Chicago Public Schools (CPS) recently announced that as a result of new legislation standardizing credit policies at Illinois colleges and universities, CPS students who have achieved a passing score on International Baccalaureate (IB) exams will now receive college credit at all public post-secondary institutions in Illinois. As the nation’s largest IB network, this new state policy will reduce the cost of college for CPS students and create more opportunities for them to earn credits toward their college degree while still in high school.
The new state credit policy follows Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s ambitious goal, announced in July, to encourage at least half of all CPS high school students to earn one or more college credit by 2019. At nearly 40 percent last year, more students than ever before are earning college credit while in high school through IB, Advanced Placement, Dual Credit and Dual Enrollment and STEM coursework and programs...