The Newsweek High School Rankings Boycott

Response from IB Spokesperson in NY

The IB is committed to providing rigorous, international education to students from around the world. In the United States, the IB has received much support from governments and policymakers, including the US Department of Education and local school districts, to increase student achievement and to turnaround low performing schools. The core of our curriculum provides students with critical thinking skills, second language skills and an understanding of other cultures in order to prepare them for success in a global economy.

We recommend that individuals visit their local IB schools to see the curriculum in action and to speak to students and teachers about the impact of the curriculum on their development and on the school as a whole.

Some facts about the IB:

The IB is almost entirely supported by school fees. A small amount (currently about 1% of our annual budget) is received through donations for development projects.

In developing our curriculum and assessments, we consult with international educators around the world in order to provide all of our students, in all of our countries, with an equal assessment of their work.

The IB model is flexible, allowing schools to make many decisions about program implementation locally. The IB does not own or manage any schools. The IB provides curriculum and a process for authorization, assessment and evaluation.

The IB diploma is recognized in more than 2,000 universities in 74 countries. Over 900 universities in the US alone recognize the IB diploma. (This number represents an increase from approximately 275 in 1995.) The IB works proactively with colleges and universities to gain broader recognition for the IB diploma.

Several states, such as Texas, Colorado, Georgia and Florida, have special recognition of the IB Diploma that grant IB Diploma students a minimum number of credit hours at any of the state universities.

Patrick Mattimore

As someone allegedly concerned with education, it might behoove you to try and understand why there are people who have very legitimate and passionate objections to the IB program, instead of attempting to characterize those of the anti_IB persuasion as "rabid IB haters". I've had my rabies shots, thank you.

type of school makes a difference

"I've had a good (though stressful) experience with the IB, and I'm genuinely sorry that some of you feel it is not worth recognition." - MI Student

I don't think anyone here said it is not worthy of recognition, and I am glad you have had what you consider a "rewarding" experience with IB. I, for one, believe the IB program belongs in magnet, charter or private schools, not in general public high schools. Did you attend a magnet program?

In IB's defense

To say the IB is a "scam organization" or driven by world politics is ridiculous. I am not going to pretend to know about the backgrounds of the people who have made comments against the prestige of an IB diploma, but as a student of an all-IB course school I feel that I should say something in the program's defense. I will not claim to know very much about the alternative AP program, but I do know that the IB program has more components to it that make it more difficult for any student to successfully complete the DP. My friends who take AP courses never have to give up their weekend partying to do Internal Assessments in each of their AP classes, complete an Extended Essay over their junior year summer that discussed a topic at college level proficiency, take a language course for 4 years with intent of fluency, or do 150 hours of community service to receive their diploma. I'm not saying that AP students don't have to study for their classes, I'm sure they do, but they definitely have fewer requirements.

"Fuzzy academics", which I'm assuming is a reference to the international grading of a student's work, is also an unfair statement. The IB system is about making sure everyone gets a FAIR grade on their work - this is done by having your teacher assess your work, then sending it off to an unbiased teacher in a random country that also grades your work based on the IB criteria. I believe this is done to eliminate any preferential treatment your personal teacher could have, whether intentionally or unintentionally, and if the grade really is under dispute, then the student's work is sent to a group of people to be assessed for the third time, and this grade will be the deciding factor. Sure, this process may have flaws, but they're always working towards improvement. It's not like grading is a precise science anyways. Grades are largely based on opinion, and I like having more than one opinion on my work.

I'll admit, the fact that most universities only take higher level courses is pretty annoying. But how is that a flaw in the IB program? Just like the AP, it varies between schools how much credit you can receive. If I were looking to blame anyone, I would blame the university for not accepting IB credit. Also, I am distinctly aware that Duke allows its students to attempt to test out of classes that they feel would be redundant, so if the student doesn't test out, they probably don't have all the information they need to continue.

I think everyone just generally needs to chill out on this AP vs. IB subject. Okay, IB isn't solely an AMERICAN thing, but doesn't that make it kind of cool? With all these advances in communication and the world becoming more and more interdependent, I am happy to be an American taking part in an international school. I've had a good (though stressful) experience with the IB, and I'm genuinely sorry that some of you feel it is not worth recognition.

IB NOT a scam.

Many of the more respected schools are beginning to accept lower scores on the higher level exams. There's still a lot of bias in this country towards AP over IB because AP is American (and of course everything home bread is automatically better right?) Several schools like Penn now offer IB credit with scores of 5+ on higher level examinations. IB is most definitely NOT college prep. I had more work in my IB courses than when I went to college.

helping you out, Mr. Morse

http://www.ibo.org/partnerships/governments/

Inter-governmental organizations and IB partnerships

United Nations, New York

The Global Teaching and Learning Project division of the UN in New York accepted an IB tender to produce two teaching booklets about UN global issues: one each for primary and secondary years. This project has been undertaken by the International Baccalaureate Curriculum and Assessment Centre in Cardiff using experienced curriculum writers from around the world, principally in IB World Schools, and having UN input and approval as each of the 20 units is completed. The booklets are expected to be published in English in 2008 and will eventually be available in all six UN languages. They will be copyrighted by the UN, with acknowledgement to the IB for its work, and disseminated to the governments of all member states for use in schools. The content of the booklets reflects the structure and philosophy of the IB programmes and includes the following sample units:

A safe place (refugees)

For all the world's children (children's rights)

The busy marketplace (global trade)

Water for life (sustainable development)

Indigenous people

Stereotypes and discrimination.

UNESCO

The IB has been recognized as a NGO of UNESCO since 1970 and currently has the status of “formal consultative relations as a network” with UNESCO. IB representatives participate regularly in UNESCO meetings and comment on UNESCO proposals in education. Some projects have received UNESCO funding—see Cambodia and Nigeria in the list of partnerships [PDF] and exchanges with governments and inter-governmental organizations (IGOs).

ongoing UN funding

UN Global Teaching and Learning Project - 2006

While I realize this is ONLY $100,000, it still constitutes funding and direction by the UN.

pg. 27

http://www.ibo.org/facts/annualreview/2006/

Please note that this is IBO's own document and the 2007 annual report has not yet been released online.

Random thoughts

Bob,

First, you should be aware that there are a group of rabid IB haters out there. They spend their days chasing down IB stories and are not the least bit interested in dialogue but merely in repeating their refrains. For an example, look at some of the over 3,000 comments in the AP/IB thread on Jay Mathews link in the Washington Post. The comments you have gotten above are typical.

Second, although you justify the use of peer ratings (and have for many years in your college survey) you provide no evidence that any peer school has any type of inside information about another school different than anything anyone else would have. Schools know who their competition is. They can access schools' test scores. But ultimately, using peer ratings is nothing more than ranking by innuendo. Peer ratings are the weakest and most objectionable part of your "best" lists.

UNESCO denial, almost as bad as alcoholism

http://www3.unesco.org/iycp/Report/IBO.pdf

http://www.ibo.org/media/documents/annual_review04.pdf

(see funders)

Mr Morse, are you a serious reporter? You should really do a little research before posting such wantonly ignorant statements .

Bob Morse responds: According to IB's website-They no longer receive funding from UNESCO (http://www.ibo.org/history/funding/ ).

" Funding

The IB was funded by Unesco, the 20th Century Fund, and the Ford Foundation until 1976. From 1977 the Heads Standing Conference (HSC) of Diploma Programme (DP) schools was formed and they began to pay the IB an annual registration fee. In countries where state schools offered the DP, the governments made financial contributions, and some continue to do so on a reduced basis. In return for these fees, the IB helped schools implement the DP, offered training workshops and teaching materials to IB teachers, and managed a system of external examinations for IB diploma candidates."

Before I respond any more on IB, I will check with my sources at IB and if I am incorrect or what I have said needs more detailI I will post a correction. Sorry, but I will not be able to respond or post new blog items until 4/21/08.

yes, IB is a scam

But U.S. News does agree that it was "unable" to gather IB data as readily as AP data, and therefore did not include IB in its own report. AP courses are considered "college-level", IB courses are considered "college preparatory". Furthermore SL IB courses are almost never recognized by universities for college credit. Our most brilliant student last year was accepted to Duke, where he received not one, zippo, nada, any credit for his IB exams, as Duke requires IB 7's but will accept AP 4's and 5's.

Bob Morse responds: U.S. News is working, as we speak, with IB to get the IB test data from the central IB organization. Our goal is to incorpoarte that data into our next rankings.