Mira Costa’s current Advanced Placement system is not the most effective way to educate its best students. Switching to the International Baccalaureate program would provide a more specific course offering and an international standard of comparison, which is hugely beneficial to students.
The AP curriculum at Costa has seen respectable amounts of success, but changing to an IB system in the long-term would have more overall benefits. Although some are resistant to change at the high school level, middle school programs exist as well that could be implemented more easily before a high school switch. While AP is more widely used in the United States, IB’s appeal for comparison with students internationally is very great.
Besides meeting prerequisites that are commonly met by many students, AP is simply an offering of courses that students can haphazardly pick and choose from. The IB program puts students on tracks for certain subjects from a younger age, placing them on an accelerated course from the beginning of their academic career. This is helpful because it means students in the program are better prepared for their classes each successive year, and teachers don’t have to spend time letting kids adjust to the pace of an advanced class.
Furthermore, the international standard IB provides makes it an especially enticing system for Costa to implement. Education reform has become a major topic in many communities, as American schools are statistically falling behind. Allowing Costa’s students to be compared to others from across the globe would be a benefit that an IB program would provide.
District administrators, such as Manhattan Beach Unified School District Superintendent Dr. Mike Matthews, maintain that implementing an IB program would be illogical given the success of Mira Costa’s AP program. This is true, but the notion shouldn’t prevent the district from considering the IB program for the long-term.
Redondo Union High School tried unsuccessfully to implement an IB curriculum during the 2008-09 school year, but this initiative failed due to a lack of staff cooperation, according to RUHS Principal Nicole Wesley. It is completely understandable that current high school AP teachers would oppose the program, which is why the program could potentially start at the middle school level and grow into the higher grades.
The main attraction of the IB program, especially at the middle school level, is the global and interdisciplinary approach it takes. With IBs, different subjects cover the same topics from their respective disciplines, leading to a more comprehensive, holistic learning experience.
Expecting Mira Costa to implement IB classes right away would be an unreasonable request. However, in the interest of maintaining a competitive learning environment, they should be seriously considered for grades 6-12 in the future.
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