International Baccalaureate announces new Americas global centre

IB to open operational and assessment center for the Americas region in Montgomery County, Maryland

New York, NY, IB, February 24, 2009 -- The International Baccalaureate Organization (IB), a non-profit educational organization with more than 2,500 IB World Schools around the globe, is pleased to announce the selection of Montgomery County, Maryland as the location of a new global center for the IB Americas region. The center will house over 100 employees and will manage operations and assessment for 1,494 schools in 28 countries and territories in the Americas.

The opening of the global center is part of the organization’s plan to expand capacity over the next 12 years in preparation for an estimated 2.5 million students and 10,000 IB programmes worldwide in 2020. The center will be fully functional by June 2010.

“The selection of Montgomery County, Maryland to serve as the base of our operations in the Americas provides us with an opportunity to not only be geographically closer to the 91 IB World Schools in the Maryland, DC and Virginia area but to also expand our service offerings to include assessment ability for the first time in the region,” said Drew Deutsch, IB Americas Director. “We look forward to creating a world-class center from which we can provide more high quality services to our schools.”

Founded in 1968, the IB works with more than 2,519 schools in 132 countries to offer and develop its three challenging programs to more than 684,000 students ranging in ages 3 to 19. The IB encourages students to be active learners, well-rounded individuals and engaged world citizens. It also serves in an educational advisory capacity to other educational organizations. To learn more about the IB Americas, please visit www.ibo.org/iba/.