Low-Income International Baccalaureate students to Benefit from Grant Intended to Increase College Attendance and Graduation

BETHESDA, Md., Nov. 7, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The International Baccalaureate (IB) received a $1.3 million grant from the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation to find interventions designed to increase the number of low-income students participating and succeeding in the IB Diploma Programme (DP). The IB has contributed an additional $300,000 to fund this project for a total of 1.6 million dollars.

Poverty remains the single most important indicator of whether a student will go to college, according to a study released by the National Student Clearinghouse, which examined data from more than 3.5 million high school graduates. The study found that College enrollment rates for students from low-income public high schools ranged from 47 percent to 58 percent. College enrollment rates for students from high-income schools ranged from 61 percent to 73 percent.

Drew Deutsch, Regional Director for IB Americas said, "The IB's Diploma Programme (DP) is a research-validated high school curriculum that has demonstrated a proven impact on success in university for all students regardless of their income." In an analysis of the postsecondary enrollment and graduation trends of DP students, SRI International (a nonprofit, independent research center) found that 88 percent of the students entering university with an IB Diploma earn a bachelors degree within 6 years, compared to 58 percent of students entering university without an IB Diploma. (Caspary, 2011)  Similarly, a 2010 analysis of academic performance of IB students entering the University of California system from 2000-2002 found that "…among families earning less than $40,000" graduation rates were "10 to 20 percentage points higher than the comparison group."  (IB Global Policy & Research Department, 2010)

Within the US, over 90 percent of IB Schools are public, and nearly half of these public schools are Title I eligible, including 43 percent of the US public schools offering the DP. Over the last five years, the number of low-income students participating in the DP in US public high schools has nearly doubled.

In response to the grant award, the IB launched the "Bridging the Equity Gap" project.

In a competitive application process, the IB selected five schools to participate in this initial three-year pilot project who will receive well over $75,000 in direct services toward the goal of aiming to increase the number of low-income students participating and succeeding in the IB Diploma Programme.

The following schools were chosen via a selective application process and were required to have a low-income  student population of at least 35 percent.

• Denton High School, Denton, Texas
• Eastridge High School, Rochester, New York
• Marietta High School, Marietta, Georgia
• Sequoia High School, Redwood City, California
• Sonora High School, La Habra, California

Selected schools will implement a model of services and supports to impact equity in their Diploma Programme. The model consists of five components: a framework to evaluate equity and excellence; consulting services to develop an action plan; coaching on the implementation of the plan; professional development for leadership teams, educators and counselors, and research and data analysis around equity. By the end of the project in 2016, the IB aims to significantly increase the number of low-income students enrolling in the DP and succeeding in university in each of the five pilot schools. 

About the IB:
Founded in 1968, the International Baccalaureate (IB) is a not-for-profit foundation, which offers four high quality and challenging education programmes for a worldwide community of schools. For more than 45 years, the IB programmes have gained a reputation for rigour and high academic standards, for preparing students for life in a globalized 21^st century and for helping to develop citizens who will create a better, more peaceful world. Currently, more than one million IB students attend over 3,700 schools in 147 countries.

SOURCE International Baccalaureate

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