Two Denton campuses next fall will offer sixth- through 10th-graders a rigorous curriculum with international connections.

Last week Calhoun Middle School and Denton High School administrators learned their campuses have been accredited to offer the middle years component of the International Baccalaureate curriculum, a college preparatory program.

The Geneva-based IB Organization, which was created in the 1960s, offers three global curriculum programs — primary years, middle years and the diploma program —  and is taught to students ages 3 to 19 in more than 130 countries.

Officials with the IB program conducted a final evaluation of Calhoun and Denton High in May before sending a report of their findings to headquarters, administrators said. The two Denton campuses last Monday joined more than 10 schools in the state offering curriculum designed for students ages 11 to 16, according to the Texas Association of IB World Schools Web site.

“We weren’t expecting to hear anything until late July or early August … so we were elated,” Principal Anthony Simms said of Calhoun’s certification as an IB World School. “That’s really something exciting.”

The authorization makes Calhoun the school district’s second campus to be designated as an IB World School.

Last year, Denton High was authorized to teach the diploma program, in which juniors and seniors can complete high school with at least 24 guaranteed college credit hours if they chose to attend a public Texas college. Denton’s Newton Rayzor Elementary is currently a candidate for the primary years program, designed for IB’s youngest learners.

Simms said Calhoun staff members have been trained for more than three years to teach and implement components of the IB curriculum.

Calhoun’s program was piloted with sixth-graders, he said, and later launched campuswide. Now that the campus has been authorized, Simms said, staff will be working to implement the curriculum into Calhoun’s format over the next three years.

While the campus has phased in the program, Simms said, he’s seen “a big turnaround in learning.” He hopes that the program will expand throughout the district and that IB will better prepare students for the future.

“They will be able to succeed no matter what they do in the world,” he said.

Students will take the first three years of the middle years program at Calhoun and complete studies at Denton High, with the chance to move on to the diploma program. Each campus will be evaluated within five years to determine if it continues to meet standards for teaching the curriculum, Simms said.

Denton High Principal Darrell Muncy said his staff will be working this summer to prepare for fully integrating the middle years program with freshmen for the 2009-10 school year.

The school will inform parents about the program with letters and phone calls, he said.  Muncy isn’t sure how many students will join the program in the fall, but he said he sees it as a program that students coming to Denton High from other middle schools will sign up for and that Calhoun pupils will “flow seamlessly into.”

Muncy said while he would like to see the IB program taken campuswide, for now, it will be likened to “a school within the school.”

Denton High started the IB diploma program last fall. Like Advanced Placement courses, IB classes have offered students a rigorous, “high-impact curriculum” that helps prepare them for some of the top colleges and universities, Muncy said.

“As far as college prep is concerned, I think it’s an excellent program, and the students that take advantage of it, I think … will have an advantage over many other students in the U.S.,” he said.

BRITNEY TABOR can be reached at 940-566-6876. Her e-mail address is btabor@dentonrc.com.