The International Baccalaureate,and Concurrent Enrollment

Abstract

This is the third in a series of articles*

Reprinted with kind permission of G/C/T.

reporting on the Richardson Study, a national investigation of educational programs and practices designed for high ability students, including the gifted and talented. The first article treated continuous progress and non-graded schools. The second focused on Advanced Placement as a form of honors. Here we report on the International Baccalaureate Program as another form of honors, and on concurrent enrollment in high school and college. Concurrent enrollment can be regarded as a part-time early entrance to college.

The various programs and approaches to meeting the needs of able learners are by no means mutually exclusive. It would be appropriate for a school or a district to incorporate a number of the options examined in this series in a comprehensive program for excellence in education. A non-graded elementary or middle school might well feed a secondary school offering Advanced Placement courses: some high schools combine their Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate classes and allow the students to select the examinations they will take.

The Richardson Study is based in part on a national survey sent in the spring of 1982 to over fifteen thousand schools and districts, public and private, throughout the nation. In addition, I explored the topics presented here by visiting schools and by inviting six persons to meet with the Richardson Study Committee to discuss the topics from their separate perspectives. Three are actively involved with the International Baccalaureate (IB), three equally committed to concurrent enrollment.