Summit School District learning and curriculum facilitators are looking for officials’ direction in deciding the future of advanced-learning options offered to students.

The Board of Education is expected to vote on the matter during at April meeting. A district representative said the options include fully committing to International Baccalaureate (IB) programs, abandoning the program to hone in on the district’s internal framework that focuses on providing rigorous education or a hybrid approach that incorporates aspects of both. Despite the outcome of the vote, IB programs for 11th and 12th graders will remain. 

Chief transformation officer Laura Cotsapas said the request to weigh in was prompted by feedback from staff that showed struggles with implementing parts of the IB program, concerns about the demand IB places on teachers, and other compelling alternatives to IB to that meet district goals for rigorous education. District staff members who are involved with International Baccalaureate offerings at many grade levels joined Cotsapas to present the discussion to the board.

She said the district has a lot of momentum with building out its framework for academic success while supporting its career- and life-readiness goals.

In recent years, the district has emphasized its efforts to create a framework for students of all grade levels that blends rigor in the classroom and interactive, real-world experiences. The goal is to develop a “graduate profile” for high school seniors where they are equipped with the skills needed for life and future careers.

This initiative currently coexists with the district’s 20-year-old International Baccalaureate program. Summit currently offers the international education organization’s “Primary Years” program geared toward students in preschool through 5th grade, its “Middle Years” program for students in 6th through 10th grades and its “Diploma” program for grades 11 and 12.

Cotsapas said the strength of implementation for the programs varies from school to school, and the district has seen the largest gap of success in the “Middle Years” programs.

Board member Gayle Jones Westerberg, a former teacher, wanted to ensure people watching the March 6 meeting understood the International Baccalaureate offerings. 

“Particularly in the (Primary Year) program, it’s not a program, it’s a framework, and it is the basis for our social studies and science standards-based curriculum,” she said. “It should include, yes, inquiry concept-based success criteria.”

Cotsapas said teachers across the board, with the exception of preschool teachers, reported that the program is causing an “excessive workload.” Slides in the presentation provided to the board detailed survey responses from teachers that said they feel International Baccalaureate’s programs are more focused on showing compliance with curriculum than actually improving instruction. 

Cathy Amsbaugh, who is a “gifted coordinator” for Dillon Valley Elementary and Silverthorne Elementary, said there have been cases where staff members don’t fully understand International Baccalaureate. 

“I intentionally use the word ‘commitment’ and not ‘recommitment’ because I think there’s a lot of building to do for that,” Cotsapas said, explaining to the board why one of the options before them was to fully commit to as opposed to recommit to International Baccalaureate.

According to the presentation, the district spent around $472,000 on International Baccalaureate at-large during the 2024-25 school year.

A draw to offering the International Baccalaureate program is the prestige, according to discussions by board members and education facilitators. They said there are instances where families seek out these programs, noting it is highly regarded among educators.

High school principal Doug Blake said there’s no debating the value of the “Diploma” program for grades 11 and 12 and said it results in “amazing successes” for students. 

He said the district did an overhaul of its “Middle Years” program prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, and he mentioned it strengthened the offering while noting that staff felt things were more coherent. Once the pandemic hit, it forced the district into “survival mode,” he said. After that point, he said things deteriorated.

He said having teachers, particularly new ones, take on these programs is a “tremendous lift.” 

Westerberg said the conversations boils down to deciding the best strategies to deliver tier one instruction. The Colorado Department of Education defines tier 1 instruction as a method guided by ongoing assessments of data with a goal to instill independence in students and intentionally use intervention. It is meant to be differentiated for individual student’s needs while also being an effective tactic for the majority of students. 

She said she appreciates the transparency district staff are bringing to the table and would support “planned abandonment” for the sake of providing the best form of tier 1 instruction and rigorous education the district can. 

Board president Consuelo Redhorse said the overarching goal is to “help students explore their passions, encourage students to ask questions versus just providing the right answers, and let student learning be more flexible.” She said she wants the learning opportunities provided by the district to foster wonder in students and expressed confidence in the team behind facilitating curriculum.

No official decisions were made at the March 5 meeting.