Page 12 - 2021-2022 Education Guide

INTERNATIONAL BACCALAUREATE

CAREER-RELATED PROGRAM (IBCP)

What is this program about?

Life in the 21st century places many demands on students. Enabling students to become self-confident, internationally-
minded learners must be integral to their education. The International Baccalaureate (IB) program has expanded
its framework of international education by incorporating the vision and educational principles of the IB into local
programs to address the needs of students engaged in career-related studies. The three career pathways at Catholic
Memorial are through information technology, engineering or biomedical science.

The aim of the International Baccalaureate Career-related Program (IBCP) at CMH is to provide students with both
an academic and practical foundation to support their further studies and specialized training. Therefore, the IBCP
will combine the highly regarded IB diploma program courses with the approved career-related study of PLTW or AP
Computer Science, plus a unique IBCP core.

What is involved to achieve the IBCP?

Beginning the junior year of high school, the program framework supports three interconnected elements that must
be fulfilled:

1. Complete, and test in, at least 2 IB courses during the junior and senior years (SL or HL).
Note: Junior year, you may only test in one SL course
2. C omplete at least 2 PLTW/AP Computer Science courses. IBCP students must take at least one course junior year and

one course senior year.

3. C omplete an IB World Language course, which is in addition to the two other required IB courses. To fulfill IB
concurrency of learning expectations as well as the language portfolio, students need to take world language
courses during both junior and senior years.

4. Satisfactorily complete the IBCP core:
A. P ersonal and Professional Skills Course (PPS) - This course completed during junior and senior year will explore

professionally and ethically based circumstances that will promote career-related skills as students move forward
in their lives.
B. Language Development - Each IBCP student must keep a Language Portfolio of language experiences that
they are engaged in through their world language class, community and service experience, and IB Career-
related courses. Language development requires all IBCP students, regardless of their choice of IB Career-
related Program courses, to improve their language proficiency in a second language.
C. R eflective Project - An extended work that can be submitted in a variety of formats. It emphasizes an ethical
dimension associated with a particular issue drawn from the student’s career-related studies. This project
will be due near the end of the two years of the IBCP program and submitted to IBO for moderation. The IB
designated time for this is 50 hours over the two years. This project will be worked on independently during the
PPS (#135/156) course.
D. Community & Service - The focus here is on service learning. Specific needs in the
community, as decided by the student, should be met and linked to the student’s
specific career- related studies and their Reflective Project. IB designates 50 hours
over the two years for this requirement.

5. CMH graduation requirements (listed on page 4) must be fulfilled. In order to fit
everything into an IB Career-related Program candidate’s schedule, students may fulfill
their junior PE requirement by participating in the same sport during their freshman and
sophomore years.

10 CMH EDUCATION GUIDE 2021-2022