Truth About IB

July 24, 2010 - A pattern has been established. It was apparent to TAIB based on my own district's Herculian efforts to bury the cost of IB in its general budget while claiming it cost $65,000 a year. It became more pronounced with the inquiry from Incline Village, Nevada, and the gross disparity between the fundraiser's estimate and TAIB's. Prior to Jay Mathews of the Washington Post's departure for a five-star stay at the Fountainbleu in Miami with the IB bigwigs,  he ran a Class Struggle column in which he claimed the cost of IB to be about $56,000, while "forgetting" to insert my counterclaim of $200,000+ per school, per year. He did insert it, but then "forgot" again when he ran this thread in his Admissions 101 forum.

This article out of Waco, Texas, demonstrates even more dramatically how IB is fraudulently sold to gullible school boards by grossly underestimating the actual cost:

Watkins presented a detailed report that questioned whether adequate training had been done with faculty and administrators, whether all parents are on board with the program and whether a realistic budget has been created to reflect the costs of implementing IB at these three schools, among other concerns.“Your report is overwhelming, to say the least,” trustee Angela Tekell said.Watkins’ report suggests the IB middle-years program may cost far more during the next three years than district officials had anticipated.He estimates this year will cost $700,425, next year will cost $649,425, and 2012-13 will cost $976,200. This is the first time numbers like that have been presented.The totals include costs for IB training for teachers, mandatory fees, curriculum and course materials and new staff needs, including foreign-language teachers and IB coordinators.Waco ISD trustees gave the go-ahead for the IB program at Lake Air and Tennyson in April 2009. At that time, they were presented with associated costs of about $156,200 for 2009-10 and $164,700 for 2010-11 and the next year.One year later, in spring 2010, the district announced it also would pursue the IB program for Waco High.

Wow! There's that same ratio of almost 4x the cost, the same ratio I argued about with Jay. So forget everything else IBO claims about its programs, its rigor, creating life-long learners, global citizens, blah blah blah. Why should anyone believe anything IBO claims about its products if IBO and its main U.S. media mouthpiece repeatedly misrepresent the price tag?

The American taxpayers are tired of being lied to. We're tired of being bilked out of our hard earned taxdollars by ideological liars with promises of utopia and a "better world". When one starts out with a lie, everything else is downhill from there.  For every $100,000 our public schools claim they are borrowing from the taxpayers, they are paying the IBO loansharks $400,000 of YOUR money. Please help put a stop to this scam now by exposing the real cost of IB.

Editors note: If the Waco article disappears, please let TAIB know as we have page-shot the article and will re-post in its entirety.

July 7, 2010 - My suspicions that LVCSD double-counted the number of IB exams in order to game the Newsweek List, were proven to be incorrect. While the district did misreport 566 exams instead of the actual 562 administered, the difference is statistically insignificant. This is how LVCSD reported its results to Newsweek:

Dear Jay,

Please find attached our 2010 Newsweek High School form. The pertinent year-on-year data are:

* # AP exams taken decreased from 162 to 148 (8.6% decrease)
* # IB exams taken increased from 351 to 566 (61% increase)
* # Seniors at the high school increased from 172 to 197 (14.5 % increase)
* % IB scores > 4 decreased from 81% to 77% (4.9 % decrease)
* Equity and Excellence increased from 51.7% to 61.4%

Conclusion: A 61% increase in the number of IB exams taken (2008 to 2009) did not result in a significant reduction in IB scores > 4. We’re reaching a broader spectrum of student while maintaining outcomes.

So what subjects did LVCSD manage to persuade students to take an IB exam in instead of following the basic Regents option?  (the only other option in 11th and 12th Grades as almost every AP and Honors course has been eliminated)

The full report is featured as a .pdf file below. Right off the bat, we see that 81 students took IB HL English. Yet only one (1) student managed to score a '6'. There were zero (0) '7's' and 32 failed to earn a passing score of '4'.  The average grade for the school in English was a 3.77 or in IB parlance, "mediocre". The Ivies require scores of '6' & '7' for credit. So based on these numbers, only one student out of 81 accomplished an Ivy worthy score. and overall, the class failed. How very sad.

The other two highly attended IB courses were HL History of the Americas and SL Math Studies, each with 74 students. HoA managed to produce one (1) student with a score of '7' and an overall average of 4.26 for the school. The easiest IB Math course gave us two '7's and an overall average of 4.65.

None of the foreign language courses were offered at HL, thereby denying those students any opportunity for college-credit. Despite Jay Mathews' insistence that, "No one ever gets a '1'", LVCSD students proved him wrong by racking up three '1's' in two subjects.

And what of the IB science and math courses that might actually be considered "rigorous"? The following are the average scores for the school:

HL Biology - 3.21
HL Chemistry - 3.50
SL Chemistry - 2.78
HL Math - 3.36

There were only 11 students in HL Math. Something is seriously wrong if an IB trained teacher is incapable of getting all 11 students to pass the exam after a two year course. It should also be noted that according to the report, only 17 students earned the Diploma, yet last year when I went after these results, I was told that 19 students earned the full Diploma. This means that 2 students earned the IB Diploma on appeal. I have included the IB document which outlines the Appeal process below.

Despite these abysmal results, LVCSD shot up the Newsweek List to #135. The new Challenge Index for American students is to see how much money can be wasted on getiing worse and worse results. Way to go LVCSD and Newsweek!

July 2, 2010 - TAIB realized the NYT article broke at the same time the hateful e-mails from IB supporters started pouring in. On the plus side, it appears that John Eppolito of Incline Village, Nevada, and Ann Marie Banfield of Bedford, NH, weren't too badly misquoted. Plus, the reporter linked the article to our site without bashing us, which for the NYT, we have to consider a plus.

Some parents charge that it is anti-American and too closely tied to both the United Nations and radical environmentalism. From its start in 1968 until 1976, the program was funded partly by the United Nations’ Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. It is now associated with the United Nations’ Economic and Social Council, and until recently, it endorsed the Earth Charter, a U.N.-originated declaration of principles of sustainability.

“When there is a program at the school with a specific agenda, which in this case is the United Nations agenda, I have a problem with it,” said Ann Marie Banfield, who unsuccessfully opposed the adoption of the I.B. program in Bedford, N.H.

Others object to its cost — $10,000 a year per school, 141 per student and $96 per exam — and say it is neither as effective as the A.P. program nor likely to reach as many students.

“We have 337 kids, and 80 of them take at least one of our 16 A.P. classes,” said John Eppolito, a parent who opposes the planned introduction of the I.B. in Incline Village, Nev. “If we switched to the I.B., the district estimates that 15 kids would get a I.B. diploma in two years.”

I.B. opponents have created a Web site, truthaboutib.com, to serve as a clearinghouse for their views.

June 30th, 2010 - Today marks the 9th business day since I filed a FOIL request with the Locust Valley Central School District for a copy of its 2009 IB Examinations Report. I received the following e-mail on June 24th at 3:38 PM:

June 19, 2010 - Congratulations are in order to one Dave Belton of Morgan County, Georgia, for his review of the textbook; The Twentieth Century and Beyond: A Global History, due to what he determined to be anti-Western, anti-American and anti-Israel sentiments.

At $83 a pop (almost $2,000 for a single class of 24 students), it seems to TAIB that money would be much better spent compiling source documents for students to learn from and abandoning these sorts of biased textbooks altogether. TAIB also finds it appalling that in the 2010-2011 school-year, public schools are not developing lesson plans which include post 9/11 history, if indeed they are claiming to teach "modern" history.

May 30th, 2010 - As I was about to go out and get the grillin's for a bar-b-q later, a FOX news story about a California school district that has to cut teachers and increase classroom sizes due to budget concerns, but which just allocated $100M for solar panels to "Go green!"

May 28, 2010 - It was about one week ago while TAIB was reviewing the areas around the country where IB is causing controversy, that we were struck by something odd, many of these somewhat isolated communities seemed to be situated on or near important bodies of water. In the very recent past, the Obama administration has raised eyebrows by seeking to place new controls on inland waterways via NOAA.

Many of you have probably never heard of the UN's Agenda 21, or if you have, perhaps you dismissed it as "conspiracy theory",  just as many objectors to this website dismiss IBO's connection to the UN as "conspiracy theory". TAIB can only present you with the facts. Whether you choose to believe these "frameworks" are directly linked to each other requires an open mind and critical thinking, qualities IBO claims only its students are capable of possessing. The UN's decade of "Water for Life" was launched on March 22, 2005.  "The Decade aims to promote efforts to fulfill international commitments made on water and water-related issues by 2015, placing special emphasis on the involvement and participation of women in these efforts."

Today, TAIB was alerted to the following two press releases from IB PYP schools:

IB Implementation Continues at Summit County Elementary Schools

Hydrogeologist Emphasizes Water Conservation to Students

Read what IBO has to say about water in its own PYP brochure:

For example, in an inquiry about “Sharing the planet” for students aged 8 to 9, we might look at “Finite resources–infinite demands”. In order to understand better the central idea that “Our planet has limited resources that are unevenly distributed” and using water as an example, we would inquire into where water comes from, how different people and countries use water, how much water we use, what happens after we have used it, the distribution of usable water around the world, how human activity has affected the availability of water, and our responsibility for water conservation.

We know that the IB PYP is NOT a curriculum, but a means of trying to indoctrinate students to accept the UN's "directives" for the future of our planet. Water is life. TAIB does not consider this UN grab for international control of U.S. waterways a laughing matter. We hope you won't either.

PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION TO REMOVE IB FROM AMERICAN PUBLIC SCHOOLS. THANK YOU!

May 26, 2010 - Thanks to TAIB's new friend Peyton Wolcott, we now know how to peruse IBO's 990's as public record. This morning, while searching to see if the Ohio "AIBWS" is registered as an official 501 (c)(3) (it's not), we decided to do a little cross-checking on salaries listed on both IBO'S and IBNA'S 2008 990's. We are not accountants. However, TAIB would appreciate input from any CPAs who can tell us whether reporting different salaries for two IB executives on separate 990 forms without cross-referencing them passes the smell test. The two names are: DREW DEUTSCH and RALPH CLINE.  By TAIB's calculations, this would put DEUTSCH's salary at $363,829 and CLINE's salary at $362,325. Not bad, eh? Thank you for any information you can provide. (see docs below - enlarge to 500% view)

May 14, 2010 - Don't worry. TAIB hasn't gone Andy Stern on you. We just received an e-mail from a Mom in Sri Lanka which she requested we share with our readers. While this website is focused on American public schools and we are constantly being accused of being xenophobic, we feel it is important to point out that IBO's "mission" is not to exclusively undermine patriotism and national pride in the United States alone, but in every country its education infects. Remember, the goal is one world government. Recently, TAIB has noticed complaints about IB's efforts to minimize national and local history coming from India, Indonesia and even Iran! IBO is attempting to make IB the "national" curriculum in Australia. The way to disenfranchise natives of ANY country is to weaken their national pride and convince them that only a global government will better serve the needs of the people. Whether that country is India or the United States, intelligent, right-minded citizens must wake up to the elitist propaganda being sold by this corrupt organization, take back their schools and not send one red cent, yen or Euro to IBO. 

Comments: i do like your site the truth about ib, i would like to post a note on your site regarding what one of the oldest ib schools has done to my three children during this last academic year, my eldest being one of their most outstanding students doing the ibdp and the student body president has been asked not to attend school due to the fact that we are unable to pay the fees in full, my younger two have not been to any other school in this country as this prestigious ib school has refused to give us documents to pursue their education. if you let me have your response i would like to post the story on your website thanks.
- Concerned Mom,  Sri Lanka

May 8th, 2010 - Parents of children with special needs know that it's difficult enough to obtain services for their children under ADA. TAIB has also pointed out IBO's less than generous regulations regarding extended time accommodations on IB exams as compared with AP exams.

Now, the Atlanta-based Center for the Advancement and Study of International Education has elected Mr. Alex Leblois to serve as its new Board Chair. Mr. Leblois is a senior special fellow at UNITAR, the United Nations Institute for Training and Research. According to this article, Mr. Leblois is "assisting nations with policy implementation of global standards for people with disabilities."

CASIE works with the International Baccalaureate Organization. So if your child's school is an IB school, which "standards" will be applied to your child's needs? American? Or the UN's?

TAIB spent a number of hours trying to obtain details about the IB Diploma Program housed in Meade High School at Fort Meade, Maryland. We have learned that in 2008-2009, the program was only open to students at Meade High School which has a population of approximately 2,000. In 2009-2010, the program was designated a "magnet" and opened to students from throughout the Anne Arundel system. The IB Coordinator of Meade HS referred our questions to the Anne Arundel IB Coordinator who was in meetings all week. Our next step was to contact the Accountability office. Unfortunately, there was no accountability in Anne Arundel schools last week as the staff were all in classes to learn the new data system. We found this rather amusing. The schools does not have DODEA affiliation.

It is safe to say that as of May, 2010, there have been NO IB graduates as yet from the single IB public magnet program which happens to be situated on a U.S. military base. However, according to an e-mail received over the weekend from Bob Mosier, the Public Information Officer for Anne Arundel Schools:

"In response to your question, there are 53 diploma candidates in the Class of 2010 Meade High School IB program. We do not sort participants in any program by whether or not they are children of military and non-military families."

For IB supporters to try and claim that IB is on "many" U.S. military bases and therefore it can't be anti-American, is a lie of gross proportions. TAIB will attempt to follow up on the actual pass rate of those 53 students in July.

May 03, 2010 - The United States is IBO's largest purchaser of its "programmes" in the world comprising 38% of its world market (1122 U.S. IB schools out of 2,916 IB schools globally). IBO knows where its bread is buttered and will stop at nothing to strategically market its product. The most damaging charge against IBO by its opponents is its anti-American bias. Ever clever in deceptive marketing practices, IBO has now stooped to a new low by claiming that IB is taught in schools on U.S. military bases. After all, if our fine U.S. military families choose to send their children to an IB school, it can't be anti-American. Right?

TAIB first noticed this deceptive propaganda being spewed in Monticello, NY, followed by Incline Village, NV, and Bastrop, Texas. Note how the language is eerily similar:

"The IB has been implemented in Christian and Jewish schools, as well as schools where military personnel send their children ... some examples  include Langley Air Force Base, Fort Belvoir, Fort Meade and Fort Hood." - Monticello Principal's Letter

"... there are many IB schools ON our military bases - here in the great USA - and in many cases, students living on base, are bussed to IB schools in neighboring areas. Even more importantly, all of the US military academies recruit IB students and award college credit to these students." - comment on the Tahoe Bonanza, Incline Village, Nevada

"I hear about IB being anti-American. How come there are schools ON military bases that are IB schools, and military academies award credit to IB students – if the program was anti-American. If IB was as “bad” as many claim, WHY would this be?" - comment on the Bastrop Advertiser, Bastrop, Texas

TAIB has a very simple answer for the reader from Bastrop, Texas. BECAUSE IT IS A BOLD FACED LIE! Not only are there not "many" IB schools ON our military bases, there IS NOT A SINGLE IB SCHOOL ON U.S. MILITARY BASES! The only, and we do mean ONLY, IB schools in the entire world with DODEA affiliation are located in Bahrain and Germany. Both of these schools are PRIVATE international schools and do not serve U.S. military exclusively.

We are urging our readers to spread the truth about IBO's deceptive and downright insulting use of our U.S. military to try and convince unsuspecting Americans that its product isn't anti-American. In our opinion, IBO has sunk to a new all-time low and MUST be exposed!

April 28, 2010 - This blog entry conducted some interesting research on the number of Florida IB high schools which offer IB Physics. Florida and California are the two U.S. states with the largest number of IB schools.

In 2008-2009, of the 54 IBDP schools in Florida, only 30 of the schools offered either SL or HL IB Physics. Of those, only 15 schools offered HL IB Physics, the only IB Physics course which is considered creditworthy at most U.S. universities.

The Locust Valley school district in NY, only offers SL IB Physics. TAIB decided to check out IBO's reporting on IB Physics around the globe. What we learned was rather shocking. According to this difficult to locate chart on IB exam statistics, only 14,790 students took IB Physics - worldwide.  Of those, only 6,023 took the IB HL Physics exam. TAIB was unable to locate IB U.S. state specific stats.

By comparison, in 2008, in the U.S. alone, 46,062 students took AP Physics B, and 9,377 took Physics C, which is considered one of the most difficult classes offered to high school students. (55,439 total U.S. AP Physics B & C exams). It is quite possible that even more students took the AP Physics courses without taking the AP exam which is optional, whereas the IB exam is compulsory.

A final analysis of the pass rates on the exams reveals that only 78% or (approximately 4,800 IB HL Physics students  worldwide) scored a 4 or higher with the possibility of earning college credit, compared to 33,020 U.S. AP students who scored a potential creditworthy 3 or higher in Physics B & C.   

RIP IB-info.com
IB-info.com shut down on the 09th of April, 2010 because of the copyright issues associated with distributing Past Papers, Question Banks and other IBO material.

April 23, 2010 - The Indian government is taking steps to make companies like Cambridge and International Baccalaureate comply with national standards.

The Dasgupta committee, in its report, later accepted by the HRD ministry, had said that Indian and India-based international schools seeking affiliation to foreign boards would have to comply with guidelines like seeking government clearance, respecting the Constitution, adapting the curriculum to Indian context, making source of funding public and limiting entry of foreign teachers.

What a novel idea! If the United States Federal Education Department required the same of IB in this country, we think it's fair to say you wouldn't be seeing IB lessons like the one in the next update.

                               Mother Earth Day - Planet Has Rights!

Did everyone have a nice Earth Day yesterday? Well, we certainly hope so. It was beautiful in NYC when the President came to scold Wall Street. So today, let's review what IB students were taught in their leftwing IB classrooms about "Mother Earth Day": 

Having two "Earth Days" has been confusing. In 2009, at the initiative of Evo Morales, Bolivia’s first indigenous president, the United Nations designated April 22 International Mother Earth Day in a General Assembly resolution. So in 2010, for the first time, and for the 40th anniversary, the UN International Mother Earth Day and Earth Day will be marked on the same day. The UN resolution asked us to "reflect on the interdependence that exists among human beings, other living species and the planet we all inhabit". Morales makes the point that in Western cultures, Mother Earth has been viewed as an object. He argues "Not just human beings have rights, but the planet has rights."

Really? Where is that written in our U.S. Constitution? Oh, and this is really special. Remember Glenn Beck's special on The Story of Stuff, produced by George Soros's TIDES Foundation? IB recommends The Story of Stuff to promote Cap and Trade on Earth Day. Nothing political there, eh? How ironic that TAIB's administrator was in NYC yesterday protesting Cap and Trade. Please be sure to watch the excellent You Tube rebuttal below.

April 22, 2010 - TAIB apologizes for the juvenile humor. But when we saw this story, we simply had to share.

The Phuket International Academy Day School (PIADS) is working to develop into a three programme International Baccalaureate (IB) World School.  As a pioneering international school in Phuket, it will integrate the uniqueness of Asian culture and the best from Western educational traditions, to cultivate inquiring, informed, and compassionate young people who know how to conduct their lives with integrity, cultivate true happiness, and strive to create a more peaceful and sustainable earth. 

Imagine that! Only an IB education can cultivate TRUE happiness. Good grief.

                                                IB Damage Control

April 22, 2010 - TAIB knows that IBO watches this site for stories that it may have to counter to protect its image. It didn't take too long before THIS STORY about Deerfield Beach Middle School, Florida, came out. If you scroll down this page, you will see we ran a short story about the recent vicious attack on a female student which left her in a coma that took place on school grounds and how there was no mention of the fact that it is an IB World School. Now the district is using the PR tactic of saying, "Move along. Pay no attention to those negative stories. Look, we're IB!"

Supporters say the school, at Southeast Seventh Street and Sixth Avenue, should not be defined by the two incidents. The attack on Ratley occurred after school let out and Brewer was attacked off campus. Rather, they point to the school's educational opportunities, including a health and wellness magnet program and an International Baccalaureate magnet.

Ironic, isn't it? Because here at TAIB, we immediately noted that both the Harriton HS in Lower Merion, PA, which invaded student privacy by school administrators spying on students at home through school issued laptops and Deerfield Beach MS were IB authorized schools, information that was missing from both major stories. Coincidence? We think not.

April 20, 2010 - TAIB has always wondered how it was that IB, a program geared towards "social justice" and allegedly "closing the achievement gap at under-performing schools" made its way into the Locust Valley school district on the Gold Coast of Long Island, NY. After much research, we came to the conclusion that the only reason Locust Valley is so enamored with IB is the phony prestige Board members and administrators believe comes with the IB label.

So today, when TAIB was perusing our daily IB Google alerts, we were shocked to see Locust Valley featured. Oh my, what had Locust Valley HS accomplished for its students with the IB program which has bilked the taxpayers over $1.5 Million for to date? Did the student acceptance rate to the Ivies skyrocket? Did LVHS's SAT scores improve dramatically? Were a record number of scholarships awarded?

Um, no. No, the IB news Locust Valley's PR firm felt was important enough to be featured in Newsday concerned a visit from Prince Alexander and Princess Katherine of Serbia to meet with IB students for a "symposium".

TAIB wants to make something perfectly clear. What we are about to say is in no way meant to disparage the family of Princess Katherine. Although TAIB's administrator, Lisa, has not met Princess Katherine personally, she did broker the sale of the family home of her grandchildren in 2005, and from what we have heard, Princess Katherine is a genuinely lovely and generous individual. This was not her first guest appearance in LVCSD. During the 90's, Princess Katherine met with students at the Locust Valley Intermediate School. At the time, the students brought in and decorated shoe-boxes which they filled with school supplies for Princess Katherine to send back to children in her country, which she did at her own expense. But of course, LVCSD wasn't an IB World School in the 90's so it didn't rate a press release.

The way the article is presented caused TAIB to do a little research on the Royal family. It would appear that LVCSD's PR firm should have done so as well, for the Royal roots stem from HRH Crown Prince Alexander (not the II as stated in the article, according to the family's official website), who was Princess Katherine's second husband.  The LVCSD students who are her grandchildren, are descended from her daughter from her first marriage to Jack W. Andrews.  Princess Katherine was born in Greece and received her university degrees here in the United States. According to the websites, the Prince and Princess currently reside in the royal palace in Belgrade. It is said that Crown Prince Alexander is "a proponent of re-establishing a constitutional monarchy in Serbia."

The politics of Yugoslavia/Bosnia/Serbia are fascinating and worthy of studying, yet TAIB finds it incredulous that the brief article submitted to Newsday chose to focus on "tolerance" and a resolution condemning the massacre of 8,000 Muslims. There is no mention of the years of communist rule in Yugoslavia or the Democratic Socialists who currently control Belgrade. No, the HS Principal thinks it is much more important to focus on the "power" and "character" of kings and queens and use student connections to royalty to promote the International Baccalaureate program.

Is it any coincidence that for the first time this year, IBO has changed the name of the Peterson Lectures to the Peterson Symposium?  After all, a symposium sounds sooooo much more prestigious than a mere lecture, does it not? ;-)

TAIB is pleased to share this post which was made to our forum page as Breaking News and also on our Dear IB page. One of IB's sales pitches is "Talk to the students!". We love talking to students, especially bright ones like Shannon who took the time to share their IB experience with us. Shannon has invited readers to ask her questions, which you can do by clicking on her name in blue. Thank you, Shannon!

I wish to add to The Press' reporting of the April 5, 2010, School Board meeting and the citizens' comments about IB. Those who spoke against the program did so passionately but respectfully, and included a number of well- and internationally-educated citizens who had done their own research.

The students who spoke for the program stated unequivocally that there was never, ever any left-wing bias in their classes. This stood in stark contrast to CHS Student Body President Tyler Smotherman, who gave a reasoned analysis and offered his observations shared by other CHS IB students he spoke with that the IB program carried a decidedly radical left-wing tilt.

Not once has any proponent of IB disputed the research we have done, and the things we found that UNESCO and the IB Organization ("IBO") say about their education programs. We have provided citations to these UNESCO and IBO writings to all concerned, including the school board. Instead, the pro-IB folks point to the flowery, lofty-sounding marketing pablum put out by IB to sell their program.

The only contentiousness shown at the meeting was by those pro-IB speakers who resorted to name-calling, labeling myself and others opposed to the program as "propagandists" and "extreme right-wingers." I am informed that Trustee Edie Brooks echoed these sentiments after the meeting. Interestingly, Ms. Brooks claimed to be "conservative." Please, let's base our arguments on research and reason, and not resort to name-calling, as some have recently, both at the school board meeting and in The Press.

The defenders of IB (i.e., the IB teachers, their students and the "conservatives" on the board) claim that U.N. globalist curriculum is not reaching our kids through IB, because the curriculum is written locally by our teachers. In other words, they claim the teachers are filtering out the globalist, anti-American, anti-Christian material from IB. Let's review the facts linking the U.N. to the IBO and to our local students:

The U.N. says: (1) we need to downplay nationality in teaching, lest the kids identify too strongly with their country (this was written about in the 1948 UNESCO handbook, "Is There a Way of Teaching for Peace?"); (2) we need to teach "peace" defined by the U.N. as social equity (redistribution of resources); (3) we need to teach "sustainable development" (meaning putting resources out of reach and redistributing others under the guise of environmentalism and social equity); (4) we need to teach local-to-global activism to our kids; and (5) the U.N.'s related Non-Governmental Organizations (called "NGO's) - including IBO, are legally bound to execute UNESCO's educational objectives and to report back to UNESCO on their activities and results.

The IBO says: (1) that IB's goal is to create true global citizens with the ability to persuade others to their way of thinking; (2) that it's "no coincidence" that IB's Diploma Program grew out of the ideas from the 1948 UNESCO handbook's ideas regarding teaching a "special kind of history," teaching community activism and teaching acceptance of others' ideas; (3) Teaching "values" is a fundamental part of the IB/PYP programs, including the "values" of compulsory community service, openness to change, social equity/peace and sustainable development.

Our children say: (Hayden Meadows PYP 4th graders wrote "Essays to the President" titled, "If I could change the World" over the past two years. These essays are on display in the Hayden Meadows lobby.) Here are some of their suggestions for changing the world: (1) no factories; (2) no cars; (3) no logging or cutting down trees; (4) no building; (5) remove buildings and set more land aside just for animals; (6) stop global warming; (7) free housing for everyone; (8) take away all guns and weapons; (9) make everyone feel equal; and (10) "take the bull by the horns" and start to change the community first, then the nation, then the world. Ironically, the board announced that Hayden Meadows fourth-graders and their teacher were receiving a community service award for their activism in the community at the school board meeting.

It strikes me that the kids are learning exactly what UNESCO and IB aim to teach, mainly "Can't Do" instead of "Can-Do" American exceptionalism. Not one of the PYP fourth-graders suggested anything like, "find a cure for cancer," or "discover a new clean energy source." Also, we keep hearing about the need for change, openness to change and to be community activists for change. This sounds eerily familiar. What change? Draw your own conclusions, but first do your own research.

Where is the school board on all this? On March 1, I presented a formal request to have the IB/PYP program made an agenda item for open discussion at the April 5 school board meeting (i.e., a dialogue between the board and the citizens, instead of 3-minute citizens' comments while the board sits silent). In response, I received a letter denying my request. Instead, the board announced it will hold a public workshop to discuss "Schools of Choice" on May 17 at 5 p.m. at LCHS. They say that workshop will include discussion of IB/PYP.

To summarize, U.N. education is in our schools, and our bright kids are learning their lessons well. In response to legitimate, researched concerns about the U.N.-based curriculum our school board brought to our schools, we have encountered from pro-IB'ers, including school board trustees, demonization and an attempt to hijack and re-frame the issue as one of "choice." Let's take responsibility for our children and demand accountability from our school board - please be there on May 17.

by Duncan Koler, a Hayden Lake resident.

April 15, 2010 - It's a little known fact that IB at the PYP and MYP levels forces the elimination of gifted and Honors classes. Progressives who embrace IB, also embrace detracking in general, claiming that by making every class heterogeneous, those at the bottom will rise to the top. What the same educators refuse to acknowledge are  studies like THIS ONE published in the Educational Research Journal, which demonstrates that those at the top are constrained by this method of teaching to the lowest common denominator along with a social result in the classroom that teachers have deemed a "bad split".

THIS ARTICLE, out of Racine, Wisconsin, not only clearly demonstrates parental concerns for the deconstruction of advanced classes, but for the first time that TAIB has seen in print includes statements from the school's Principal regarding IBO's mandates to this effect:

"Students at McKinley currently take classes as part of grade-level teams created in part based on student's skill levels with advanced students who are deemed gifted and talented grouped together. With the International Baccalaureate Program those teams will be dismantled in favor of new teams that include students of all skill levels.

Parents at the meeting wondered why, if students will be grouped within individual classes anyway, children could not just be grouped ahead of time at the team level? Yehle said that cannot happen because IB requires mixed skill team groups.

"We would not get IB accreditation if we did that," she said, adding that many studies also show skill-level based grouping, commonly called tracking, is not best because it can be hard to consistently evaluate students and because some students may be advanced in some subject areas and not others. "It's better to group (in class) and then regroup for new units."

Of course, the fact that schools are "authorized" by IB and not "accredited" seems to escape this Principal's grasp along with the fact that the MYP is not a curriculum, but why let those little facts get in the way of "progress" and "reform"?

April 12, 2010 - The greatest truths are often revealed in the comments following articles about IB. TAIB was particularly struck by the following comment from an IB Diploma graduate from Florida. Granted, we have no way of verifying the identity of the poster, we suppose it could be someone who is "pretending" to be a student. We assure you, it wasn't us.

While the composition of this post does not represent what TAIB considers exemplary writing skills, we believe that even further demonstrates what a fraudulent program IB really is. From U.S. News & World Reports:

April 12, 2010 - TAIB is proud to bring you the statement from the Coeur d'Alene Student Council President Tyler Smotherman, presented at a standing room only Board of Ed meeting on April 6th:

"It is clear to me that the IB program reflects a broader shift in the public school curriculum of many regions of this country, a shift toward a more relativistic, globalist and secular humanist world view," said Tyler Smotherman, Coeur d'Alene High School's student council president. "In my IB classes that I've taken, I've noticed a clear slant toward naturalism, socialism, radical environmentalism, pantheism, buddhism, gay marriage, abortion rights and other topics that could be grossly categorized as progressive or leftist or what have you, and I say grossly because those words are really inadequate."

Smotherman said he has also witnessed hostility toward some ideologies and belief systems like Christianity, American exceptionalism, traditional gender roles, capitalism, "and other topics that can be roughly categorized as more conservative."

The article also states: "Trustees heard from 22 members of the public, more than half pleading for the district to eliminate all IB-related programs from schools because they say IB promotes a United Nations agenda of global citizenship, is anti-American, costly and a threat to citizens' rights."

Right on, CDA patriots! Good for you for getting out and making your concerns heard! Keep up the good work!

The CDA Press also ran a "response" from IB Diploma candidates to criticism of IB.

April 7th, 2010 - TAIB hopes every reader will say a prayer for this girl , Jojo, who lies in a coma in a Florida hospital, the result of a vicious attack by another student who kicked her in the head with his steel toed boots.

Where did this happen? On the school grounds of an International Baccalaureate MYP World School. Of course, when it comes to terrible news, the initials IB are never mentioned. The school has been authorized by IBO since 2004, so it has had ample time to implement what it calls its "culture of peace". This is important because this incident isn't related to IB by six degrees of separation. It happened on school grounds at the end of a school day. It is tragic, despicable and clear evidence that IB as a tool for social change is a failed experiment. This school needs to get rid of IB and spend the money on school security instead.

Nor is it the first incident of violent behavior this year:

"The incident was the second attack on a Deerfield Beach Middle School student this school year. In October, student Michael Brewer was at a friend's house when, police said, a group of teenagers surrounded him, doused him with rubbing alcohol and set him on fire."

Tragic. Simply tragic. Great track record there, IB. Deerfield Beach administrators better get their priorities straight and throw out this junk educational scam and concentrate on identifying and removing dangerous bullies from its school.

TAIB came across this rather bizarre video on You Tube which claims to have been presented at an IB MYP "professional development" seminar for high school teachers.

An excerpt from Leadership Lessons From Dancing Guy:

"A Leader needs the guts to stand alone and look ridiculous. What he's doing is so simple, it's almost instructional. Now this is key, it must be easy to follow.

The First Follower plays a crucial role. The Leader embraces the First Follower as an equal so it's not about just him anymore, it's about them - plural. The First Follower calls out to his friends. It takes guts to be a First Follower to stand out and be subject to ridicule. Being a First Follower is an under-appreciated form of leadership.

The First Follower transforms the lone nut job into a Leader."

THIS is what tens of thousands of your tax dollars are being spent on and called IB Teacher Training?? Training for WHAT? Promoting IB? Social reorganization? Brainwashing? Why the derogatory and insulting characterization of a leader? Why must one fear looking ridiculous if they believe wholeheartedly in the truth and goodness of an idea? People will gravitate naturally to brilliance and leadership, the originator or leader doesn't need a "recruiter" to rally them round, lest THEY look ridiculous for not agreeing with the leader.

This is dangerous stuff and these are dangerous days.

April 1, 2010 - Congratulations to Mary McGarr for signing her name and boldly challenging the "powers that be" in Katy ISD to get answers to her excellent questions before moving forward with implementation of IB. TAIB is honored to be cited as a reference in Mary's post which follows THIS ARTICLE.

March 30, 2010 -  "A Different Kind of Learning". What the heck was wrong with the good old fashioned kind of learning? What can possibly justify the complete and total indoctrination process involved in the IB's PYP and MYP? TAIB has noticed what appears to be a "trend" by IBO to expand the number of PYP schools in the United States. 

Holland, MI — When students in Dave Stefanich’s fourth-grade class at Great Lakes Elementary School learn how a bill becomes a law, they don’t sit in neat rows. Stefanich doesn’t draw the branches of government on a chalkboard or play a “Schoolhouse Rock” video.

Instead, students take on roles. They become senators and high-court justices, presidents and left- and right- leaning voters

March 28, 2010 - This story out of the Summit School District in Colorado, is very revealing when it comes to the mindset of Superintendents throughout the United States who have purchased the IB snakeoil. Rather than simply eliminate the entire scam they would rather recommend reducing student opportunities and eliminating jobs. What a shame.

What TAIB found most interesting were the comments from readers following the article who clearly "get" what a waste of money IB really is. Why aren't Boards of Education listening?

March 26, 2010 - IBO's growth can hardly be called "explosive", having added only 21 22 new IBDP schools in the entire United States since last year. At the same time, TAIB has found news articles indicating that at least eight (8) nine (9) districts will be eliminating the IBDP at the end of this school year, giving IBO a net gain of only 13 12 13 new DP schools. TAIB has been trying to track the rise and fall of IB in the U.S., however, even as we are in the midst of posting updates, the numbers fluctuate and it is almost impossible to determine which schools have been added or subtracted from IBO's search function. 

Be that as it may, TAIB thought readers would enjoy reading the propaganda used to announce the new authorization:

"We're global citizens - part of a global economy, linked through a global communications network and subject to threats like global warming."

That's nice. Fearmongering with junk science and one world government is always a great way to sell a program.

Paul Campbell, spokesperson for IB North America spewed the following nonsense:
 
"It's a myth that Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate are competitors. Many schools offer both programs, and in fact, having IB often ends up spurring more students to take AP courses."

Have you noticed how IBO and the Progressives are big on distorting truth and claiming it to be a myth? Having IB spurs more students to take AP? What baloney! Having IB often eliminates AP and spurs more students to take AP exams to supplement IB's non-creditworthy SL exams. To the reporter's credit, she follow's up Campbell's rhetoric with: 

"But for some districts, it comes down to a choice. Cleveland Heights-University Heights got rid of IB years ago when students began to gravitate toward the increasing number of AP courses being offered, said spokesman Michael Dougherty."

Ahhh. So when choice actually exists, (ie: choosing fiscal responsibility and the superior academic option)students and districts choose AP.

March 25, 2010 - School Board officials for William Fleming High School in Roanoke, VA, announced plans to phase out the IB Diploma program with the 2011 graduating class. The decision was made based on several factors including cost and declining enrollment in IB. Officials have decided to focus on Advanced Placement (AP) and dual enrollment options for its students.

A non-profit group known as Virginia Advanced Study Strategies provides a grant to the district's other high school, Patrick Henry, however Fleming was ineligible to receive the grant because of IB. One Board member whose daughter is currently in IB cited the decision as "personally painful" but noted that "the AP route is more inclusive for all students."

The district expects to receive the AP grant for the 2011-2012 school year.

March 24, 2010 - In October of 2004, a representative for IB told a gathering of 100+ parents in Locust Valley High School, "ALL of the TOP high schools on Long Island are CLAMORING for IB!"

In September of 2010, almost a full six years later, the International Baccalaureate Organization will be able to claim it has added ONE IB school to its roster in Nassau County. One. Long Beach HS can hardly be ranked among the top 25 out of 54 high schools in Nassau County. The City of Long Beach is one of only two cities in all of Nassau County, the other being Glen Cove which thankfully abandoned its pursuit of IB last year.

According to the Ed Money Watch Blog, Long Beach City schools qualified as a Title I district which received $1.03 Million in stimulus money in 2009. 

According to this article, the school is already misrepresenting current AP courses and claims that those students in AP Biology will be "co-seated" with those students in IB HL Biology. Make no mistake about it, those students will be taught IB HL Biology with the "option" of taking the AP exam at the end of 11th Grade. The AP curriculum will be supplanted by IB.

The article also claims that a whopping three (3) students may attend Long Beach HS instead of private schools because of IB. Wowee, are you impressed?

IB has nothing to do with improving academic achievement and everything to do with "social justice". Long Beach HS serves as a premier example of IB's grab for your stimulus dollars. It will undermine and eliminate AP as it has done in SouthSide and Locust Valley. Once the stimulus money runs out, Long Beach taxpayers will be saddled with even higher taxes to pay for this international educational scam.

March 23, 2010 - Although this happened in Canada and not the United States, TAIB feels it is important to alert Americans to this disgraceful action on the part of the University of Ottawa and its "threatening" students.

Coulter was advised against appearing because it would be "physically dangerous". Conservative political activist Ezra Levant called it "an embarrassing day for the University of Ottawa and its student body ... who chose to silence her  through threats and intimidation."

"A protest organizer, international studies student Mike Francie, said he was pleased they were able to stop Coulter from speaking."

Anyone want to give TAIB odds on whether this student of tyranny was an IB Diploma graduate?

So. Let's take a look at a fairly common course, Chemistry. ASU only recognizes IB HL Chemistry which is taken over two years. If a student scores a 4 (passing) on IB HL Chemistry, he/she can earn 4 hours of credit. A 5, 6 or 7 earns 8 credits. If the same student took one year of AP Chemistry, they could score a 3 (passing) and earn 4 hours of credit, 8 credits for a 4 or 5, and go on to take 12th Grade Physics and earn comparable scores and credits.

So - the MAXIMUM attainable credits for the IB HL Chem course is 8 hours. The MAXIMUM attainable credits for AP Chem and AP Physics are 16 hours. Hmmm, which one is bigger, gosh, this is tough. In an IB World, 8>16. But in the REAL world, 8 < 16.  How stupid do these people think we are? We can't read and do simple math? AP can earn TWICE AS MANY CREDIT HOURS AS IB! How is IB "better"?
 
A funny description of one commuter's annoyance with the sign can be read HERE.  (warning:contains adult language)

It's all about false claims and pseudo-intelligence, is it not? ;-)

UPDATE - TAIB's astute friend, the Anti Corruption Republican in Texas, just e-mailed us this additional observation about AP vs. IB at ASU:

IB HL Math earns credit for Math 270 only

March 18, 2010 - As though these people don't have enough problems without introducing IB into the mix? TAIB is wondering, are only New York School Boards this dysfunctional? Or are children being held hostage as the political pawns of unstable adults throughout the country? We find this very disturbing.

Clarkstown School District, New City, is located about 25 miles north of NYC and southeast of the Monticello, NY, district where parents are organizing against IB. It has 2 high schools, one middle school, 10 elementary schools and one K-12 special needs school. Its proposed budget for 2010-2011 is $171M. TAIB is just guessing that the MS is a horror show. Just a guess.

In the top video, we hear the Board President introduce the HS Principal to give a presentation on the "International Bachelorette". Unfortunately, the IB presentation itself does not seem to be online.

The middle video finds the same Board President really "giving it" to a fellow Board member and getting accused of bullying by an audience member.

The bottom video is of a former Board member railing against the current Boards total disregard for what appears to have been a lengthy facilities planning process and formerly expressed aim to enlist the "help" of one of the Board President's good friends in Queens, ya know wadda mean?

The Board President apparently was endorsed by a group called the Concerned Taxpayers of Clarkstown. When we get some time, TAIB will see what we can dig up on that group with a name we approve of and get some of the "history" of this Noo Yawk community. But at this very early juncture, TAIB wishes to respectfully suggest to the Clarkstown Board that they worry more about making sure disabled students are able to use school bathrooms and less about IB.

March 6th, 2010 - This story has it all - a long history of a district ignoring the opinion of its teachers, wasteful spending, false claims of IB's superiority, community divisiveness, pro-IB parental fundraising, legal intervention and the ultimate unwillingness of IB supporters to provide a long-term legal commitment to fund the program.

Because these sort of stories tend to disappear from the web, TAIB has captured them and features both articles in their entirety below. However, a quote from an editorial written by a Santa Ynez, CA, former IB teacher deserves to be featured in bold:

"Much has been said and written about the group’s drive to reinstate the IB program. Much of what has been submitted to the local media by ABC+ has been driven by inaccuracies and half-truths.

For example: The group has established faulty premises as truth and used them to generate support for its cause, such as that IB is a ticket to elite institutions of higher learning. This is certifiably false. Our very successful Advanced Placement program actually serves students at least as well as IB with the overwhelming majority of elite U.S. universities and has an edge over IB in how many units a student may be granted for his or her high-end work in high school.

Why would we accept seed money to install a duplicate but competing and mostly non-compatible program that would cost the district additional hundreds of thousands of dollars in the coming years, and water down an already thriving AP program?"

- Jeff McKinnon is a teacher of theater and English and a former IB teacher at Santa Ynez Valley Union High School.

Here are the two articles which currently appear online, however, should they disappear, please click on the thumbnails below to enlarge.

FIASCO

RIGHT CALL ON IB PROGRAM

That's right. Whereas before, IBO buried its "global citizenship" propaganda within its mission statement and hid behind false claims of prestige and rigor, now IBO is bold enough to come out with an unabashed advertisement for its international revolution via children to create a New World Order.

http://communitytheme.ibo.org/eng/post/educating-global-citizenship-practical-guide-schools

"Aimed at teachers and school administrators it argues international education should [SIC] directed towards developing young people as  global citizens."

Oh gosh, we're all a-tingle, especially since IBO appears either incapable of proper English or employing a proofreader for its website. So how will IBO do this?

1. Getting the conditions right
2. In the classroom
3. Events and occasions
4. Global citizen action
5. Recognising global citizens.

Now look at the poster to the right, featured on Glenn Beck on 03/04/10 and used by groups rallying around the country "for" education.

Today's Connect the Dots Quiz - What do the two photos to the right have in COMMON?

March 4th, 2010 - This is an interesting story. First, let's identify the fact that this very "diverse" school district in Georgia is suffering an $88 MILLION shortfall! Only one of its 20 Middle Schools has the IB MYP. And now, black parents have filed a federal civil rights discrimination suit against the district claiming that non-minority students in the IB school's neighborhood are given preference over minority students for the MYP.

Note the district's response that "the principals of those schools had expressed interest (in IB)". This is a complete and total cop-out. The district Board of Ed is responsible for submitting the applications to IBO and for overseeing the district's finances (which they are clearly having a very big problem doing). The taxpayers will now be billed for additional legal fees to address this lawsuit because of IB.

This is also what happens when an educational program is fraudulently sold as "challenging" when its ideology is  "social justice". The result is not social justice at all, but elitism, divisiveness and controversy.

TAIB has a very simple solution for DeKalb County - DUMP IB ALTOGETHER! Problem solved and money saved.

When the Obama administration rammed through the 2009 "Recovery Act", TAIB noted that there were BILLIONS of dollars within the legislation that could be applied towards IB. We were, of course, accused of being paranoid and making a mountain out of a molehill.

One year later, we finally have a copy of the official IBO document on how to "CAPITALIZE" on the recovery and investment funds along with additional funds being made available in the Race to the Top.

TAIB would like to point out to IBO, such a "prestigious educational foundation", that when boasting about this being "A HISTORICAL MOMENT", that proper English dictates that the "H" be treated as a vowel to be preceded by "AN", not "A".

March 1st, 2010 - Today's Drudge Report contained the headline, "Al Gore Found - What's a Few Mistakes?" It is beyond comprehension to those of us at TAIB, how this man and the UN have been allowed to get this close to creating a Green World Order. The Progressive movement has gotten away with, and continues to get away with, characterizing those of us who are awake to their scheme as "conspiracy theorists" and dismissing us as nutjobs.

Here is the Goricle's limp-wristed attack on FOX:

"Simultaneously, changes in America’s political system — including the replacement of newspapers and magazines by television as the dominant medium of communication — conferred powerful advantages on wealthy advocates of unrestrained markets and weakened advocates of legal and regulatory reforms. Some news media organizations now present showmen masquerading as political thinkers who package hatred and divisiveness as entertainment. And as in times past, that has proved to be a potent drug in the veins of the body politic. Their most consistent theme is to label as “socialist” any proposal to reform exploitive behavior in the marketplace." ~Al Gore

Yeah, yeah, yeah, We're all such "haters", Al. But the problem is, you ARE socialists in denial of the socialist label! Waaah, don't "label" us! Sorry Mr. Gore, you can't have it both ways. You don't "get" to label us "divisive" and "packagers of hatred" and squirm like a baby and tell us we can't call you what you are - a socialist.

It is somewhat inconceivable to TAIB that the NYT actually provided three pages to this Goredrivel. Perhaps if it had been presented in video format, as when Al read his poetry, the NYT could have saved some bandwidth and its reader's eyesight. (not to mention the incredible loss of brain cells reading the entire op-ed requires) It is also somewhat inconceivable to TAIB, that Gore and the UN have gotten as far as they have with their Green World Order agenda - the Nobel Prize, the thankfully unsuccessful gathering at Copenhagen, cap and tax still on the horizon and of course, the Democratic majority in Congress and the Presidency. Healthcare reform, global warming, cap and trade - are all massive FRAUDS which must be stopped!

This is the agenda of IBO/UNESCO as well, and they want to make YOUR children "believers" or as one IB video likes to say, "Be a Tolerator, Don't Be a Hater!" Words mean something and the time has come to hold these people to their words. We stand by ours. Make no mistake about it. The sleeping giant has awoken. The truth shall set us free.
-LEM

An article in the New York Times recently announced the adoption by eight states of an early graduation initiative for high school students. According to the article, a bipartisan educational panel of "experts" established acceptable 10th Grade exit boards. The eight states are: Connecticut, Kentucky, Maine, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Vermont.

"States that participate in the pilot project on board examinations will pick up to five programs of instruction, with their accompanying tests, for use by the participating high schools. Those programs already approved by the national center include the College Board’s Advanced Placement, the International Baccalaureate Diploma, ACT’s QualityCore and the International General Certificate of Secondary Education programs offered both by Cambridge International and by Edexcel, part of Pearson Education."

It seems incredulous to TAIB that nobody on this panel of experts bothered to investigate IBO regulations which require that the IBDP only be available to students age 16-19 in the 11th and 12th Grades:

http://www.ibo.org/documentlibrary/regs_ibworldschools/documents/DP_regs_en.pdf
Article 2: Role and responsibilities of schools - 2.1 The IB Organization has developed the Diploma Programme as a pre‑college/university programme aimed at students in the 16–19 age group. The Diploma Programme is designed to lead to the International Baccalaureate diploma (hereinafter “IB diploma(s)”) or certificates (hereinafter “certificate(s)”) for subjects forming part of the Diploma Programme.

Until said time that IBO issues a specific "exemption" to allow implementation of the IBDP in schools for children age 14-16, buyers in the eight states included in the initiative should be aware that IBO's current regulations cover only the MYP for the 9th and 10th Grade age group:

Article 2: Role and responsibilities of schools - 2.1 The IB Organization has developed the MYP as an inclusive programme aimed at students in the 11–16 age group.

TAIB will be contacting IBO to see if it is planning on "amending" its regulations to permit the IBDP to be used in 9th & 10th Grades. If IBO has no intention of revising its regulations, this is a wreckless, poorly researched and deceptive initiative designed to funnel money to IBO with the schools ultimately being unable to use the IBDP for the early graduation purpose intended.

Oh, they fought hard, they did. The ABC+ pro-IB group in Santa Ynez, CA, worked to raise $70,000 and even managed to locate an "anonymous" out-of-state corporation to "match" their fundraising efforts for IB. The issue has divided the community and one High School Principal is resigning, citing "health reasons". Battles over IB are enough to make anybody sick.

"However, after reaching that goal by the district’s Feb. 1 deadline, the group was asked Tuesday to sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) stating that ABC+ “shall raise a cumulative total of $484,418 during the term (three years) of this MOU in order to fund the IB costs associated with membership fees, supplies, postage, staffing and training.”

Pay attention, Incline Village, Nevada, and any other communities where IB zealots are attempting to control the curriculum of public schools. IBO requires schools to insure that they will be able to FULLY FUND IB. The Board of Education is in turn, LEGALLY RESPONSIBLE to require a financial guarantee from the IB supporters that their funds will continue past a single schoolyear.

“AP is a better program and IB has no advantages. It’s counterproductive to receive seed money for a duplicate program. It’s fiscally imprudent,” said teacher Jeff Reck.

Principal Suzanne Nicastro said the IB program was a “want,” not a need, and that more focus needed to be put on other groups of students, such as English-language learners and the socio-economically challenged."

Amen to that!

(this article has been moved to the IB in Bastrop, Texas page)

Of course the New York Times misses the causal agent of the educational feud taking place in St. Helena, CA. But as soon as TAIB saw the headline in the Politics section, we knew International Baccalaureate had to be part of the mix:

It will be a race this spring to see if IBO's "authorizations" of new IB schools can outpace the number of schools dropping the program(mes).

Fresh from Chino Valley, CA:

"About $5.4million of the cuts came from increasing K-3 class sizes to 30 students per teacher next year, eliminating high school librarians and athletic transportation as well as discontinuing the International Baccalaureate programs at Don Lugo High School and Anna Borba Elementary School."

TAIB would like to make it perfectly clear that we do not support increasing class sizes or eliminating librarians. However, perhaps if the district had not wasted millions on IB in the past (considering IBO mandates IB training of librarians and principals, making this entire situation rather sad and ironic), perhaps the district wouldn't NOW have to eliminate librarian positions!!!

Common sense, people! Where is the common sense?

Of course the mainstream media doesn't make mention of the fact that this outrageous behavior by school officials took place in an IB HS. But as soon as TAIB heard the story, we did a quick search and sure enough, Harriton High School has been an IB World School since July, 2000.

Even more ironic, is the quoting of Witold J. Walczak of the ACLU in this article. Mr. Walczak, parent of an IB student, was the attorney who represented the pro-IB plaintiffs pro-bono for the ACLU in the nasty IB battle in Upper St. Clair, PA, in 2006. Why isn't Mr. Walczak providing these students with pro-bono legal services? Seems he can run his mouth for the press quite well, but won't stand behind real American civil liberties. 

In 2009, Glenn Beck focused on a video presented in some American public schools produced by George Soros' TIDES Foundation, called "The Story of Stuff".

Therefore, it came as no surprise when TAIB was reviewing IB's Sharing Our Humanity theme that we came across a page featuring a "U.S. based organisation" which provides IB with a "chance to review teaching materials on consuming stuff". The organization featured is called Facing the Future, and wouldn't you know, who is one of its supporters? Yup, the TIDES Foundation. Coincidence?

Is the repetition of Soros's socialist sophistry about "stuff" what the "intellectual elite" consider rigorous education? Does this kind of educational junk promote higher critical thinking skills? You be the judge.

This timely article out of Bisbee, Arizona, tells the story of how IB detrimentally infiltrates American public schools. It is a story that has been played out in a number of districts, but never has the rhetoric and resulting community dissatisfaction  been more apparent.

Residents in Incline, Nevada, should pay special attention to this article. The main reason they are claiming they "need" IB in Incline is because of declining student enrollment. The school district officials believe that IB will be the magic bullet that will attract more students. Apparently, so did Dr. Covington:

"Where student enrollment was on a nine-year decline, we have stemmed that tide and retained hundreds of thousands of dollars each year in lost revenue through correcting poor practices in the business office. We attracted parents and students (who were not being academically challenged) back to our district through the creation of the International Baccalaureate process at Greenway." - Dr. Covington

So there's the claim. But what is the truth? For the truth, we need to read the comments following the article.

What a joke, she knew that the board was going to get rid of her and thats
why she’s “retiring”. I work for the school district and she has ruined this
district. She’s spent all of our money and driven staff moral down the tubes.
The people who are responsible for the child doing as well as they are, are
the teachers and para’s who work with them day in and day out. Covington
talks about “our children” like she had anything to do with their upbringing.
What a joke, she’s so phoney that anyone with half a brain can see through
her. As far as the IBO program goes at Greenway I hope the new superintendent
gets it out of that school. Children will learn everything they need in a
real classroom. - Mom and Staff Member

History always repeats itself. Pay close attention to this lesson from the Bisbee district. It is a powerful one. An important note: According to Bisbee's Greenway Elementary School's webpage, it is following the International Baccalaureate model, using six themes to drive their curriculum, K-5. However, according to IBO, Greenway is NOT an authorized IB school. This can mean one of two things; either Greenway is still in the throws of the IB application process, or it has already canceled its subscription.

TAIB apologizes for the use of the word "crap". However, it is the best we could come up with when we watched this insulting mockery of U.S. History and the deaths of our freedom fighters produced by IB students in their History of the Americas class. TAIB dares any IB supporters to defend this garbage as "rigorous" education and "critical thinking".

Can anyone in their right mind believe that THIS is worth hundreds of thousands of dollars of their hard earned money? Will you allow this crap to replace traditional American education in your child's school?

TAIB just received a comment from one of the students who produced this video which we feel compelled to share with our readers. We are working hard to make sure that U.S. students will NOT have to endure this "necessary evil" in the future. IB is evil, but it's definitely not necessary.
 

It's pretty safe to say that no matter what a parent's political affiliation may be, unless they are completely devoid of any parental love or responsibility, they want the best education that they can afford for their children. Most want their children to grow up and be able to lead successful and happy lives and to graduate at least high school with a sound foundation of knowledge and skills that will enable them to land good jobs. Some choose private schools, some choose to homeschool, but the vast majority of parents in the United States have come to rely upon their public school systems to provide the knowledge base their children need. While administrators have placed tremendous stress and emphasis on students continuing on to university, according to the Alliance for Excellent Education, in 2009, only 69% of all public school students actually attained a high school diploma.

This is not a number we as Americans should be proud of. The inner cities and large illegal immigrant population in the United States have dragged this percentage down substantially. The New York Times published an article in 2009, which demonstrated the significant graduation gap of 54% in NYC schools, compared with 83% in the NY suburbs. If you haven't heard mention of "closing the achievement gap" by now, dare I say ,you must have been in a coma for the past decade.

When a public school system seeks to "reform" or "improve" its current standings, it should be incumbent on the powers that be to first categorize the schools as either well-to-do or significantly impoverished. Too often, educators and politicians believe that throwing more money at impoverished districts will magically solve all of the other problems. This is where IB comes in.

In 2008, Elizabeth Brock, head of research, development and communications for IB North America, was quoted in U.S. News and World Reports as saying, "In the United States, the IB has received much support from governments and policy makers, including the U.S. Department of Education and local school districts, to increase student achievement and to turn around low-performing schools."

Consider for a moment, that you, the taxpayers, are the ones who are funding the policy decisions of the U.S. Department of Education and your local school districts. We hear an awful lot about the need for accountability, but when it comes right down to it, where is the proof that this very expensive form of international education actually increases student achievement or turns around low-performing U.S. schools?

The answer is, there is no proof. A perfect example is the city of Chicago. In 1998, there was only one IB school. Under the leadership of Arne Duncan, our current head of the U.S. Department of Education, the number of public IB high schools in Chicago grew to 15, the most recent was authorized in February of 2009. Of the remaining 14, only ONE, Lincoln Park, met the NCLB benchmark of 62.5% in reading, but failed to meet the benchmark for science. It is vital that districts considering IB pay attention to the following stats: In 2001, only 27.2% of the students in Chicago's public high schools met or exceeded 11th Grade standards. In 2008, only 27.2% met or exceeded 11th Grade standards. When calculated separately, an abysmal 50% of the IB schools came in BELOW the 27.2% figure!

Eight years worth of data and not even 1/10th of 1% improvement. Ms. Brock's claim that IB received "support" from the U.S. government and policy makers is undoubtedly true. HOWEVER, that support did not yield the intended results - or did it? It would be very convenient for our current administration to blame those results on President Bush, but the fact of the matter is the spread of IB in Chicago came directly as a result of partial funding from the Annenberg Challenge, a board on which Obama and Bill Ayers both sat. Interestingly, as of April 2009 during Obama 's first year in office, the Chicago Public Schools website is "no longer a public site". However, in March, 2005, Arne Duncan was quoted as saying about IB, "We're proud to be leading the nation in incorporting this program. We want as many students as possible to have access to a challenging and innovative program like the IBMYP provides."

Is IB really challenging, Mr. Duncan? Or is it just a political ruse to indoctrinate students by a foreign entity that is an arm of UNESCO?

As Americans, we are now faced with a government that is spending like a drunken sailor without any regard for the debtload our children and grandchildren will have to bear. It should be clear that the Obama/Duncan endorsement of IB is a bigger part of its socialist political agenda to dumb-down our public schools and make them subservient to IBO's ideology to create "global citizens" and a New World Order. (pg. 11)

Do not be swayed by globalist rhetoric and educationese espoused by elitists. Improving our public schools should be a priority. Americans are waking up. We are tired of being lied to, we are tired of seeing our hard earned dollars being wasted on programs the don't work. In order to improve entire schools, we must focus our attention on providing the basics and real skills, not a designer label which benefits a handful of students who would naturally excel anyway with our existing educational options. I have shown you long-term, documented proof that IB does not improve low-achieving public schools. It is now up to you to apply common sense and prevent this program from taking over your schools, no matter how tempting short-term Federal grant money may be. Because in the end, once IB gets its foot in your door, the Federal money will disappear and the taxpayers get stuck holding the bag.

There's something in the wind this week. TAIB has received more feedback and inquiries from parents and taxpayers around the country than ever before! While Americans are waking up in Arkansas, New Hampshire, Virginia and Nevada, it would appear that over-taxed New Yorkers are leading the charge to stop IB from being implemented in their public schools.

In Corning, NY, the Corning Area United Taxpayers Association (CAUTA) is organizing strong opposition to the Corning Painted Post Facilities Plan, Option C which includes IB, calling it "wasteful spending" and pointing out the insanity of purchasing "the most expensive program it can think of". Be sure to watch the video in the following article:

http://www.weny.com/News-Local.asp?ARTICLE3864=9150996

CAUTA makes an excellent suggestion. If Corning, Inc. endorses IB, let it open its own private school.

Stay tuned for more news in the near future on another upstate NY community after TAIB meets with community leaders and taxpayers on 1/31/10 to help them fight IB in their town.

Something's rotten, not only in Denmark where the UN "climate change" debacle was held last month, but in the U.S. in Nevada and California. TAIB has shown you what is happening in the schools in Incline, Nevada, which just today announced the creation of an "IB Implementation Supervisor" :
http://www.tahoebonanza.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100120/NEWS/100129996/1061&ParentProfile=1050
Remember, the ad hoc group IB in IV, after receiving a cost overhaul of its gross IB underestimate for 10 years from yours truly, revised its fundraising goal up to $1M. IB is not in place yet in Incline. There's still time to stop it if enough Incline parents and taxpayers wake up and put their feet down.

In Santa Ynez, the district cut IB last year because of its annual $220,000 cost. Refusing to accept the Board's decision, a "small group" of IB supporters have been stealthily trying to raise money and scheme to find a way to bring back IB.
http://www.santamariatimes.com/news/local/education/article_bd6044a8-0591-11df-8ac4-001cc4c002e0.html?mode=story

"District Superintendent Paul Turnbull was invited in mid-November to the headquarters of the foundation, which insists on remaining anonymous, to explain how the IB program benefits SYVUHS students. About a month later, the donor informed Turnbull that the foundation would provide the matching grant — but only if the other half of the funds are raised from the community, not provided from the district’s funds."

Santa Ynez is a PUBLIC SCHOOL!! Since WHEN is an anonymous non-profit and a small group of parents allowed to cut a backroom deal to control public school curriculum? This is the most outrageous abuse of the public trust that we at TAIB have witnessed to date. Unfortunately, comments are suspiciously CLOSED at the santamariatimes.com.  This ABC group needs to come up with another $26,000 by February 1 for its "anonymous" non-profit to provide the matching funds. TAIB urges any and all concerned taxpayers in the Santa Ynez school district to immediately file FOIA requests and DEMAND that the identity of this non-profit be revealed. You have the right to know who is trying to control your public schools.

TAIB has become increasingly frustrated with some American parents and educators who wish to completely ignore the moral and political aspects of IB in order to focus only on the pedagogy. To borrow a phrase from MOMwithAbrain, this is akin to analyzing a math textbook without discussing mathematics. It can't be done. Therefore, IB supporters who insist on this approach are being intellectually dishonest.

Please read the following IBO power point presentation from 2006: 

                          http://www.ibo.org/ibap/conference/documents/Vardy.ppt

                                                                  FUNDAMENTALISM ON THE RISE

According to this document, both relativism and what IBO seems to think represents fundamentalism, are “mistaken” and “dangerous”.

My fellow Americans - do you believe capitalism, low taxes, freedom, democracy and the American way are “dangerous” and “mistaken”?  How could any right-minded American support an educational program that teaches these most basic tenets of American life are DANGEROUS?

Virginia High School in Bristol, Virginia, was authorized by IBO in July, 1999.  After 10 years, the school's IB program simply didn't generate the enthusiasm or results to make it sustainable in today's rough economic climate. In a 3-1 vote, the city's school board voted to make this year's junior class the final group of students to participate in the "college-prepatory" program.

Five years ago, I wrote to Washington Post and Newsweek journalist Jay Mathews to complain of the IBO Director General's love affair with Jean Jacques Rousseau and his advocation of a "new Social Contract" for international education. I have been labeled a crackpot, a right-wing extremist, a xenophobe, a heretic and a racist for my condemnation of Rousseau's philosophy as something that is "bad" for American education.

This morning while reading Jonah Goldberg's Liberal Fascism, I have finally been vindicated for my deepest suspicions about what is wrong with IB. From page 39: "According to Rousseau, individuals who live in accordance with the general will are 'free' and 'virtuous' while those who defy it are criminals, fools or heretics. These enemies of the common good must be forced to bend to the general will. It was Rousseau who originally sanctified the will of the masses while dismissing the mechanisms of democracy as corrupting and profane. Such mechanics -  voting in elections, representative bodies, and so forth - 'are hardly ever necessary where the government is well intentioned".

Therefore, it is beyond ironic that in 1799, a very different George Walker wrote a book called The Vagabond,  a satire directed against the Jacobin philosophers that IB's George Walker exalts.

It is of even greater concern that under the current one party domination of the United States, I stumbled upon a "wing" of the IB called www.ibarms.org. Based right here in our beautiful Rocky Mountains, IBarms bases its movement on J.F. Rischard's book High Noon. (Please bear with me, the One World Government ties are too clear to dismiss as conspiracy theory, as IB supporters will do by their very nature) For those of you unfamiliar with Jean-Francoise Rischard, he was vice President of the World Bank from 1998-2005. All of Rischard's writings are readily available at a site called UNJobs. My "favorite" on the list is: Getting Serious About Internationalizing the Curriculum J.F. Rischard High Noon. Sharing our rule book. Issues needing a global regulatory approach"

A "global regulatory approach". Here we sit in the abyss of a global economic meltdown unparalleled in history while an unpublicized amendment is passed in the U.S. House of Representatives rebuking President Obama by a vote of 429-2!

A stunning report just released by the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago reveals to all Americans exactly what kind of school improvement we can expect under the leadership of Arne Duncan - NO improvement. While there appears to be a plethora of failing charter schools in Chicago, of particular note to TAIB are the IB high schools which came into existence under Duncan's school "reform" measures and with support from the Annenberg Foundation. You can locate an earlier article about Duncan and the Annenberg Foundation further down this page.

It is important to note that ONLY ONE IB SCHOOL (Lincoln Park), met the NCLB benchmark of 62.5% proficiency on State standardized exams in one subject, Reading, but not Math or Science. Overall, in 2001, 27.2% of Chicago's public school students met or exceeded 11th Grade State standards. In 2008, 27.2% of Chicago's students met or exceeded 11th Grade State standards. Eight years and millions upon millions of dollars spent on "school reform" and not even a 1/10th of 1% in improvement!

The report contains no flowery language and makes no excuses. IB is not directly referred to in the report. TAIB identified the IB schools by referring to IBO's search engine. Of the 16 Chicago IB schools, two are not reflected in the report; The British School as it was authorized in February, 2009, and St. Scholastica, which is private.

Below, please find the range of proficiency for Chicago students in Science, Math and Reading at schools with the IB Diploma Programme:
(pgs. 4 & 5)

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/downloads/CPS.pdf

British School - N/A (authorized 02/09)
Curie Metro - 30-41%
George Washington - 11-18%
Hubbard - 31-33%
Hyde Park - 10-20%
Lincoln Park - 59-62%
Michele Clark - 16-26%
Morgan Park - 32-40%
Nicholas Senn - 11-15%
Prosser Career - 32-35%
Roald Amundsen - 18-23%
St. Scholastica - N/A (private)
Steinmetz - 18-23%
Thomas Kelly - 20-30%
William Howard Taft - 33-40%
William Bogan - 10-18%

Not only are these outcomes abyssmal in general, 50% of the IB schools came in BELOW the abyssmal flat statistic of 27.2% meeting or exceeding State standards!!

The proof is "in the pudding" as they say. The CCCCC Report stands as stark evidence that when stripped of its smoke and mirrors, its bloviating and boasting, IB  does nothing to improve schools for inner city children.

The exam results for hundreds of Greek IB students are being withheld indefinitely, possibly causing them to miss university application deadlines and leaving their futures in limbo.

 http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_politics_100010_07/07/2009_108710
"According to officials at the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO), a nongovernment organization affiliated with the United Nations that is best known for offering the respected IB diploma, a Greek teacher allegedly obtained this year’s IB examination papers from a source in Geneva, where the IBO is based, before distributing them to pupils. The teacher, who has not been identified, is alleged to have received significant payment for his illicit initiative....[SNIP]... According to IBO officials, who have been investigating the claims since early last month when they emerged, the teacher in question had been in contact with students at six different schools. The teacher was forced to resign from his post in the wake of the claims, sources said."

TAIB's question is this: Why only private Greek IB schools? If this teacher "received significant payment" for his "illicit initiative", who is to say that the exams weren't sold to other IB schools in other countries? Who was the "leak" in Geneva? How do we know that the "leaker" wasn't the one who received "significant payment"? Will s/he ever be identified and fired as well?

If this happened here in the U.S. with AP exams, it would have made the front page of the New York Times. The saddest part is, the students are the ones to suffer because of the actions of IB officials.

A recent search conducted by TAIB to prove that, yes, UNESCO is indeed still a donor to IB, revealed far more interesting information and demonstrates the devotion of the radical American Left to IB.

IB's 2008 Donor List: http://www.ibo.org/informationfor/supporters/donors/completetlist/ gives special mention to individuals and organizations who are members of the Director General’s Circle and contribute $10,000 annually. The names that jumped out at TAIB were Joe Kennedy and Stephen Spahn. In the article directly below this one, you'll note that Spahn is the Chancellor of the "elite" Dwight School in NYC, as well as an Obama supporter:  http://fundrace.huffingtonpost.com/neighbors.php?type=name&lname=Spahn&fname=Stephen

Spahn and Kennedy are also listed as Individual Donors, but because of IB's vague financial reporting, it is impossible to determine their total contributions. But back to Joe Kennedy. 

 "The Free Market is socialism for the rich:  the public pays the costs and the rich get the benefit -- markets for the poor and plenty of state protection for the rich." ~Joe Kennedy  http://www.americanthinker.com/2007/01/the_kennedy_chavez_chomsky_pip.html

It is an absolute disgrace that American public schools are forcing taxpayers to support an organization to educate children which is backed by an American politician who is unquestionably, one of the most  aggressive socialist agitators of our time. Kennedy's promotion of "oil for the poor" and his alliance with Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, is an embarrassment to all right-minded Americans. IB cannot claim it is apolitical when its Director General's Circle is supported by supporters of socialist dictators.

One bit of information gives TAIB pause however, and that is the mention of a Tina Kennedy. According to reliable sources, Joseph P. Kennedy II is not married to a woman named Tina. The only Tina TAIB could locate affiliated with the Kennedy family is Athina Onassis de Miranda, (named after her grandmother who went by the name Tina) and the only surviving descendent of Aristotle Onassis. Is it possible that IB Donors Joe and Tina Kennedy are just two schlubs who happen to have the same names as the annointed ones from Camelot? Possible, yes. Probable, no. 

American educators and boards of education have become obsessed in recent years with "closing the achievement gap". While equitable access to quality education is an admirable goal, the mentality behind the endorsement of IB programs to achieve this goal has everything to do with social manipulation of minorities, and nothing to do with actual student improvement.

In Greenwich, CT, it appears as though residents are wising up to the Trustees' redistribution of students via IB to remove the stigma of having a large minority population at a particular school. The school in question, New Lebanon, (irony?) which is not yet authorized by IB, only received 14 applicants, of which only nine (9) are expected to be enrolled due to space limitations.

http://www.greenwichtime.com/ci_12673082?source=most_viewed

On top of that, the school's new IB program ended up drawing only 14 applicants this fall, according to the preliminary assessment. Of those, just nine are expected to be placed in the program, which comes online for the first time this fall, because the grades to which many students where applying did not have seats available, Curtin said.
While those results are disappointing, he said, the school's goal of reducing racial imbalance remains within reach. As a relatively small school with 212 students, New Lebanon would only have to take in 18 magnet students this fall to shed its "racially imbalanced" classification.

He's confident that will eventually happen as the magnet program becomes more established at the school and recognized in the community.

"(New Lebanon's IB theme) will prove to be more of a draw," he said at a recent meeting. "Sometimes you have to stick with something for a few years. We just need to give New Leb a little bit of time."

Wait a minute - "New Leb" needs 18 students to drop the "racially imbalanced" classification, but it is rejecting six (6) applicants because of space? Could it be those six applicants weren't the right color?

TAIB has recently been involved in an editing war in Wikipedia in an attempt to provide readers with an accurate definition of IB Certificates. IB supporters and many IB schools in the United States give parents and students the impression that a student only earns the IB Certificate if they pass the exam. http://www.sanjuan.edu/files/47160/IB%20Handbook.pdf (pg. 10). Others don't misrepresent the issuing of a Certificate quite so grossly, merely stating a student must have "successfully completed" the course and exam:  http://www.lvcsd.k12.ny.us/page.cfm?p=372

Does failure constitute success? Proponents of IB apparently think it does. The IB Certificate is billed as a badge of honor. But the truth is, IB issues a Certificate even if the student scores a one (1) and failed the entire course. It is nothing more than a grade report or documentation of the score earned - period.

The European definitions of Certificate and Candidate do not jive with the definitions the average American associates with those terms when it comes to academics. A Doctoral Candidate does not earn their PhD unless they successfully complete their dissertation. A child playing softball is not a "candidate" for receipt of a "certificate of participation" at the end of the season. Child athletes receive these certificates win or lose, just for showing up and being part of the team.

For an academic program which bills itself as "rigorous", merely showing up for class and failing the final exam should not constitute success. This is a prime example of IB's deliberate attempt to mislead parents and students to believe that its product is something it is not. Schools have no business misleading parents and students into believing an IB Certificate is something that is difficult to attain. As long as one pays the fee for the exam and signs their name on the test, they will get an IB Certificate. Trying to hide behind an "international" definition of Candidate and Certificate and lie about the conditions for awarding one,  simply doesn't cut the mustard. 

Now THIS, is newsworthy. TAIB sends a  big thank you to NH for the heads-up on this news out of Marblehead, Massachusetts:

http://www.wickedlocal.com/marblehead/news/x2085750913/International-Baccalaureate-to-be-delayed-until-2013
 “IB is not a proven commodity,” Feins said. “Teachers who visited the IB school at the Cape earlier this year did not find anything we don’t already do or couldn’t more cost effectively add ourselves for the entire student body. During the training at Rice University, participants were told the IB certificate was not accepted at American colleges and universities; only by taking the diploma track will credit be considered, and this track will cost more money.”

“Our U.S. history course has been divided into sophomore and junior years to accommodate MCAS expectations,” she said. “Students taking IB their junior year will miss U.S. History II.”

She also said that Advance Placement is a superior alternative, in the teachers’ view.

“We currently have a rigorous complement of Advance Placement courses open to the entire student body, which colleges and universities do accept,” she said. “How many students would give up AP for IB, when AP is recognized by the universities? The students have never been asked.”

Good news arrived this morning. The Garden City, Long Island, NY, district has voted against recommending the implementation of IB. TAIB reported earlier on the district's consideration of the program, which had supposedly been halted but then received a resurgent push early this year. It is highly unlikely that Garden City would have revealed the $14,000 it had already spent on teacher training if TAIB had not written letters to the editor exposing the cost. TAIB would like to send out a big thank you to all Garden City residents who took the time to educate themselves about IB and oppose its implementation. While the article does not refer to any public objections to the program, in this economic climate cost alone is enough to do IB in.

There are a number of interesting references to changes Garden City would have had to make to its curriculum to accomodate IB, in addition to its potential impact on art and music programs.  Bravo, Garden City!

http://www.gcnews.com/news/2009/0515/Front_page/004.html

                                               MA TEACHERS OBJECT TO IB

Marblehead - To the editor:

The article in the March 26 issue regarding the implementation of the International Baccalaureate program at Marblehead High School did not accurately display the feelings of the teachers.

The majority of the teachers are still reticent with implementing I.B. in 2012. We have concerns, which were expressed to Dr. Dulac earlier this calendar year, and we still feel this is not the opportune time for the implementation of an I.B. program.

The plan, as presented, will only service a maximum of 40 students, 20 juniors and 20 seniors, and students must be in the program for both years (they may not join in as a senior even if there is room).

Our current AP and Honors programs are open to students who wish to challenge themselves, and extra sections are scheduled to accommodate larger enrollments. Students may also opt in or out of the AP and Honors programs any year they wish.

There has been no presentation of a concrete financial plan for the I.B. program: ordering books from overseas including shipping costs and updating as required, paying for out-of-house test scoring, training and retraining as required, and annual membership fees.

The majority of the faculty does not see how we can justify spending the kind of money required by this new program servicing only 40 out of our 1,000 students when there are many other needs for our school. The high school is losing several teachers this year and has not replaced last year’s shrinkage, which will increase class sizes in core classes in the 2009-2010 school year. The technology department is much too small, consisting of three people for the entire system.

We also need to modernize our aging hardware and outdated software. The library needs to restore aides. Physical education does not meet the state mandate for student involvement in all four years. And finally, the job of assistant principal is much too big for just one person (as has been the comment by several different assistant principals who have left over the past 10 years).

The faculty of the high school wants to see the high school restored to original staffing and educational levels before a new program, such as I.B., with its own yearly costs, is implemented.

TAIB has seen this happen before. In fact, it seems to be a rather common occurance when it comes to IB and something parents are never informed of before IB is implemented. Honors courses, a long standing traditional form of education for students who may not be AP students but who are above average, are dismissed as "no different than regular courses" and wiped from the slate of HS offerings. Rather than administrators making sure that their teachers are actually differentiating curriculum in a manner to reflect an Honors label, they are quick to toss those courses to the trash heap in favor of the IB designer label.

http://www.oregonlive.com/clackamascounty/index.ssf/2009/03/clackamas_county_schools_cite.html

Rex Putnam High School, which recently adopted the International Baccalaureate program, is getting rid of some honors courses to streamline the path to more rigorous IB courses available in the junior year.

Of course, what this REALLY involves is the politically correct elimination of "labels" and Liberal crusade to eliminate the achievement gap between White and Asian students and African-American and Hispanic. TAIB finds it really incredible that in this article out of Oregon, Principal Utterback refers to:

Utterback said he considers it part of his mission as an educator to offer every opportunity to every student. He cites studies from districts such as Rockville Center on Long Island, which saw a dramatic jump in minority student achievement after mixing students together.

Did Principal Utterback ever bother to check what the Free and Reduced Lunch Rate is in SouthSide HS in Rockville Center? 2%!

https://www.nystart.gov/publicweb-rc/2007/74/AOR-2007-280221030001.pdf

From what TAIB can determine, only 8% of the student population is African-American and 11% is Hispanic. Furthermore, since those percentages represent less than 40 students in a given ethnic category, the school doesn't have to report whether or not they met the AYP under the NCLB. Utterback's claim is utterly without basis. What TAIB found even MORE interesting is that at SouthSide, only 30% of its teachers have a Masters degree or higher and it has a 24% turnover rate for all of its teachers, 33% for those teachers with less than 5 years experience! These numbers are up from an average of 15% in years prior. The figure you will never see is how many parents have decided to pull their children from the public school system to place them in private school.

U.S. Department of Education Funds IB Study

TAIB knew it wouldn't be long before Arne Duncan started doling out our taxdollars, $700,000 for starters, to try and provide IBO with credibility. The fact that in 40 years, IBO has made no effort to justify its outrageous cost and claims of rigor on its own poses no hurdle to investigators at the University of Pennsylvania who will rely on the results of IB students from Florida to make their determinations. 

 http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/curriculum/2009/03/department_of_ed_to_study_the.html

 

The study will be the first quantitative study of the relationship between participating in the college-prep program and how well students actually do in higher education, according to IB officials.

The first. It would appear that the U.S. Department of Education doesn't recognize the flawed Fordham Report which Mr. Mathews is so fond of. The fact that the University of Florida has created special scholarship recognition for IB (one of only two states which has, the other being Texas) shouldn't bias the study in any way, should it?

Dr. Thomas Sowell 'Gets It'

After being constantly beaten up by Liberals who rage against any criticism of their precious IB, it was with pleasant surprise that TAIB came across the following article:

http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/sowell022604.asp

Thank you Dr. Sowell. It gets tiring being told we are "whackjobs" and other adjectives which we won't repeat in polite company. According to Dr. Sowell:

Parents in Fairfax, Virginia, have succeeded in getting rid of one of the endless series of fad programs that distract American public schools from real education in real subjects. Like most fad programs, this one had a high-sounding name: The International Baccalaureate Curriculum.

It also has a left-wing hidden agenda, as so many other fad programs do. One of the program's supporters gushed that it teaches students "how to think globally" and "how to make us part of the world."

One of the parents critical of the program put it quite differently. She said it "promotes socialism, disarmament, radical environmentalism, and moral relativism, while attempting to undermine Christian religious values and national sovereignty."

None of this is new. This kind of indoctrination has been going on for decades, and the kind of thinking behind it goes back a hundred years, when education guru John Dewey began promoting the idea that schools should be instruments of "social change."

By substituting back-door indoctrination in place of education, John Dewey has done more damage than anyone without an army.

TAIB thinks Dr. Sowell got it right. Do you?