Missoula International School is an International Baccalaureate World School authorized for the Primary Years Programme (PYP). The International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO) is an internationally acclaimed educational organization renowned for its focus on academic rigor and emphasis on active world citizenship. The IBO includes a Primary Years Programme (PYP) for primary grades, a Middle Years Programme (MYP) for middle school grades, and a Diploma Programme for the final years of high school. There are more than 752,000 IB students at 2,729 schools in 138 countries. MIS is proud to be the first IB World School authorized to provide the PYP in the US Northwest (Montana, Idaho, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Utah, Washington and Oregon). Spanning preschool to fifth grade, the PYP provides an educational framework for MIS teachers and students that is complementary to a language immersion philosophy. The PYP promotes integrated, inquiry-based learning and allows MIS teachers to build upon the natural curiosity inherent in children.

MIS’s middle school emerges under the curricular framework provided by the IBO’s Middle Years Programme (MYP). While the MYP emphasizes integration between subjects, the emphasis is not on transdisciplinary learning as it is in the PYP; middle school students focus on traditional subject areas. The MYP is designed for students to develop the knowledge, understanding, attitudes and skills necessary to participate actively and responsibly in a changing world. Early puberty and mid-adolescence is a particularly critical phase of personal and intellectual development and requires a program that helps students participate actively and responsibly in a changing and increasingly interrelated world. Learning how to learn and how to evaluate information critically is as important as learning facts.