The Expansion of the International Baccalaureate in the U.S.: Is it Mission Accomplished for this Popular Peace Education Program?
Start Date
10-2-2021 5:00 PM
End Date
10-2-2021 6:15 PM
Proposal Type
Presentation
Proposal Description
The International Baccalaureate (IB) program has expanded rapidly globally. What started as a program addressing the educational needs of international children attending international schools has now expanded to a widely recognized and adopted program found across 158 countries in over 5,280 schools (IBO, 2020). As a growing number of schools adopt the IB, maintaining fidelity to its original goals becomes an issue. The question that this presentation addresses is: What are the motivation and policies that have expanded the IB program in the U.S., and how do those policies and intentions align with the IB's peace-oriented mission of developing "inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect," if at all? In examining this question, the case of the growth of the IB in Florida will be used. A consideration of this question demands a careful study of the incentives embedded in policy to encourage participation in the IB program. Clearly, incentives are working. Florida, which is the case this study will explore, has one of the highest number of IB schools in the nation, and it has a robust system of policy incentives that support the expansion of the IB. The specific incentives offered to students, teachers and schools appear to be salient with the policy aims of expanding student participation and success in the IB. However, it appears that the mission of IB does not seem to be aligned with its implementation in the US, and in Florida in particular. The conclusion, then, is that states, including Florida, have interpreted the IB program markedly differently than its original intention, of cultivating "inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect", which aligns with the goals of peace education.
The Expansion of the International Baccalaureate in the U.S.: Is it Mission Accomplished for this Popular Peace Education Program?
The International Baccalaureate (IB) program has expanded rapidly globally. What started as a program addressing the educational needs of international children attending international schools has now expanded to a widely recognized and adopted program found across 158 countries in over 5,280 schools (IBO, 2020). As a growing number of schools adopt the IB, maintaining fidelity to its original goals becomes an issue. The question that this presentation addresses is: What are the motivation and policies that have expanded the IB program in the U.S., and how do those policies and intentions align with the IB's peace-oriented mission of developing "inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect," if at all? In examining this question, the case of the growth of the IB in Florida will be used. A consideration of this question demands a careful study of the incentives embedded in policy to encourage participation in the IB program. Clearly, incentives are working. Florida, which is the case this study will explore, has one of the highest number of IB schools in the nation, and it has a robust system of policy incentives that support the expansion of the IB. The specific incentives offered to students, teachers and schools appear to be salient with the policy aims of expanding student participation and success in the IB. However, it appears that the mission of IB does not seem to be aligned with its implementation in the US, and in Florida in particular. The conclusion, then, is that states, including Florida, have interpreted the IB program markedly differently than its original intention, of cultivating "inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect", which aligns with the goals of peace education.