Manassas Journal Messenger | Gar-Field IB program at head of class
Gar-Field High School in Woodbridge is ranked eighth out of 355 schools in the United States and 14th out of 890 schools worldwide giving the most International Baccalaureate examinations, according to the International Baccalaureate Organization.
Stonewall Jackson High School, which began its International Baccalaureate Programme in 1993, is ranked 15th in the U.S. and 23rd in the world.
Forty-five percent of Stonewall’s 2,844 students participate in the IB Programme. The pass rate for both Gar-Field and Stonewall Jackson was 87 percent, exceeding the Virginia exam pass rate of 81 percent and the U.S. pass rate of 81.6 percent.
Gar-Field High School implemented its International Baccalaureate Programme in September 1999. Thirty-five percent of Gar-Field High School’s 2,780 students are involved in the program.
The IB Programme is very similar to advanced placement courses?- both let students earn college credits.
IB schools can be found around the world and were originally designed for children of diplomats who needed to prove they were ready to enter universities in their own countries.
Peggy Constantino, coordinator of the IB program at Gar-Field, learned of the ranking from the International Baccalaureate Organization’s “Statistical Bulletin for May 2003,” which is sent to all IB coordinators in October of the examination year.
“It is truly an accomplishment to give so many exams to so many different kinds of learners and yet we continue to exceed the mean pass rates,” said Constantino.
“The ranking shows a great deal of progress, said Roger Dallek, principal of Gar-Field High School. “The fact that we’ve only been IB for two-and-a-half years is fantastic.”