Kate Sessions Elementary School is located in the beautiful neighborhood of Pacific Beach, California. With 420 students currently enrolled, our school population consists of neighborhood families, military families, and those who choose to attend our school through the district’s Open Enrollment Program. Kate Sessions has been fully authorized as an International Baccalaureate (IB) World School and feeds into our neighborhood cluster IB programs at Pacific Beach Middle and Mission Bay High School. Our mission is to provide a culturally rich, stimulating educational environment that encourages meaningful inquiry, respectful communication, and a passion for learning.

Sessions Elementary began implementing IB curriculum when our principal, Sue DeVicariis, came on board in 2004. Since then, our Academic Performance Index (API) scores have improved dramatically. In 2004, Kate Sessions students received an overall API score of 827. As of Spring 2012, their test scores came in at 931, making Sessions Elementary competitive with top schools throughout the county and state. We have also seen tremendous gains by our students with special needs. Since implementing the Inclusion Model, these students have jumped from 22% to 66% proficiency in English, and 72% have achieved proficiency in Math. We are extremely proud of what our students and teachers have accomplished, and we congratulate our children on a job well done!

Through comprehensive and balanced curriculum, coupled with challenging assessments, the International Baccalaureate Organization aims to assist schools in their endeavors to develop the individual talents of young people and teach them to relate the experience of the classroom to the realities of the world outside. Beyond intellectual rigor and high academic standards, strong emphasis is placed on the ideals of international understanding and responsible citizenship, to the end that IB students may become critical and compassionate thinkers, lifelong learners and informed participants in local and world affairs, conscious of the shared humanity that binds all people together, while respecting the variety of cultures and attitudes that makes for the richness of life.