Inside the International Academy

By Susan Salter

World class — that's one way to describe the International Academy secondary school in Bloomfield Hills, Mich. Number one — that's how Newsweek magazine ranked the school in its June 2, 2003, roundup of the 100 top public high schools in the United States.

Designed around the demanding International Baccalaureate (IB) curriculum, the International Academy — which opened its doors in 1996 — attracts more than its share of motivated students and parents from around the highly diverse community of Oakland County, Mich.

According to Academy Media Specialist Klaudia Janek, the driving force behind the school is preparing the "new economy's workforce," giving students a truly global perspective on education, culture and business. Training students for an increasingly global community, says Janek, "involves cross-cultural understanding, multilingual fluency, career and college planning, community service, technological competency and the IB's emphasis on thinking and communication skills."

Many of these competencies involve strong computer skills. For example, "if a student has to research Japanese current events," says Janek, he or she "finds research from Japanese news agencies, government offices and other nonprofit organizations." [The Academy also employs such Gale database sources as Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center, History Resource Center, Literature Resource Center and Biography Resource Center.]

Teacher Training

Teachers, too, are highly involved in technology. "Many of the teachers have signed up on the official International Baccalaureate Organisation discussion board," Janek notes. "Here they can chat and exchange information with their peers in Asia, Africa, Latin America, the Middle East and other parts of the world."

Beyond their technical skills, Academy instructors must keep ahead of the IB standards. All teachers attend conferences and workshops in the United States and Canada, where the IB provides training materials. "But our staff members also attend specific state and national conferences," Janek adds. "All teachers here are expected to research topics in their subject areas to stay up to date. A majority of staff here are pursuing their graduate degrees."

Students Meet the Challenges

There are no "easy A's" at the International Academy. Indeed, as one Academy senior admitted to Newsweek, "I had no idea what I was getting myself into." But the students would agree that the hard work pays off — in increased test scores that make them more attractive to top colleges and universities.

Janek points to English assignments as an example of the school's challenging workload. "Seniors are required to write an Extended Essay," a 4,000-word research paper that is externally graded. Another project, the Adventure Challenge, puts students through a variety of problem-solving games aimed at building the social and cognitive skills needed to work in team settings.

A Place for Parents

Parental engagement at the Academy begins with the most basic commitment — to get their children to and from school each day. Because of Oakland County's large geographic area, school bus service is not financially feasible.

And the involvement hardly ends with transportation. "Our parent-teacher organization is very active in fund-raising and student activities," according to Janek. "We have a lot of parents participating in Career Day and enrichment activities." Donations — of time, money and even thousands of books — have poured in from involved parents.

In the Library

"The school library at the International Academy is the hub of information literacy," Janek says. As the media specialist, Janek develops her collection through recommendations from such well-known sources as School Library Journal, American Library Association publications, electronic forums like LM_NET and MLA — plus good old-fashioned word-of-mouth from her peers. "I've seen the international library community come closer together over the past few years through technology," Janek says.

Still, traditional print continues to play a large part in the Academy's information center. "I find that there are certain topics more suited to online research and certain topics more suited to print," notes Janek. "Usually if a student comes to me for research help, I find information from both sources."

On Being "The Best"

Needless to say, when the Newsweek article appeared, "there was a lot of excitement and celebration from parents, teachers, students and community members about being ranked number one," Janek says. "It was important to the staff that we let our students know that it was because of their hard work that we got this honor. They were the ones taking the tests and scoring so high."

At the same time, "many students thanked their teachers for being so supportive and being there to teach. We also made it a point to recognize the wonderful job the middle schools, all the supporting districts, did in preparing their students to succeed at the International Academy." And, Janek adds, "we are definitely getting a lot more inquiries about enrollment."

For more information on the International Academy, contact Klaudia Janek, MLIS
International Academy
1020 East Square Lake Rd.
Bloomfield Hills, MI 48304
(248) 341-5925
kjanek@bloomfield.org
www.iatoday.org