(a) The Legislature hereby finds and declares that the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program is a comprehensive and rigorous two-year curriculum, leading to examinations for high school pupils. Its objectives are to provide pupils with a balanced education, to facilitate geographic and cultural mobility, and to promote international understanding through a shared academic experience. Successful International Baccalaureate Diploma candidates pursue a specific, intensive, balanced liberal arts course of study and must pass rigorous examinations in seven curricula areas. Successful International Baccalaureate Diploma candidates are typically granted substantial advanced placement credit at the finest colleges and universities in the nation. The academic content and rigor of the instruction and examinations in International Baccalaureate Diploma Programs is governed and continuously monitored by the International Baccalaureate Organization in Geneva, Switzerland.

(b) It is the intent of the Legislature to encourage high schools to offer the intensive, rigorous course of instruction leading to International Baccalaureate Diplomas and to encourage pupils in these schools to enroll in, attempt, and pass the rigorous International Baccalaureate Diploma course of study and the rigorous examinations leading to the International Baccalaureate Diploma.

(c) The Superintendent shall annually update information on the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program available on the department’s Internet Web site. The Superintendent also shall provide support to high schools that offer International Baccalaureate (IB) courses to facilitate communication with the Academic Senate for the California Community Colleges, the Academic Senate of the California State University, and the Academic Senate of the University of California about the rigor of those courses and to ensure that college credit is given to pupils who participate so that they benefit from successful efforts in IB programs.

(Amended by Stats. 2015, Ch. 538, Sec. 40. (SB 416) Effective January 1, 2016.)