International Baccalaureate (IB)

Saint Paul's Highland Park Senior High School proudly offers the International Baccalaureate Program (IB) to students. Since 1994, the IB Diploma Program has provided a rigorous college preparatory course of studies for students in 11th and 12th grade.  The IB Middle Years Program became an official program for all 9th and 10th grade students in 2011.  It provides a rigorous, inquiry-based, internationally-minded, and holistic approach that prepares students for the IB Diploma Program and college course work.

Highland Park is one of only three high schools in St. Paul, and 18 in Minnesota, to offer the International Baccalaureate Diploma program. The program started at Highland in 1994. Worldwide, IB is offered in more than 2,300 schools in 131 countries. Any student who is motivated to take stimulating classes is welcome to participate in Highland's program, either taking the complete IB Diploma curriculum or in IB Diploma individual courses in an area of interest. (Note: Because IB students assume high levels of responsibility and require support from their families, parents are asked to sign their approval on any IB registration).

About the International Baccalaureate Program - The International Baccalaureate program was founded in Geneva, Switzerland in 1968 as a non-profit educational foundation. Its original purpose was to facilitate the international mobility of students preparing for university by providing schools with a curriculum and diploma recognized by universities around the world. Since then its mission has expanded, and it now seeks to make an IB education available to students of all ages.

IB offers high quality programs of international education to a world-wide community of schools. The three programs for students aged 3 to 19 help develop the intellectual, personal, emotional and social skills to live, learn and work in a rapidly globalized world. There are more than 566,000 IB students at 3,501 schools in 144 countries.

International Baccalaureate Mission Statement - The International Baccalaureate Organization aims to develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect. To this end the organization works with schools, governments and international organizations to develop challenging programs of international education and rigorous assessment.  These programs encourage students across the world to become active, compassionate and lifelong learners who understand that other people, with their differences, can also be right.

Through comprehensive and balanced curricula coupled with challenging assessments, the International Baccalaureate Organization aims to assist schools in their endeavors to develop the individual talents of young people and teach them to relate the experience of the classroom to the realities of the world outside.  Beyond intellectual rigor and high academic standards, strong emphasis is placed on the ideals of international understanding and responsible citizenship, to the end that International Baccalaureate students may become critical and compassionate thinkers, lifelong learners, and informed participants in local and world affairs, conscious of the shared humanity that binds all people together while respecting the variety of cultures and attitudes that makes for the richness of life.