(1) (a) The general assembly hereby finds and declares that: (I) It is in the best interests of the state to encourage the development and adoption of innovative and effective curricula for high school students; (II) The international baccalaureate diploma program is an established and well- respected program designed to provide innovative curricula world-wide; (III) In most other Western educational systems, secondary education includes the equivalent of a thirteenth grade, and the international baccalaureate diploma program conforms to this approach with its rigorous course of study over two years; (IV) A student who has successfully completed the international baccalaureate diploma program is viewed as a highly attractive student by institutions of higher education due to the student's ambition, work habits, and scholarship; (V) Nationwide, institutions of higher education recognize the high level of academic sophistication of international baccalaureate students and many offer considerable college credit as an inducement for those students to attend their institutions; (VI) Many Colorado international baccalaureate students leave the state to attend institutions of higher education that provide attractive offers of credit; and (VII) It is in the best interests of Colorado to retain the state's best and brightest students who can establish permanent residency and subsequently contribute to the intellectual and economic vitality of the state. (b) It is therefore the intent of the general assembly in enacting this section that Colorado institutions of higher education be required to adopt comprehensive and reasonable policies to offer credit to international baccalaureate students. (2) (a) The department shall ensure that each governing board of a state-supported baccalaureate and graduate institution of higher education in the state adopt and implement, for each of the institutions under its control, a policy for the acceptance of first-time freshman students who have successfully completed an international baccalaureate diploma program. (b) Each governing board shall report the policy adopted and implemented pursuant to paragraph (a) of this subsection (2) to the department and shall make the policy available to the public in an electronic format. (c) Each governing board shall set the number of credits the institution may grant to a student who has successfully completed an international baccalaureate diploma program. Except as otherwise provided in paragraph (d) of this subsection (2), the number of credits granted by an institution shall be, at a minimum, twenty-four semester credits or their equivalent. Each governing board shall identify the specific general education or elective requirements that the student satisfies by having successfully completed the international baccalaureate diploma program and shall outline the conditions necessary to award the credits. (d) Each institution may determine the level of student performance necessary to grant the credits, as measured by a student's exam performance in the specific courses constituting the international baccalaureate diploma program. An institution may only grant less than twenty- four semester credits or their equivalent if the student has received a score of less than four on an exam administered as part of the international baccalaureate diploma program, in which case the number of semester credits or their equivalent granted by the institution shall be reduced accordingly. (3) The provisions of this section shall not apply to the Colorado school of mines while the institution is operating under a performance contract negotiated pursuant to section 23-41- 104.6.
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