Still Where, Not If, You’re Poor: International Baccalaureate Opportunities to Learn International-Mindedness and Proximity to U.S. Cities

By matching International Baccalaureate (IB) and non-IB U.S. public schools based on state, grade span, and enrollment, we used recent public data to confirm relations among a hierarchy of school characteristics and whether schools made available any of IB’s four programs. We fortified prior claims regarding how poverty, minority concentration, and geographic locale as a function of proximity to cities relate to IB availability, a proxy for opportunity to learn international-mindedness. Our proximity approach to data from public schools and a descriptive look at data from private schools highlighted the unique importance of proximity to cities in identifying where IB opportunities do and do not exist. We conclude by specifying recommendations for decision-makers who might need resources to make IB implementation viable or to win local hearts and minds before doing so.