Date:  December 22, 2000
Contact: Irene Cromer
(703) 791-8720

 For the third straight year, International Baccalaureate (IB) students at Stonewall Jackson High School have scored above the world mean in Math Methods and Math Studies exams.   Students posted composite scores above the world mean in seven of fifteen subject areas and increased the overall percentage of exam scores earning marks of four or higher for the May 2000 exam session. The Prince William County high school is located in Manassas with an enrollment of 2272 students. Stonewall Jackson High School was cited as one of the top 100 schools in the nation by Newsweek magazine.

The top scores were earned on examinations in Math Methods (6.48 SJHS, 4.72 world), Computer Science (5.86 SJHS, 4.39 world), Math Studies (5.33 SJHS, 4.67 world), Information Technology in a Global Society (5.09 SJHS, 5.04 world), English (4.97 SJHS, 4.82 world), Social Anthropology (4.88 SJHS, 4.72 world), and Physics (4.65 SJHS, 4.48 world).  The number of students taking examinations in the fifteen subject areas offered at Stonewall increased by twenty-nine percent, or by sixty-three students. 

Examiners from around the world score IB exams, which are similar to advanced
placement tests. Students earn a 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, or 7, with scores of 4 and above required to qualify for college credit.  Four hundred and thirty-seven of the 509 exams taken at Stonewall Jackson High School earned marks of 4 or higher, for a success rate of 86 percent, marking an improvement over last year’s success rate of 85 percent.

 The IB program at Stonewall, which began in 1993-94, offers a rigorous academic program based on best practices globally.  To earn the IB diploma, students must, during the eleventh and twelfth grades, take externally assessed examinations in six subject areas, write an extended 4,000-word essay equivalent to a college research paper, take a philosophy course entitled “The Theory of Knowledge,” and perform 150 hours of community service.

For their efforts, students may earn credit for admission to college and universities throughout the world.  The IB program offers an international curriculum with multi-cultural perspectives and international standards of achievement.  It concentrates on the education of the whole person and an educational process that focuses on learning how to learn.

For information on the IB program at Stonewall Jackson High School, call Connie Giorgio, IB Coordinator, at 703-325-2900.  Gar-Field High School, in eastern Prince William, has an IB program, which began in September 1999.  The IB coordinator, Peggy Constantino can be reached at 703-730-7000.