FAQ

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS 


This FAQ page answers common questions about Sage International School of Boise. For general questions regarding charter schools, please visit the Sage International Network of Schools page. Please contact us by emailing [email protected] if you have questions regarding these FAQs, information on our website, or any topics we did not cover.


SAGE INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL OF BOISE
Charter, Mission, Curriculum, International Baccalaureate, French

Sage International is a free, K-12, public charter school authorized by the Idaho Public Charter School Commission. Sage International is not a part of the Boise School District. 

Where can I find Sage International’s Charter document?

You can find Sage International’s Charter on our web site by clicking the Our Charter link on the left. 

French Language Instruction at Sage International (Why not Spanish/Mandarin?)

As discussed above, charter schools are meant to offer choices that don't otherwise exist in area traditional public school system. The Boise District does not offer the IB curriculum in any of its schools and focusses its foreign language instruction on Spanish. The Idaho Charter Commission ‘chartered’ Sage International School to be different than area district schools by providing an IB curriculum coupled with a focus on French language instruction.  Sage must accomplish and deliver these core ‘charter’ directives.   

Sage International School selected a French language focus for many reasons, as detailed in our Charter. Here are a few quick highlights: French is spoken by more than two dozen countries on five continents; French is the most popular second language worldwide; for English speakers, French is the easiest language to learn and makes learning Spanish easier; and half of Africa speaks French. 

Beyond IB and French, what makes Sage International innovative and different  from area traditional public schools?  

4-Day Week for Students (Mon-Thurs):  Students attend Sage International School Monday-Thursday each week.  When our students are at home on Fridays, our teachers are at work collaborating, discussing students, conducting research, preparing for the next week, and innovating.  We refer to these as our ‘Professional Development Fridays’ and believe that providing our educators with a student-free day each week when they can grow and learn is one of the key elements that makes Sage International unique and great.  

K-12th School with 13-year IB Curriculum Scope and Sequence:  Providing students with a carefully coordinated and structured K-12 curriculum scope and sequence makes Sage International School unique. Transitions between elementary, middle and high school are seamless for our students - we don’t have ‘get up to speed’ or ‘getting to know each other’ time with these transitions. We know our students and they know us and our IB culture.

Culture - Social/Emotional - IB Attributes:  Sage International School’s culture is centered on the IB's 10 Learner Attributes. The learner attributes provide a long-term vision of education.  They are a set of ideals that can inspire, motivate and focus the work of schools and teachers, uniting them in a common purpose. 

Students begin learning the attributes in Kindergarten and expand their knowledge and depth of understanding of each attribute throughout their 13-year career at Sage International School. Through use of the IB attributes, Sage fosters a culture of respect, individuality, and inquiry and helps students grow into responsible members of local, national and global communities. 

Assessment For Learning v. Traditional Grading:  As an IB school, Sage International utilizes the IBO’s 7-point assessment scale - this scale is used at the 2,000+ IB schools around the globe. Sage does not issue traditional A-F or 4.0 scale grades.  Sage tracks student learning using an ”Assessment for Learning” model (AFL).  AFL is designed to continually challenge students and to give a wider range of feedback to students on their performance. 

Why locate all three schools (elementary, middle, and high school) at one location?

There are academic, culture, community, and financial benefits to having a “Unified K-12 Campus.” Having our entire staff, administration, and student population together at a single location facilitates the transition of students between schools (elementary, middle and high), allows for constant collaboration throughout our entire staff, strengthens student-teacher relationships, increases mentoring and service opportunities for DP students, and reduces duplicate staffing, services, IT, phones, etc.  - every dollar we save on these items is additional money we can spend educating our students.  Finally, having a Unified Campus will help our leadership ensure our K-12 curriculum scope and sequence is being effectively delivered throughout our schools and that our ‘Sage culture’ (social and emotional learning) is consistently infused throughout your student’s career with Sage International. Our team can only grow stronger by being together with each other and all of our students every day.   

 

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