Contact:
Trefor Davies, International Baccalaureate Diploma Program Coordinator.
The International Baccalaureate (IB) non-profit educational
foundation was first established in 1968, out of a desire to create a
challenging curriculum - easily transferable to different countries – for use
in international schools. IB has
been extremely attractive, growing quickly over the past four decades, and now
offers three separate programs for over 880,000 students of various ages in
3,083 schools across 139 countries.
Their stated goal is to help students “develop the intellectual,
personal, emotional and social skills to live, learn and work in a rapidly
globalizing world.” (IBO website)
The
Diploma Program, IB’s first and largest program, is what we offer at Brooklyn
Friends School. Designed for the
final two years of high school, the Diploma Program is held in very high regard
by colleges and universities. Since its introduction at BFS in 2007, IB courses now comprise the
majority of our junior and senior program.
Key Aspects of IB
As an overview, three important characteristics of IB to note are its:
- focus on critical thinking
instead of memorization,
- appreciation for the
development of the whole student,
- challenging and multi-faceted
assessment program.
The
first two are seamless matches with Brooklyn Friends School and Quaker
philosophy, and reinforce our goal to educate and draw out each student’s inner
light, thinking skills, and unique voice. As such, IB has been a natural fit in our school. The third piece – the assessment
program – helps to put these more abstract goals into practice, and ensures
that a BFS education is equal to that provided by any school, locally and
internationally.
IB’s
focus on critical thinking is a major distinction versus other advanced
academic programs. IB prioritizes
learning to think rather than memorization of content. IB describes their comprehensive goals
for learning in their IB Learner Profile,
a description of the type of students they hope to develop:
- Inquirers
- Knowledgeable
- Thinkers
- Communicators
- Principled
- Open-minded
- Caring
- Risk-takers
- Balanced
- Reflective
Our
IB Program Structure
Central to the design of our junior and senior IB program is
student choice: Students can opt to take individual IB courses as part of their
total course load, or students can choose to be part of the full Diploma
Program, where all of their courses are IB. Students in the Diploma Program aim to earn an IB diploma in
addition to their Brooklyn Friends diploma. Reasons for choosing IB include fantastic preparation for
the future, the core emphasis on deep understanding and critical thinking, greater
exposure to an international community, and tangible college-related benefits.
Our IB Courses
Generally, IB courses are two years in length, running for
both junior and senior years. In
each course, students take multiple, creative, IB assessments and receive a
score from IB (on a scale of 1-7) in addition to their regular BFS grades. Our IB courses, arranged in six
categories, are:
Primary Language: English
Secondary Language: French, Spanish, Latin
History: History of the Americas (11th grade),
20th Century World History (12th grade)
Science: Biology, Physics
Mathematics: Mathematics, Mathematical Studies
Arts: Visual Arts, Theatre, Dance
Diploma Program
Students who opt for the Diploma Program take six IB courses,
typically one from each category listed above. This challenging academic program will satisfy all BFS
graduation requirements. Diploma
students must meet additional core requirements as well, including an Extended
Essay (a sizeable, independent, research project) and the Theory of Knowledge
course (which gives students opportunity to reflect
upon and synthesize ideas from their main courses).
At this point, IB courses are the
majority of our offerings for 11th and 12th graders, and
participation has grown rapidly since IB’s introduction at BFS in 2007. Most students take many IB courses, and
roughly a quarter of our students are in the full Diploma Program. The choice between taking individual IB
course or the full Diploma Program is an important decision made in the spring
of the 10th grade year.
We have informational evening coffee hours to help families learn more
about IB and make the best possible personal decision.
For more detailed information about our IB program, including individual course descriptions, download the complete Brooklyn Friends IB Guide.
Please contact IB Coordinator Trefor Davies (tdavies@brooklynfriends.org) with any questions you might have regarding the program.