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In a large black-and-white photograph hanging in Jane Stassen鈥檚 office, 1930s-era construction workers perch on a thin steel beam some 70 stories above New York City, precarious but undaunted as they read newspapers and eat lunch on a break.

It鈥檚 no accident that Ms. Stassen, the director of curriculum and instruction for the 3,200-student South St. Paul school district, keeps this image on view above her desk. She sees a parallel to the cash-poor district鈥檚 plan to become what would apparently be the first public school system in the nation to offer the demanding International Baccalaureate program to all its students by next fall.

鈥淲e鈥檙e going confidently out on a limb,鈥� Ms. Stassen explained. As to why a small community best known for its long-gone meat-packing plants would choose to put itself in the vanguard of education reform, district officials say the driving force was pretty cut and dried: the need to prepare students to compete for 21st-century jobs.

鈥淲hat we want is for all our kids to pursue postsecondary [education],鈥� Ms. Stassen said. 鈥淚n order to prepare them for that, we need to offer them rigorous, challenging academic experiences, and that鈥檚 basically what [IB] is all about.鈥�

The perception that the Geneva, Switzerland-based offer just what American students need in today鈥檚 more globally competitive environment seems to be catching on.

After decades of obscurity and slow expansion, the pace of growth in IB鈥攊ncluding courses of study for the primary and middle school years as well as the better-known high-school-level programs鈥攈as quickened considerably.

Favorable word of mouth among educators鈥攁long with an endorsement from President Bush and glowing accounts in national magazines鈥攈as helped catapult IB into U.S. classrooms. More than 225 American schools so far this year have started offering at least one IB program, bringing the U.S. total to 800.

The process of becoming IB-authorized and offering IB classes can be expensive and time-consuming, and the research base on IB鈥檚 efficacy in the United States at this point is thin. Still, more and more schools seem to be arriving at the conclusion of Kathleen Johnson, South St. Paul Junior High School鈥檚 head of school: 鈥淭his is probably the best K-12 education you can get.鈥�

Different observers have different theories about what鈥檚 behind IB鈥橲 faster growth in recent years, given that the program does not actively advertise.

Jeffrey R. Beard, IB鈥檚 director general, says the International Baccalaureate Organization鈥檚 goal鈥斺�渢o prepare students to assume a meaningful role in today鈥檚 global society鈥濃�攎eshes well with Americans鈥� heightened awareness that they must compete for jobs with people on other continents, and that they need a world-class education to succeed.

RAMPING UP: Pace of IB Growth Takes Off

For years, there has been only a sparse International Baccalaureate presence in the United States, but the number of U.S. schools offering at least one IB program has recently shot up.

NOTE: Figure for 2007 is as of this month.

SOURCE: Courtesy of International Baccalaureate Organization

Mostly eschewing multiple-choice tests in favor of research papers and oral presentations, IB aims to teach critical-thinking skills, partly by training students to examine the bases of truth and bias.

鈥淭hese are skills that typical adults don鈥檛 achieve until their 30s or 40s,鈥� Mr. Beard said. 鈥淧arents tell us, 鈥業 can鈥檛 believe my kid is thinking this way.鈥� 鈥�

IB offers programs for all three main segments of K-12 education鈥攑rimary school, middle school, and high school. The latter, called the Diploma Program, is the most common of the three in the United States.

Offerings vary from school to school, but each IB school must offer at least one course in each of IB鈥檚 six content areas, and fulfill uniform curriculum and course guidelines.

Students enrolled in the two-year IB Diploma Program must take a sequence of subject classes, plus a Theory of Knowledge class, and write a 4,000-word research paper on an approved subject of their choice. Diploma candidates must also participate in 150 hours of what IB calls Creativity, Action, and Service, which includes extracurricular arts, sports, and community service.

Alternatively, although all IB schools must offer the full Diploma Program, students can opt to take individual IB classes.

The Diploma Program culminates in students鈥� senior year with three to five weeks of oral and written assessments, which count for three-quarters of their final grades.

To earn an IB diploma, students must score at least 24 of 42 possible points on exams across each of IB鈥檚 six content groups: one first language; one acquired language, in which students must be fluent; individuals and societies, including business, philosophy, and history; experimental sciences, including physics and design technology; the arts; and mathematics and computer sciences.

Students can receive up to three additional points for their work in the Theory of Knowledge class and for their Creativity, Action, and Service participation.

South St. Paul is small鈥攋ust over 20,000 people鈥攁nd it takes less than a minute to drive from the district office to South St. Paul Senior High School, a red-brick structure that graduated its hundredth class last year.

Inside on a recent school day, the hallways were swarming with students, faculty, and administrators wearing maroon-and-white 鈥淧ackers鈥� sweatshirts and jackets鈥攁 show of school spirit for the boys鈥� soccer team, which had a big game that afternoon.

One of those soccer players, 18-year-old Keith Lowery, was sitting at his desk in teacher and IB coordinator Angie Ryter鈥檚 IB Biology 2 class, dividing his attention between the day鈥檚 lesson on evidence for evolution and integral problems in his Calculus 2 textbook.

When he transferred to South St. Paul鈥檚 public schools from a local private school in 7th grade, he found the academics 鈥渨ay too easy,鈥� and when he got the chance to take IB courses, he jumped.

鈥淚 like being challenged,鈥� said the senior, who plays goalie and said he鈥檇 like to study engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology, in Atlanta, or maybe at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in Cambridge, Mass.

Nevin Shenouda, a 17-year-old girl of Egyptian heritage who sat up front, said she was also drawn to the program for the challenge, and compared it favorably with Advanced Placement classes, which friends outside the district have taken.

鈥淚B makes you think,鈥� she said. 鈥淎P鈥檚 just a lot of memorizing and then writing it down.鈥�

Then there鈥檚 the college-tuition factor. Ms. Shenouda has already been accepted by the University of Minnesota, which she鈥檚 weighing attending, in part because if she earns a score of at least 30 out of 45 possible points on her IB final exams, she鈥檒l be eligible to skip up to a year of classes there. She said the university gave her sister, who graduated in 2006, $1,000 in scholarship money just for having taken IB classes.

Other universities offer even more. At Oregon State University in Corvallis, Ore., an IB final-exam score of 30 or higher confers automatic admission, a year鈥檚 worth of credit鈥攚orth about $6,000 for in-state students and about $18,000 for students from out of state鈥攁nd a minimum of $2,000 in scholarship money, renewable annually so long as the student maintains a 3.0 grade point average.

鈥淒oes it help with recruitment? Yes,鈥� said Michele Sandlin, the university鈥檚 director of admissions, but she added that only about five incoming freshmen per year manage to score a 30 or above. Ms. Sandlin said Oregon State offered the credit in part because IB-graduate freshmen were testing out of so many classes.

Because IB has only lately popped up on many educators鈥� radar screens, there have been no national studies of its relative effectiveness in educating students or preparing them for college.

But Ms. Sandlin said she鈥檚 impressed with the quality of IB-educated applicants she sees.

鈥淭he IB students that we get are very prepared for college,鈥� she said.

While IB has grown markedly in the United States, it鈥檚 still dwarfed by Advanced Placement, the Goliath of college-prep programs.

More than 15,500 U.S. public and private schools offered AP exams last year, a number that鈥檚 roughly equivalent to the number of high schools offering an AP class, according to the New York City-based College Board, which sponsors the AP program.

While IB and AP are sometimes mentioned in the same breath, said Carolyn M. Callahan, the chairwoman of the department of leadership, foundations, and policy at the University of Virginia鈥檚 education school, in Charlottesville,Va., both programs are strong, but not really comparable.

鈥淚 wouldn鈥檛 say [IB] is AP on steroids so much as a different kind of program across the board,鈥� she said.

Still, Ms. Callahan said IB鈥檚 reputation has grown as the luster of AP courses has dimmed a bit. Amid complaints that AP courses have become less challenging as more students enroll in them, as well as a series of AP exam-scoring gaffes last year, 鈥淎dvanced Placement came under considerable criticism,鈥� she noted.

Ms. Callahan, who is one of a very few impartial researchers in the United States to have extensively studied IB, said the College Board has actually 鈥渢ried to mimic IB,鈥� by establishing the Advanced Placement International Diploma.

鈥淚 think IB has taken on a mantle of prestige,鈥� she said.

Spokesmen for the College Board did not respond to requests for comment on that view or to a request to comment generally on IB.

Some schools have dropped IB, though, because of community preference for AP.

W.T.Woodson High School, a highly regarded public school in Fairfax,Va., decided eight years ago to discontinue its IB offerings after parents complained that the program allowed less flexibility for students鈥� extracurricular activities than AP.

鈥淯ltimately, I believe the consensus was that Woodson had an AP program already in place that was very successful,鈥� said Robert Elliott, who鈥檚 retiring as the principal of the school next month. 鈥淭here are aspects of the IB program that are 鈥� uniquely great,鈥� he added. 鈥淚 think many people in the community would鈥檝e liked to offer both programs, but that鈥檚 hard to do, especially in these financially tight times.鈥�

Ms. Callahan believes that the cost of IB, as it鈥檚 currently set up, will prevent it from ever growing as widespread as AP.

鈥淚t鈥檚 an extremely expensive program,鈥� she said of IB. 鈥淪adly, many communities are not willing to invest.鈥�

It costs about $10,000 in application fees to get a school considered for IB authorization, and that doesn鈥檛 include the travel and other costs of sending the school鈥檚 teachers and coordinators to specialized three-day professional-development courses, which cost $1,000 per person. Even after being authorized, IB high schools must pay $8,850 a year in fees. Middle and primary schools must each pay $5,220 annually, though schools with more than one IB program get a 10 percent overall fee discount.

Schools must also pay additional fees per student and per subject, and those costs don鈥檛 cover mailing expenses鈥攁ll exams are physically mailed to graders, many of whom are overseas.

To hear South St. Paul鈥檚 Ms. Stassen tell it, money was鈥攁nd continues to be鈥攈er district鈥檚 biggest problem in implementing IB.

鈥淭he local pushback has been, 鈥楥an we really afford this?鈥� 鈥� she said.

South St. Paul Superintendent Patty Heminover said the district has spent about $626,730, supplemented with money from the nonprofit South St. Paul Educational Foundation, on IB just since the start of this school year. That鈥檚 not small change in a district that shares its headquarters building with a drugstore. South St. Paul schools spent a total of $30 million for all of the 2006 fiscal year.

鈥淲hat we had to do was take a look at our resources and reallocate,鈥� Ms. Heminover said. Since 1997, the district has halved the percentage of budget it spends on administration, letting its communications and grant-writer positions go unfilled and tightening up its already lean finances elsewhere.

Financially, 鈥渋t鈥檚 a difficult thing to be a small district,鈥� Ms. Stassen said. But she added: 鈥淓veryone鈥檚 just one step from the classroom, and that鈥檚 what makes a difference鈥� what happens in the classroom.鈥�

Although the IB organization expects to continue to grow aggressively in the United States, IB leaders intend to expand the programs with a specific type of student and school in mind.

While 鈥渨e get the label of being elitist,鈥� Mr. Beard said, about 30 percent of IB schools in the United States receive federal Title I anti-poverty money. The organization would like to dramatically increase the overall proportion of IB students who are eligible for free and reduced-price lunches.

鈥淲e鈥檙e focusing on schools with Title I,鈥� Mr. Beard said.

Some high schools require prospective IB students to pass an entrance test before allowing them into the Diploma Program, he said, which tends to screen out those with lower incomes: 鈥淲hat we鈥檙e telling [high schools] is, let them all in.鈥�

Ms. Ryter, the biology teacher, noted that, if all goes as planned and the district鈥檚 elementary and junior high schools are authorized by the IB central office to offer full IB programs starting next fall, much of the intimidation that keeps more students from taking International Baccalaureate in high school will likely disappear.

Because, unlike in high school, all students at primary- years IB schools must take IB, 鈥渢hey won鈥檛 see it as, 鈥極h, that鈥檚 only for the smart kids,鈥� 鈥� Ms. Ryter said.

Indeed, when asked to compare IB classes鈥� difficulty with that of non-IB classes, a group of 11-year-old students from South St. Paul鈥檚 elementary-grades Kaposia Education Center just gave quizzical looks.

Because they鈥檝e been in classes already ramping up their academics as part of Kaposia鈥檚 IB candidacy, they don鈥檛 know anything different. To them, the academically demanding, internationally oriented curriculum is just the way school is.