Posts tagged with enriched.

Enriched programs: right for your child?

Kathy Dobson, May 19, 2009 at 2:21 PM

When it comes to university, it's never too early to start planning for success.

The choice between academic and applied courses in high school is only the first step. Once your child is on the path to university, what tools and options are available to help prepare them for that goal?

Because for some students, the high school-university jump is a complete culture shock.

Suddenly, they have to juggle five classes instead of four. A semester is compressed into 12 concentrated weeks instead of five months.

Depending on which degree they're pursuing, they might have several tutorials and labs.

With the Advanced Placement (AP) program, students can ease into the higher academic demands and stress of university - while still in high school. There are 37 AP courses to choose from, including calculus, chemistry, computer science, music theory, art history, and Chinese language and culture. Because the course demands are comparable to university level courses, the program is an internationally recognized standard of academic excellence. AP students may also be granted advanced placement or credit at universities.

My two oldest, Jenny and Scott, were shocked by the difference in pace between high school and university. They were both excellent students in high school, disciplined about homework and assignments, with great GPAs. Yet their first semester at the University of Waterloo had them both scrambling for a while just to catch up.

I still remember their amazement at how much was covered in just the first two weeks of classes. The first week of physics lectures covered everything they had learned from grades 9 to 12.

Although offered in 510 Canadian high schools, with more than 13,000 Canadian students enrolled in 2008, it isn't available yet in the Cornwall area where my kids attended high school (except for one semester). I wish it had been. For my two oldest, I think it would have been a good fit.

Instead of feeling overwhelmed by the course load during their first semester, the pace would have felt familiar. And if they had been able to make use of transfer credits, their course load could have been reduced from five classes a semester to four - a huge help for such a challenging transition.

Last week I wrote about the International Baccalaureate (IB) Program, which is often described as being a "passport" to post-secondary education. So how is AP different from IB?

Both offer an enriched academic experience for your child. Both can result in larger entrance scholarships for university. (And both are two-letter acronyms.)

The main difference: flexibility.

Whereas IB is a rigorous, all-encompassing specific and rigid curriculum, AP can be tailored to your child's individual interests and academic strengths.

IB = rigorous curriculum

AP = individually tailored curriculum

Both programs demand discipline, a strong work ethic, and above average study habits.

Unlike my two oldest, my 13-year-old son, David, does have the options of IB and AP available to him. Both programs are offered where we live now, in Kitchener. But I’m still not sure what would be in his best interest. These programs mean a level of commitment not all kids are prepared or able to make. David doesn't seem interested in either program at the moment.

As a parent, how do you decide which program, if either, is best suited for your child? Our ambitions for our children's academic future shouldn't play a leading role when it comes to making these kinds of decisions. In order to truly succeed in the AP or IB program, a student has to want to be involved and ready to make the enormous commitment that both programs require.

When it comes to my son David, I'm still not sure which path he'll ultimately choose. Just like the IB program, AP is a wonderful opportunity. For the right student.

So what's the first step in deciding which program is right for your child? Perhaps the realization that neither is a good fit. And that's okay, too.

Tagged with high, school, enriched, academic, programs, placement, curriculum, advanced | Comments (11) |

Why more schools should offer the IB

Kathy Dobson, May 8, 2009 at 4:18 PM

Imagine if there was a fast-track to university that not only offered your child bigger scholarships, advanced standing in universities around the world, and an enriched academic experience, but was also offered within the publicly funded school system.

With the International Baccalaureate (IB) program, you don't have to imagine.

The program is a pre-university educational program that doesn't just set your child up for future academic success. According to the IB Organization, it also fosters critical thinking skills and encourages young people to "help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect."

The only problem: you might not live anywhere near a school that offers the IB program.

There are just 284 IB schools spread across Canada, with at least one in every province. But the vast majority are in just a handful, with 123 in Quebec, 60 in Ontario, 40 in Alberta, and 29 in British Columbia.

The program was started in 1968 as a non-profit educational foundation by a group of teachers at the International School of Geneva. Although the first IB schools were predominantly private international schools, today over half of all IB programs are offered in publically funded schools.

The IB diploma is often touted as a "passport" to higher education. IB students routinely gain admission to some of the most famous and respected universities in the world, including Harvard and Oxford.

Closer to home, most Canadian universities offer special recognition of the IB Diploma Program. Dalhousie, UBC, and the University of Waterloo all have additional scholarships for IB grads, just to name a few.

Students with the IB Diploma can also attain early admissions, and/or university credit for their first year from their advanced IB classes. In other words, the International Baccalaureate program sends your child to the front of the university acceptance line.

Of course, assuming you can overcome the largest and most critical hurdle - finding an IB school in your area- budging ahead of that line will cost you.

According to the IB Program website, the 2008-09 fees for the Diploma Programme (for students at the high school level) include a $154 student registration fee, plus a $105 subject fee.

But those fees might actually be a pretty solid investment. A student can apply their IB classes to their undergraduate degree, potentially saving a year's worth or more of university tuition.

Quite a hefty savings.

However, that savings doesn't come easily. IB students really earn those credits.

The IB program is an ambitious curriculum of academics, community service, and physical activity. Students are required to complete a 4,000-word thesis paper, 50 hours of community service, and 50 hours of physical activity before graduation.

The program emphasizes a liberal arts education, offering courses with advanced material in the humanities, math, computers, the arts, experimental sciences, a second language, and English. Students are able to pursue their interests while also learning how to assess information critically for bias and perspectives.

Students take three courses at a higher level, representing 240 classroom hours, and three others at a standard level of 150 classroom hours.

Yes, it's a demanding program that pushes students to levels of academic excellence far beyond most- if not all- publically funded secondary school diploma standards.

According to its mission statement, the IB program endeavors to create a better world through education.

"These programmes encourage students across the world to become active, compassionate and lifelong learners who understand that other people, with their differences, can also be right. We encourage a positive attitude to learning by encouraging students to ask challenging questions, to critically reflect, to develop research skills, to learn how to learn and to participate in community service."

If my son David, currently a grade seven student, decides he wants to apply to an IB school, he's in luck. We live within the boundaries of Cameron Heights Collegiate Institute, the only school in Kitchener/Waterloo that offers the IB Diploma Programme.

As long as David maintains a minimum 75% average, he can apply at the end of next year to be admitted into the program. I have no idea right now whether or not that will be a viable choice for my son.

Is the IB program always a good fit and appropriate for every student?

Of course not.

But what about those students, ready to take the plunge right now, willing and able to make the sacrifices necessary to take on the challenge? Those who want to gain such a huge advantage in their academic future?

And don't have the right postal code.

(Ed. note: For more information, here's a previous GlobeCampus story on the IB)

Tagged with school, canada, pre-university, baccalaureate, enriched, international, ib | Comments (44) |