The Birth of The Maple Leaf World School Program

National Strategic Background

• 2012

The 18th CPC National Congress explicitly called for the awareness of "a community with a shared future for mankind".

• 2013

Chairman XI proposed the "Belt and Road" initiative, which is committed to achieving policy communication, infrastructure connectivity, unimpeded trade, financial integration, and people-to-people bonds in countries along the "Belt and Road".

• June 18, 2020

The Ministry of Education and eight other departments officially put forward the “Opinions on Accelerating and Expanding the Open-up of Education in the New Era”. In this opinion, it was clearly proposed to build an upgraded version of the "Belt and Road" education action, especially for the first time at the central level to determine the establishment of international curriculum development and promotion system with Chinese characteristics.

Under this national strategic background, Maple Leaf Educational Systems took concrete actions to create the world's first international curriculum with Chinese characteristics, namely The Maple Leaf World School Program.

Curriculum Development Background

Maple Leaf International School was founded in 1995. It is the first international school approved by the Provincial Government and Education Authorities of Liaoning Province and registered with the National Ministry of Education. In 1995, Maple Leaf International School introduced the BC high school curriculum and integrated it with the Chinese high school curriculum, which started the innovative practice of bilingual and dual-diploma curriculum. It took Maple Leaf five years to come up with the model of "Three Combinations, Two Accreditations and One Connection". After 15 years of educational practice, Maple Leaf Education formed two unique systems - The Curriculum System (English teaching curriculum system at Maple Leaf elementary and middle schools and the bilingual and dual-diploma curriculum system at Maple Leaf high schools) and The Moral Education System (“Happy Education” in elementary schools, “Three-Good-Habits Education” in middle schools and “Goal-oriented Ideal Education” in high schools).

After more than 20 years of integration and continuous innovation, Maple Leaf Educational Systems determined that fully using a foreign curriculum and accepting foreign inspections, would no longer meet the needs and expectations of its students and their parents. To fill the gap in China’s international curriculum, Maple Leaf Educational Systems decided to develop the Maple Leaf World School Program and standards with Chinese independent intellectual property rights, which would also

break the monopoly position of European and American curriculum, such as IB and A-Level in the Chinese market.

Developing Maple Leaf World School Program

In the summer of 2014, based on the vision of building "China’s Maple Leaf and World’s Maple Leaf " and 20 years of innovation and practical experience, the development of China’s international curriculum system was put on the agenda. The board of directors of Maple Leaf Educational Systems made the decision to develop the Maple Leaf Global Curriculum.

In September 2014, Dr. Sherman Jen authorized Mr. James Beeke, curriculum expert and then Maple Leaf Educational Systems Superintendent, to take the lead and to organize dozens of Chinese and foreign education experts and hundreds of Chinese and foreign teachers to officially launch the project of the development of Maple Leaf Global Curriculum.

In September 2016, the Maple Leaf Global Curriculum was renamed to Maple Leaf World School Program. The curriculum has been modified and improved on the basis of practice throughout its implementation.

By August 2019, Maple Leaf World School Program was completed after five years of development, practice, and trial. Maple Leaf World School Program is divided into four pillar courses, including English Academic Courses, Chinese Academic Courses, English Language Courses (ESL) and Chinese Language Courses (CSL). It is the world's first China’s international curriculum containing Chinese historical and cultural elements, with Chinese intellectual property rights. (The Table of Contents of MLWSP standards are attached.)

On 27th November 2019, Maple Leaf Educational Systems announced that Maple Leaf International High Schools in mainland China would implement the Maple Leaf World School Program starting from September 2020, and phase out the Canadian BC curriculum.

Realizing the Transformation of BC Curriculum to Maple Leaf World School Program

Since April 2019, Mr. Peter Owen, Director of the Board, has been working on behalf of Maple Leaf Educational Systems with the Ministry of Education of BC, Canada, to present the background and reasons for the transition to the Maple Leaf curriculum, as well as the requirements needed to support the transition. The BC Ministry of Education finally made the decision to give support to Maple Leaf's application, taking into account factors such as its 20 year accreditation, Maple Leaf’s positive track

record of inspections and its cooperation and contribution to the development of BC offshore program. It was agreed that Maple Leaf transition from the BC offshore program, and BC was committed to provide continuous support during a three-year transition period to ensure that Maple Leaf students who were registered with the BC Ministry of Education were able to receive a BC high School diploma upon graduation.

In the process of transitioning from BC Offshore School Program, Maple Leaf Educational Systems appreciated the BC Ministry of Education for two decades of support and paid special tribute to foreign executives James Beeke and Peter Owen for their years of loyal service and outstanding contributions.

“When we founded Maple Leaf International School, Mr. Beeke was the Inspector of BC Ministry of Education, and Mr. Owen was the Assistant Deputy Minister of BC Ministry of Education. They supported me in bringing the BC program to China and legislating for Maple Leaf to become the first BC offshore school”, said Dr. Sherman Jen, “Now, it is Mr. Beeke and Mr. Owen who support Maple Leaf Education Systems in developing the World School Program and transitioning from the BC program.

They have made indelible contributions to Maple Leaf Education. As the founders of Maple Leaf Education, I am always moved by their professionalism and system-thinking during this challenging transformation”.

Visiting Cognia for Accreditation Support

On 18th September 2019, Dr. Sherman Jen and Mr. James Beeke, Maple Leaf Global Superintendent, went to Phoenix, USA to meet with and introduce the new Maple Leaf World School Program to Cognia headquarters officials, and discussed its accreditation. Cognia is the world's largest education accreditation body. Its predecessor AdvancED has a history of 70 years. The Top 10 schools in the United States ranked 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th are all accredited by Cognia. The Maple Leaf World

School Program transformation caught Cognia's attention and interest. After full participation and discussion among experts, Cognia’s Chief Accreditation Officer made it clear that she supported the curriculum transformation of Maple Leaf World School Program and agreed to accredit and validate Maple Leaf high school diplomas and transcripts. Subsequently, Cognia executives have inspected Maple Leaf schools and its corporate system and rated both very highly.

In late September and early October 2019, Dr. Sherman Jen received official letters which greatly support the transformation of Maple Leaf World School Program from the Deputy Minister of Education of BC and the CEO of Cognia.

In September 2020, the Maple Leaf World School Program began its official implementation in all Maple Leaf international high schools in China. Once the program was launched, it was well received by teachers, parents, and students and universities at home and abroad.