For those who really want to LEARN about IB -
For the record - IB was implemented at George Mason over 25 years ago.
Their population (from the internet, not validated) are
76% white
11% asian/pacific islander
8% hispanic
4% black
SAT scores -
Math 2006 577 2007 587
Critical reading 2006 568 2007 586
Writing 2006 564 2007 564
Here is an article from the Falls Church Free Press about the anniversary of the program.
http://www.fcnp.com/539/ib.htm
From the article -
"Early on, though a number of students took IB classes very few actually attempted to proceed to achieve an IB diploma. After two years, only one student, Joshua Scharff, had taken all the required courses necessary to receive his IB diploma.
A main limiting factor was the narrow range of IB courses being taught at Mason. In order to get an IB diploma a student must complete three higher level courses, consisting of two complete years worth of study, and three lower level courses, a single year for each course. In the early days of IB at George Mason only six subjects were being taught in IB, so unless those specific six subjects all appealed to a student, it was impossible to earn an IB diploma.
Over the years the school has added to its course selection. Now it offers over 40 different IB courses, including computer science, business, and the arts.
Snee said that it wasn’t until the second half of the 1980s that the IB program at George Mason would hit its stride. By that time Snee had become the IB coordinator for George Mason and started adding more classes.
They had also, by that time, begun offering the classes to the general school population, rather than specifically to the top students, something that would prove invaluable for quality of education in the school.
Snee said that even from the start he noticed that as he began teaching IB courses, it affected every class he taught, whether IB or standard. Since IB can only be taken in the junior and senior years, he was teaching all his first and second year classes preparing them for the IB program, whether they actually planned to take the elevated level or not.
And it wasn’t just about pushing the students harder. It was about changing the focus of the courses. As a Spanish teacher, Snee said, IB required that he teach not only the language but also the literature, culture and history of the countries that spoke those languages.
As a result he discovered that more and more he had to teach not only about the words but about the world that created those words.
This new way of teaching ultimately transferred to all his classes, not just his IB courses. He said that the same was true for the teachers in other subject areas, such as English, history and science.
“It really was an example of a rising tide lifting all ships,” Snee said."