The International Baccalaureate

To celebrate its 50th anniversary, the IB proudly invite you to read about the first half-century of its ongoing story.

This is a personal history of the International Baccalaureate (IB) and the United World Colleges (UWC), by educator Alec Peterson, who played a pioneering role in forming them. There are two new chapters providing updates on the progress of the IB and UWC and a list of all IB and UWC schools.

The need to reform secondary-level education to prepare young people for new economic realities has emerged. In an age of constant career changing, cognitive flexibility is a top-priority skill to develop in today’s students. This shift requires methodological innovation that enhances children’s natural abilities as well as updated, focused teacher education in order to prepare them adequately. Educational Reform and International Baccalaureate in the Asia-Pacific is a collection of innovative research that examines the development and implementation of IB curricula. Highlighting a wide range of topics including critical thinking, student evaluation, and teacher training, this book is ideally designed for educators, curriculum developers, instructional designers, administrative officials, policymakers, researchers, academicians, and students.

Recognized by universities throughout the world, the International Baccalaureate (IB) is a college entrance examination that students can take in any country. A school that adopts the IB curriculum ensures that its academics are brought up to international standards. Over 500 U.S. high schools currently participate in the International Baccalaureate program. As the IB concept gains ground with students, parents, and teachers in North America, Supertest tells two illuminating stories: how the IB program came to be and eventually reached the United States, and how it came to be implemented at Mount Vernon High in Alexandria, VA. The book provides insight into how ideas first conceived by a small group of educators in Switzerland eventually helped improve a typical American public school.

Introducing a balanced look at the experience of implementing and teaching the increasingly respected qualification, the International Baccalaureate, this book is a rich resource for all teachers, school leaders and managers involved with or considering the qualification.

This book takes a fresh look at programs for advanced studies for high school students in the United States, with a particular focus on the Advanced Placement and the International Baccalaureate programs, and asks how advanced studies can be significantly improved in general. It also examines two of the core issues surrounding these programs: they can have a profound impact on other components of the education system and participation in the programs has become key to admission at selective institutions of higher education. By looking at what could enhance the quality of high school advanced study programs as well as what precedes and comes after these programs, this report provides teachers, parents, curriculum developers, administrators, college science and mathematics faculty, and the educational research community with a detailed assessment that can be used to guide change within advanced study programs.

Many school districts around the world are considering the adoption of K-12 International Baccalaureate Programmes. Clearly, when looking at changes of this magnitude, it is useful to evaluate other schools and school districts that have implemented similar programs. What exactly are the strengths and weaknesses of a K-12 International Baccalaureate Programme? As an educator and parent, I wanted to know how IB could affect schools. So I undertook a study to determine the academic, economic, political, cultural, and physical impact an International Baccalaureate programme has on a school.

The International Baccalaureate Diploma Program is developing a worldwide presence with 100,000 students undertaking it each year. More than 1,100 schools now offer the DP in the IB Americas region. Notwithstanding that growth, very little has been written about the library and the IBDP, whether research-based or offering accounts of good practice. --

To celebrate its 50th anniversary, the IB proudly invites you to read about the first half-century of its ongoing story. Written by a series of significant figureheads and stakeholders, this book describes – and celebrates – the ways in which the IB has seized the opportunity not only to address the need for an internationally recognized certification of educational achievement, but also to frame a global vision for values-based learning that improves the prospects for a better and more peaceful world. Contributors: Carolyn Adams; Sir John Daniel; Judith Fabian; Howard Gardner; Laura Gardner; Jenny Gillett; Matt Glanville; Judith Guy; Robert Harrison; Gareth Hegarty; Ian Hill; Carol Inugai-Dixon; Siva Kumari; Andrew Macdonald; Andrew Maclehose; Pilar Quezzaire; Angela Riviere; Dominic Robeau; George Rupp; HRH Princess Sarvath El Hassan of Jordan; Anthony Tait; Nicholas Tate; George Walker.

Volume 4: Dr Ian Hill, Deputy Director General of the IB, charts the history of the organisation and the goal to create, develop and implement a truly international curriculum and qualification.