TIS Director's Blog

OIS students in grades 10 and 11 completed the PSAT (preliminary scholastic aptitude test) on October 14, 2015. This month the results will be mailed to the students but schools have access to the scores online. The PSAT is a preparatory test for the SAT, which is used by many universities in the United States and other countries for admission decisions. Both tests are written by College Board, a non-profit organization dedicated to “connecting students to college success and opportunity”.

The results of the 26 SOIS students taking the exam were remarkable. Six grade 10 students scored at or above the 90th percentile of all students taking the test. Over 3.5 million students are tested annually with the PSAT. Almost all the OIS students scored above grade level benchmarks. The average score of the OIS students is between the 70th and 80th percentiles of all test-takers.

The faculty and administration were especially interested in these PSAT scores because it was the new version of the PSAT. The SAT test is changing formats this spring and the October 2015 PSAT test, which prepares students for the SAT and gives them an indication on how they will perform, was the first administration of the new test format. The changes in the SAT are claimed by College Board to reflect more accurately, high school curriculum. They are taking heavily from the American “common core” standards. The common core are a set of clear college- and career-ready standards for kindergarten through 12th grade English language arts/literacy and mathematics. Many states in America are adopting the literacy and mathematics common core standards. The new SAT is supposed to reflect what the students are learning in school and is more similar to the ACT, the other big admissions test used by North American universities.

OIS counselor Melissa Lamug will meet individually with all the students to go over their results. The PSAT results come with booklets that explain the answers. OIS testing coordinator, John Van Plantinga has many resources for students who want to improve their scores or prepare for the tests.

We are a College Board testing center and we administer the SAT several times a year. Our SAT sessions on May 7 and June 4 will be the new version of the SAT that debuts internationally in next month.

Congratulations to our students on their fine performance on the PSAT!

Further reading:

Everything You Need to Know About the New SAT New York Times October 28, 2015 (link)

Common Core website (http://www.corestandards.org/)

 

The other day while driving over to the Kwansei Gakuin campus, the leadership team heard a song by OIS alumna, Jyongri come on the radio. She graduated in 2005 and went on to become a pop star in Japan. Above is one of her many singles, “Unchanging Love” that reached the upper echelons of the Japan music pop charts. She has been a recording artist and songwriter, living in Tokyo since her debut single, “Possession – My All For You” reached #16 in 2006. Her songs have also been featured on many television programs ending themes. She also studied at the Berklee College of Music and Waseda University in Tokyo.

Our school has one of the best music programs in the world for international schools and Jyongri is one of the many examples of the talented musicians that have studied at SOIS. She was a highlight of the 20th anniversary celebration of the school five years ago, as part of the community performances. Whether it be popular music or classical or even traditional, the talented students and graduates of SOIS continue to make their mark in the world of music.

We wish her continued success in her career and are looking forward to hearing her next release.

(graphic courtesy of Study Travel Magazine)

I read with interest the latest statistics from the Open Doors report. The report is funded by the US Department of State and is done by the non-profit organization, the Institute of International Education. The report shows enrollment statistics of international students studying the USA and American students studying abroad. Approximately half of OIS graduates matriculate in the USA.

More international students are going to the USA to study. This year had the highest growth in 35 years, with almost 1 million students enrolled in American universities. The USA hosts more internationally mobile students than any other country, more than double the second most host country, the United Kingdom. Just under 1/3 of the students are Chinese and they are fueling (along with India) most of the growth. This reflects China’s growing economy. About 300,000 Americans go abroad for study, with the UK being the most popular destination.

Approximately 20,000 Japanese citizens study in the USA. Japan from 1994 – 1998 lead the world in sending students, peaking in 1997 with 47,000 students. I am not sure why less Japanese are going to the USA. Reasons stated in the report are the effects of a rapidly aging population, the global economy and recruiting practices of Japanese companies. Japan ranks #8 in number of students studying in the USA.

SOIS students certainly have more options than I had growing up in rural Michigan. That is true with most international schools. I also see a growing trend of American universities having international campuses. For example, Temple University (Philadelphia, PA) has a Tokyo campus and two OIS students are matriculating at New York University’s Abu Dhabi campus. University education will continue to more international.

 

Congratulations to SOIS French language teacher, Pierre Turlur on the publication of his book of  haiku poetry, entitled Montagnes Flottantes “Floating Mountains”. A scout from one of the largest French publishers, L’Harmattan, found Pierre’s blog,  Blue Mountain and fell in love with his poetry. Mr. Turlur writes a “free form” style of haiku that is inspired by moments that occur every day in his life. Although he is well read in the classic haiku poets like Bassho and Issa, his haiku do not conform to the traditional fixed rules and rhythms and he is following the footsteps of Santoka and Shiki. His poetry helps him connect to the vivid, interesting things that others may notice in passing, but do not fully appreciate. For example, his haiku below came from a snowstorm that occurred here at school and watching the students cross the courtyard:

She goes kissing 

everybody’s lips

whirling snow.

Pierre, a former professor of literature in French universities, not only teaches at SOIS, but also in the Lycee Français of Kyoto and the evenings at the Institut Francais in central Osaka. On the trains he spends much time traveling between school and his home in Nishinomiya. He uses this time often to observe his surroundings and while many others are escaping reality with the phones, Pierre is writing haiku.

standing at the crossing

cars, fumes and noise

the very flower

He has always had a connection with Japan, studying Zen Buddhist practices from a young age. Pierre is a bit of a renaissance man, not only teaching, but he is also a musician, author and certified Buddhist priest. His wide variety of interests makes his classes interesting for our students.

Mr. Turlur teachers several OIS students and has prepared them successfully for passing the DELF. As an IB World School, we promote the maintenance of mother tongue language and learning other languages. We encourage our students to study French and other languages.

We wish Pierre brisk sales and more books to be published!  Although the poems are in French, if you are interested in purchasing the book you can contact the author or order a copy directly from the L’Harmattan website (link here).

(photo – The glorious late autumn colors at the KG University campus)

This morning members of the leadership team are attending the Kwansei Gakuin (KG) Council meeting at the main campus in Uegahara. In Japan, organizations keep track of the total number of meetings of the group, so this is the 246th meeting in the history of the council.

The chair of the KG BoT,  Akira Miyahara, the former CEO of Xerox and Fuji, in his opening speech referred to the ASPEN Institute in Washington DC. Below is a description of their work.

The Aspen Institute is an educational and policy studies organization based in Washington, DC. Its mission is to foster leadership based on enduring values and to provide a nonpartisan venue for dealing with critical issues. The Institute has campuses in Aspen, Colorado, and on the Wye River on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. It also maintains offices in New York City and has an international network of partners.

There is also a branch of the Aspen Institute in Japan. I see they hold events for high school students, it might be worth looking into. They seem to focus on week-long workshops, studying classic works and having deep conversations about leadership and human values. I think it would be great to attend one. They also have podcasts that might be interesting to listen to.

Every council meeting the various KG schools give reports on current events at the school. The first up was the Seiwa Junior College, which prepares women for careers as early childhood and elementary teachers, day care workers, etc.  The second school was the KG Junior High School (grades 7-9) in our system. To start their school year, they have a mud rugby game. They spray water to make mud and the students seemed to be enjoying themselves. The head of the school played videos of the summer camp to an uninhabited island in the Okayama prefecture and the grade 9 trip to Nagasaki. They have over 700 students. It is always interesting in middle school the differences between boys and girls. In their awards for the top 10 students, 8 were girls. This reflects the fact that girls generally mature faster than boys and schools are a more conducive environment for learning for girls than boys at that age. The next school reporting was the KG elementary school. The head of school mentioned the EIKEN test results. The EIKEN is the big English proficiency test in Japan similar to the TOEFL. Many SIS students and some OIS students take the EIKEN. A grade of 1 (C1-B2 in the Common European Framework) is necessary to become an English teacher in Japan and enter an English language university program. One of the unusual school customs in Japan is the teaching of how to ride a unicycle. All grade 1 students in the school give it a go! Another school tradition is the shu-gaku-ryoko or end of school trip. All Japanese schools do this and the grade 6 students of the KG elementary school go to Vancouver, Canada. This is a big trip for the kids as for many, it is their first time away from home for such a long time. Finally, the Seiwa Kindergarten , a school of 230 students ages 3 to 5, gave their report.

The council had a second meeting to choose members of the council to the Board of Trustees.

 

The latest OIS Parent Bulletin can be found at the link below.

http://gdurl.com/UtB9

I am spending day two here in Bangkok continuing with working with WASC. Today’s workshop is training to be a chair for a WASC committee. I will probably not lead a visit in the near future, but I am getting a good perspective of the visit. One of my takeaways for the day is to read thoroughly, the Focus on Learning (2014 edition).  The other big takeaway is analysis and getting insight, not just describing what is occurring should be the focus of the report.

The workshop was conducted by all of the leaders of WASC international accreditation. Marilyn George, Harlen Lyso, David Ottaviano and others were present to help out.

How can the tools of ACS WASC help schools?

• catalyst for change
• set the framework for focusing on student learning, giving schools common framework
• an open honest look at the school
• “free consultants” for a few days

The diagram below is the basic cycle of the school accreditation process.

I am putting the seven accreditation principles into my own words to help me understand them.

1. Is the school living its mission?
2. Are all students achieving to their potential?
3. Are faculty analyzing different types of student achievement data?
4. EVALUATION
5. Is the schoolwide action plan prioritized and based on evidence?
6. Does the school continue to try to improve transparently in between visits?
7. Is the school listening to all stakeholders?

In our discussion, the health/safety and child protection issues are internationally applicable. So in those countries that do not have the same standards as the USA, WASC mandates the safety standards of the USA, not of the host country.

ASC WASC Update

• The new website allows schools to upload interim reports and starting this year schools should be doing this.  They offer many webinars on a variety of topics. Schools must submit reports to WASC at least six weeks prior to the visit all of the reports sent at the same time.
• From over 1,000 visits, there were only 4 appeals. This occurs only with a “withholding” or “probation” judgement.  You cannot appeal a regular six-year cycle. The appeal will entail another visit with an experienced, neutral “WASC-ateer”. Please use the proper protocols so WASC can defend the appeal.

Advice

• Do not regurgitate the self study and do not write a 60-page report. We want succinct analytics and insightful comments. Committee members can pre-write reports based on documentation and then just confirm with observations. We want to only write what was backed up with evidence, and triangulate sources.
• There is no guideline for length of a self-study report from schools
• If you are chair, contact the school as early as possible to get clarification of the documentation and check major errors earlier.
• 90% of all pedophiles do not have a police record. Screening is not enough and there needs to be structures in school to cover this.

Remember to check:

1. safety issues – science labs, earthquake supplies, emergency procedures, first aid supplies, fire evacuation, earthquake procedures
2. child protection issues – staff screening, policies

Visiting Committee Mid-Cycle Chair Process

• Always read the last accreditation report, read the entire web site, and all documentation sent to WASC before going to the visit.
• Know the Focus on Learning manual and regard it as your Bible.

Chapter I: School Profile This tells our story and can be used for many purposes. The data needs to have demographic, outcome/achievement, and perception. This data needs to be looked at by everyone. Need to include the mission/vision and learner outcomes. Are they global, interdisciplinary, measurable, and in kid-friendly language.

Chapter II: Progress Report What has been done since the last visit.

Chapter III: Self-study Process / Summary of Data & Progress / Outcomes of Self Study

Chapter IV: Summary of Findings for Each Criteria The visiting committee will look at the analysis, strengths, and critical areas for follow-up.

WASC International Criteria Categories

A. Organization for Student Learning

B. Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment (IB)

C. Support for Student Personal and Academic Growth

D. Resource Management and Development

E. China/Thailand (not applicable to us)

F. Boarding

How much evidence is enough? It seems like schools usually have too much data because they are afraid of not having enough. The most important aspects are making sure data is driving teaching decisions and show having an impact on student learning.

Committee critical areas for follow-up

• support areas already identified in the action plans
• strengthen those identified areas in the action plans
• address additional areas identified by the Visiting Committee

 

 

 

ACS WASC is an abbreviation which means the following:

• ACS – Accrediting Commission for Schools  – This portion of the WASC accredits K-12 schools.
• WASC– Western Association of Schools and Colleges

ACS WASC is a non-profit, private, official academic body responsible for accreditation of universities, colleges, high schools, elementary schools.  Educational accreditation is a type of quality assurance process under which services and operations of educational institutions or programs are evaluated by an external body to determine if applicable standards are met. If standards are met, accredited status is granted by the appropriate agency. There are six official bodies in the United States and they cover different areas of the USA. The over 4,600 schools in WASC are mostly found in California and Hawaii. WASC also has an agreement with EARCOS, so most of the schools in Asia are accredited by WASC. Other American agencies cover different international associations. My previous schools in Latin America were with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and in Europe, most schools were with the New England Association of Colleges and Schools.

Accreditation is important for our students when they leave our school, the transcripts, report cards and diplomas are accepted by universities and other K-12 schools. The accreditation process also assists us with school improvement.

I am here in Bangkok to spend two days with the international consultants of WASC. My goal is to understand the similarities and differences between WASC and the other agencies I am more familiar with. I also want to reflect on the process at our school and make sure we are ready for the next visit.

My specific goals for the two days are as follows:

1. Create a job description for the school WASC coordinator
2. Simplify and further prioritize the schoolwide action plan, including separating the WASC and IB goals
3. Use accreditation principles to get more input or feedback from the students
4. Understand exactly where we are in the process (six years cycle) and how does it relate to the three IB programmes authorization cycle
5. Figure out what level of evidence we need to keep and show to a visiting team

Accreditation Principles (“the big picture”)

These seven principles are the basis of accreditation. One of the consultants said that it is a good idea to use these as the basis of a job description of the school WASC coordinator.

1. Accomplishment of the school mission, vision, beliefs and student learning results (Learner Profile).
2. High academic achievement of all students
3. Use multiple ways to analyze data about student achievement – student/staff feedback, examine student work, observing students engaged in learning
4. Evaluation of the program effectiveness
   1. student learning results, “critical learner needs” academic standards
   2. meeting acceptable level of quality in accordance with the ACS WASC criteria
5. Align prioritized findings into a schoolwide action plan
6. Ongoing improvement/accountability
7. Total involvement and collaboration of all stakeholders

The broader goals of the student learning results are very important because this is what is important for our students throughout their lives. We reach these through specific curricular goals.

Demographic data that I would like to add to our profile is as follows:

a) length of commute time

b) parent occupations / specific businesses owned

example – Ethiopia school had many families working for NGOs, curriculum reflected the values of community service;

c) percentage of long-term versus short-term students (student mobility)

d) a more in-depth nationality and language profile (mixed marriage, places lived, father vs. mother nationality) and language used at home, which is more important than passport data;

e) Where do the students live in the Osaka-Kyoto-Kobe megacity?

e) Which families call the school most often and what families are contacted by the school most often?

f) Collect data from the nurses office – what times, from what classes,

Student Performance Data

ex) Students are not talking in class or participating in class discussions.

• How many initiate a discussion, how many actually speak – have people take tally sheets?  so what?
• Is the teacher talking all the time? teacher talk vs. student talk minutes time

ex) Gender differences

ex) Have a summary page and share with community. The one example was a weakness in expository writing, which they called a critical learner need. 

 

Obtaining Student Feedback – An idea that came from the workshop would be to conduct student interviews. I would like to model for the faculty a student interview to get honest feedback. We would need a safe topic, so an idea would be middle school boys basketball. Interview several students with open-ended questions.

Schools need to put into a system of checking progress in action plans. Suggested to align the action plans under each of the criteria. Prioritize, some things need to get done first or how much can a school take on. The accreditation team wants to know if you have identified the most critical needs. WASC is not prescriptive.

There is no such date as “on-going” for action plans.

The visiting team committee validates, celebrates and gives advice for future steps. For all criteria, they have indicators, prompts, and some rubrics.

Is the action plan aligned to areas of greatest need?

WASC is about on-going school improvement and it is not a one-off.

In the final report to get it some coherence and so it reads well, like bullet points or not, active voice, capitalization, active voice, complete sentences, etc.

For IB schools, replace the curriculum section of WASC with the IB programs. Use the IB standards for the curricular portion of the report. Do not do the “B” section, only the “A”, “C”, “D”.

How do we get the stakeholders to critically look and assess our Student Learning Results?

other notes

• Is the school doing everything possible to help all students learn?
• The self-study is not 300 pages of description. Succinct, analytical, “what evidence led you to this conclusion?
• We Are Student Centered WASC
• It is a way to keep focused on improving your school
• “we are doing it for WASC” – don’t say this

I read The Asian Advantage on the Op-Ed page of the New York Times this morning by Nicholas Kristof. He writes that Asian immigrants (Chinese and Korean) do well economically in America because the families value education and hard work and have a low divorce rate.

I see that work ethic and the value families place on education here at the Osaka International School. It is nice personally, to be in a valued profession in Japan and for my children to be in an environment where working hard and sacrificing for the sake of a good education is the norm. There is lot to unpack here and this article can be a start to a conversation.