Lansing Schools Marketing International Baccalaureate Program to Suburbanites

The Lansing School District has launched a huge marketing campaign geared at suburban households. The campaign includes sending 25,000 East Lansing, Okemos, Grand Ledge and DeWitt households a flier about the district.

According to excerpts from the article:

Worsie Gregory, head of the district's magnet office, said the move was in recognition of the fact that many parents now evaluate schools like they do consumer goods.

"(Students are) very happy in the elementary schools, but when they get in fifth grade, the parents go shopping."

The move comes in advance of the district's magnet fair Feb. 9 at Eastern High School and a schools of choice enrollment period in March.

The Lansing School District is the area's largest district, serving more than 15,000 students. However, the district has lost more than 4,000 students in the last 15 years, and loses more students to suburban districts through schools of choice than it gains back.

The focal point of the effort is on the magnet schools' expanded programs, including the popular International Baccalaureate program.

Lansing has added a new K-10 aspect to its International Baccalaureate program, currently available to juniors and seniors at Eastern High School.

The International Baccalaureate program is an advanced course of study that focuses on an international mind-set. In addition to their other classes, which are comparable to advanced placement and honors studies, students are expected to be fluent in a second language and learning a third.

To that effect, a Mandarin Chinese immersion program already at Post Oak Elementary will eventually expand throughout the International Baccalaureate program, offering a second language choice of Spanish, which is already available, magnet schools spokesman Mark Mayes said.

Read the entire article here.