Summary+of+Main+Conclusions

A scanned copy of the original document, signed by Jonathan Borden, HS Principal, and by Kerry Jacobson, Superintendent is attached below. The text of the document is also repeated below.


 * [|Summary of main conclusions.pdf]


 * Principal Strengths**

In line with the SAS vision of serving a broad range of students, our IB Program is open to all students who are motivated and have a desire to enrich their academic experiences in high school with a rigorous, well-rounded course of study. Thus, there are no minimum academic eligibility criteria for entrance to the program. Nevertheless, our pass rate and average scores have been strong. More importantly, we feel that our academic program allows students who score 40+ points, as well as those who struggle to earn the Diploma, to challenge themselves and to grow as individuals and students.

The IB Program enjoys strong support from the entire SAS community – the Board of Directors, administration, teachers, parents, and students. The school’s foundation documents, the Mission, Vision, Core Values, and Expected Student Learning Results (ESLRs, or as we call them, the EAGLES), are closely aligned with the philosophy of the IBO and the IB Learner Profile. In addition, the school allocates significant financial and human resources to the program, in facilities, instructional resources, small class sizes, and professional development.

Our students and parents agree that our teachers are the main strength of our IB Program. The majority of teachers currently teaching IB courses have significant prior experience in IB. In a competitive international market for veteran IB teachers, the school administration has been successful in recruiting teachers with IB experience to fill most vacancies. In addition, one of our guiding principles in staffing has been the goal of building one faculty, rather than separate IB and non-IB faculties. In line with this, we have developed a school culture where no one “owns” courses, but where we build faculty capacity with multiple teachers trained for and working in various subject areas. This serves the current interests of the school and students through increased opportunities for collaboration, and by helping the values and philosophy of the Diploma Program to extend more deeply into all our classes. This also serves the longer-term interests of the school through increased faculty stability. Beyond the qualifications of our teachers, parents and students consistently comment on their dedication and commitment to the students, demonstrated in a willingness to develop innovative and challenging teaching materials, to meet individual students’ needs, and to give their time for extra help or an informal chat.

Finally, our relationship with our sister campus, SAS Puxi, is a significant strength for our program. Our informal school motto is “One School, Two Campuses,” even though we are two separate IB schools. There is no question that in the early stages of our program development, we leaned very heavily on the expertise developed at SAS Puxi, where the IB Diploma Program passed its 10-year mark last year. In particular, we owe a large debt of thanks to the past and present DP Coordinators at the Puxi Campus, James Leung, and Kathy Anderson. As the SAS Pudong program has developed, the collaboration has become mutually supportive, and brings considerable benefits to both programs.


 * Principal Practices in Need of Strengthening and Proposals for Improvement**

As SAS has grown over the past five years, we have evolved from a school that relied largely on individual teacher expertise, and have worked hard to develop foundations and systems that will preserve the role of individual creativity while creating shared understandings that benefit the whole school community. This process began with the school’s Mission, Vision, Core Values and ESLRs (EAGLES), and extends into our curricular work in Atlas. This section of the summary of conclusions includes three areas where further work is needed to build up these systems.

This year our school-wide Assessment Policy was released in draft form, and we have spent the year developing greater familiarity with the ideas and specifics of the draft, and in tuning the document. As we proceed into the next phase of implementation, we need to continue to refine our understanding and practice of different forms of assessment, and in particular, to develop formal systems of review for our balance of formative and summative assessments. This goal is already part of our implementation timeline, and we have allocated one after school meeting time a month for our continuing work on assessment.

Now that our efforts in assessment are well underway, we must next turn our attention to the creation of an SAS Language Policy. Over the next school year, a representative faculty group drawn from the Elementary, Middle and High Schools on both campuses will formulate a draft of the policy. Following the release of the draft, a separate schedule for tuning and implementation will be developed.

In the area of Academic Honesty, we will look towards developing a culture that is based on the ideals of ethical behavior and academic honesty, rather than one built around enforcement and consequences for violation. This work will be undertaken at the High School level on both campuses. The HS Articulation Committee, consisting of Principals, Vice-Principals, Counselors, and IB and AP Coordinators from both campuses, has begun this process, by collecting examples of Honor Codes from a variety of other schools. The next phase of this work should include broader teacher participation, as well as the participation of parents and students. Student participation will likely include the HS Student Council and our National Honor Society, and other student voices as well.

In terms of philosophy, there are very clear connections between our ESLRs and the IB Learner Profile. However, we need to look for additional ways to overtly and consciously demonstrate the connection to the school community. This would raise awareness of both the EAGLES and the IB Learner Profile. In terms of steps already taken, our CAS reflection questions are tied to the EAGLES. As we review our assessment reporting systems as part of our continuing work on assessment, we can look for ways to incorporate the EAGLES into our formal assessment.

Finally, while our parents report a high degree of understanding of the goals and requirements of the IB Program and of individual IB courses, we feel we can and should improve in the area of communication with parents regarding the IB Program. We plan to institute a Parent Night near the start of the school year for the parents of new Year 1 full Diploma candidates, and to also send regular general program updates to parents, either by email, or through a blog or Moodle.

Submitted by

Jonathan Borden, Ph.D. High School Principal Shanghai American School, Pudong Campus

Kerry Jacobson, Ph.D. Superintendent/Head of School Shanghai American School