The Bow School Board’s IB programme receives an avalanche of criticism. Residents and elected officials have called the International Baccalaureate, or IB, program “unnecessary”, “a waste of money” and even “un-American.”
Global perspective imbues curriculum
When Bow Superintendent Dean Cascadden started looking into a new program for advanced students at Bow High School, he thought the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme would be a “slam dunk.” He read about the program’s reputation as “the best thing since sliced bread,” he said.
But five months after Principal John House-Myers first presented the program to the school board, the board and the administration face an avalanche of criticism. Residents and elected officials have called the International Baccalaureate, or IB, program unnecessary, a waste of money and even un-American. “I can see people not agreeing with programs, but the vehemence, how strongly they feel about it is surprising,” Cascadden said.
School Board Chairwoman Pansy Bloomfield said IB was first brought to the board’s attention about two years ago as a way to challenge advanced students. “We do have a group of students who are beyond proficient, and sometimes those students don’t get as much challenge as they need within the current classroom structure,” she said.
The international program is run by an organization in Geneva, Switzerland, and administered in schools in 126 countries. Cascadden said it was created in response to Americans working overseas who would return to the U.S. and have colleges question the standards of the international schools their children attended.
Today, 613 U.S. schools offer the high school diploma program, according to the organization’s website. But according to Kenneth Relihan of the state Department of Education, they do not include a single high school in Northern New England. Only one high school in New Hampshire, Bedford High School, is authorized as an IB School. It has not yet started implementing the program. One other school, in Gilford, is discussing IB. If Bow adopts the program, it would start in September 2009.
“IB is the thing you do after AP is no longer good enough,” Relihan said. “The reality is, there aren’t that many schools in Northern New England that are at that point where they’re saying AP, that’s passé, everyone’s doing that.”
Relihan said IB is more common in large, urban schools, schools in the South that have more financial support and are trying to boost their reputations, and in some private and charter schools. According to a Newsweek article cited by the school district, 40 of the top 100 high schools in the country are IB schools.
The two-year program is for juniors and seniors, and students graduate with an IB diploma in addition to a regular high school diploma. Students must take classes in six subject areas, three of which are higher-level courses. At the end of the courses, students take an IB test. Students are required to take a core course called “theory of knowledge,” which analyzes how people think in different disciplines. They must write an extended essay and complete a sports, art and community service requirement.
The goal of the program is to teach students to understand different ways of thinking about a subject, across cultures and disciplines.
“It’s an understanding of how the American worldview fits with other worldviews,” Cascadden said.
The district is still in the application process to become an IB school and has not worked out all the details of implementation. But Cascadden said he anticipates that any student could take an IB course and that the student would then be able to take either the IB or AP test, or just receive regular high school credit. Teachers would be professionally trained and would need to teach to all levels in the classroom.
Much of the local opposition to the program has been budgetary.
“In the economic times we’re sitting in now, to spend any money on a new program is not being fiscally responsible,” said Cindy Martin, a parent and member of the Bow budget committee. “We’re going to start taxing people out of their homes in Bow.”
So far, Cascadden said the district has spent about $19,000 on IB-related expenses. In a five-year budget, he projected spending $70,000 next year on IB, while the application is being finalized, for coordination and professional development. In 2009, he estimates that 25 students would enroll and that the program would cost about $110,000. The figures would increase to 150 students by 2012-2013, at a cost of $178,000. The biggest expense would be for extra staff to coordinate the program. Both Cascadden and Martin acknowledged that exact costs are difficult to define. For example, the district does not track expenses like the cost of a substitute when a teacher is at training.
Martin said such expenses would not support the entire student body.
“A lot of costs are thrown into these things that only benefit a limited number of students,” Martin said.
Bloomfield responded that the school board is always exploring new programs and that money spent on IB would otherwise be spent on other programs.
“The moment we stop looking at new programs, stop improving instruction, students will stop learning at the rate they’re learning,” she said. “All education in Bow costs us money. . . . Does it make sense to pull one piece of education out?”
She said the community does not have a referendum to decide what reading or math program to use.
Some residents said they believe the program is unnecessary, since the school already offers AP courses.
“We can save money and enhance the AP program,” said Selectman Tom Keane. “It’s $130,000 that we can certainly use in other areas to shore up our educational system.”
Compared with AP, in which a school can implement just one or two courses, IB requires a larger institutional commitment, an application process and a staff coordinator.
Bloomfield said IB requires different skills. “AP is very knowledge-based,” she said. “AP courses offer ‘how’; IB courses offer ‘why,’ although the same content is covered in both.”
Parent Janice Brunelle said she would rather see students taking college-level classes. With IB, she said, “You’re beholden to an outside group.”
She said she is concerned that an outside organization will set standards for the school, then require it to spend more money.
Parent Lois Davis said she would rather see money spent on the basics.
“Why don’t we stick to basics and do other programs later?” she said. “If I have an advanced student who’s not being challenged, there’re ways that me, as a parent, can pursue that. For my child to test out of college courses on taxpayer dollars doesn’t sit well with me.”
Several residents were also upset that the board started the application without community input.
Van Mosher, who is running for school board on an anti-IB platform, said in an e-mail that he opposes it for several reasons: “The loss of local control where 76 percent of a student grade is graded outside the Bow School District where the individual student has no individual recourse if they don’t feel their grade was fair, and the elitist nature of the program where a few could benefit at the cost of the many.”
He said he is frustrated that the school board said it would cut some sports and activities if its budget did not pass but that it is going ahead with IB.
An anonymous website set up by the Bow Citizens Coalition, a concerned taxpayers group, directs residents to several articles on IB, including two by Allen Quist, a volunteer for the Minnesota-based nonprofit EdWatch. According to its website, EdWatch is an advocate of nonpublic education “without government interference” that teaches the “Judeo-Christian worldview” and “reinforces the sovereignty of the United States and American exceptionalism.”
Quist, an adjunct professor of political science at Bethany Lutheran College, criticizes the message of IB, which he said has beliefs and values that are “contrary to the American creed.” He said the program endorses the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which does not subscribe to the same values as the U.S. Constitution and Declaration of Independence.
“Why do schools want to adopt a U.N. education program instead of a local, state or national program?” he said. IB is not under United Nations auspices but has worked closely with the U.N. and UNESCO.
Bloomfield said she is concerned that the Bow Citizens Coalition is posting the links of what she calls “an extremist group.”
“They use tactics meant to frighten people,” she said. “Most of the misinformation on EdWatch is slanted and misinterpreted.”
She criticized the Bow group for remaining anonymous. “People jump up and down and write letters to the editor. Do they come to school board meetings to speak to the school board? No.”
An informational meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m. April 10 at Bow High School.
Source: Concord Monitor