Primary & Secondary Schools Guide A SUPPLEMENT TO SEPTEMBER 2013 [ 2] PRIMARY & SECONDARY SCHOOLS GUIDE 2013 Content Page 3 Maryland’s independent schools are taking the lead in introducing the International Baccalaureate curriculum. Page 5 Schools serve the whole child with a focus on nutrition, wellness and more. page 7 Charter schools in Maryland are gaining steam, but is the state’s law restricting their growth and autonomy? page 9 From iPads to 3D printers, students enrolled in the state’s independent schools are on the cutting edge of education technology. School listings, page 11 Search Maryland’s independent schools in this county-by- county guide. L E B R AT I N C E G YEAR 25 S 1 1888 - 2013 SUZANNE E. FISCHER-HUETTNER DAVID SIMON Publisher Editor MARIA KELLY ERIN CUNNINGHAM Comptroller Special Products Editor TRACY BUMBA MAXIMILIAN FRANZ Audience Development Director Senior Photographer JUSTIN CARSON SARAH KINLING Advertising Team Leader Universal Desk Chief KEITH MINNEY JENNIFER KIM Inside Sales Supervisor Graphic Designer To order additional copies of this publication, please contact Clare Sheehan at 443.524.8100 or [email protected]. PRIMARY & SECONDARY SCHOOLS GUIDE 2013 [ 3] MAXIMILIAN FRANZ Karl Adler, the head of St. James Academy in Monkton (center), looks on as students Ben Sullivan (left) and Sophia Caban demonstrate a project they are working on as part of the school’s International Baccalaureate curriculum. Independent schools take the lead in IB trend BY SEBASTIAN MONTES forming well on one specific test, IB Special to The Daily Record takes a holistic approach that promotes contemplation, context and critical The handful of Maryland private thinking. schools that have in recent years joined St. Paul’s School in Brooklandville the growing tide of the advanced Inter- launched its own IB program in the 2007- national Baccalaureate curriculum are 08 school year. In the six years since, now able to boast of the program’s post- roughly one-fifth of each class has gotten grad success. the IB diploma. That number is starting The International Baccalaureate pro- to grow. gram, created in Europe a half-century The class of 2013 graduated roughly ago, has grown to include more than 1.1 million students in 146 countries at more twice the previous number of IB stu- than 3,600 schools. Maryland is home to dents. And come next June, more than 44 of those schools, of which six are pri- half of the graduating class will be doing vate. so. Three members of St. Paul’s first The high-rigor curriculum is spread- class of IB graduates have gone on to ing throughout Maryland as educators win Fulbright scholarships. say it makes students better prepared The impact on the student body as a not only for college but also for the in- whole has been clear, said Joel Coleman, creasingly global 21st century market- head of St. Paul’s upper school. place. “We see that they are prepared to do As with the Advanced Placement the work across the assignment spec- MAXIMILIAN FRANZ program, IB students earn college cred- trum rather than just be ready for a spe- St. James Academy in Monkton became the first independent Episcopalian middle school its while still in high school. But unlike to offer International Baccalaureate in Maryland in the 2009-10 school year. AP, which gears students toward per- See CURRICULUM 4 [ 4] PRIMARY & SECONDARY SCHOOLS GUIDE 2013 Curriculum >> IB seen as ‘sound educational practice for the future’ Continued from 3 cific test,” he said. “IB has really brought the challenge to the students [and] more of them are ready to step up and take on a tougher curriculum.” The program’s popularity among Maryland high schools has spurred pri- mary and middle schools to follow suit. St. James Academy became the first independent Episcopalian middle school to offer IB in Maryland, in the 2009-10 school year when it received World School authorization, seeing it as “sound educational practice for the future,” said Lori Dembo, International Baccalaure- ate middle years programme coordina- tor and academic dean. Now, all 95 of the school’s students in sixth through eighth grade are immersed in the all-day curriculum, which has the school “embracing the new and balanc- ing it with the traditional.” Prior to IB, geography was a subject looked at “more in a statistical and land format,” Dembo said. “Now we look at it as a cultural appreciation. When we ap- proach things now, we look at the bigger picture.” For St. James Academy in Monkton, the IB curriculum presents an opportu- nity students wouldn’t otherwise have. Students Skype with schools in Spain MAXIMILIAN FRANZ and South America. They run a cultural Judy Connelly, director of development for St. James Academy in Monkton (left), chats with head of school Karl Adler outside of the exchange program with a nearby Muslim independent Episcopalian middle school in Monkton. school. To augment lesson plans about the learn about all cultures, to become seri- “The global perspective and promoting and caring about others is the most im- Holocaust, they collaborate with stu- ous global citizens. Those are important reflective thinkers allows our students to portant thing. If you can do that within dents at a Hebrew school in Baltimore. things; our children need to be con- be informed and involved citizens of the any program, you’re succeeding to help “Our parents, they want their child to nected with the world,” Dembo said. world. Having our students be inquirers your students become future leaders.” Takoma Academy is a Seventh-Day Adventist high school welcoming all races, cultures, and religions; leading young people to Jesus Christ, providing excellence in academics and a commitment to service. Visit us for Open House Wednesdays at 10 am! Please call 301.434.4700 to RSVP. www.ta.edu PRIMARY & SECONDARY SCHOOLS GUIDE 2013 [ 5] Schools go beyond academics to serve the whole child BY SEBASTIAN MONTES Special to The Daily Record When Mt. Washington Pediatric opened its doors nearly a century ago, it took on the most pressing ailments of the day, scourges such as tubercu- losis and scarlet fever. As the Balti- more hospital has evolved with the times, that has increasingly – and alarmingly – brought it face to face with a new and growing epidemic: pe- diatric obesity. “It’s the biggest issue for a lot of the kids we see,” said Michelle Demeule- Hayes, director of the hospital’s Center for Nutritional Rehabilitation. “There’s no shortage for us, unfortunately, of those patients.” Under its Weigh Smart initiative For these kids, most of them are the ones teased at school and “isolated at school. Michelle Demeule-Hayes MAXIMILIAN FRANZ Director, Center for Nutritional Jairus Privette, 14, (left) is assisted by Sonya Johnson- Branch, a physical therapist assistant and certified personal trainer. Jairus is a par- Rehabilitation ticipant in Mt. Washington Pediatric Center’s "Weigh Smart" Exercise Program. Twice a week for two hours, Mt. “yay moments,” she said, that bring Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! cam- Washington dieticians and therapists the child a lasting emotional payoff – paign are raising awareness. counsel the children on portion sizes, fitting into a prom dress, for example. “We’re definitely seeing steps in the eating better at fast food restaurants, “For these kids, most of them are right direction,” Demeule-Hayes said. launched in 2005, Mt. Washington snacking, how to handle barbecues the ones that are teased at school and “I think the pendulum is swinging, but treats more than 200 children per year, and birthdays, how to deal with the isolated at school, so I think for a lot it’s slow.” a dozen at a time in 10-week sessions. inevitable teasing and bullying about of them just this group dynamic and And as private schools adapt to The average youth that comes through their weight, stress management and coming together and exercising in a take on those challenges during the its doors is 12 years old, weighing 200 making the little choices that add up safe place, it’s definitely positive for school day, it has amounted to a shift- pounds – many of them saddled with to more burned calories. their well-being,” she said. ing landscape toward a “whole child” complications like pre-diabetes, fatty The results: statistically signifi- The American Medical Association approach to education. livers and high blood pressure and cant improvement in quality of life, has now defined obesity as a diag- cholesterol. and anecdotally, the abundance of nosed disease, and initiatives like See WHOLE 6 The Catholic High School of Baltimore GERSTELL ACADEMY • Lighting the Way, Transforming the World Leadership Honor Courage Pre-Kindergarten through Grade 12 Celebrating 35 years. 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