Addressing Access

In July 2008, the Gates Foundation awarded a grant to International Baccalaureate to fund an 8-week study of the Diploma Gap, the gap between the numbers of high school students who could be reached by the IB Diploma Programme and those who actually are. The goal of this project was to identify the reasons for the gap, quantify the impact of the gap, and devise strategic solutions to narrow it.

In their analysis, the consultants found that the causes for the gap could not be explained by the types of schools that the IB serves or the number of students academically qualified to participate.  Instead, the reasons for the gap have more to do with the perceptions of students and teachers about the program, the level of funding and incentives provided by the state, the degree of commitment by leadership in the school and district in providing access to all students, and academic and emotional support for students, among other factors.

The study focused on three fundamental questions: (1) what value does IB provide for under-represented students? (2) What are the causes of the Diploma Gap? And (3) what should be the major elements of a strategy to reduce the Gap?

Please click here to read the Diploma Gap Study Summary.