An international education foundation will review Plano ISD's bid to establish an academy-style program at Huffman Elementary School, district staff told trustees on Monday. The International Baccalaureate organization will assess the district's efforts to establish a Primary Years Programmes curriculum at the school, according to Susan Modisette, the assistant superintendent for campus services. Huffman Elementary will undergo a two-year-long process of becoming authorized, according to a document prepared by district staff. The elementary school will operate like an IB-certified school for the first year while it begins implementing the curriculum. The actual IB authorization process will span the duration of the second year. The Huffman primary years curriculum began development in June, and will last through July, with more formal staff training taking place in July, according to district staff. An IB consultant, who will work directly with Huffman staff, will begin facilitating the program on Sept. 1, the document said. Huffman is not the only school in PISD to go through the process of IB accreditation. The IB World School at Plano East Senior High School offers students different areas of academic specialization within their graduation track. The IB World School is currently the only school within the district to offer IB courses, district spokesperson Lesley Range-Stanton said. Similar to College Board’s Advanced Placement courses, IB courses are weighted more heavily in regards to GPA, which can effectively boost a student's class ranking, Range-Stanton said. District staff on Monday also briefed trustees on the status of a series of proposals that would scrap the district's policy of ranking students in each graduating class and adjust the district's standards for weighting GPA. At the board’s request, advisers to Superintendent Brian Binggeli announced the beginning stages of a study into the effectiveness of weighted GPAs. The study will require for the organization of “relevant committee members” to serve, and to report back to the board with an update by October, according to a document prepared by district staff. Community Impact Newspaper previously reported that a task force recommended to the board of trustees an updated policy which would do away with the identification of students’ class rank.