With Whittier and John S. Clark elementary schools in Waukegan already educating students through the International Baccalaureate (IB) program, Waukegan Community Unit School District 60 is poised to introduce it at the middle school level.
District 60 administrators are taking the necessary steps to enable Robert Abbott Middle School to earn the IB designation, possibly as early as the start of the 2028-2029 school year, with students receiving an IB education the year before.
Eduardo Cesario, the deputy superintendent for academic supports and programs, said during a meeting of the Student Achievement Committee on Tuesday that the district wants to hire a coach to begin doing the necessary work to put the IB program in place at Abbott.
“This is part of the preparation to continue to create the continuum … we’re looking for,” Cesario said. “This person would actually start working on the (middle school IB program) as well as the bridge to high school.”
The District 60 Board of Education is scheduled to vote to approve the hiring of a coach to craft the program and plan to get IB recognition at 7 p.m. on May 26 at the Education Service Center in Waukegan.
Abbott Principal Flor Carter said Wednesday the coach will prepare a feasibility study, which will be used to get Abbott designated as an IB school by the international organization. Clark was approved on Jan. 6, and Whittier in the spring of 2024.
“The coach will make sure our curriculum aligns with IB,” Carter said. “We will install procedures which we might need to refine for the international IB to approve them. The person will ensure all stakeholders feel supported as we build a strong and sustainable IB program.”
Cesario said at the committee meeting that the district will be looking for a coach who is already familiar and schooled in the IB program.
“That’s what we’re looking for,” he said, when questioned by board member Christine Lensing. “That would be ideal.”
Once the coach is hired, hopefully over the summer, Carter said the individual’s goal will be to develop the program during the coming school year and establish support with teachers and staff.
With the program in place for the 2027-2028 school year, Carter said she hopes any wrinkles will be smoothed out so when the 2028-2029 term arrives, the IB designation will be in place. It means current fourth graders at Whittier and Clark could have a relatively seamless transition.
“Students who are in fourth grade now will be in a position to benefit when we start implementing the plan in the ’27-’28 school year,” Carter said.
Lensing said she hopes Whittier and Clark students will have the first choice to go to Abbott for their middle school years and continue with the IB program. Though a policy is not yet in place, the district has 15 elementary schools feeding into five middle schools.
“When we have programs starting at younger ages (it’s important), there’s a continued pipeline,” Lensing said. “When you start having those pieces at the younger years, we are having proactive conversations with middle school leadership to see who’s going to carry that torch.”
In the IB program, Carter said middle school is taught more collaboratively than the fully departmentalized model. Social studies and language arts teachers might collaborate so that students are reading literature written at the time of a historical event.
At the high school level, Carter said IB education is more like a department or a program within the school. IB students take the necessary courses and pass the required examinations to receive an IB diploma. The entire high school does not need to be IB.
Superintendent Theresa Plascencia said there is no plan to make every building an IB school. It is an opportunity for parents to make different choices for what they believe is best for their children.
“We’re creating programs for school choice so parents can opt in if that’s their choice for IB,” Plascencia said. “It takes a lot of buy-in from principals and staff. We feel under Miss Carther’s leadership, Abbott is ready for this and can get the support and the buy-in so that it is a successful program.”
Whittier Principal Andy Kramer said in March that students have a say in what they learn. They might learn about forces of nature like magnets. As they begin asking and answering questions, the teacher will help them take a more thorough look at how magnets work.
“The students have a deeper understanding of what they are learning,” he said. “They don’t just learn about the force of a magnet, but how those forces change our surroundings. The kids become more engaged in the learning experience.”
