Darlene Fisher and I have just co-authored two series of leadership think-pieces / nicro-workshops for the IB.

These online resources offer thought-provoking perspectives and pose important questions for education leaders to reflect on the skills needed to lead their schools through a crisis. The resources can help education leaders discover new ways to manage and maintain relationships, foster agency, support professional learning communities, sustain teaching and learning, as well as guide reflection. 

Series 1: Leading in a time of pandemic

• How do I lead in a time of crisis? The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about a dramatic interruption in the way we lead. This resource offers insights on what questions are most helpful to be asking right now to help you lead through crisis. View resource here
• How do I sustain our community and our relationships? Leaders are now being asked to work in circumstances most have never experienced before. This discussion prompt offers tips for surviving school closures, managing distance learning, and moving into the 'new normal'.  View resource here
• How is COVID-19 changing the balance of power? Leadership in a crisis has to balance taking quick decisions and leaving room for agency. This online resource further explores the concept of agency and how leaders can help create a safe environment for others to engage with their own agency in times of crisis. View resource here
• How is teaching and learning changing a little and a lot? As students and teachers learn to do things differently as a result of the pandemic, this is an opportunity to reimagine what teaching and learning could look like in the future.  View resource here
• What are we learning as a teaching profession? New networks have been created overnight as professionals reach out to each other to share ideas on how to continue to work effectively despite the COVID-19 crisis. As teachers learn to do things differently, this is an opportunity to reimagine what professional learning could look like in the future. View resource here
• What are we learning as leaders? Developing a capacity for leadership is a dynamic and evolutionary process that has learning at the centre. IB leaders need to draw upon a range of intellectual capabilities when learning about the context of their school, confronting problems, and exploring new opportunities. Explore the IB leadership intelligences. View resource here

IB May exams cancelled

"The IB will be taking the following actions for the 2020 May Examination session:

• The May 2020 examinations as scheduled between 30 April and 22 May for Diploma Programme and Career-related Programme candidates will no longer be held.
   
• Depending on what they registered for, the student will be awarded a Diploma or a Course Certificate which reflects their standard of work. This is based on student's coursework and the established assessment expertise, rigor and quality control already built into the programmes.

How will the results be calculated?

We will be using vast historical assessment data to ensure that we follow a rigorous process of due diligence in what is a truly unprecedent situation. We will be undertaking significant data analysis from previous exam sessions, individual school data, subject data as well as comparative data of schools who have already completed uploading requirements and those who have not.

We will require schools to submit the coursework for all candidates. We will externally mark work that is usually marked by teachers, instead of taking samples and applying moderation.

How will a student be awarded an IB Diploma or Certificate?

Using the information above the IB will be able to provide official documentation of the students diploma or certification. We will require schools to submit the coursework for all candidates. We will externally mark work that is usually marked by teachers, instead of taking samples and applying moderation.

When will results be released?

The IB intends to release results to universities/institutions and schools as planned on 5 July 2020.
All student coursework and associated predicted grades will need to be uploaded by 20 April, if not sooner, in order to guarantee delivery of results by 5 July.

Some students perform better in exam conditions than coursework, can we be sure they are not being disadvantaged?

We will use a calculation that is based on the relationship between coursework marks, predicted grades and subject grades to estimate the subject grades candidates would have received if the exams had gone ahead. If the relationship between these elements shows that in previous sessions candidates globally tended to achieve higher outcomes on their exams than their coursework, the calculation used this session will reflect that.

The IB provides further guidance (outlined on their website and signposted in my letter below) for non-examination assessments.

IB Diploma students and their parents are understandably anxious about their forthcoming IB examinations.

At a time when the situation changes on a daily basis it is important to keep all stakeholders - not least students and parents - informed.

This page presents you - IB Diploma Coordinator | Head of School - with a draft letter to parents which you will need to amend to meet your circumstances. I am grateful to Emma Mitchell, Director of the International Baccalaureate at Whitgift School, UK, for sharing the letter she sent to parents.

This page will be updated each time the IB updates their message.

Dear Parents & Guardians,

IB Updates

I appreciate that this is a period of intense stress and uncertainty for families and that many of you would like to find out more about the impact of the coronavirus on the IB Diploma Programme.

In this letter I will summarise the information we have available so far and make suggestions for the coming weeks. If you have any questions about your IB programme please be in contact with your IB Programme Coordinator at school. The IB are channelling all information and updates through them.

The IB Organisation is providing live updates on which we are basing our preparations and present activities: These updates can be found HERE.(I have copied the URL at the end of this letter).

The IB understands that students will have to complete work remotely, some of which will be offered for examination. At the heart of the IB's academic philosophy is the policy around academic honesty. Their update gives clear advice to schools on the importance of ensuring academic honesty:

"Academic integrity is a fundamental principle of an IB education and should be embedded throughout the learner journey and school ethos. Teachers should follow normal procedures to authenticate work to the best of their knowledge and reiterate the importance of academic integrity with their students. The IB expects teachers to use best endeavor, but also recognizes the difficulties faced as the result of remote working. The IB will undertake additional checks for plagiarism and collusion."

Exams

The May 2020 examinations as scheduled between 30 April and 22 May for Diploma Programme and Career-related Programme candidates will no longer be held. Depending on what they registered for, the student will be awarded a Diploma or a Course Certificate which reflects their standard of work. This is based on student's coursework and the established assessment expertise, rigor and quality control already built into the programmes.

We now know that qualifications will be awarded using a combination of coursework and predicted grades, in the absence of exams. Most coursework will now be remarked by the IB. Predicted grades will be submitted by teachers. The weighting procedure used to convert these into the awarded grade will vary between subjects based on historical correlations. Coursework. The IB has requested that we upload all coursework for all candidates at our earliest convenience.

Predicted grades

Each year (regardless of the Covid-19 outbreak), every IB teacher in the world is required to submit a predicted grade for each of their students. These help the IB to set grade boundaries and to assess the accuracy of their own coursework moderation processes. They also give the IB a dataset to use to consider the school's knowledge of their students.

We will predict grades that represent the results we believe our students would have achieved in the May exams. It will be impossible for any of us to judge whether these are accurate with the benefit of hindsight, but we know that even the best exams have imperfections.

The IB has a well-established procedure for remarks and moderation following Results Day. We expect this will run as normal where there are significant disparities between predicted and awarded grades. The IB is likely to accept all requests for retakes in November.

CAS

Creativity, Activity and Service requirements remain unchanged in light of the coronavirus. However, the IB understands that students may not be able to continue with CAS when school is closed and social gatherings are prohibited. The CAS programme is not about the amount of hours a student has completed but about their achievement against learning outcomes. Many of these learning outcomes will have been completed by now. Your daughter | son should continue to record his progress on Managebac where he will receive feedback from the CAS Coordinator. Fulfilment of CAS is required to be awarded the Diploma. "Candidates who are unable to complete the CAS requirements by 3 July 2020 are allowed one further year in which to complete it. This further year expires on 1 June 2021." (IB)

Your sincerely,

IB Programme Coordinator