A Word From The Publisher

Recently, the Garden City School District has begun exploring the possibility of offering an International Baccalaureate (IB) program at the high school level in addition to its Advanced Placement courses. Several teachers will receive initial training in the program over the next school year, with no obligation that the school district choose to offer the program.

The IB program offers students the choice of either taking individual courses or enrolling in a diploma program that integrates coursework from all of the areas of learning.

Apparently quite a few other schools across the country have also considered the program. In a brief session searching the internet, we found other school districts that have been considering its pros and cons. For example, the principal of Grosse Pointe North High School (Michigan) Tim Bearden said in his blog, "While students can take IB courses independently, IB requires schools to offer the diploma program if they offer IB. They discourage the kind of menu of offerings taken independently that is a staple of AP programs. Simply, in many ways the strength of IB is in the completeness of the program."

It appears that there are two competing philosophies of education in the two programs. AP courses are offered independently of each other, and teachers have some flexibility in creating a curriculum. IB courses, on the other hand, follow a set curriculum, and the courses are interrelated.

Locally, several schools on Long Island including Northport High School and Rockville Center's high school have implemented the program and appear, from their district's web sites, to be very pleased with the results.

We hope readers (especially those with children who may eventually take the classes) take some time to familiarize themselves with the two programs and let us know what they think.

Wouldn't it be nice to have a new topic to debate in the letters to the editor column in the fall?

Meg Morgan Norris

Publisher