Expanding Our World Through Partnerships
by Evelyn Hiatt, President of the IBNA Board of Directors

During its current fund drive, one of the US national broadcasting networks began running a wonderful advertisement that ends with the tag line, “Be more connected.”  “ Brilliant!” I thought. The proposed IBO strategic plan, as well as the one being drafted by IBNA, reflects exactly this idea.  Both strategic plans are about building connections through meaningful partnerships.

Partnering is IB’s way of connecting with the world it wishes both to influence and be influenced by.  IBO partners with groups and individuals so that we can carry our mission statement to new audiences.  More than just authorizing new IB World Schools, IB strives to develop active partnerships with them so that it can improve general services and enhance its support for campuses throughout the world.  Strengthening existing partnerships and creating new ones is at the core of the IBO and IBNA strategic plans.  The new IBO strategic plan being developed is exciting because of the new opportunities it offers for innovative partnering.  This will be done by carrying out three strategies, all of which rely on partnerships to meet their objectives.

Partnerships with existing schools
The first strategy of the proposed IBO plan is that IB will continue to refine and strengthen its commitment of exemplary service to its community of IB World Schools.  Currently, IB World Schools are linked by a deep commitment to academic excellence.  The IBO provides programmes at all grade levels to meet the needs of all schools — it provides both challenging academic programmes and assessments that are respected internationally.  But there is an implied commitment on the part of IBO to its roster of World Schools.  That commitment is that the organization will never be content to rest on its achievements.  Indeed, the development of IB programmes and curriculum is a joint venture between the curriculum center in Cardiff, Wales, and IB schools throughout the world.  For example, the Diploma Programme’s school-based syllabus provision draws upon innovative ideas developed by and implemented in local schools; they are then taken up and further refined by IBO’s curriculum office.  These become IB’s newest courses, available to the entire growing base of IB Diploma Schools.  It is difficult to imagine an IBO that did not work with and support its World Schools. 

Expanding to new schools in new areas
Strategy two of the plan focuses on expanding access to IB programmes and services to new groups of students throughout the world.  This strategy focuses on a significant idea expressed in the IB mission statement, “…to create a better and more peaceful world.”  This component emphasizes how we might all learn the ways in which education promotes tolerance and understanding. It is not enough to have the finest educational programmes available only to citizens of affluent countries.  IBO now has a significant enough roster of IB World Schools that it can fully address its commitment to expanding IB programmes and services both to less fortunate children with limited or restricted educational options and to less fortunate school systems that need support in developing world class services.  In some cases, the opportunities IB might provide such school systems and their students will be less comprehensive than for students who participate in an IB programme at an authorized IB World School.  However, by working with governments that are trying to develop or improve educational systems for their countries, IBO is carrying out an important part of its mission statement, "to support the development of inquiring, thoughtful and compassionate young people."

The expansion of new IB schools in new areas also supports the work of current IB World Schools.  By expanding partnerships to include governments, educational associations and other non-governmental organizations, IBO places itself in the midst of the educational reform discussions going on in countries throughout the world.  This inevitably leads to greater awareness of IB programmes and increased recognition among those in the educational community.  Greater recognition, however, also means greater notoriety in the sense that those critical of the IB message may take aim at its programmes.  This is an unfortunate, yet expected, outcome of IB’s success.  We are beginning to read in newspapers and online newsletters and magazines that IB, a 30-year old educational programme with respected academic and internationally recognized standing, is being dismissed as a “fad”.  Interestingly, many of the “fads” that have been important parts of IB for 30 years are now generally accepted by the educational community at large.  When the IBO was established, the notion of mandatory community service in North American schools was relatively rare.  Now it is required by some states and provinces.  In the US, the notion of statewide assessment of students to assure mastery of knowledge and skills was unheard of.  Now it is part of federal legislation.  The concern that some expressed then about the values that are at the heart of the IB programmes are the same values now embedded in national and provincial calls for “character education.” 

IB’s interest in responding to the concerns and criticisms leveled at its programmes only serves to reinforce the importance of the partnerships IBO has with its World Schools.  IB will be providing information and research to its World Schools so they can respond more confidently to local issues, concerns about, and criticism of the programs with data on student performance in post-IB endeavors.  As more diverse types of schools adopt IB programmes, the credibility of IBO’s response to criticism will be enhanced.  IBO must respond to the needs of all students who are academically motivated and all campuses that are committed to high academic achievement.  Strategy two assures that the programme will be available to and appropriate for this new, wider audience.

Creating innovative partnerships
The third strategy in the IBO plan addresses the need to create an infrastructure that will enable its two other strategies to be realized.  Here again, partnerships are at the core of the activities to reach this goal and the approach is two-pronged.  First, and perhaps most important, is IBO’s commitment to strengthen its regional offices.  This effort has already started in North America, where IBO and IBNA have been working for over two years to create a formalized partnership agreement that gives the region greater autonomy to support the central mission of the organization.   The agreement, that has been approved by the IBNA Board of Directors and is under review by the IBO Council of Foundation, would enable IBNA to respond more quickly and comprehensively to regional issues such as implementation of No Child Left Behind legislation in the US or Ontario’s change from thirteen to twelve years of public education several years ago.

The agreement also enables IBNA to develop a plan incorporating activities that support the IBO strategies relating to its school services and widening student access to its programmes.  A draft plan being considered by the IBNA Board of Directors will be an exciting step both in expanding IB programmes within the region and in enhancing the array of services offered to existing IB World Schools in the North American and Caribbean region. 

IBNA is not the only group that has such a formalized agreement with IBO.  IB fundraising entities also have been created with the express purpose of working with foundations and organizations that are committed to supporting goals similar to those of IBO.  While these groups are still relatively new, they have started to yield results.  The recent grant awarded to IBNA by the US Department of Education that supports the establishment of the MYP in schools with high percentages of economically disadvantaged students is one example of the types of relationships IBO hopes to build in the future.  These efforts clearly benefit existing IB World Schools as the stature of IBO becomes better recognized in the region.

As IBO looks to the future, its partnerships may include new types of arrangements with schools.  Although all schools may not be able to implement an entire IB programme, there may be schools that wish to adopt a portion of the curriculum.  IBO might develop a partnership with a country to consult on its development of a secondary school program or assist in shaping its curriculum.  A small, rural Canadian school with limited resources might access an IB course using technology that links them to a recognized IB World School. Where it is impossible to establish an IB World School, IBO would like to provide alternatives for students who wish to gain access to IB programmes. Regardless of the variations that might occur in the future, the IB World School model will remain the organization’s exemplar to the larger educational community. 

Evelyn Hiatt,
President, IBNA Board of Directors

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