PERFECT SCORES ONCE AGAIN HIGHLIGHT NOTRE DAME PREP’S IB RESULTS

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July 6, 2021

For information on enrollment and registration at Notre Dame, please visit the admissions section of our website here.

Latest round of IB Diploma Program results bring new group of global citizens from Notre Dame to the world with a number of perfect scores.

This week, 31 Notre Dame Prep students in the full International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Program joined more than 170,000 students from around the world in receiving their IB-DP and IB-CP results. They are now part of a community of more than two million lifelong learners in 152 countries around the world. 

According to English and social studies teacher Katrina Sagert, who is the IB Diploma Program coordinator at NDPMA, despite operating once again under extraordinary circumstances, all 31 students in the Diploma Program performed amazingly well, with 28 receiving the diploma for a 90% overall passing rate.

Sagert said there were four from the junior cohort who tested and 64 other juniors and seniors who took individual courses.

"The students and teachers of this year's total cohort faced the extraordinary challenges of school closures, remote learning and quarantines, and they have met every obstacle with resilience, flexibility, professionalism and grace. I could not be more proud of all of them."

Olli-Pekka Heinonen, who is the director general of the International Baccalaureate, said yesterday in a news release issued by IB that the last 18 months have been incredibly challenging for schools around the world. 

"COVID-19 has undermined much of what we had come to take for granted," he said. "I salute the spirit and dedication of our students, teachers and schools throughout the world to our shared mission: education for a better world."

Perfect scores once again

According to Sagert, on a 1-7 grading scale, eight students from Notre Dame were awarded perfect 7s. 

"This is the highest score a student can get, and it's an exceptionally rare score," she said. "This year, five of those 7 scores were from the math department, with two from our HL math course, the most challenging math class we offer. The other 7s came from biology, history and Spanish."

Notre Dame Corporate President Fr. Leon Olszamowski, s.m., who was instrumental in first bringing IB to the school in 2007, was very pleased after hearing of the results this year.

"Congratulations to our students and teachers for their remarkable performance on IB assessments," he said. "I am exceptionally proud of them, especially given the circumstances of the past year and a half."

Heinonen added that the IB organization also understood the pressure that was put on the whole education system by COVID-19.

"We thank all our partners, including universities, for their support and understanding as we navigated our way through this challenging time. This year, the IB's priority has been to provide students equal opportunity to progress after the global disruption due to COVID-19, regardless of whether students sat for the examinations or were assessed by the non-exam route. We have carefully considered the impact of the pandemic on all our students."

The IB is a Geneva-based international educational body that offers four educational programs, one of which is the Diploma Program meant for students who are between 16 and 19 years of age. The scores of IB are widely accepted across various universities throughout the world. 

The IB also released the following overview data for the 2021 IB Diploma Program:

• The number of candidates for the May 2021 session was 170,660 and for May 2020, 174,360;
• Out of 170,660 students, 104,275 were in the non-exam route and 65,576 in the exam route (and 809 split between both routes);
• The number of Diploma Program candidates for the May 2021 session was 87,307 and for the May 2020 session, 86,657;
• The average diploma score for the May 2021 session was 33.02 points, up from 31.34 in May 2020;
• The number of students achieving 40-45 points was 15,513, up from 9,701 in May 2020;
• The average diploma grade was 5.19, up from 4.95 in May 2020; and
• The diploma pass rate was 88.96% for 2021, up from 85.18% in May 2020.
 

For information on enrollment and registration at Notre Dame, please visit the admissions section of our website here.

Comments or questions? mkelly@ndpma.org

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About Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy
Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy is a private, Catholic, independent, coeducational day school located in Oakland County. Notre Dame Preparatory School enrolls students in grades nine through twelve and has been named one of the nation's best 50 Catholic high schools (Acton Institute) four times since 2005. Notre Dame's middle and lower schools enroll students in pre-kindergarten through grade eight. All three schools are International Baccalaureate "World Schools." NDPMA is conducted by the Marist Fathers and Brothers and is accredited by the Independent Schools Association of the Central States and the National Association of Independent Schools. For more on Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy, visit the school’s home page at www.ndpma.org.