Content area
Abstract
As International Baccalaureate (IB) programs are increasingly being implemented in American urban schools, concerns emerge about balancing rigor, multiculturalism, and internationalism. In short, how can educators adapt a program that was initially designed for the children of an elite class of diplomats and the international business community in the mid 20th century to the needs of diverse groups of students in the United States in the early 21st century? My problem of practice is how to assure or even expand access for working class students and students of color—those students who would otherwise make up the school’s population—to the IB diploma program in the face of IB’s expansion and related risks of over-institutionalization and depersonalization. As participant observer, I combined self-study and case study to examine practices in my own classroom, specifically in a pre-IB class that serves as a de facto gatekeeper for the IB program in my school. My primary data sources have been personal observation, course artifacts, and conversations with multiple stakeholders—especially with my teaching partner for the class. As a result of this exploration, she and I have made several adjustments to the class, including explicitly teaching the hidden curriculum, providing instructional scaffolding to increase student opportunity and success, expecting students to utilize self-assessment strategies, and encouraging grit via a grade contract that honors effort.
