FAQ

How will standards help higher education understand the IB program?

When an IB student applies to a U.S. college or university, admissions officers attempt to evaluate college preparedness by examining the student's high school coursework. However, the high school transcript presents information on course titles only. Little is revealed about what occurs in those classes and whether they are more demanding than other courses that students not in an IB Programme course of study may be taking.

One way to establish challenge level is to align the IB courses with state and national standards. This builds the content of courses and the challenge level at which the course is taught. Each of the 50 states has formed educational standards that drive the curriculum and assessments in the state. These state-level standards can be aligned with those from other states as well as with standards developed by national U.S. standards setting groups, such as those from the American Diploma Project (ADP), the Standards for Success Project, and the College Board.

The IB Programme is in the unusual position of having a standardized curriculum that helps reduce variance among courses, but not having a uniform set of standards indicating what occurs in the courses. Students who attend IB schools know that they will graduate with skills similar to those of any other IB students. In fact, IB students have a certain "shorthand" they use when talking with one another about their program of study, which they share regardless of where they studied the IB curriculum.

How does the IB maintain consistency in its curriculum?

The IB organization maintains curricular consistency through a variety of means. Curriculum development or modification originates from The International Baccalaureate Curriculum and Assessment Centre (IBCA) in Cardiff, Wales. Most of the staff at the IBCA are former IB teachers who work in consultation with current IB teachers. Curriculum review committees recommend changes in existing courses as well as creating new curricula. The IB then employs an extensive process to allow teachers to review online versions of the proposed curricula displayed on a secure website. This process ensures that the IBCA gathers extensive comments and suggestions from classroom-based instructors on the proposed curricula prior to IBCA's publication of them.¹

What are the potential applications of this study?

The draft IB standards and the results of the alignment analysis can be shared with state-level departments of education, colleges, and universities in the U.S. primarily in order to garner further support for IB schools and students. States may allow IB tests to take the place of state exams, and postsecondary institutions may be better able to determine how to utilize IB courses in admissions, placement, and college credit decisions.

¹From Center for Education, 2002. Learning and understanding: Improving advanced study of mathematics and science in U.S. high schools.