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Despite the growing presence and visibility of paleoconservative critique of international curricula such as the IB, little scholarly attention has been invested in discerning how the rise of paleoconservative thought in mainstream politics has shaped or even redirected the IB's growth in the United States. This study strives to address this gap by examining the association between county-level voting patterns with the growth of the IB, the availability of different programs of the IB continuum, and school demographic data. Incidence Rate Ratios (IRR) and 95% Wald Confidence Intervals (CI) were estimated using mixed-effects Poisson models with county as the clustering variable. Notable findings include a shift in growth patterns beginning in 2008, where IB schools have increasingly clustered along partisan lines. The study concludes by considering the potential challenges these changing growth patterns may present to the IB's future in the United States and elsewhere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to explore 11th- and 12th-grade students' expectations in the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program (IB DP) at a high school in the Western United States. Study participants included 92 of 94 high school students currently enrolled in the IB DP. Each participant completed a researcher-created, paper survey with 24 questions, using a 5-point Likert-type scale, as well as four demographic questions. Overall, students reported high expectations and beliefs for the program in helping them prepare for postsecondary education. Findings also suggested that females experienced more stress and feelings of being overwhelmed, while enrolled in the program as compared with males, despite a larger percentage of females reporting of postsecondary plans. In addition, Spanish-speaking students aspired to community college more than their peers, suggesting possible disparities in equity. A discussion of these findings and their implications are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to assess the interrelationship of elementary students’ perceived responsibility for learning, self-efficacy, and sources of self-efficacy in mathematics, and differentiation as a function of gender and grade level. Participants in this study included 442 third-, fourth-, and fifth-grade students from U.S. International Baccalaureate schools. Self-report measures were used to assess key study variables. Students in grade five reported higher levels of mathematics self-efficacy and perceived responsibility for learning than those in grade three. Grade four students also reported higher levels of perceived responsibility than grade three students. In addition, regression results revealed that mastery experience, vicarious experience, social persuasion, and physiological state accounted for a significant amount of variance in students’ mathematics self-efficacy, with social persuasion being the strongest predictor. Educational implications for practice within the context of International Baccalaureate schools are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The International Baccalaureate (IB) is noted in school reform policy circles as the gold standard of academic excellence. While the presence of IB as a sought-after education vendor has grown in the past decade, the organization has attempted to shake off its image as an elite agency serving only private international schools with its longstanding liberal arts curriculum. As such its turn toward the public sector in the United States with a credential for vocational students appears perplexing and out of step with its product brand, but the newer Career Programme (CP) is marketed as meeting the needs of applied learners in secondary schools. This paper offers a case study of two schools in one US state that adopted the CP, generating IB school enrollments from among talented vocational students while elevating its ranking on the college and career readiness (CCR) score, an annual assessment of postsecondary success. The CCR policy reformers advocate curricular improvements so that all students receive the academic foundations and employability skills needed to thrive in the new economy. Yet the egalitarian discourse of CCR could not be attended to using the CP. In this case study only high-achieving students were advised to participate and enroll in the program. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article explored the effects of external agency on the establishment of professional learning communities (PLCs). The research was undertaken in the context of schools that have chosen to adopt the Primary Years Programme (PYP) of the International Baccalaureate (IB) worldwide. The study employed a two-stage qualitative sequential design including data collected from focus groups of administrators, teachers and parents in 122 PYP schools worldwide and case studies of six of these schools provided in-depth understanding of the factors emerging from the focus group data. Findings suggest that external agency can facilitate the development of PLCs that schools, operating in isolation and having to initiate the process without an external framework and oversight, would find difficult to implement regardless of their motivation to do so. The study suggests that in the case of the IBPYP this is done by ensuring schools adopting the programme have a clear vision, mission and ethos linked directly to student outcomes that is transparent, and can be communicated by all members of the school community. The study extends the ongoing research on the development of PLCs and the type of external support most useful in the initial stages of PLC development. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The educational experiences of students engaged in different contexts of learning, particularly curriculum delivered and international travel and residence experiences may be related to problem-solving skills and game decisions and efficiency of high school students engaged in modified game play during physical education class. This study explores the idea that tactical game performance and efficiency may be different in a school comprised primarily of English-speaking high school students who traveled to and reside in South Korea and who are immersed in the International Baccalaureate (IB) curriculum as compared to counterparts in a traditional high school curriculum in the United States. Two treatment groups of high school participants engaged in game play after instruction in an Ultimate unit of instruction. The IB Korea treatment group (n = 17) showed no better volume of play or game efficiency than the US traditional curriculum treatment group (n = 17). Thus, no conclusions can be drawn that either curriculum model impacted game decisions, volume of play and efficiency in this particular investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background/Context: With 13 million immigrants arriving in the United States between 2000 and 2010, immigration is at its highest level in a century. At the same time, there has been an exponential increase in the number of IB PYP and MYP schools in the United States, from 88 registered in 1997 to 1,470 in 2013. Much of this increase has been in Title I schools serving diverse populations. This work examines classroom practice at the intersection of these phenomena. Purpose: Within two different schools that offer IB programs and serve substantial numbers of immigrant and refugee youth, how do teachers prepare youth for citizenship? Setting: This study took place at two public middle schools in suburban neighborhoods in the south eastern United States. Population: Participants included seven middle school teachers, two administrators, and 27 sixth-grade students from 11 different countries. Intervention/Program/Practice: Both schools were registered as IB World Schools. Research Design: This article reports on a comparative case study of six classrooms in two International Baccalaureate schools. Data Collection and Analysis: The author shares findings based on 65 class room observations over the course of one semester, nine interviews with adult teachers and administrators. Data was analyzed using a phenomenological approach, beginning with analyzing data from each classroom, then from each school, and finally comparing themes between classrooms and students in the two schools. Data analysis began with codes based on theoretical frameworks for citizenship. Findings/Results: A wide divergence in teacher practice was observed, with some practices exemplifying a flexible teacher orientation towards global education, acknowledging the global experiences, multiple languages, and variety of viewpoints that students brought into the classroom. Other practices exemplified a fixed teacher orientation towards global education, ignoring the variety of student experiences, languages, and viewpoints in the classroom. Conclusions/Recommendations: Based on the differences in implemented curricula in the two schools across classrooms, the author proposes expanding frameworks for understanding global education. Global education can be implemented with a flexible or fixed orientation, as educators design activities and present content in ways that recognize or disregard students' identities and experiences. The study suggests that the use of International Baccalaureate programs is no guarantee of a global education connected to the experiences of immigrant and refugee youth. Modifications in teacher practice and school structures are necessary in order to make global education relevant to diverse youth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores whether students from low-income families and racial/ethnic minority groups have the opportunity to benefit in what is arguably the most rigorous type of credit-based transition program: the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP). The analyses first describe national longitudinal trends in characteristics of schools offering the IBDP and the characteristics of students within schools who enroll. The analyses draw on data from the International Baccalaureate database, which include individual-level data on more than 400,000 IBDP students from 1995 through 2009, as well as data from the Common Core of Data from the National Center for Education Statistics. The article also draws on data collected from a survey of IBDPs in Florida to document variations in the opportunity to benefit from available IBDPs. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The aim of the study was to investigate the similarities and differences among the school district policies on Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate, and Dual Credit programs across the United States and how complicated the policies are for parents and students to read and comprehend. The study was designed as a document analysis in which a total of forty-two school districts were randomly selected across the nation, and their policies on these three advanced programs were used as the data source. Flesch-Kincaid readability test was employed to measure the readability of the each district policy based on the pattern of reading ease score guideline. In addition, implications for practice were given based on the findings of the study. Bu çalışmanın amacı, Amerika Birleşik Devletleri genelinde uygulanan, lisede okurken üniversitede saydırılabilecek dersleri alma (Advance Placement), Uluslararası Diploma (International Baccalaureate) ve alınan dersi hem lise hem de sonrasında üniversite transkriptinde göstererek Çift Kredilendirme (Dual Credit) programları ile ilgili belgeleri incelemektir. Bu sayede farklı uygulamalar arasındaki, benzerlikleri ve farklılıkları ilgili belgelerden tespit etmek, öğrenci ve aileler için bu belgelerin ne derece okunabilir ve anlaşılabilir olduklarını belirlemek hedeflenmiştir. Doküman analizi yöntemi kullanılan bu çalışmada, Amerika Birleşik Devletleri genelinden rastgele seçilen 42 okul bölgesinin sözü edilen programlarla ilgili kılavuzluk etme amacıyla hazırlanan başvuru, yerleştirme, bilgilendirme vb. amaçlı belgeleri araştırmanın verilerini oluşturmuştur. Her bir yönetmeliğin okunabilirlik puanı Flesch- Kincaid okunabilirlik testi ile ölçülmüş, ve kolay okunabilirlik puan kılavuzuna göre değerlendirilmiştir. Çalışma elde edilen sonuçlara dayalı olarak uygulamaya yönelik önerilerde bulunulmuştur. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author responds to the article "College Readiness and the International Baccalaureate Program" by Krysta Larson and Faith Kurtyka. She references the "CWPA Position Statement on Pre-College Credit for Writing (Pre-College Statement)" published by the Council of Writing Program Administrators (CWPA) in 2013. She discusses the article's conclusions about the connections between the International Baccalaureate program and the habits of mind under the "Framework for Success."

International Baccalaureate (IB) schools have traditionally been associated with displaced expatriates and globally mobile privileged elites. In recent years, there has been an increase in the number of state funded Title I IB schools across the United States, many of them serving immigrant and refugee children and youth. However, this unprecedented access of immigrant and refugee students to an international education is an underrepresented field in the education literature. How do immigrant and refugee children construct and perform citizenship in such contexts? How does the school utilize their cultural and global capital? In this article, I present the findings of a qualitative case study conducted in a fourth grade classroom in a public charter international school, River Song Elementary (pseudonym), serving immigrant, refugee and local children in one of the largest refugee resettlement areas in the United States. Through document analysis, focus groups, individual interviews, and ethnographic observations over a period of twelve weeks, I explored the children's constructions and performances of citizenship. I found that there were tensions between global and local narratives that trickled down to the school and classroom climate dichotomizing various aspects of children's identities and cultures as well as the ways in which they understood and enacted citizenship. Yet, guided by their teachers, the children were actively engaged in the construction of common civic spaces where different forms of expression played a singular agentic, participatory and unifying role. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses research which describes several pathways available to Chinese students seeking for a baccalaureate education in the U.S. Topics discussed include increase in the number of international students pursuing post-secondary degrees in the U.S., appointment of an educational agent by Chinese undergraduate students to assist in the filing of their college applications and status and challenges related to special college preparation programs and international summer schools.

The article offers the authors' view on rethinking high school courses in the admission of students in U.S. colleges. They mention that such course of study is considered a vital component in their evaluation who must take Advanced Placement (AP), International Baccalaureate (IB) and dual enrollment (DE) classes. They also note the attempt of the Office of Undergraduate Admissions in addressing the issue through analyzing the relationship between college-level courses and grade-point average.

The article offers information on several music schools in the U.S. It reports that Arlington High School provides young men with International Baccalaureate (IB) and Advanced Placement (AP) courses. It highlights that Martin Chamber Singers of the Arlington Martin High School which comprises of top students in the Martin choral program. It mentions that California State University comprises of singers from Fullerton University.

The article focuses on the English as a Second Language (ESL) and the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Program (IBMYP) among international schools. It mentions that Language B students who do not need English for use in their school, are guided by IBMYP and is therefore made obligatory. It adds that the learning of ESL students became a highly politicized issue in the educational system of some countries like Canada, Great Britain, and the U.S. Moreover,, it cites the basic components of an effective educational system for ESL students including the maintenance and the development of fluency and literacy in the mother tongue, the provision of training in linguistic awareness, and the provision of learnable inputs using the English language.

The International Baccalaureate® (IB) examination system has grown exponentially in the United States from 268 schools involved in 1999 to 1,090 schools in 2009. The fact that 49,100 students of a total of 87,800 students in 122 countries were from U.S. schools in 2009 has posed problems in strategic planning, assessment and training, the ability of the program to remain politically neutral, and the ability of the program to remain international and not take on an American persona. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores configurations of laptop use in a one-to-one environment. Guided by methodologies of the Concerns-Based Adoption Model of change, an Innovation Configuration Map (description of the multiple ways an innovation is implemented) of a 1:1 laptop program at a middle school was developed and analyzed. Three distinct configurations showed a range in fidelity of laptop integration at the school. A second finding showed a range of off-task behaviors as part of each configuration. We chose to more deeply explore if a relationship between the individual configurations and student off-task behaviors existed. We found that increased access to laptop computers does not always equate to increased student engagement. Implications of this study extend to teachers, school administrators, and teacher educators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article traces the converging influences on and development of private education in modern Western countries. The development of for-profit schools, so-called cram schools, and private tutoring in Japan and the U.S. are seen as driven by the market economy. In Germany the growth of International Baccalaureate education is noted. Prognoses for private and religious schooling in Germany are suggested.

The International Baccalaureate (IB) has undergone rapid growth and largely unhindered expansion over the past four decades. It has moved beyond its European nexus and the three IB programmes now have a relatively large presence in the USA, especially among public high schools. The IB gathered federal funding in 2003, and a concerted attack has subsequently emerged from a vast array of ultra-conservative agencies and commentators who denounce the curriculum as federal interference, and fundamentally 'un-American'. This paper explores the complex nature of this 'culture war' and reveals the key issues and protagonists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Students who are enrolled in academically challenging curricula face a multitude of stressors related to increased academic demands in addition to the developmental and biological challenges that are normative to adolescence. This article presents results of a qualitative study conducted to uncover the coping styles of students in a rigorous curriculum and determine which strategies are associated with varying levels of psychopathology (specifically, low and above-average anxiety). Forty-eight students from an International Baccalaureate (IB) diploma program participated in eight focus groups, in which participants were grouped by level of anxiety. Following transcription analysis using grounded theory methodology, researchers identified coping strategies and the frequency of these approaches; active problem-solving and avoidance of demands were reported most often among all IB students in this investigation. Students with above-average levels of anxiety discussed seeking social support more often, whereas students with low anxiety more frequently discussed avoiding demands, reducing one's workload, and seeking positive emotions. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background/Context: In the past 35 years, the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program has spread to 564 schools across the United States, with an ever-growing share of these schools located in the inner city. These American school sites comprise vastly different contexts than those in which the IB program began-the international schools of Europe. Purpose/Objective/Focus of Study: To understand the migration of the IB from international schools to inner-city schools, I examine both the intentions and the implementation of two of the most distinctive features of the program: its assessment system and its emphasis on promoting intercultural competence. Research Design: In this analytic essay, I rely on historical accounts to uncover the first principles that the founders sought to embed in the design of these two curricular components. Drawing on accounts written by journalists and educators about the implementation of the IB, I then consider implications of these first principles in the context of American schools generally, and inner-city schools in particular. Conclusions/Recommendations: I argue that although the growth of the IB may be due to the broad appeal of its first principles, as the IB continues to spread to new school sites, these first principles remain vulnerable, challenged by the constraints and conventions of the American schooling system. To remain true to its founding ideals and first principles, the program will need to continue to balance interests that in the American context often conflict, such as progressive and standards-based education, and access and prestige. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article assesses the educational progress of high school students in the U.S. According to the author, the significance for accelerating their educational progress seem to fall into broad categories. These include better preparation of students in college and to be more competitive in a global economy. He states that the Advanced Placement (AP) and the International Baccalaureate (IB) are likely to continue as leading options for students to gain college credit while still in high school. However, he asserts that few high schools are willing to incur the ire of parents and students who view AP/IB as learning essential.

Delves into the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Programme in the U.S. Growth of the IB Diploma Programme in the country; Principles of IB as stated in the mission statement of the International Baccalaureate Organization; Assumptions of admissions officers on a typical IB Diploma student.

Focuses on the importance of the Advanced Placement and the International Baccalaureate program on gifted education in the U.S. Background of the programs; Characteristic and structure of the program; Impact of the program on the achievement level of students.

Both personal narratives and research literature on gifted adolescents indicate that appropriate experiences during secondary school are crucial for the continued growth of such students. While the International Baccalaureate Organization does not regard its Diploma Program as a "gifted program, "a successfully implemented International Baccalaureate Diploma Program creates a school climate and culture that is conducive to the continued academic, cognitive, motivational, emotional, and social growth of a gifted adolescent. This article explores how the unique features of the [B Diploma Program enable the cultivation of this climate and culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses the importance of safety education in the United States. Need for qualified safety professionals; Examination of the appropriateness of major content topics in baccalaureate safety curricula. Lack of input from safety professionals regarding curriculum content; Need for a multidisciplinary safety curriculum; Lack of support for preparatory topics.