Grady Middle School students, staff and parents are celebrating recent news that the school is now an authorized International Baccalaureate (IB) Middle Years Programme campus – one of only two HISD middle schools authorized to offer the Middle Years Programme. Lanier MS is the only other authorized HISD middle school.

Grady principal Gretchen Kasper-Hoffman has been fielding congratulatory calls and emails from parents and community members since word came out that the school received IB authorization.

“It’s a great thing for our community,” said Kasper-Hoffman. “They’re looking forward to it.”

The IB Authorization did not come without several years of hard work and effort from Kasper-Hoffman and her entire staff. The school had to make some structural, cultural, and employee changes to conform to IB standards. A three-member committee recently visited Grady for nearly three days and spoke to students, parents, employees and members of the community to make sure the school was ready to join the program.

International Baccalaureate is a nonprofit education foundation that works with more than 3,500 schools in 145 countries to offer challenging programs to more than 1 million students between the ages of 3 and 19. The IB curriculum consists of eight subject groups, which are taught through five areas of interaction.

Five HISD elementary schools currently are authorized to participate in the IB Primary Years Programme, including Harvard, Northline, River Oaks, Roberts, and Mark Twain. Bellaire and Lamar high schools offer IB diploma programs.