International School of Monterey earns prestigious World School designation.

After three years of tweaking curricula, training teachers and impressing visiting officials, the International School of Monterey has finally achieved the prestigious rank of International Baccalaureate World School, joining a global network of 3,859 IB World Schools in 148 countries.

And while the newly earned status does bring some prestige, ISM Director Sean Madden says the motivating factor to join those ranks was simply to give teachers better tools to create a dynamic, challenging education for students.

“Teachers all over globe share resources. If a teacher is doing a class on water use, somebody teaching the same thing in Japan might have already created some resources,” Madden says. “It creates this opportunity to be connected globally with outstanding educators and schools.”

The three-year drive to achieve IB World School recognition required extensive training for teachers and staff, and cost the school $190,000 raised through grants and fundraising drives. (ISM received more than $40,000 in last year’s Monterey County Gives! campaign through the Weekly).

To celebrate the achievement, students, staff and parents will gather Aug. 19 for a group photo (taken by a drone) and a short program headlined by U.S. Rep. Sam Farr, D-Carmel.

“It’s made us stronger,” says ISM IB Coordinator Anna Wojtalewicz of the achievement. “It’s brought us together to decide what are the school’s core beliefs.”

Those beliefs, Madden says, reflect a learning philosophy based on inquiry and exploration rather than rote memorization, and on providing broader contexts for information.

“Everything we study, we ask, ‘How does this work globally? What is best for this global community we’re in?’” he says.

Founded in 1998, the International School of Monterey (now located in Seaside) is not your typical local – or international – K-8 charter school.

“Most international schools tend to exist in financial centers,” Madden says. “We’re not a financial or diplomatic center, but we are a language center.”

Madden says the children of foreign nationals who work or teach at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey have been an important part of ISM’s student body from the start. They help create an environment where students born locally can learn from kids from other cultures, and vice versa.

“The way you change the world is when you have kids from this broad range of backgrounds in the classroom, and they all learn from each other,” Madden says.

On a recent weekday, a handful of ISM students gathered in the school’s garden to share their thoughts about the school’s educational style.

“I like the IB curriculum because we usually do a lot of questioning and inquiry,” says fifth grader Dylan Mann. “When you ask a lot of questions, you learn a lot more than just sitting quiet.”

Seventh grader Lina Fang was more succint in her praise for the school. “It’s awesome,” she says.