To IB or not to IB, Neil H Donahue poses this question in an in-depth article on Aacu.org. Donahue is vice provost for undergraduate academic affairs and professor of German and Comparative Literature at Hofstra University.
Donahue muses about whether the IB is “some strange beast,” and asks “what is this complex curriculum worth in American higher education? What’s the exchange rate, so to speak, of this foreign educational currency?”
He suggests that while some in the US remain unfamiliar and perhaps perplexed by the IB Diploma Programme (DP), “the programme has also continued to grow and exert pressure on American higher education, specifically on college and university admissions, by producing outstanding students who are well prepared for college-level work and who seek credit on a par with that awarded for participation in the Advanced Placement (AP) program.”
Donahue has completed a review of the IB curricula with colleagues at his university over several years, and has determined course credit equivalencies, and how curriculum content relates to his department’s own area of study.
In light of this, Donahue recognizes the commitment that higher education establishments are making in order to address and align with the growing momentum of the IB in school districts across the US.
Donahue looks at the different policies and approaches to awarding college credit—or not, as the case may be—across the US.
Read the full article on aacu.org.
