The BCS Curriculum
The BCS curriculum is unique and challenging. We are looking for children who are or who are willing to become inquirers, thinkers, communicators, risk-takers, knowledgeable, principled, caring, open-minded, well-balanced, and reflective.
Each of these characteristics will be embedded in the mission of the school, the curriculum, the teaching methods, and BCS’s relationships – both within the school and in the world outside the school.
Students will learn reading and language arts, mathematics, science, social studies, Spanish and/or American Sign Language, music and the arts, technology, and physical, personal and social education. Students will be taught how to research new topics, ask thoughtful questions, creatively think through solutions to problems, and gain a broader perspective through learning a second language.
Family plays an important role in the success of each child who comes
to BCS. It is critical that parents or guardians be willing to engage
in the education of his or her child.
The IB Primary Years Program
Baker Charter School is a candidate school for the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO). That means that we are on the path to becoming an authorized IBO school. IBO schools offer an integrated program that teaches inquiry-based lessons from an international perspective. The IBO Diploma Program is designed for students aged 16-19; the Middle Years Program is for students aged 11-16. Baker Charter will become a Primary Years Program (PYP), which is designed for students aged 3-12 years. It will also become perhaps the very first PYP in Oregon. All IBO programs undergo regular, rigorous self-assessment in addition to federal, state and district-level mandated assessments.
(Click here for a recent Oregonian
article about other Oregon IB programs.)
The purpose of the IBO program is to develop an international mindedness, in which the learner constructs models of understanding based on personal experience, allowing them to make connections with life outside of school. The inquiry-based program provides active engagement with the environment in an effort to make sense of the world. The integrated curriculum is organized around six transdisciplinary themes:
• who we are
• where we are in place and time
• how we express ourselves
• how the world works
• how we organize ourselves
• sharing the planet.
The program seeks to encourage children to become (in the words of the
PYP student profile): inquirers, thinkers, communicators, risk-takers,
knowledgeable, principled, caring, open-minded, well-balanced, and reflective.
The PYP also strives to help children develop certain attitudes. These
are; appreciation, commitment, confidence, cooperation, creativity, curiosity,
empathy, enthusiasm, independence, integrity, respect and tolerance.
For more information about the PYP, please see the IBO website: