The International Baccalaureate Organization Commended the ACS IB Program

Ever since 2005, the American College of Sofia has been an authorized IB World School where students not eligible for a Bulgarian National Diploma, can study a number of IB subjects. Students in the IB Programme are also given the opportunity to fulfill the requirements for the ACS American Diploma, which is awarded to students independently of the diploma granted by the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO).

Over the duration of 16 months the IB Programme at ACS was the subject of a comprehensive evaluation by means of an internal audit of the IB standards and practices, implemented at the College. Such self-evaluation occurs every 5 years and is an opportunity for any IB school to reflect on its current procedures and accomplishments and to realign itself with the core requirements of the IBDP. 

The 2020 ACS self-evaluation engaged all IB stakeholders, among them teachers, students, parents, alumni, administrative staff, and the leadership team. Besides the extensive audit report sent, the College also developed a step-by-step action plan for improvements over the next five-year period.

Having considered the ACS findings, the IBO responded with the conclusion that the IBDP of ACS successfully meets all IB standards and practices and there are no matters to urgently address.

ACS received specific IB commendations to the school and the teachers for:

• recognizing the value of the mission statement as the foundation of all school operations
• its highly visible commitment to IB philosophy
• ensuring the ongoing updating of all the facilities allocated to the DP
• recognizing the central role of the library and for constantly improving the services that the library provides
• providing diverse access points for students to consider global issues and multiple perspectives
• establishing a robust system of counselling connected with local and international organizations that provides DP students with detailed support
• formally establishing time to discuss how to enhance the development of the IB learner profile attributes and follow up on peer recommendations
• developing a service learning programme that is integrated into the CAS programme
• establishing a yearly analysis of the assessment data and the teachers for collaborating to provide solutions to ensuing challenges

“ACS highly appreciates the efforts of all stakeholders who took part in the self-evaluation process and values the feedback and the support they provided to us. We would continue doing our best to ensure high-quality educational experience to our students. Thank you!” IB Programme Coordinator and Liberal and Fine Arts Department Chairperson Dr. Zornitsa Semkova commented.