IB Program

Marietta City Schools (MCS) is officially an International Baccalaureate (IB) World School district.

Marietta High School has been an IB World School since July 1995. It offers the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Program, a challenging two-year curriculum that leads to a qualification that is widely recognized by the world’s leading universities.

On December 14, 2007, Sawyer Road Elementary (Marietta City Schools’ conversion charter school) became one of 13 IB World Schools in Georgia authorized to offer the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Program (PYP) designed for students aged 3 to 12. The PYP is one of three programs offered by the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO).

On April 23, 2008, MCS became only the second IB World School district in Georgia authorized to offer the IB Middle Years Program (MYP) for grades 6-10. Effective May 1, 2008, Marietta Sixth Grade Academy, Marietta Middle School and Marietta High School received official authorization to teach the IB MYP.

Implementation of the IB MYP in ninth grade began during the 2008-09 school year and tenth grade begins in 2009-2010. The 2008-2009 seventh-grade class will be the first group of MCS students to achieve the MYP Certificate level at the end of the tenth grade.

Facts

The International Baccalaureate (IB) offers three high quality and challenging educational Programs for a worldwide community of schools, aiming to create a better, more peaceful world. IB students are forever curious, fully engaged citizens, who both embrace their own culture and are open and responsive to other cultures and views.

IB Primary Years Program, for students aged 3 to 12, focuses on the development of the whole child as an inquirer, both in the classroom and in the world outside.

IB Middle Years Program, for students aged 11 to 16, provides a framework of academic challenge that encourages students to embrace and understand the connections between traditional subjects and the real world, and become critical and reflective thinkers.

IB Diploma Program, for students aged 16 to19, is an academically challenging and balanced Program of education with final examinations that prepares students for success at university and in life beyond. The IB Diploma Program original purpose was to facilitate the international mobility of students, by providing schools with a curriculum and qualification recognized by universities around the world.

All three Programs:

• have a strong international dimension
• draw on content from educational cultures around the world
• require study across a broad range of subjects
• include both individual subjects and transdisciplinary areas
• give special emphasis to learning languages
• focus on developing the skills of learning
• provide opportunities for individual and collaborative planning and research
• encourage students to become responsible members of their community.

IB Programs include:

• a written curriculum or curriculum framework
• student assessment appropriate to the age range
• professional development and networking opportunities for teachers
• support, authorization and Program evaluation for the school.