Howard Stribbell, Head of School
Is school just a factory for creating good citizens? Do we make kids fit our system? Do we push kids too hard? Who determines what success looks like? Are we meeting students unique needs? How does TIS provide “Opportunities that are Just Right“?
Last weekend, a number of people from the school’s leadership and business teams attended the ACAMIS Spring Conference hosted at SCIS in Shanghai. We were challenged to look critically at our schools and to question how we define success and how we create opportunities for students to shine.
Justin Bedard, co-founder of Jump! was almost kicked out of the International School of Beijing because he didn’t seem to fit ISB’s academic success model. His friends and community rallied around him and convinced the school to give him another chance. He had to learn how to be academically successful and the school had to learn that success looks different for different students. Justin went on to complete a degree in International NGOs. He was the keynote speaker at last year’s YNow Conference at TIS and the ACAMIS Spring Conference.
How do we define success at TIS? Our program prepares students for success in university or college. 97% of our graduates receive offers of admission to universities around the world, but it’s not just about the marks.
Universities want well-rounded students who have experienced success in multiple areas beyond just course work and exams. As parents, we want our children to be excited about learning and to enjoy coming to school. As a community, we want our students to be passionate, life-long learners.
We provide students with those opportunities through international trips, community outreach, extra-curricular activities, athletics, leadership challenges and individualized learning. We need to give students the opportunities that are right for them whether it is a chance to be on a team, a chance to learn about themselves, or a chance to give back to the community.
Do we always get it right? No. Sometimes, we have a preconceived idea about what success looks like and we try to make students fit it. Sometimes we fail to see those students that are too shy to take advantage of opportunities. Sometimes, we get too busy and we miss opportunities for students to be successful. We can do better and we will. Our students deserve it. Tarek Razik, ISB Head of School, reminds us that “it’s not whether our students are good enough for the school, it’s whether our schools are good enough for our students.”
The TIS Advantage
The TIS Advantage is a model we developed a few years ago to illustrate the key components about learning at TIS. At the heart of it is committed teachers and collaborative learning. However, it reminds us that it takes a lot of support to help students be successful. It reminds us to create diverse opportunities for students. It reminds us about the complex program that makes TIS unique. Working through our model, we hope that we can help all students be successful.
