The first Anne Arundel County graduates of the International Baccalaureate programs held their own on the spring diploma exams, matching or besting their peers on at least half of the tests, according to newly released scores.
Students at Annapolis and Old Mill high schools excelled in on the art and music tests, but struggled in science, results that satisfied school officials preparing for the rigorous college-preparatory program to expand to middle schools.
Forty-three of the 54 students at Annapolis High School who took the diploma exam passed the IB program's complex matrix of score combinations, compared to 28 of the 35 IB students at Old Mill who took the exam. In most cases, Annapolis High students scored higher on final exams than Old Mill students.
"We're very proud of them," said Nancy Heiles, the IB coordinator at Annapolis High. "We put a lot of time and energy in the program, and it's just paid off."
At Old Mill, the IB program has helped lift students' performance and improved teaching methods, said principal George Kispert.
"They [IB students] really reshaped our school culture," he said.
The IB program, which emphasizes critical thinking over memorization, started in 1968 in Geneva as a way to provide a standard curriculum and diploma to secondary school students that would be recognized worldwide by universities' admission departments.
It has recently been gaining popularity in the U.S., expanding from 292 schools in 2001 to 462 schools in 2006.
Annapolis, Old Mill and Meade high schools are the only schools with IB programs in Anne Arundel County. Meade's program started last year for ninth-graders so students have not taken the diploma exams. The school will add a tenth-grade section this fall.
That is when the Anne Arundel County public school system will also add the IB Middle Years program for sixth graders this fall at Annapolis, Old Mill and MacArthur middle schools, which feed into the IB high schools The program will expand to seventh and eighth graders over the next two years.
To pass the IB program, students have to take six core subjects, including a foreign language. They also must write the equivalent of a college-level thesis, take a theory course that teaches the relationship between different subjects, and do a 150-hour, volunteer service project.
On the diploma exams, the IB organization grades students on a point system of 1 to 7 with seven being the highest score.
Annapolis High students matched or scored better than the worldwide average in eight of 15 courses offered. Students scored highest in French and music, with average scores of 5.41 and 5.5, respectively. They scored lowest in biology and physics, with scores of 3.67 and 3.48, respectively. National scores were not available.
At Old Mill, students matched or outperformed their peers worldwide in eight of 14 courses offered. Students did best in art and music composition, with scores of 6 on both, and were weakest in physics and English, with a 3.53 and 4.38, respectively.
Although students scored well in the core subject testing, students at Annapolis High did not do as well on the thesis and in the theory of knowledge course. Because those elements are not weighted as heavily as the core subjects are, they did not affect the overall graduation rate. On the thesis, 29 students or 54 percent received a D or an E, which is considered a failing grade. In the theory of knowledge course, half the class received a C and a third received a D.
Old Mill's students did similarly on the essay portion: half earned a D or an E. Old Mill students did better than Annapolis High students in the theory of knowledge course, with more than half receiving an A or a B. A third of the class received a C.
Despite the staff shuffle at Annapolis High this spring, Principal Donald Lilley said, the school's IB program should be on track for this fall. Because of poor performance on state assessment tests, all teachers at the school had to reapply for their jobs. Half of the 20 IB teachers left.
The high school has hired six new teachers and moved four teachers into the IB program, Heiles said. All 10 are receiving IB training so they will be qualified to teach this fall, Lilley said.