International Baccalaureate Programme
IB Mission Statement
The International Baccalaureate® aims to develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect.
To this end the organization works with schools, governments and international organizations to develop challenging programmes of international education and rigorous assessment.
These programmes encourage students across the world to become active, compassionate and lifelong learners who understand that other people, with their differences, can also be right.
Brockton High School partners with the International Baccalaureate Organization as an authorized Diploma Programme school. The International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Programme is a challenging two-year curriculum, primarily aimed at students aged 16 to 19. It leads to a qualification that is widely recognized by the world's leading universities.
Students learn more than a collection of facts. The Diploma Programme prepares students for university and encourages them to …
- ask challenging questions
- learn how to learn
- develop a strong sense of their own identity and culture
- develop the ability to communicate with and understand people from other countries and cultures.
Along with completing various internal and external assessments, these students sit for exams in May in order to earn either an internationally recognized course certificate or a full IB diploma.
In addition to taking academic courses that are both rigorous and relevant, the students who are enrolled in the full Diploma Programme are also required to participate in the Creativity, Action, and Service (CAS) component of the IB Programme. Through this component, students are able to further develop themselves as well rounded, globally minded young men and women.
Those who are directly involved in the organization and facilitation of the IB Programme at BHS this year are listed to the right as is their contact information.
IB provides a pathway to university and employment. Learn more here.
Top Ten Things to Know About the Program:
- IB is a program; not a level.
- You become part of the BHS IBDP program community when you take any BHS IBDP course.
- IB has CORE components (Extended Essay, Creativity/Activity/Service, Theory of Knowledge).
- IB emphasizes Approaches to Teaching and Learning for both teachers and students.
- The program is two years (11th-12th grade), not one year.
- The assessments have a wider variety in IB—spoken and written, and written assessments are not only exams at the end.
- The focus is on student-centered learning with the teacher as a knowledgeable guide.
- In IB, you will be exposed consistently to opportunities to develop your IB Learner Profile Traits such as being open-minded, inquisitive, reflective, and caring.
- IB emphasizes motivation, not memorization.
- In BHS IBDP, students learn to learn.
There is extensive research into the efficacy and impact of the IB program, which is available here.