INDReporter

Statewide NOLA charter teaching International Baccalaureate

by Heather Miller

A New Orleans charter high school that accepts students from across Louisiana is joining a very small list of schools here that offer the highly revered International Baccalaureate program. A New Orleans charter high school that accepts students from across Louisiana is joining a very small list of schools here that offer the highly revered International Baccalaureate program.

The Times-Picayune reports on its website that the International High School of New Orleans will begin implementing the IB curriculum in the fall, which will allow students in the program an alternative to a traditional high school diploma and one that keys in on prepping students for the global job market.

Because the high school is a Type 2 charter, it accepts students statewide and not solely from New Orleans:
The I.B. diploma program is a two-year curriculum developed in Switzerland in the 1960s. It's now offered by about 2 percent of high schools in the United States. More than 3,000 schools worldwide use some form of the I.B., according to the nonprofit foundation that runs the program.

The curriculum is designed to help prepare students for an international job market, focusing on six academic areas: language; second-language acquisition; math and computer science; experimental sciences; individuals and society; and an elective in the arts or another subject.
According to the IB program's website, there are now four schools in Louisiana offering the IB diploma, one in Marrero, one in Baton Rouge, one in Metairie and now one in New Orleans:
The IB Diploma Programme is designed as an academically challenging and balanced programme of education with final examinations that prepares students, normally aged 16 to 19, for success at university and life beyond.
Read more on the new program here.