Ann Marie Banfield

To the editor,

After reading about New Hampton School adopting the International Baccalaureate Program, I thought I'd write to let you know how it's working in Bedford.

There is much more to the IB program than what is being sold to the community. It surprises me that those selling a program that is supposed to help students think "critically" fail to provide "critical" information to the community.

The IB uses a constructivist methodology in the classroom. Studies show students fall behind those taught in a "direct instruction" setting.

For a better idea on what constructivism is all about visit http://www.cogtech.usc.edu/publications/kirschner_Sweller_Clark.pdf (Why Minimal Guidance During Instruction Does Not Work: An Analysis of the Failure of Constructivist,

Discovery, Problem-Based, Experiential, and Inquiry-Based Teaching)

http://mathwizards.wordpress.com/other-academic-topics/ (Structure More Effective in High School Science Classes Study Reveals)

A great deal of time is spent "discovering" knowledge in a constructivist classroom. While IB students are re-inventing the wheel, students in a similar AP Physics class, would be learning more material in the same time.

In an constructivist classroom, the teacher becomes a "facilitator" or "coach". Parents and students need to read the studies above to critically analyze how this puts students behind their peers.

Who is able to think critically? Those with the most knowledge? Or those with only a fraction of that knowledge?

This might be why a Santa Ynez former IB teacher wrote an op-ed piece praising the school for abandoning the IB program. (http://www.syvnews.com/articles/2010/03/05/opinion/op04.txt). He writes about the teachers never supporting the program and after about a decade, due to budget constraints, praised the Board for discontinuing IB. He continues by addressing the "myths" surrounding the IB program as being a ticket to elite institutions of higher learning. He says that's certifiably false and that AP has an edge over IB.

Bedford recently turned down every tax proposal on the ballot. Teachers will be going without raises but they will be hiring an IB Coordinator and sending our tax dollars to the IBO in Switzerland.

In a community that must live within a budget, the administration must prioritize how they will spend our money. The message seems to be that they are going to continue to siphon money from the budget to sustain the IB program at the expense of: teacher salaries and classrooms that need heat.

This program, due to it's affiliation with the United Nations has caused deep divisions in our community. Taxpayers are not going to approve of a school's proposed tax hikes when a program aligns with an organization that's known to undermine national sovereignty.

Ann Marie Banfield

Bedford