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Education Extra: Inquiring + Knowledgable + Caring = IB: Granite Bay High Wants to Be an International Baccalaureate School, a Program That Helps Students Learn on a Global Scale

Posted on: Friday, 2 June 2006, 21:00 CDT

By Kim Minugh, The Sacramento Bee, Calif.

Jun. 1--Granite Bay High School has done some soul-searching this year -- an intensive self-study of a top-notch school looking to be better.

"It has forced us to reconsider some of our core values and to really identify what it is we aspire to be," Principal Ron Severson said.

What Granite Bay aspires to be is an International Baccalaureate school.

After a year of studying the program, officials in the Roseville Joint Union High School District are awaiting board approval to continue training staff at Granite Bay and Oakmont high schools and apply to the International Baccalaureate Organization in Switzerland. The board is expected to make a decision Tuesday.

The IBO was created in 1968 to provide continuity for the children of European diplomats who moved among schools in different countries. Now its mission is to "develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people" and to encourage "active, compassionate and lifelong learners who understand that other people, with their differences, can also be right."

IB students take courses in six core disciplines, including language, Individuals and Societies, math and science, during their junior and senior years. They also must take an interdisciplinary Theory of Knowledge class, write an extended essay, participate in community service and complete rigorous end-of-course exams to earn an IB degree -- in addition to their high school diploma.

Educators say the IB program prepares students for the most demanding college settings and helps them get accepted to universities. But chief among the program's appeal for many is its emphasis on critical thinking and its global perspective.

"Granite Bay's students are not going to be competing with kids from Del Oro and Rocklin. They're going to be competing with students from (all over the world)," Severson said. "IB's just a piece of this bigger picture for us -- how do we help prepare our kids for this bigger, incredible global economy?"

But for all the praise, IB programs still are rare in the Sacramento region.

The curriculum for high school students -- called the Diploma Program -- is found in more than 1,400 schools around the world; 600 of those campuses are in North America. In the Sacramento area, only Mira Loma High School in Arden Arcade and Luther Burbank High School in south Sacramento offer IB programs.

So why don't more schools offer a program with such cachet?

The short answer likely is cost.

Funding a program that typically requires specific course sections, various participation fees and extensive staff training -- as well as significant staff time -- can be difficult in budget-strapped times, educators say.

"It's intimidating; it's costly. You have to find out how to fund something at this level," Severson said.

Mira Loma's IB program -- in its 17th year -- is projected to cost more than $130,000 this year for its 297 students. Among the costs: membership in the IBO and substitutes while IB teachers continue their training or proctor intensive exams of their students.

Mira Loma receives $31,000 from the San Juan Unified School District to operate IB. The rest of the costs are covered by $64,000 in federal and state money and $56,500 from the school's IB Parent Organization.

Unless financially unable, parents are required to shoulder the costs of their children's end-of-course IB tests, which run about $140 each.

Administrators say they're grateful for the generous parent support but aware of the inherent risk in accepting money from parents.

"You have to be careful who pays for it," said coordinator David Mathews. "What IB can become is a private program operating inside a public school."

Some IB programs have been considered too exclusive. Though Mira Loma and other IB schools have tried to make sure IB is accessible to as many students as possible, educators say it isn't a program for all students.

Besides intellectual ability, Mathews says students should be self-motivated and need support at home -- both financial and emotional.

Mira Loma IB students come from five counties in the region and must fill out an application and submit their standardized test scores and past grades. They often would be the top students at their home school, Mathews said. But at Mira Loma, he said, the competition can be fierce.

"There's an ego issue that has to be assuaged, in a way," said Guy Roberts, Mira Loma's coordinator for the Middle Years Program, IB's predecessor to the Diploma Program. "You could be ranked 85th (out of 100) at this school and still have above a 4.0 (grade point average).

"Giving them their first B on an assignment is devastating," he said. "I have kids cry in class."

Educators say IB students need the maturity not only to manage their time effectively, but to tackle complex and sometimes troubling concepts in the curriculum.

Mira Loma's juniors have a summer reading list for the Theory of Knowledge class they're required to take next year. Several texts come with teacher disclaimers about the difficult nature of the subjects. Like "Genie: A Scientific Tragedy" by Russ Rymer: "A story of horrendous child abuse," students are warned.

In addition, Mathews said IB diploma students don't have much time for extracurricular commitments. Some play musical instruments, but rarely for school groups.

"That's a kid that probably doesn't have a job in high school," he said. "That's a kid whose hobbies are also academic."

In other words, "super-nerds," Roberts said. "I love 'em."

Mira Loma junior Edward Burns fits well within the IB structure. A laid-back 17-year-old with shaggy hair, he said he followed his older sister into the program. He loves it; she hated it.

"She was in a very intense, very competitive group. That was not her style," said Burns, a Granite Bay resident. "I thought I could do it. I don't have the same personality."

That doesn't mean Burns hasn't experienced the same competitive environment. Some of his peers take IB "very, very, very seriously -- almost too seriously," he said. The key to surviving, Burns said, is not letting it consume you. "Some people realize it's not the only thing in life."

But Burns and several of his peers say their senior year likely will be more taxing. This fall, they'll tackle a full IB course load while beginning a 4,000-word essay, due in January, and completing college applications.

Check back with him then, Burns said, and he might be a bit more edgy. But he and his teachers hope the payoff will come later: when Burns is an engineering student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology -- that's his goal -- and maybe even later, when he begins competing in a global economy.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Sacramento Bee, Calif.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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Source: The Sacramento Bee

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