What is IB?

The International Baccalaureate (IB) program is found in over 1000 schools in 100 countries. Assignments are held to worldwide standards, and teachers are trained by the IB. Graduates of the liberal arts-based program may qualify for advanced standing at colleges and universities in North America and around the world.

Philosophy

The program of studies leading to the examinations for the International Baccalaureate diploma is designed to be comprehensive and demanding, yet available to qualified candidates throughout the world. Based on the pattern of no single country, it represents the desire of the founders to provide students of different linguistic, cultural and educational backgrounds with the intellectual, social and critical perspectives necessary for the adult world that lies ahead of them. The young adults of today are faced with a bewildering variety of choices; it is essential, therefore, that their academic training provide them with values and opportunities that will enable them to choose wisely. Learning how to learn has become as important as the learning of the disciplines themselves.

The IB program, offering in-depth study of three subjects at higher level and three at standard level, requires all participants to engage in the study of languages, sciences, mathematics, and humanities until the completion of their secondary schooling. It is a deliberate compromise between the preference for specialization in some countries and the emphasis on breadth often preferred in others.

The intent is that students should indeed learn how to learn, how to reach considered conclusions about man, his languages and literature, his ways in society and the scientific forces of his environment. The critical reflection is intended to extend also to the larger issue of intended to extend also to the larger issue of international awareness.

It is the goal of the International Baccalaureate to encourage students to be informed, to be tolerant, and to be willing to communicate readily with others. They should be able to do so on a range of topics about which they have already formed considered opinions as a result of having shared a common experience with other young adults around the world.

Mission

The educational philosophy of the organization is found in its mission statement adopted in 1996:
Through comprehensive and balanced curricula coupled with challenging assessments, the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO) aims to assist schools in their endeavors to develop the individual talents of young people and teach them to relate the experience of the classroom to the realities of the world outside. Beyond intellectual rigor and high academic standards, strong emphasis is placed on the ideals of international understanding and responsible citizenship, to the end that IB students may become critical and compassionate thinkers, lifelong learners and informed participants in local and world affairs, conscious of the shared humanity that binds all people together while respecting the variety of cultures and attitudes that makes for the richness of life.

Targeted Students

Motivated students who wish to prepare themselves in the most well-rounded and academically challenging program available. After completing the pre-International Baccalaureate program in the 9th and 10th grades, students in the International Baccalaureate 11th and 12th grade years test in six subjects, including testing fluently in a foreign language, and completing an extended essay (4,000 words), CAS, and taking a course called Theory of Knowledge (ToK). If students are successful, in addition to the University High School diploma, they will receive the prestigious and internationally recognized IB diploma.

The Diploma Program

The International Baccalaureate Diploma Program is a rigorous pre-university course of studies, leading to examinations, that meets the needs of highly motivated secondary school students between the ages of 16 and 19 years. Designed as a comprehensive two-year curriculum that allows its graduates to fulfill requirements of various national education systems, the diploma model is based on the pattern of no single country but incorporates the best elements of several.

Curriculum

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