International Baccalaureate (IB) Program

MissionWe are here to empower all students to become global thinkers through collaboration, communication, and inquiry.

Vision

• Comprehensive Education: We go beyond academics to nurture the whole child—developing knowledge, skills, attitudes, and behaviors that foster academic excellence, social-emotional well-being, and positive relationships. 
• Global Readiness: Prepare learners to be globally ready by nurturing inquirers, thinkers, communicators, principled, open-minded, caring, balanced, and reflective individuals. Through inclusive and responsive practices, we empower students to engage confidently and thoughtfully in a diverse, interconnected world.
• Balance: Foster well-being and belonging by creating a supportive, inclusive learning environment where all voices, perspectives, and strengths are valued—empowering students and staff to contribute meaningfully to our community. 
• Collaboration: Value and reflect the voices of students, staff, families, and the community through regular, meaningful collaboration across grade levels, among teams, with leadership, specialists, and parents to support effective program implementation and a shared commitment to student success.
• Excellence in Instruction: Deliver engaging, rigorous instruction that builds content knowledge, deep conceptual understanding, and lifelong learning skills. 
• Community Pride: Foster pride in being Andersen Astronauts and part of an International Baccalaureate Primary Years Program within the Chandler Unified School District, where all students feel welcome and empowered.

Philosophy

We believe in empowering student voice and choice to make learning relevant and meaningful.

We believe in empowering student voice and choice to make learning relevant and meaningful. Students engage in cognitively complex tasks that support conceptual thinking, content knowledge, skill development, and social-emotional well-being. Strong relationships with students are prioritized as we guide them to see themselves as adaptable global citizens who collaborate, communicate effectively, and take informed action in the world.

Collective Commitments

As a learning community, we commit to the following shared practices that align with our mission, vision, and philosophy:

Engaged Teaching: Being Present and Purposeful with Students
We believe that meaningful student learning begins with meaningful teacher engagement. Our shared expectation is that teachers are consistently present, responsive, and interactive with students throughout the learning day. This includes:

• Working with small groups to provide targeted support and challenge
• Providing 1:1 attention to build relationships and meet individual learning needs
• Using proximity strategically, circulating the classroom to monitor progress and maintain connection
• Avoiding long periods seated behind a desk, instead being visible, mobile, and available
• Truly listening to students—acknowledging their ideas, questions, and concerns
• Offering timely, specific feedback that helps students grow
• Modeling thinking, strategies, and behaviors that reflect high expectations and a love of learning

Language Across Learning
At Andersen, every teacher is a language teacher. We are committed to a language-rich environment where students learn, practice, and apply academic language consistently across subjects, grade levels and settings. This includes:

• Every teacher is a language teacher- helping students grow as confident communicators.
• Students use subject-specific vocabulary to think, speak, and write like scientists, mathematicians, readers, and social scientists.
• Respectful, inclusive language reflects our PBIS expectations (be principled, be caring, be reflective, be a communicator) and the IB Learner Profile.
• Consistent academic and behavior language is used across all classrooms, grade levels, and settings.