Does anyone have a child attending a school with an IB programme?

[hrh_disney_queen]

OK, when I went to school, there was public school and parochial school. No magnet, charter, IB, specialty schools. (it was a small town, maybe they existed in larger cities.) When we moved here 5 years ago, we enrolled DS11 and DS9 at a magnet school with an inter baccalaureate programme. (that's how they spell it.) They did very well in this environment. This year DS11 is in middle school, and as it happens this will be that school's first year of acceptance into the IB Middle Years Programme. I still don't grasp fully the definition of IB, but as I can tell it is a different way of teaching, with the kids finding their role not only in their society, but in the world as a whole. It's a very interesting concept and so far, so good.

In the middle school they are starting a new way of grading-Formative and Summative. We had a meeting last night, I understand it a little. It's a wait and see thing for me-I need to see it in action.

I guess I am just curious if anyone else has had children in these programmes? How are they doing? Do you like it? How was high school, if you had an IB for HS? Did this help out in college acceptance?

Just wondered how long it took the parents to grasp all the concepts, I guess!

 

[honugirl]

I had some friends who went through IB and honestly, it didn't do anything for them in terms of getting into college or whatever, it just seemed like the had more homework! We all got into the colleges of our choices, IB or not. If your kids enjoy it and you think they're getting something out of it, then by all means stay in.

 

[Christine]

My DD's best friend did IB for high school. It was a LOT of work; however, I do think he enjoyed it. He ended up getting into a college and having 16 or 18 college credits. But he could have achieved that solely taking AP classes. I don't think the IB program got him anything. He also didn't get into either of his top-two college choices. I don't think the IB program helped him in that regard (nor did it hurt him).

 

[merryweather20]

I've never heard of Inter-baccalaureate. I suspect they mean International baccalaureate.

Do they really spell it "inter" all the time. That doesn't even sound like a good short form to me...

Anyway, I'm not very much help. We had a pilot program at our school. They main way they were selling it to us was, international standardization.

So if the kids took IB exchanges in France, the credits would count for the diploma in Canada. Or if they wanted to do college in Germany, their transcripts could be readily understood.

The big thing, was that it was alot more work (as one of the other posters said).

Your kids living in the states really have a wide range of colleges and Universities available to them already, so I wouldn't think it would be as much of a draw. I wonder how much a University in the states would be interested in IB?

 

[NotUrsula]

I still don't grasp fully the definition of IB, but as I can tell it is a different way of teaching, with the kids finding their role not only in their society, but in the world as a whole.

The IB (International Baccalaureate) primarily exists to allow kids who move internationally in the course of their secondary schooling to stay on track and not have to repeat courses, and to insure that their diplomas will be honored in any country in which they wish to attend college. It was created to level the playing field for the children of diplomats. These days it is often considered something of an intellectual status symbol in US schools, but it's really just a practical thing -- it is geared to meeting the highest possible college entrance requirement that a student might encounter anywhere in the world.

I don't know what the rationale is behind extending the program to middle schools, but I suppose that it must have a similar goal.

 

[Jordans_Mommie]

I went through the IB program in high school and it did not do anything for me or my peers differently in terms of college acceptance. Back then, I did not find the work any harder than what my friends in the honors program had. The difference was that I had more homework. I did have some college credits when I finished, but again no more than what I could've gotten from AP classes.

It has been over 15 years since I went through the program so, my perspective may not be very helpful. Perhaps, the IB program coordinators can put you in contact with a parent of a current high school student in the program.

I will say that I found college to be almost a breeze in terms of work load.

Good Luck!

 

[brerrabbit]

How or why it was developed I have no idea. In our district several years ago they introduced it at an elementary school that was where, if your child was determined to be in the "gifted and talented" group they could go if they chose to. It meant more expense for the district because all the program teachers had to take a lot of training. The district intended to role it out to all scholls and into the high school as well. At the time I told my wife, this won't last because the money will run out for training and they will abandon it. Part of my reasoning was that when Bush left office and Obama or whoever at the time moved into power the funding from no child left behind would dry up. Well sure enough when money got tight because of the economy and the district started facing shortfalls in funding, the first thing on the chopping block was the IB program.

My understanding is that it is a more liberal arts focused program that introduces independent thinking and a lot of self study. Certainly some students would do very well in the program while others would fail miserably.

 

[daydream32]

I actually earned an IB diploma in 2001. It was a lot of work, but I was able to skip an entire year of college saving me a lot of money in student loans. I was already doing community service, so that part was easy.

Looking at the conversions of college credit, I believe I got more than I would have taking the AP classes. I have not looked at what the conversion is in a while though.

My first year of college was really easy even though I was mostly taking honors sophomore level classes. Writing that 4,000 word essay they step you through in your senior year and preparing for the IB exams more than prepared me for any thing they threw at me.

I don't think it helped or hurt me getting into a college or my first job any more than taking higher level classes or doing extra curriculars would. I grew up in a very competitive area with several schools offering specialized learning (IB, environmental studies, a media type program, etc), so everyone was doing something extra.

 

[golfgal]

The IB (International Baccalaureate) primarily exists to allow kids who move internationally in the course of their secondary schooling to stay on track and not have to repeat courses, and to insure that their diplomas will be honored in any country in which they wish to attend college. It was created to level the playing field for the children of diplomats. These days it is often considered something of an intellectual status symbol in US schools, but it's really just a practical thing -- it is geared to meeting the highest possible college entrance requirement that a student might encounter anywhere in the world.

I don't know what the rationale is behind extending the program to middle schools, but I suppose that it must have a similar goal.

That is so funny because around here the only schools that really have an IB program are the inner-city schools and the program is there for the handful of kids that want a better education. Most of the public schools outside of the city don't offer it because there isn't a need-and it is a waste of money for them-they get the same or better classes with the AP program and our post-secondary option (taking college courses that double for college credit and high school credit-which is free for students).

 

[bengalbelle]

I hesitate to post because I'm not sure if I can help at all. My son's school (K-12) has the IB Program for all grades, but he's 8 (3rd grade) so my personal experience is limited to the Primary Years Programme.

I will be totally honest and say I don't have a firm grasp on the IB beyond the Primary Years Programme. In K we had a meeting that explained the PYP, but didn't really go into the middle and high school years.

In the PYP, I look at it as an enhancement to my son's education. I really think his school would be doing these things anyway, as it seems to fit their philosophy of education. I love our school and would choose it with or without the IB.

My niece graduated from the same school last year and chose not to go for the IB diploma. She took a mixture of IB and AP classes. She did have a lot of homework, but was able to maintain her many outside activities and a very active social life. I wouldn't want to speak for her or any of her classmates, but going by the colleges students were accepted to and the scholarships they received, I'd be surprised if they felt that IB did nothing for them. In fact, I've always heard the opposite.

The reason for having the MYP and PYP is to prepare students for the program, and some course selections will begin in middle school for students who plan to enter the IB Diploma program (at least at our school).

I thought this was a good discussion on the competitiveness of IB vs. AP. I think many of the posters have children in IB (or are IB students themselves) so it may be a bit biased . I still think there is good information there, particularly regarding college admissions and placement:
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/448316-competitiveness-ib-diploma.html

 

[tzolkin]

I didn't know there was IB for primary years.

I graduated high school with an IB diploma.
It is similar to AP (many of our classes were IB/AP- you could take both exams). Most colleges give the same credit for passing scores on AP and IB exams. The difference with an IB diploma is that you must be well-rounded. If you're good at math you could just to AP Calc, but with IB you must do all of the subjects. Most (all?) of the courses had a project or oral exam that were also considered before a diploma could be awarded. There is also a Theory of Knowledge (philosophy) class and community service requirement.

I didn't wind up taking any credits when I went to college because I wanted to do the full 4 years, but many of my friends graduated a semester or full year early. I definitely believe IB helped me with college if for no other reason than the papers. I don't know anyone else I went to college with that had as much paper-writing experience as I did and most couldn't fathom writing a 40 page paper.

 

[bengalbelle]

I didn't know there was IB for primary years.

I graduated high school with an IB diploma.
It is similar to AP (many of our classes were IB/AP- you could take both exams). Most colleges give the same credit for passing scores on AP and IB exams. The difference with an IB diploma is that you must be well-rounded. If you're good at math you could just to AP Calc, but with IB you must do all of the subjects. Most (all?) of the courses had a project or oral exam that were also considered before a diploma could be awarded. There is also a Theory of Knowledge (philosophy) class and community service requirement.

I didn't wind up taking any credits when I went to college because I wanted to do the full 4 years, but many of my friends graduated a semester or full year early. I definitely believe IB helped me with college if for no other reason than the papers. I don't know anyone else I went to college with that had as much paper-writing experience as I did and most couldn't fathom writing a 40 page paper.

I think that's a really good explanation of the difference between the two.

This school does a really good job of explaining the philosophy and purpose of the PYP http://www.asbindia.org/page.cfm?p=8.

They also focus on foreign language and physical education/healthy lifestyles (they have both every day) and service to the community. They're not required to keep hours at this point, just encouraged to do it. The attributes listed in the link above are integrated into every part of their curriculum, which still has to meet/exceed state standards.

 

[Longsx3]

Interesting that you posted this Question, I have done a lot of research as DD will head into High school next year. DD is in the gifted program at her MS and most of her peers will be applying to the IB programme, currently DD does not intend to apply.
Our reasoning is there is no Flexibility in IB, we can look at the IB guidelines and see exactly what her schedule will be with the exception of one elective each year. DD wants to take ASL for her foreign language but can't if she is in IB, Spanish or French only. She would like to take Marine science, not in IB and she would not be able to take dual enrollment classes at the local Community College. Finally we have a niece in IB, her freshman year the norm was for her to be up past midnight doing schoolwork, this is a well prepared student with good time management skills and while I know there are times this will happen to DD, in honors and Ap courses, I don't want it to be the norm. This may sound silly but DD has a goal of being Valedictorian and I think IB vs AP/Dual Enrollment maybe the difference...if she doesn't want IB I won't push her.

 

[Geoff_M]

I went through the IB program in high school and it did not do anything for me or my peers differently in terms of college acceptance.

We came to the conclusion that it wasn't worth it. Our daughter was in the IB program at her high school, but all of the extra work was killing her. She'd often be up until the wee hours of the morning trying to do her IB homework. She was miserable. We talked to friends with older kids that went through the program and they pretty much confirmed that all it got their kids was an extra sticker on their diploma and a medal around their neck at commencement. She dropped out of the IB program after her Junior year, but continued to take some IB classes (the ones that weren't swamping her) her Senior year.

We don't regret her move. It was the right call.. she was a lot happier her Senior year, and she had no problems getting admitted to a great technical university. As for helping her with college... for her it was a zero. She went ahead and took a couple of the IB exams at the end of high school, and passed them... but we found out that her university doesn't accept IB exams for college credit.

Our reasoning is there is no Flexibility in IB, we can look at the IB guidelines and see exactly what her schedule will be with the exception of one elective each year.

That was another problem we had... Our daughter wanted to take both IB Chemistry and Physics, but the program wouldn't allow for it. If she wanted to complete the program, she could take only one or the other.

 

[Cindy B]

Both my kids (now 7th and 9th) did IB middle school. In fact, it was either the first or only IB school in the state for a long time. Now more schools are doing IB but this middle school has been IB for ten years.

I liked most of the program. Ask my kids they will say that they HATE the ILP project which ties in the Approaches to Learning and the facets of IB. Quite frankly, the project is a bit of a time waster and an "IB certification" requirement than a graded project ==but that is this schools issue versus IB program itself.

I like the fact that community service hours are required. This helps my kids understand what means to serve and help others in the community.

The teachers can teach the subjects well using the IB components. Some kids will say that it is more writing, but it really wasn't. (I taught at the other non IB middle school in the district for a bit. )

IB in elementary school is hard to do. There are a few IB elemntary schools in the district and it is difficult to incorporate the IB concepts and principles in an elementary classroom.

We did have IB in high school but due to low enrollment, they dropped the IB high school program and went directly to AP and dual enrollment with local universities route instead.