Parents Show Interest In IB Program

SEBRING - An International Baccalaureate course carries weight with its admissions committee, a letter from Harvard College states.

"Because we often do not know the quality of honors and dual-enrollment courses due to variation at different high schools and colleges, success in IB courses would be generally more meaningful to our Admissions Committee," Harvard Dean of Admissions William Fitzsimmons stated.

For Highlands County parents seeking challenging academics for their children, success means getting an International Baccalaureate (IB) diploma program started by August 2009.

About 250 people attended Monday evening's IB parent information forum at Hill-Gustat Middle School where Ed Vetter, principal of the IB School at Bartow High School, presented an overview of the IB diploma program.

"It's truly an investment in your child's education and the future of Sebring and the future of Highlands County and, yes, in the future of the world," Vetter said.

IB programs have very rigorous academics with very high expectations, he said. It not only looks at academics, but also looks at the education of the entire child.

The curriculum is not designed by educators in Florida or the United States Department of Education, Vetter said. It is designed by a committee of IB educators.

Students who complete an IB diploma are awarded up to 30 hours of college credit when they enter a state university in Florida.

The cost of an IB program includes $7,000 for the Part A application process and $7,000 for the Part B application, plus an annual IB fee of $8,500.

Training for each teacher costs $650 and student exam fees are about $650 per student for their junior and senior years. There will likely be equipment and textbook costs.

Vetter said the majority of IB coordinators that he has spoken with said their programs pay for themselves with academic reward money.

Responding to a question, Vetter said students will drop out of the program. From a class of 64 freshmen, Bartow High School's first IB graduating class had 27 students in 1999. The retention rate has improved as familiarity with the program has grown.

Amy Mahaffey, who has a daughter in seventh grade, said "it would be nice if they had it up and running by the time she is in ninth grade so they can start getting them prepared so by the time they are in 11th and 12th grade they can go into the IB program, which hopefully everyone will endorse.

"I think it's a great program."

Brian Lang, who has children in sixth and ninth grade, said. "I think it's a good thing, but the county needs to look into it further before they make any decisions; they don't want to go into it too quickly.

Parent Dianne Juve, who is spearheading the IB effort, said the turnout was better than she expected.

The school district recently formed an IB steering committee with educator and parent representation from all three high schools. School Board Chairman J. Ned Hancock is the school board liaison to the committee.

Five committee members attended an IB program orientation Dec. 2 in Tampa.

Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum Becky Fleck said the goal is to bring all of that information and answer all the questions that were not addressed Monday at a school board workshop in March.

"If the board decides to pursue this, then we will place our application before the deadline of May 2008," Fleck said.

The International Baccalaureate Organization founded in 1968, is a nonprofit educational foundation based in Geneva, Switzerland.