pdf]


 * Only IB Diploma students complete an EE. The value of the EE might be enhanced further if other students completed an EE or some other type of major senior project. ||
 * ** 6. Appropriate provision is made for the supervision of the extended essay. ** ||  ||   ||   || X ||
 * Evidence:
 * The recommended maximum number of EE candidates per supervisor per year is 3, with an absolute maximum of 5.
 * For May 2011, we have 19 EE supervisors for 36 candidates [|EE supervisors 2010-11.pdf]
 * 1 supervisor with 5 candidates
 * 4 supervisors with 3 candidates each
 * 5 supervisors with 2 candidates each
 * 9 supervisors with 1 candidate each ||
 * ** 7. Students are fully briefed on the nature, objectives and assessment criteria of the extended essay. ** ||  ||   ||   || X ||
 * Evidence:
 * Student survey results -- [|student survey -- EE.pdf]
 * Extended Essay introductory presentation by DP Coordinator, January, Year 1 ﻿[|EE intro 2010-11.pdf]
 * Extended Essay timeline for May 2012 candidates -- [|EE timeline 2011-12.pdf]
 * Students are strongly recommended to write the EE's in one of their 6 IB subjects. However, we do also want to allow some degree of flexibility for students who have demonstrated a strong interest and background in a different subject. To balance these needs, we require a brief application from students who wish to write their EE in a subject which is not one of the subjects studied for the Diploma. [|EE new subject application 2010-11.pdf]
 * Extended Essay final notes presentation by DP Coordinator, approximately 3 weeks before the internal deadline for final drafts [|EE Y2 Final notes.pdf] ||
 * ** 8. Students have access to adequate resources in the school and community. ** ||  ||   || X ||   ||
 * Evidence:
 * As noted in B1.18, we feel that more could be done to increase the role of the library and the new HS librarian in the EE.
 * Access to online resources is strong -- [|SAS library databases.pdf]
 * If teacher-provided resources are included, then most students feel they have access to sufficient print materials, but the library collection in some areas could be improved. ||
 * ** 9. All supervisors are fully briefed about the nature of their responsibilities and the work expected from the students. ** ||  ||   ||   || X ||
 * Evidence:
 * Some of the support for supervisors in this regard is listed under Practice 1 above.
 * All supervisors (and students) receive the general and subject specific sections of the EE guide.
 * The DP coordinator is also in frequent email contact with supervisors about the EE process and the supervisor's responsibilities. ||

The statement of conclusions

 * === Strengths === ||
 * D2.2, 3, 6, 9 Provision of supervision by knowledgeable supervisors, with appropriate feedback and guidance ||


 * === Practices in need of strengthening === || === Proposals for improvement === ||
 * D2.4 Information for parents about the EE || Though the parent survey results on this practice are not bad, we feel that more communication with parents is needed about the goals and requirements of the EE. Communication of a general nature could be provided by the DP Coordinator, and EE supervisors could do a midpoint communication with the parents of all DP students, not just those who are behind, as is currently the case. ||
 * One factor not directly addressed by the standards and practices, but which has a significant impact on the value of the EE for many students, is the fact that the EE can be a relatively low priority, not because of a lack of understanding of its value, but because of the many other demands placed on students. For students with lower degrees of internal motivation, this issue can be compounded by the fact that we have no formal internal reporting of EE marks-in-progress, and no SAS credit for the EE. On the one hand, this is consistent with a focus on its value as a research exercise, and not for the sake of a grade or for credit. On the other hand, it may be true that some kind of tangible consequence, whether academic or not, is needed for students who fall significantly behind schedule. ||