Melissa Gordon, Emily VanderKamp and Olivia Halic—IB Research
US schools with a high proportion of students from low-income families are eligible to become Title I schools, which allows for the allotment of federal resources to attempt to close the achievement gap (US Department of Education, 2014). This study identifies trends in Title I schools offering IB programmes, explores issues of access to the IB, and examines the postsecondary trajectories of IB students from Title I schools. Overall, 60% of all public schools that offered one or more IB programme(s) in the US were designated Title I in 2012–2013. The findings indicate that Diploma Programme (DP) students from Title I schools, including students from low-income families, enroll in college at much higher rates than national averages. Moreover, DP students from Title I schools enroll in college at the same rate as DP students from US public schools generally. These findings suggest that students from many different backgrounds who participate in the DP are similarly successful in terms of postsecondary enrollment.
