About BIA West
About BIA West
Baltimore International Academy West (BIA West), which opened in 2019, is a free public charter school chartered by Baltimore City Public Schools and open to all Baltimore City residents. BIA West is a replication of Baltimore International Academy that opened in 2007.
MIssion
Baltimore International Academy is committed to providing an academically rigorous, internationally oriented, and socially responsible learning environment that challenges all students to achieve. Our programs provide a culturally and linguistically diverse education to help students develop the knowledge, understanding, attitudes and skills necessary to participate responsibly in a changing world.
PBIS
BIA has invested in the PBIS to help manage student behavior with positive intervention strategies. PBIS focuses on rewarding students for positive behavior instead of focusing on punishing students for inappropriate behavior.
The program was launched with a Poster contest PBIS Posters and student assemblies to explain the procedures for the program. BIA staff collaborated to create the Essential Agreement that is the guideline for behavior throughout the school.
Policies
Policies are an important part of all organizations. They ensure that there are viable processes and procedures that the organization uses to conduct their business. As a public school, BIA is accountable to the Maryland State Department of Education and Baltimore City Public Schools. These educational organizations have very specific regulations that must be followed by everyone involved in the education systems.Baltimore International Academy West (BIA West) is an authorized International Baccalaureate (IB) World School for the Middle Years Programme and a candidate for the Primary Years Programmes.
Our Programs
BIA West offers language immersion and is a candidate for the International Baccalaureate (IB) program in the Primary and Middle Years Programs.
Students’ families choose one of three language immersion tracks:
SPANISH IMMERSION
CHINESE IMMERSION
FRENCH IMMERSION
Students who enter at the elementary level become fully immersed in their target language for their entire academic career at BIA West. By the end of the program, students are bilingual and biliterate in both English and their chosen target language. Students will also have the opportunity to take another language as an elective once they reach the Middle School level. BIA West currently has a partial Spanish Immersion program for Middle School and accepts.applications for new students in 6th grade. These students experience two subjects taught through Spanish Language Immersion (Language Acquisition and Individuals and Societies, or Social Studies). The rest of their subjects, Math, Science, English Language Arts (ELA) and Resources, are taught in English.
History of Language Immersion
Language immersion programs originated in Canada in the 1960s and are designed for students who are not native speakers of the target language. Over 95% of BIA West students speak only English at home. Students typically enter the program in Kindergarten or first grade, and most need to gain a background in the target language.
English
Learning English at an International School
In Kindergarten and First Grade, BIA West students are learning to read and write in their target language only. However, in 2nd Grade,
English Language Arts (ELA) is introduced as a formal subject for at least one hour per day. Students go to a separate teacher who specializes in English Language Arts. Students will continue receiving ELA for one hour per day from 2nd through 8th Grade. While BIA introduces English in the 2nd Grade, some immersion programs wait until the 5th Grade to teach English.
Homework
Homework will come home in the target language. We do not expect our parents to be proficient in the target language, and we know that the vast majority of them are not! Homework will always be a review of what was already learned in class.
Parents should provide a quiet place for their students to complete homework and encourage them to complete all homework to the best of their ability. It is the teacher’s responsibility to check for understanding and make sure that the student is grasping the concepts being taught. However, the teacher will usually send a homework calendar home in English so that parents know what their children should be working on each night. Homework may also be posted on the BIA West website.
