History
The International Baccalaureate was founded in Geneva, Switzerland in 1968 as a non-profit educational foundation. Its original purpose was to facilitate the international mobility of students preparing for university by providing schools with a curriculum and diploma recognized by universities around the world. Since then its mission has expanded, and it now seeks to make an IB education available to students of all ages.
The Diploma Programme (grades 11-12) portion of the IB has existed and grown in the Pittsburgh Public Schools at Pittsburgh Schenley High School since the early 1980’s. Beginning in 2004, grades 6-10 became a Middle Years Candidate Programme at Pittsburgh Frick. Since that time we have developed and implemented the MYP across the middle grades. These two complimentary programs offer a 6-12 IB experience, and will coexist under one roof as the new IB 6-12 school.
In 2006, Pittsburgh Public Schools initiated robust goals of increasing IB enrollment and expanding the Program as part of its Excel 9-12 plans. In the fall of 2007, the Superintendent recommended the opening of a comprehensive, whole school magnet program utilizing the Middle Years and Diploma Programmes for students from across the City of Pittsburgh.
In June of 2008 at their legislative meeting, the Board approved the opening of the school with grades 6-10 (to grow to grades 6-12) in the fall of 2009 at the Reizenstein facility.
