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My kids may be switching schools soon and an option is a private IB school. I've vaguely heard of the degree in the past, but don't know much about it. Any thoughts/ opinions? Maybe we can have a discussion on the difference between a HS Diploma and an IB. Thanks in advance!
We researched the IB program years ago when trying to encourage our local school district to implement such a program. We first learned of UP programs when our oldest entered college in Fall of 1999 and reported that some of his classmates had received substantial college credits from their IB High School diploma.
So I offer the following based upon what I remember from that subsequent search:
IB was initially created to offer a consistent High School curriculum to students whose families relocated across the globe.
The program was later revised/expanded so as to be also offered to Middle School students and eventually to Elementary aged students.
The curriculum is heavily based upon individual and team based research.
IB programs seemed to explode after the introduction of Charter Schools, since the International IB Association provided the Charters with both pre-established curriculum and an major differentiation factor from Public Schools. Assuming the Charters qualify for inclusion as Staff Training is mandatory!.
The Top High School in the US for many years was the International Academy in Bloomfield Hills MI. I interviewed the Principal at this school, who would better be titled as Head Master because of his broad scope role, as part of our research. This school was/is a compilation of students from the entire County which encompasses a very broad socio-economic mix.
Our local School district was/is more interested in Sports than Academics so there was only cursory lip service provided to our proposal. Since then the County-wide Intermediate School district has created an IB program for High School students from throughout the County, and one or two larger districts within the County have created their own programs.
It is a strong academic program
Not all students will do well in self-structured research academics
Students gain tremendous freedom in their academics
Students may lose out on extra-curricular programs offered by larger public schools
Some states require Charter School Students to be eligible for Public Scholl extra-curriculars, but what about transportation and time schedules
Students may lose over-lap between neighborhood friends and classroom friends
Potential for tremendous personal growth due to the offered freedoms.
It depends on the school. I was in an IB magnet program in a larger public high school. At the time (and possibly still), the kids were encouraged to participate in activities in the larger school. My sister did marching band all 4 years and was in all-county band 2 of those years.
In the IB program- the official program is 2 years (11th and 12th grade). The students take 6 IB subjects, a Theory of Knowledge class, do an extended essay, and also have to do CAS hours, which are community service, artistic, or a variety of other opportunities outside the academic realm. I think 150 are required in the last 2 years.
The students take IB exams at the end of each course. Typically there are higher level (3) and lower level (3) exams. Colleges generally only accept the higher level exams for credit. My school also offered AP exams in addition to the IB exams to give students the opportunity to get AP credit for lower level exams, and I think I took a placement test for French in my college that allowed me to pass out of 2 years of French. Even at the lower level, the IB program requires 4 years of language at a fairly high level, roughly equivalent to 2 years of college-level language. I started in 300 level French even doing subsidiary French. I started college with 31 credits. I had one classmate in college who started with some insane number of credits coming from a program in another state- over 80. I assume his program was more established than mine.
The AP and IB exams are not similar, so it can be hard to pass both. I started when the program was new and the teachers were mostly pulled from AP classes. Most of us did better on AP than IB exams. My sister finished 6 years later, and at that point, students did much better on IB exams. She got lots of 6s and 7s on IB exams, but mostly 3s on AP exams, while in my group, 4s and 5s on AP tests were common while many minimum passing scores in IB tests were also common. Students have to get a 24/42 to get the IB diploma. Not all schools will accept the credit. My sister went to a private university and got no credit at all, but she still did a 5-year combined undergrad/master’s program and saved a year that way.
I can say of my experience that it was challenging and competitive. I have a law degree. It was more challenging and competitive than getting my law degree. The kids in my class were absolutely brutal. We had a 7-year med program and several kids were aiming to get into that. The competition was insane. I taught SAT classes about 10 years after I graduated and the kids were even more insane, taking secret online classes to boost their GPAs at the local IB programs.
We researched the IB program years ago when trying to encourage our local school district to implement such a program. We first learned of UP programs when our oldest entered college in Fall of 1999 and reported that some of his classmates had received substantial college credits from their IB High School diploma.
So I offer the following based upon what I remember from that subsequent search:
IB was initially created to offer a consistent High School curriculum to students whose families relocated across the globe.
The program was later revised/expanded so as to be also offered to Middle School students and eventually to Elementary aged students.
The curriculum is heavily based upon individual and team based research.
IB programs seemed to explode after the introduction of Charter Schools, since the International IB Association provided the Charters with both pre-established curriculum and an major differentiation factor from Public Schools. Assuming the Charters qualify for inclusion as Staff Training is mandatory!.
The Top High School in the US for many years was the International Academy in Bloomfield Hills MI. I interviewed the Principal at this school, who would better be titled as Head Master because of his broad scope role, as part of our research. This school was/is a compilation of students from the entire County which encompasses a very broad socio-economic mix.
Our local School district was/is more interested in Sports than Academics so there was only cursory lip service provided to our proposal. Since then the County-wide Intermediate School district has created an IB program for High School students from throughout the County, and one or two larger districts within the County have created their own programs.
It is a strong academic program
Not all students will do well in self-structured research academics
Students gain tremendous freedom in their academics
Students may lose out on extra-curricular programs offered by larger public schools
Some states require Charter School Students to be eligible for Public Scholl extra-curriculars, but what about transportation and time schedules
Students may lose over-lap between neighborhood friends and classroom friends
Potential for tremendous personal growth due to the offered freedoms.
Like everything, plusses and minuses.
In my Northern Virginia school district, our middle school students had basically 3 options. In my school, most students went on to a quite good standard high school. A sizable number (due to the size and strength of our GT program) went on to the science/tech high school, which was excellent, though probably not quite as glowingly wonderful as its self-exclaimed reputation. The third option was a fairly new IB program at a nearby high school, which I feel was a strong program, but unfortunately overshadowed by the science/tech high school.
Your comments about the IB program are, in my view, right on target. I thought it was an excellent program.
Many universities these days require HS grads to have some college courses on their HS transcript, or college-equivalent (Advanced Placement, or IB or actually college classes from a community college or local university). An IB degree satisfies this admissions requirement. That's the advantage.
Admissions to flagship state universities and some private colleges is ever more competitive, so a student who wants to be eligible for admission to those highly-ranked schools needs to have some type of college-equivalent coursework on their record.
Pretty holistic program, but if college credit is your goal, literally enrolling in courses in the local community college is your best bet since most states force state universities to accept the credit for B or A grades. If your goal is a more comprehensive wrap around program, then IB is the way to go.
My oldest was in the IBMYP before we decided to homeschool her. Now she attends a small “unschool†high school and is dual-enrolling as a freshman. I think the IB program, especially the DP, is great for the right student. My dd didn’t feel challenged enough in most of her classes, though she loved Mandarin and has continued those studies. The unschool model is a much better fit and more similar to open course university programs.
My kids may be switching schools soon and an option is a private IB school. I've vaguely heard of the degree in the past, but don't know much about it. Any thoughts/ opinions? Maybe we can have a discussion on the difference between a HS Diploma and an IB. Thanks in advance!
It's AP level work without the benefit of the weighted GPA. Lose-lose from the perspective of the student. The only reason I TOOK the AP classes in the first place was for the weighted GPA!
They were easier (less reading, more discussion) and had less homework than the regular level classes. With the major exception of the summer reading, on which we were never tested (and I didn't do).
We researched the IB program years ago when trying to encourage our local school district to implement such a program. We first learned of UP programs when our oldest entered college in Fall of 1999 and reported that some of his classmates had received substantial college credits from their IB High School diploma.
So I offer the following based upon what I remember from that subsequent search:
IB was initially created to offer a consistent High School curriculum to students whose families relocated across the globe.
The program was later revised/expanded so as to be also offered to Middle School students and eventually to Elementary aged students.
The curriculum is heavily based upon individual and team based research.
IB programs seemed to explode after the introduction of Charter Schools, since the International IB Association provided the Charters with both pre-established curriculum and an major differentiation factor from Public Schools. Assuming the Charters qualify for inclusion as Staff Training is mandatory!.
The Top High School in the US for many years was the International Academy in Bloomfield Hills MI. I interviewed the Principal at this school, who would better be titled as Head Master because of his broad scope role, as part of our research. This school was/is a compilation of students from the entire County which encompasses a very broad socio-economic mix.
Our local School district was/is more interested in Sports than Academics so there was only cursory lip service provided to our proposal. Since then the County-wide Intermediate School district has created an IB program for High School students from throughout the County, and one or two larger districts within the County have created their own programs.
It is a strong academic program
Not all students will do well in self-structured research academics
Students gain tremendous freedom in their academics
Students may lose out on extra-curricular programs offered by larger public schools
Some states require Charter School Students to be eligible for Public Scholl extra-curriculars, but what about transportation and time schedules
Students may lose over-lap between neighborhood friends and classroom friends
Potential for tremendous personal growth due to the offered freedoms.
Like everything, plusses and minuses.
Our district has IB programs in two of its neighborhood high schools. The point is not all IB programs are in charter schools. In fact I think these programs were started, in part, to keep kids in the neighborhood schools.
I've known kids in both these programs. Some have dropped out because they couldn't take some of the electives they wanted; IB is very much a "cookbook" approach.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth
Many universities these days require HS grads to have some college courses on their HS transcript, or college-equivalent (Advanced Placement, or IB or actually college classes from a community college or local university). An IB degree satisfies this admissions requirement. That's the advantage.
Admissions to flagship state universities and some private colleges is ever more competitive, so a student who wants to be eligible for admission to those highly-ranked schools needs to have some type of college-equivalent coursework on their record.
IF their schools offer such courses. I heard with my own ears an admissions officer person say they don't hold it against kids from small rural schools that don't offer such courses. AP courses can also fulfill this requirement, which isn't really a requirement as much as it's looked upon as something you should do if you can.
Our district has IB programs in two of its neighborhood high schools. The point is not all IB programs are in charter schools. In fact I think these programs were started, in part, to keep kids in the neighborhood schools.
I've known kids in both these programs. Some have dropped out because they couldn't take some of the electives they wanted; IB is very much a "cookbook" approach.
IF their schools offer such courses. I heard with my own ears an admissions officer person say they don't hold it against kids from small rural schools that don't offer such courses. AP courses can also fulfill this requirement, which isn't really a requirement as much as it's looked upon as something you should do if you can.
Yep. It depends on the district. Where I grew up/went, the IB programs were magnets within larger neighborhood schools. The last place I lived had the same thing, but the adjacent, huge district had two IB magnets that were only IB without being in neighborhood schools. None are charter schools in my home state.
To the person above about weighted GPAs, IB kids in my district had the highest GPAs weighted. By far.
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