Background: In schools accredited as "IB World Schools" by the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO), teachers use IB curriculum and pedagogy to teach a range of courses that are intended to prepare IB-enrolled students for college. Over the past 18 years, the number of U.S. schools that implement IB programs has increased…

This study was a cooperative effort of the Texas-ACT College Success Research Consortium, a research partnership between ACT and the following Texas four-year postsecondary institutions: (1) The University of Texas at Austin; (2) Texas A&M University at College Station; (3) Texas A&M University at Commerce; and (4) University of Texas--Pan…

This article reports on an alumni study of middle school participants in a university-based science camp; at the time of the study the youth were completing their junior or senior year of high school. The science- and technology-intensive program was set in an intentionally designed positive youth development context. The camp was free to youth…

The Oakland Accelerates Program, funded by an Investing in Innovation (i3) development FY2011 grant, was a collaborative process for increasing the Oakland Unified School District's (California) capacity to support each and every student to graduate from high school with the knowledge and skills to be successful in college and postsecondary…

School reformers are often searching for a program that will have a positive and far-reaching effect on a school campus. Researchers and writers have described the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program (IB DP) as a largely positive influence on a school campus, providing a rigorous and standards-based curriculum to IB DP students. However,…

The Advanced Placement (AP) program is an educational program that permits high school students to take introductory college-level courses and receive college credit by passing a standardized end-of-course exam. Data were obtained from a statewide database of 2 high school graduating cohorts (N = 90,044). We used a series of propensity score…

Radical acceleration from middle school to university is an unusual option in the United States. The Early Entrance Program and the University of Washington (UW) Academy for Young Scholars housed in the Halbert and Nancy Robinson Center for Young Scholars are two of only 21 early university entrance programs offered in the United States. Due to…

The International Baccalaureate (IB) programme utilizes an inquiry-based multi-disciplinary approach and focuses on the teaching of critical-thinking skills. The IB programme is growing at a rapid rate within the United States, with the overall number of IB schools having more than doubled in the last five years. The purpose of the present study…

According to the Texas Education Code §29.121 and the Houston Independent School District (HISD) Board Policy, Gifted and Talented (G/T) students are "those identified by professionally qualified persons, who perform at, or show the potential for performing at a remarkably high level of accomplishment when compared to others of the same age,…

The focus of this study was the first year of implementation of the Advanced Placement Academy (APA), a program within a high school providing honors and Advanced Placement coursework for high-ability African American students with previously limited access to rigorous courses. The qualitative investigation explores practical solutions from…

Test anxiety is one of the most debilitating and disruptive factors associated with underachievement and failure in schools (Birenbaum, Menucha, Nasser, & Fadia, 1994; Tobias, 1985). Researchers have suggested that interventions that combine multiple test-anxiety reduction techniques are most effective at reducing test anxiety levels (Ergene,…

The International Baccalaureate[R] (IB) world, known as "the IB World," is doubling in size every five years. The IB has become a complex educational product, but offers high levels of consistency and reliability in terms of delivery and assessment. However, since late 2008, a number of concerns have been raised about the quality and manageability…

There are two mainstream curricula for international school students at the junior high level: the International Baccalaureate (IB) Middle Years Programme (MYP) and the Cambridge International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE). The former was developed in the mid-1990s and is currently being relaunched in a 21st-century approach.…

This study compared student academic achievement in two college readiness programs, Advanced Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate (IB) and attempted to determine how well program participation predict student performance compared to variables such as SES, parent education level, GPA, gender, and SAT II scores. Finally, the research…

The focus of this research is to evaluate the relationship between advanced high school science courses and college outcomes, with a focus on the benefit of Advanced Placement Program® (AP®) participation and performance in comparison to other high school options (e.g., dual enrollment, honors, and regular science high school courses). Although…