IB+Research

=**A Qualitative Study of Student Achievement and Growth** **Associated with the International Baccalaureate Program** **In Academy School District 20**=

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Executive Summary of Study Findings (excerpted from [])=====

Findings from the current study identified **three areas unique to the IB program that seem to account for superior student achievement and growth**. - **Critical inquiry**: Inquiry and critical thinking are central to learning and teaching in the IB culture. This speaks to the power of “why.” The use of higher-level questions that seek to explore the deeper processes and foundations of content was an important facet of every IB classroom that was observed. It was a dominant theme in discussions with all program participants (students, teachers and administrators alike). It provides the platform of skills that enable students to be successful in other aspects of schooling. It helps them develop more probing questions that invite and engender discussion (as opposed to closed-ended or single-answer questions). Critical inquiry appears to support open-minded thinking among students. Students are prompted to search for a deeper understanding of content. It is this deep understanding that equips them to defend and support answers they offer in class. - **Student agency in learning**: According to IB students, when teachers encourage critical thinking it emphasizes learning for its own sake. In this way, schooling goes beyond simple scores or grades. This provides a stronger foundation for subsequent education because it creates learners who are able to transfer knowledge rather than merely recite facts. In the words of a student, “IB is important because. . . it constantly answers the question of why. . . I don’t care nearly as much about knowing this fact as the satisfaction of knowing that this fact leads to this and how everything is interconnected.” - **Structural, pedagogical, and ideological consistency**: Consistency of IB instruction over time is fundamental to the success of students in the program. Through the varying levels of the program (from primary year to middle year to diploma year), IB provides a scaffold that gives teachers a meaningful and logical progression of skills and techniques. Throughout, IB teaching methods and IB instructional practices are implemented across classrooms and levels in a manner and with a consistency that does not seem to exist in traditional classrooms.

These appear to directly contribute to the success of IB students. These elements include:** - **Alignment of teacher beliefs and instruction:** The current study revealed the importance of certain aspects of schooling. In particular, these involve a match -- or sometimes a mismatch -- between beliefs and instruction. Beginning with William James (“belief precedes fact”), educators have long claimed that highly-effective organizations have a close correspondence between beliefs and practice. Yet, at the same time, it is often the case that educators (whose job it is to help others learn) often find it hard to learn themselves. This occurs, as Argyris argues, because educators create mismatches where they say one thing but do another. The current study revealed little if any mismatch between belief and practice among teachers associated with the IB program. - **Coherence within schools**: Themes emerging from the study were observed across levels and were the most-prevalent and most-robust. As a group, they brought greater focus. - **Consistent professional teacher development**: IB professional development is key to implementation. Instructor training is exceptional for its uniformity and consistency across IB programs. Instructors in all host schools are offered and partake of the same IB training. This develops a consistent skill base rooted in one instructional philosophy.
 * When these major themes are viewed closely, more-specific characteristics of IB emerge.