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.