Tarek Azzam, Sarah Mason, Agnieszka Rykaczewska, Matt Swope, Megen Mansfield and Cason Fayles—Claremont Evaluation Center
In 2014, the International Baccalaureate (IB) began a curriculum change intended to enhance the Middle Years Programme (MYP), making it “better for students, easier for teachers, and more flexible for schools”. This report summarizes findings from the first phase of a multi-year study examining the implementation and impact of this change (MYP: Next chapter). Through online surveys of more than 3,000 MYP teachers, coordinators and students, this study aimed to: capture school perceptions of the curriculum changes; document how schools have put the changes into practice; and understand factors that support effective implementation of MYP: Next chapter. Findings suggest schools are generally supportive of the next chapter changes, but aren’t always confident in their capacity to implement them. When asked to rate the quality of their MYP: Next chapter implementation, just under half of the participating teachers rated this as good, one quarter rated this as average, and a quarter of teachers rated implementation as below average. Across certain areas (such as global contexts, interdisciplinary planning and subject group flexibility), findings also suggested the need for additional clarification about expectations under MYP: Next chapter.
