My blog from Houston, Texas. Updated most weeks, usually on Sundays.
On that same evening I attended the Dad’s Club Happy Hour at Taco Milagro. The positive enthusiasm for the school was immediately evident in the number of dads present; roughly double the number of last year’s strong gathering. It was a privilege to speak with many of Awty’s dads and to hear about the great impact that being at Awty is having on their children. Some spoke about the benefits of our extensive second language program. Others spoke about the tolerance and broad perspectives that come from mixing with students of the same age from so many different cultural backgrounds. Others spoke about the benefits that the IB Diploma program had provided for their older children when they had progressed to university. Some spoke about the growth in character formation of their children as a result of the role modeling by one or more extraordinary teachers at the school. As you might imagine, it was very affirming to receive so much positive feedback about the great work that our teachers are doing.
As I always do for every scheduled board meeting, I prepared a written report on the state of the school for board members. One topic I included was my annual analysis of IB Diploma results.
We have good reason to be thrilled with our IB results this year – quite simply, they were the best in the school’s history. Our average grade was 34.1 (compared with a world average of 29.5), which places our results among the top results achieved by IB schools in the US. Eight of Awty’s 75 IB students this year (11%) received scores of 40 or more, placing them in the top 4% of IB students world-wide. At Awty, 88% of students achieved results that were better than the global average, thus placing them in the top 50% of IB results world-wide.
From my perspective, however, the real measure of the school’s success in IB examinations is not the average grade but the extent to which we have raised the grades of average students into above average performances.
Of course, not all Awty’s senior students study for the IB Diploma. This year we had 20 students in the French Bilingual Section doing the French Baccalauréat (Le Bac), and their results were also outstanding. For the 11th year in a row, we had a 100% pass rate in the Bac, with six students achieving “Très Bien” and seven achieving “Bien”. Like the IB results, this was our best performance over the past decade.
In the words of the IB Mission Statement: “The International Baccalaureate aims to develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect. To this end the organization works with schools, governments and international organizations to develop challenging programs of international education and rigorous assessment. These programs encourage students across the world to become active, compassionate and lifelong learners who understand that other people, with their differences, can also be right.”
When a school takes on an IB program, it must confirm that the IB philosophy applies to the whole school, not just the students in the IB program. Thus, when Awty took on the IB Diploma about a quarter of a century ago, it confirmed that it would try to make the school mirror this philosophy (although the precise wording was expressed differently in those days). That is why we can display the “IB World School” logo at our front gate, in the foyer near the reception desk, and on our publications and letterhead.
Although about half the IB Diploma schools in the world are in the US, I have been surprised that some parents fail to appreciate its real value - or that of the French Bac in some of my other conversations, the common theme being that SATs are what matter in the US and we should be teaching more narrowly towards that test.
The study went on to look at the impact of the IB Diploma on college admission and enrollment. The conclusion was that IB Diploma students were more likely to (a) enroll in college, (b) attend a more selective college, and (c) stay enrolled in college. The study looked at almost 25,000 IB Diploma students from Chicago and nearby districts and found that “IB students were more likely than the national average to attend college full-time, with nearly 70% attending selective or more selected colleges”.
Another study, this time in Florida, found that the IB Diploma prepared students exceptionally well for life at colleges and universities. The study concluded that the IB Diploma provided “a high degree of alignment with college readiness standards in all subject areas”, adding that “many individual IB standards were more advanced than those required for success in entry-level college courses”. It also noted that “IB standards address key cognitive strategies (critical thinking, intellectual inquisitiveness and interpretation skills) that have been identified by college instructors as necessary for college success”.
Research also suggests that IB Diploma students are more likely to succeed in college. A 2010 study that looked at performance on IB exams and college GPA of over 1500 IB students enrolled in the University of California system found that IB students earned higher GPAs and graduated at higher rates than a matched comparison group (this held across all family income levels), and that performance in the IB Diploma program was the strongest predictor of college GPA.
Awty’s experience with the IB is the same as the other four IB schools where I have worked – the IB is brilliant preparation for life at colleges and universities as it develops the skills that most local programs neglect (the French Bac being an obvious exception), skills which colleges and universities expect and take for granted.
The students going to US students comprise 4 from the French Section and 56 from the International Section. 46 of these students will attend private colleges and universities in the USA while 14 students will attend publicly funded universities in the USA. Five Awty graduates will attend colleges that USN&WR designated “Top 50 National Liberal Arts Colleges” and 29 Awty graduates will attend USN&WR “Top 50 National Universities.” In total, thirty-four (56%) of the 60 Awty students enrolling at a US college or university will enroll at one of these “Top 50” national schools. Six students will attend an Ivy League school and one will attend Stanford. Several other students will attend such highly selective institutions as Rice (6), Princeton (3) and Georgetown (4).
Barron’s “Top 50 Most Competitive Colleges” received 205 applications and replied with 70 offers (34%) of admission to Awty students.
The Ivy League (Harvard, Yale, Brown, Princeton, Cornell, U Penn, Dartmouth and Columbia) schools received a record number of applications this year with admission rates as low as 6%. Awty students submitted 37 applications to Ivy League schools; 8 of these applications were accepted (21%). In the end, six students will attend an Ivy League school.
Several students’ acceptances deserve special mention. Eleven students were “Commended” by the National Merit Scholarship Competition and one student was awarded “Finalist” status.
Three students were recognized by the National Hispanic Recognition program and one student earned recognition in the National Achievement program for African -American students. One student was accepted to Princeton on full scholarship through the Questbridge Scholars program which matches high-achieving/low-income students with a group of selective colleges. Many students were offered significant merit scholarships at schools including U Vermont, Worcester Polytech, U Arizona, Case Western, Fordham, Houston Baptist, Trinity (TX), Pratt, Rice, U Miami, St Olaf, Southern Methodist U, U Houston and Baylor. One student made her offer to study medicine and another met her offer to study veterinary medicine at universities in the United Kingdom. One of our graduates accepted a place in the accelerated medical program at Baylor. Several students have been accepted into Honors Colleges at places like Baylor, U Texas Austin, U Texas San Antonio, Texas A&M, and the University of Houston. Four students were recruited athletes and one has “walked on” to intercollegiate teams next year. One of our UK medical school applicants and one of our UK veterinary school applicants have been made conditional offers. One of our students has accepted a place in the accelerated medical program at Baylor. Several students have been accepted into Honors Colleges at places like Baylor, U Texas Austin, U Texas San Antonio, Texas A&M, and the University of Houston.
I hope that all this helps you to understand just a few of the many reasons why I think we have a fabulous school here at Awty!
Our students' educational journeys
Sunday, 23 September 2012