• to provide an academically rigorous, internationally orientated and socially responsible learning environment that challenges all students to achieve, and that results in the school meeting mandated testing goals;
  
  
• to provide a culturally and linguistically diverse education that will help our students to develop the knowledge, understanding, attitudes and skills necessary to participate responsibly in a changing world, thus preparing them to function in the global economy of the 21st century (as discussed in Thomas L. Friedman’s “The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century ”, Farrar, Strauss & Giroux, 2004);
  
  
• to use languages other than English as the medium of instruction, providing students with the choice of French, Russian or Chinese as their language of instruction, and thus ensuring that each of our students will have language competency in at least one language other than English;
  
  
• to be the first language immersion school in Baltimore, to use language immersion instructional techniques that have been used successfully elsewhere for decades, and to apply to become an International Baccalaureate Organization “IB World School”;
  
  
• to enrich our students’ educational experience by incorporating into the curriculum the music, poetry, literature and geography of the countries where French, Russian and Chinese are spoken, thus aiming to develop in our students a lifelong love and appreciation of the world’s varied languages and cultures;
  
  
• to provide this program for any student in the City of Baltimore who wishes to attend the BIA, with a focus on the Hamilton and north-eastern neighborhoods;
  
  
• to include students who are English Language Learners or who have an Individualized Education Plan; and to link the Baltimore City Public School System (BCPSS) with the lively and diverse international community in Baltimore.

Successful language immersion schools have existed in Maryland for more than two decades, and in Canada for longer than that.  Though a language immersion school would be new in Baltimore, the process is readily manageable given the long-time successes elsewhere and the relevant experience of the BIA’s founders.

The academic success of the BIA’s mission will be measured by students’ scores on the Maryland State Assessments.  We will meet or exceed the average scores of students in other schools serving the area.  The performance of our students will also be measurable via their performance on independent national language tests, such as those run by the American Association of Teachers of French (the AATF’s “Le Grand Concours”) and the American Council of Teachers of Russian (the ACTR’s spoken “Olympiada” and annual Russian Essay Contest).

The Baltimore International Academy plans to be a true “community school”, partnering with families and local organizations ~ specifically creating links with French, Russian and Chinese community groups, organizations and businesses that already exist in Baltimore, and with the Foreign Language Departments at nearby higher learning institutions, such as Morgan State University and Johns Hopkins University, to create a vital international educational community that serves Baltimore children of all races, cultures and socio-economic backgrounds.