Sponsored content
Cognia helps close performance gaps and creates culture of ongoing improvement Accreditation and planning processes address the big question: ‘How do we know that what we’re doing is really the best we can do?’ Sheppard Ranbom reports. Manaret Heliopolis International School (MHIS) opened in Cairo, Egypt four years ago to provide students from families of relatively modest means a top-notch international education. ‘In a country where teacher-centric learning is everywhere, most Egyptian young people are apathetic about school by the time they reach middle and high school’ says Sam Welbeck, the school’s founding principal. ‘Our goal was to create the antithesis of a military-style learning regimen. We intentionally created a learner-centric school—a place where learning is fun and nurturing, and that creates lifelong learners who are free to think for themselves.’ MHIS uses the International Baccalaureate (IB) Primary Years Programme. It is the only school in its district to do so, Winter
Summer |
| 2020
and one of only 13 IB schools in Egypt. Begun as a K–3 school, MHIS has added a new grade each year and now serves students in K–7. The school offers an inquiry-based, projectcentered approach that allows students to take responsibility for their own learning at a young age. Mr Welbeck notes that two years after the school opened, its leaders wanted an independent, objective evaluation to see if the school was achieving its vision and high standards, and effectively executing its plan. The leaders turned to Cognia™ (then AdvancED®), an international accreditation, assessment and school improvement organization, to put their work to the test. ‘The choice of working with Cognia was easy,’ Mr Welbeck says. ‘We wanted to work with a group
35