It is an ideal time for the South Orange Maplewood School District to consider the the International Baccalaureate Middle Years and Diploma Programs.

The IB programs offer an outstanding combination of challenge, international standards and progressive education.  The emphasis on international understanding especially suits Maplewood-South Orange, with its diverse community.  IB programs also emphasize analytical thinking, interconnections among disciplines, and offer better preparation for our students to be productive citizens in today’s world.

Given that SOMA is facing the double challenge of raising academic standards during a time of severe budget cuts, the IB is a cost-effective way to accomplish our goals.  It also accords with our Strategic Plan and can help SOMA achieve these important objectives:

• Develop and implement programs that enable every student to exceed State Core Curriculum Content Standards and improve achievement, with a particular focus on math, science, and language arts.
• Offer a deep and challenging curriculum that promotes mastery of subject areas and high-level skills and competencies. 
• Ensure that students at all grade levels are productive engaged and have access to academically rigorous and relevant curriculum and instruction throughout the day. 
• Provide ongoing, meaningful professional development and support for teachers targeted at learning and applying new practices.
• Develop strategies to improve the transition for students entering high school and address academic and emotional support to establish a more personal connection between students and their school environment.

For the past two years, we have been meeting with parents throughout the community and have found tremendous enthusiasm for the IB. We are particularly struck by the fact that this is an unusually creative, intellectual, diverse, and international community that has demanding education standards for their children. At the same time, our community is also at a crossroads, with many new families moving here, but also many discouraged by the schools and taking their children out of the district, particularly at the middle school stage.

This is the perfect moment to marshal the incredible intellectual and creative capital of this community, its commitment to diversity, to create an outstanding flagship IB program in South Orange-Maplewood. South Orange Middle, Maplewood Middle and Columbia High School are staffed with outstanding, creative teachers who would thrive in a program that draws on their strengths and offers them professional support.

We believe that it not only is it possible to bring the IB to SOMA—it is essential for the future of our children.