The Proviso Township High School District 209’s board of education unanimously approved last week keeping International Baccalaureate programming for this year despite some members’ trepidation about its low enrollment.
“Students start scheduling in December, so we need to make some very important decisions around IB, specifically at East and West,” said Interim Supt. Alexander Aschoff.
Today, there are 55 students enrolled in the program at East, 49 students at West, and 177 students at PMSA. That’s a nearly 69% decrease since 2022-23, when the rigorous program was first offered, district data shows.
“I think if we didn’t look at it and didn’t have these conversations, to me that is more concerning, that we didn’t address it,” Aschoff said. “There is obviously something here and we need to dig into it a little bit more to figure out what is going on and what will be best moving forward.”
The decision to keep the program at any of the schools will need to be made by October or November at the latest, Aschoff said.
Proviso D209 offers the IB’s diploma program, a two-year international education program for teens 16 to 19, at all three district high schools. Proviso West also offers the IB career-related program. Students receive college credit for individual courses or for completing a full IB diploma.
Enrollment in the IB diploma program has also decreased.
For this school year, which began Thursday, Aug. 15, the number of students considered “full-diploma” students, or students who are taking majority IB courses according to Aschoff, is 18. No juniors or seniors at East are enrolled. At West, there are only five seniors in the program, while seven juniors and six seniors at PMSA are considered “full-diploma students.”
That’s a sharp contrast from the first year, when there were 101 students considered “full diploma” students: 15 juniors at East, 18 juniors at West, 20 juniors and 48 seniors at PMSA.
During that year, seniors at East and West were not able to complete a full IB diploma because of when the Math and Science Academy programs at the schools were implemented, Aschoff said. The MSA’s course pathways at East and West prepare freshman and sophomore students for IB classes their junior and senior year. The programs went into effect during the 2020-21 school year.
“There you can see the concern,” Aschoff said. “We have students taking the courses, but as far as the pinnacle of the IB program, of students earning the full diploma, the numbers are low.”
Students are simply electing not to take the courses, Aschoff said.
The renewal of the program, which Aschoff said was the right decision for this school year, cost the district $37,980 for the three high schools, $12,660 each.
The issue is not with the program itself, as Aschoff said it is not only a “phenomenal and rigorous” internationally recognized program, but other high schools have seen great success with it, but trying to figure out what is the cause of the low enrollment.
“It is something that Proviso certainly believes in but is it that we haven’t been supporting, communicating, explaining, is it on us?” Aschoff said. “We have to look in the mirror first…did we do our job to make sure we are educating enough, supporting it enough, before we can do a reflective piece and turn the mirror on the individual that we are talking to.”
But before the district can even think about removing IB programming from East and West, community input is highly needed, Aschoff said.
“We have to definitely work with the community, work with our students, work with our teachers to make sure that this is the direction that everybody really wants,” Aschoff said, adding that the district can continue to support the program if student engagement increases.
Those conversations have not happened yet, Aschoff said, adding generating more talk about the program is the first step.
“I want to ease into it. I don’t just want to jump right into it because I think that is going to cause panic or alarm,” Aschoff said.
Aschoff said he wants to see how the conversation forms, but said they will ramp it up as the school year really kicks off so counselors and students can know in terms of scheduling their courses for next year.
But maintaining a program with such low enrollment is not fiscally responsible.
“We can’t make a decision to let courses run when the enrollment is so low,” Aschoff said. To do so would not be a responsible way to use tax-payers money, he added.