Whittle DC Campus Officially an IB World School

The Washington, DC campus of Whittle School & Studios is thrilled to announce that we are now officially an IB World School. Here you may have access to our webpage on the IB website. Here is the official authorization letter from the International Baccalaureate Organization.

Whittle School & Studios opened its doors in Shenzhen, China and Washington, DC, USA in August 2019. Our vision to create a holistic educational experience that is relevant and connected to today’s issues drew talented faculty and students. Even though our first two years were deeply impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, our community still managed to accomplish great achievements such as becoming a COGNIA accredited school, developing active-learning experiences throughout the different grade levels and generating portfolios that highlighted the students’ learning journeys like no other reporting tool.

After our first year, we started looking for ways to expand our academic program while providing students with an external validation to their academic program. Our leadership team thoroughly researched the many options that are currently available. From College Board’s Advanced Placement (AP), the British A-levels to the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP).

The IBDP immediately stood out as it represents a holistic program and not merely taking exams at the end of a school year to define growth. The IBDP constitutes a well thought-out and academically enriching approach to teaching and learning that is founded on active learning experiences, an intentional focus on researching, metacognition, application of learned skills and knowledge, and service orientation. Additionally, the IB has international-mindedness as one of their pillars and intends to promote holistic flourishing to both students and faculty.

All of these IB components almost felt like a program build out of our Whittle Philosophy. The great alignment in mission, vision and learning experiences made the IBDP the right choice for our Whittle School & Studios in expanding our program and creating more growth opportunities for our students. After the decision to pursue the IB authorization was made, we immediately acted to ensure that our students would be able to experience the IB as of the 2021-2022 school year.

The IB authorization process is thorough and strict. We had to show careful planning and readiness in a wide range of areas such as teacher training, policy writing, scheduling, mission and vision alignments, resource and professional development budgeting. Most importantly, after attending professional development that encourages critical thinking, self-reflection, dedication to lifelong learning and continuous improvement, our teachers have carefully designed course outlines describing in detail what the two-year course structure will look like. This also helps students and parents have clear expectations about the outcomes of the course and the processes through which students will be able to develop and be exposed to varied skills and knowledge.

As an IB World School, we get yet another recognition of our competence, talent and potential as a new school. It reinforces our commitment to encouraging students to think critically while solving novel and complex problems, to drive their own learning and take ownership of it, to be culturally aware, to be internationally minded, to be challenged, to be able to engage actively with their world around them, and, as a consequence, to fully prepare them for life after high school.

Valmir Gomes
Assistant Head of School for Middle and Upper School