Franklin High School

For almost 40 years, Franklin High strove to create a desirable setting for those who wanted to learn. The IB programme helped to make that dream a reality … by offering opportunity and a vision to many students.  Today, the school and its students are enjoying unprecedented success.

Until recently, Franklin High School—originally built with civil defense funds—was in the throes of social change. In the 1950s, it served a poor white community. In the 1960s, there were race riots. Desegregated by court order in 1976, the Stockton Unified School District became a “majority minority” district. Today, more than half its students are Hispanic (56%), with substantial representation by African Americans (13%) and Asians (12%).

Franklin High’s IB Diploma Programme, which was launched in the year 2000, mirrors that of the school district as a whole. Nationwide, it’s one of very few such programs established in—and with—a socio-economically and ethnically diverse community.

The school’s officials believe that any student can achieve at a rigorous level once he or she has made the decision and commitment to do so. Moreover, the Franklin High IB Diploma Programme has a policy of open enrollment. Students are offered the opportunity and support to choose a challenging option, and many are taking advantage of it. 

“Our kids’ world used to be bounded by the two freeways and the north and south main streets in Stockton. They’re not thinking that way anymore. The Franklin IB Diploma Programme has opened the world to them.”

Erin Thiele
Middle Years Program Coordinator
Franklin High School

To facilitate the transition into the Diploma Programme, the Franklin High School IB coordinator sits with each tenth grader, along with their parents, to discuss the IB curriculum, their options and what will be expected of them. A three-day “Diploma retreat” into the countryside every autumn enables diploma students to focus on cooperation and collaboration by forging strong emotional connections with the staff and each other. 

In addition to receiving academic preparation rigorous enough to prepare them for success in any university, Franklin High students learn to live and work with people of all backgrounds… because of this, the international aspect of the curriculum and the classroom experience is as important to their success in college—and in life—as the academic preparation itself.