A Study of International Baccalaureate Middle Year Programme Participants' College Readiness Indicator Exam Scores and the Implications for School Leaders

The purpose of this longitudinal, non-experimental, causal comparative research study was to investigate whether a statistically significant difference existed between the college readiness indicator exam scores of students who participated in an International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme (IBMYP) and those who did not. This quantitative study compared the archival data results of the AP Calculus AB, AP Calculus BC, AP English Language, AP English Literature, SAT Reading, SAT Writing, SAT Math, IB Mathematics HL, IB Mathematics SL, and IB English A1 exams of students in two large, urban comprehensive high schools. This study examined participation in an IBMYP middle school and high school exam scores three and four years later. The independent variable in this study was student participation in IBMYP in grades 6-8. There were mixed results in the findings of this study. Students who participated in the IBMYP middle school program achieved better than their non-IBMYP counterparts on the SAT Math, SAT Reading, SAT Writing, IB English A1, AP English Language, AP English Literature, and IB Math HL. Significant differences in scores between IBMYP participants and non-participants were found in all but three of the exams: IB Math SL, AP Calculus AB, and AP Calculus BC.