Ooltewah High School principal Mark Bean talks to a student during lunch break at the school in Ooltewah, Tenn.
Ooltewah High School students now can take a globally recognized curriculum right at home with the school’s approval for an International Baccalaureate diploma program.
Ooltewah is the 13th high school in Tennessee to earn IB designation. Recognized by schools and colleges around the globe, the IB curriculum is considered more challenging than regular coursework. It’s even believed to be tougher than the Advanced Placement courses common in many high schools.
“This is the most rigorous curriculum there is,” said Principal Mark Bean.
With their IB diploma program, Ooltewah students join a network of 3,570 schools in 145 countries with some sort of IB program. Locally, Signal Mountain Middle/High holds both the diploma program for juniors and seniors and a middle years program for students in grades six through 10. Brown International Academy offers the primary years version of the IB program.
To receive the IB diploma, students must complete prerequisites and six approved courses, a 4,000-word essay and pass exams that are judged by instructors from all over the world.