More Central High School International Baccalaureate (IB) Information

When I found the US News and World Report Information about Central High School I posted it on face book and emailed it to concerned citizens in the Ozark, MO area. I also posted that information as a comment to an opinion piece in the Springfield News Leader and that generated a little debate. The data didn't make sense to the person that supports IB at Central High School.

I remembered that in my research of IB I did obtain some information from the Springfield School District about Central's IB results. It took a freedom of Information request and $25.00 to get it, boy you talking about tight lipped on such an outstanding program. Let me be clear, not all students at Central participate in the IB program. I do have the numbers for six years and will share them here. Remember these are from IBO official documents:

2005 had 81 candidates, 26 earned the IB Diploma = 32% success rate

2006 had 82 candidates, 28 earned the IB Diploma = 34% success rate

2007 had 114 candidates, 21 earned the IB Diploma = 18% success rate

2008 had 119 candidates, 40 earned the IB Diploma = 34% success rate

2009 had 111 candidates, 28 earned the IB Diploma = 25% success rate

2010 had 159 candidates, 31 earned the IB Diploma = 19% success rate

Over six years that equals an average 27% success rate. This success rate correlates closely with that of the US News and World Report statistics.

Now let me show you how the Springfield School districts shows a higher success rate. Instead of using the total number of candidates each year they only measure the number of candidates that attempted the diploma.

2005 had 81 candidates, 31 attempted the diploma = 38% attempt rate

2006 had 82 candidates, 31 attempted the diploma = 37% attempt rate

2007 had 114 candidates, 31 attempted the diploma = 27% attempt rate

2008 had 119 candidates, 55 attempted the diploma = 46% attempt rate

2009 had 111 candidates, 41 attempted the diploma = 37% attempt rate

2010 had 159 candidates, 41 attempted the diploma = 26% attempt rate

The district took the number of diplomas awarded from the first chart above and then divided by the number of diplomas attempted and came up with a higher success rate.

Here is what the district shows as their Diploma Success Rate:

2005 had 31 diplomas attempted, 26 diplomas earned = 84% success rate

2006 had 31 diplomas attempted, 28 diplomas earned = 90% success rate

2007 had 31 diplomas attempted, 23 diplomas earned = 74% success rate

2008 had 55 diplomas attempted, 40 diplomas earned = 73% success rate

2009 had 41 diplomas attempted, 28 diplomas earned = 68% success rate

2010 had 41 diplomas attempted, 33 diplomas earned = 80% success rate

This is misleading to the public and they should be called out on it. What of the students that did not attempt the diploma? Is the district not accountable for them as well? Their statistics are trying to support a program that they describe as highly successful. Because the district has spun the numbers I personally discount their success statistics and you should as well!

I ask how many programs outside the public school system can survive with such low success rates. The average cost to most schools nation wide to operate an IB Diploma Program is $200,000 annually. That does not include salary for those involved. Readers might be surprised how much this six year 27% success rate has really cost the taxpayer considering that Central has over 25 IB teachers in their six content areas. They also employ an IB Coordinator, a DP counselor, a secretary, a CAS coordinator, and an extended essay coordinator.

The District also informed me that it would take several days (and my $) to extract IB specific expenditures from their budget lines. No transparency! There will continue to be disagreement about IB and I know that, but I ask you, would this be acceptable to the taxpayers if it were widely known? Some may believe that students that participate in IB classes may be better prepared for college even those that don’t attempt the diploma. And there may be some truth in that, though IBO can give no proof of that fact. As a taxpayer I need something to measure the success to cost ratio of any program within the public education system. We can not afford to pay for programs that do not have very successful outcomes!

I encourage the taxpayers of Ozark, MO to ask the hard questions about how much it will really cost per IB student and per IB diploma. The Ozark School District must be transparent as they move forward this debacle. We must demand that the IB success rates not be spun in support of the program, but be truthful so that the future of this program can truly be judged. As taxpayers we need to be knowledgeable about programs paid for with our money. Lets get involved!