by Haley DenHartog, staff writer

While HHS students get to choose how much or how little they are challenged in the classroom, the junior highs have recently switched over to a new approach at learning that puts every student’s mind to the test.

Beginning last year, Hopkins decided to give the International Baccalaureate (IB) middle-years program a try.

IB has been applied to every class in both junior highs, making each course more rigorous and forcing students to think critically. It approaches every topic in each class in a more realistic way. The goal is to help students apply what they learn in the classroom to their lives, rather than forgetting the material after test day.

When current high school students made their ways through junior high, teaching techniques were basic. Students would be taught the content, take a test on it, and move on. Now, in each class, junior high students are presented with a concept that applies to real life in the beginning of each unit.

“The middle-years program helps students become better prepared for honors level classes at the high school. It will help their test scores improve and teach kids to find more than one answer to every question,” said Angela Wilcox, Avid 9 Elective Teacher and IB Coordinator at Hopkins North Junior High.

In addition to the teachers, junior high students are also beginning to see why the district decided on the IB approach.

“I think it will help us in the future because it’s going to prepare us to become more involved global citizens by exposing us to the real world,” said Annika Patterson, eighth grade student at WJH.

“It is going to prepare us to be good students in the future, and good global citizens,” Patterson said.

After spending $109,000 on IB in just over a year, Hopkins hopes to see many short-term, as well as long-term improvements in their middle-years student body.

“We see the IB program as one that will better prepare junior high students for Hopkins High School, as well as for their lives beyond graduation,”  said Diane Schimelpfenig, Ed.D., Director of Teaching and Learning for Hopkins Public Schools.

“It will be interesting to see if test scores, college-going rates, and other indicators change over time following the junior high IB implementation. We have seen some national research that indicates that may occur, and we’ll follow our own data closely,” said Schimelpfenig.