The first International Baccalaureate school in Hamilton County -- and the largest in Tennessee -- is officially on Signal Mountain, officials announced Monday.
With teachers and students gathered in the Signal Mountain Middle-High School's gymnasium Monday morning, administrators and elected officials talked about the internationally recognized curriculum.
"If I were a student sitting here, I'd want to know what's in it for me," said Hamilton County Commissioner Richard Casavant, who was Monday's assembly. "It's an exciting program in a community that's becoming more and more international. This puts a stamp of credibility on your diploma that is recognized worldwide."
IB IN HAMILTON COUNTY* Signal Mountain Middle-High School: Approved Middle Years Programme, waiting for a fall site visit for Diploma Programme* Brown Academy: Reviewing suggestions from site committee; in final stages of becoming the first Primary Years Programme in Tennessee
Although the school has been teaching an IB-based curriculum since it opened in 2008, it has been an IB "candidate" school until it received official approval from the International Baccalaureate organization.
Monday's announcement was for the school's Middle Years Programme, which will serve all students in grades six through eight.
Signal Mountain also is in the process of getting certified as a Diploma Programme for grades 11 and 12. Administrators said they hope to have the high school portion approved by this time next year.
Principal Tom McCullough said that, because teachers already have begun instructing in the international, cross-curricular style of IB, any noticeable changes will be "subtle."
Eighth-grader Davis Brock said he's been enjoying reading more international books, and learning how different subjects and topics are interrelated.
"All of my classes are more interesting, and a few are harder," he said.
Christie Covert, a sixth-grade teacher and parent of a Signal Mountain eighth-grader, said the IB curriculum has encouraged her son to push himself academically.
"I don't know, academically, if he would have gone down this path," she said. "It excites me, because this is not his natural progression."
Fellow parent Regina Hickle-Szabo said the IB curriculum will give Signal Mountain students the tools they need to compete in Tennessee and across the country.
"It's not just about higher standards. It's about better standards," she said.
Plans have been under way to bring the IB curriculum to Signal Mountain since before the school system "turned the earth" on the two-year-old school, Superintendent Jim Scales said.
"This certainly is a good day for a superintendent," he said. "This is a well-rounded program for our students."
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