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13 Sept. 2019
Greetings IB Diploma Coordinators,
I hope this message finds you enjoying as smooth a start as possible to the 2019-2020 school year. As many of you know, the Oregon Legislature recently passed Senate Bill 160, amending ORS 350.417, which changes the cut score for colleges and universities to award credit for IB exams that earn a "4" or higher, instead of the previous cut score of "5." This is great news for Oregon students, families and schools!
The bill goes into effect with the 2021-2022 academic year; however, it is important to know that students who assess in the 2019-2020 school year who earn a "4" in an IB subject will be eligible to earn university credit as long as they matriculate in the fall of 2021 (or later), primarily affecting current juniors.
On another note, I know all of you are anxious about the Test Fee Program, particularly for students navigating poverty. I so appreciate your patience with receiving this news, and unfortunately, we still don't know the exact amount of subsidy per exam.
Cindy Hunt, ODE Chief of Staff, has released this statement with regard to the Test Fee Program:
"ODE was provided funding within the 2019-2021 budget for AP/IB test fees. ODE is in the process of reconciling our budgeted amounts to determine the exact amount of funding per test for particular categories of students."
As you inform students and families about the fees associated with IB and/or AP examinations, ODE recommends that all low income students are able to participate in accelerated learning opportunities free of charge. While you are awaiting the outcome of the funding negotiations, we suggest communicating that test fees for low income students will be 0$. Should ODE funding fall below this level of subsidy, please keep in mind that test fees are an eligible expense of the High School Success funds. If you find you will need to use some of these funds to cover the test fees for low income students, you can adjust your Plan accordingly. Please keep in mind the following in all of our efforts to achieve equity for underrepresented groups of students: Students who participate in accelerated learning opportunities such as AP or IB are 30% more likely to graduate from high school, 25% more likely to enroll in college, and 22% more likely to persist in college than their peers who did not take accelerated classes in high school (REL Northwest).
Lastly, I urge you and your team of teachers and administrators to consider removing barriers that discourage underrepresented groups of students from taking IB courses. IB research shows even taking a single IB course increases a student's likelihood of the same parameters mentioned above. Such barriers include GPA, summer reading and other summer projects, teacher recommendations, etc. For an inspirational article on this, please read "Finding America's Missing AP and IB Students" by the Education Trust.
I definitely hope to see you at the NIBA meeting Oct. 18, 2019. Please also note that I am happy to visit your school and conduct workshops on reducing barriers to IB participation or any other IB-related topic you'd like. Please don't hesitate to contact me with any questions, concerns, etc.
Hope to see you soon!
Pandie
Pandie Anderson
Personalized and Accelerated Learning Specialist
503.947.0500
pandie.anderson@state.k12.or.us
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