• CP Program

    Career Related Program At-A-Glance

    CTE Pathways:

    Students will select one CTE area of focus and complete the ODE-required courses within that pathway.

    • Health Occupations
    • Business and Marketing
    • Construction and Architecture

    Connection with DP:

    Students take 2 DP courses and their respective exams (courses must be from 2 different groups): 

    Group 1:  Studies in Language and Literature

    Group 2:  Language Acquisition (Spanish or Chinese)

    Group 3:  Individuals and Societies 

    Group 4:  Sciences 

    Group 5:  Mathematics

    Group 6:  The Arts

    The CP Core

    In addition to their CTE and 2 DP courses, students will take Personal and Professional Skills and CP Workshop. The purpose of these two courses is to support students with the requirements of the CP Core. The Personal and Professional Skills course will obviously support the PPS requirements, while the CP Workshop course will support the SL and RP requirements. Language Development is completed independently or through a language acquisition course.

    • Personal and Professional Skills: Show growth and engagement with 5 different learning outcomes
    • Service Learning: A minimum of 50 hours devoted to service (related to your CTE area of focus) and meet 5 different learning outcomes
    • Reflective Project: An in-depth body of work which focuses on an ethical dilemma of an issue directly linked to your CTE area of focus.
    • Language Development: Complete a language portfolio documenting at least 50 hours of learning activities and evidence of language engagement OR take an IB language course as a 3rd DP course. 

    CP Scoring Breakdown

    To achieve a CP certificate, a candidate must meet all of the following requirements.

    • The school has confirmed that the candidate has completed the specified career-related study.
    • The candidate has been awarded a grade 3 or more in at least two of the DP courses.
    • The candidate has been awarded at least a D grade for the reflective project.
    • The school has confirmed that all personal and professional skills, service learning and language development requirements have been met.
    • The candidate has not received a penalty for academic misconduct from the Final Award Committee.

    PPS - Personal and Professional Skills

    Personal and professional skills is designed for students to develop attitudes, skills and strategies to be applied to personal and professional situations and contexts now and in the future. In this course the emphasis is on skills development for the workplace, as these are transferable and can be applied in a range of situations. Other qualities the course should encourage include:

    • Responsibility
    • Perseverance
    • Resilience
    • Self-esteem
    • Academic honesty

    By the end of the course, students will be able to show their growth and work around 5 learning outcomes:

    1. Identify their own strengths and develop areas for growth 
    2. Demonstrate the ability to apply thinking processes to personal and professional situations 
    3. Recognize and be able to articulate the value of cultural understanding and appreciation for diversity 
    4. Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of communicating effectively and working collaboratively 
    5. Recognize and consider the ethics of choices and actions

    Some of these learning outcomes may be demonstrated many times in a variety of activities, and others occasionally—but there must be some evidence of every outcome. It is up to the school to decide how the students will achieve the outcomes and what evidence is required for each. The IB does not require evidence of achievement of the five learning outcomes at the end of a student’s personal and professional skills course; the school is responsible for ensuring that these outcomes have been accomplished.

    SL - Service Learning 

    All CP students are required to engage in a service learning program. Completion of service learning is based on student achievement of the five service learning outcomes. The five learning outcomes are:

    1. Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth
    2. Demonstrate participation with service learning experiences
    3. Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively
    4. Demonstrate engagement with issues of global significance
    5. Recognize and consider the ethics of choices and actions

    All students are required to maintain and complete a service learning portfolio as evidence of their engagement with service learning throughout the program and of application of the five stages of service learning. These five stages are:

    1. Investigate an interest that often raises questions and curiosity and typically reveals an authentic need 
    2. Prepare by learning more to deepen understanding 
    3. Take action based on the verified need 
    4. Reflect on what they have done along the way 
    5. Demonstrate their understandings and accomplishments to an audience.

    While not formally assessed, the portfolio gives students an opportunity to outline and reflect on their service learning experience. This provides the school with evidence that the student has achieved the five service learning outcomes.

    Students also have the opportunity to participate in a service learning project, which is a collaborative, well-considered series of sequential service learning experiences aiming to meet an authentic and confirmed community need. There is no requirement for students in the CP to undertake a service learning project. However, service learning projects can be richly rewarding for the students. Students should include evidence of their service learning project in their service learning portfolio.

    A minimum of 50 hours is expected to be devoted to service learning.

    RP - Reflective Project 

    The reflective project is an in-depth body of work produced over an extended period of time and submitted towards the end of the CP. It is intended to promote high-level research, writing and extended communication skills, intellectual discovery and creativity through a variety of different approaches.From their career-related study, students identify an issue of interest then explore the ethical dimension associated with the issue in order to arrive at a focused ethical dilemma. The reflective project’s primary focus is the ethical dilemma embedded within the issue, not the issue itself.

    The school assesses all reflective projects. The IB will then select a sample for the school to send to an external moderator for confirmation of the school’s marks.

    At the end of the project, students submit:

    • An essay or an essay with an additional format
    • A Reflections on planning and progress form (1,000 words). 

    Students can choose to present their reflective project in one of two ways:

    1. A written essay (maximum 3,000 words). This should cover all the reflective project’s requirements except reflection, which forms the content of the RPPF.
    2. A written essay (1,500–2,000 words) accompanied by an additional format (film, oral presentation, interview, play or display). Together, the written essay and additional format should cover all the reflective project’s requirements except reflection.

    LD - Language Development 

    Language development ensures that all students have access to and are exposed to a language programme that will assist and further their understanding of the wider world. The ability to communicate in more than one language is essential to the IB’s concept of an international education. Language development encourages students to improve their proficiency in a language other than their best language.
    CP students are required to maintain and complete a language portfolio to document their learning activities and provide evidence of language engagement and development. The language portfolio is not assessed by the IB. However, the IB may request a sample of portfolios during CP evaluation.

    Students should ensure that their language portfolios are up to date, relevant, reflective and comprehensive. For example, they may choose to include:

    A record of the activities, tasks and assessments they have undertaken

    • Reflections on their learning experiences and understanding of other cultures 
    • A list of future goals that involve use of the target language 
    • Certificates 
    • Examples of work 
    • Letters of acknowledgement

    Should a student undertake a DP language acquisition course in addition to the minimum requirement of two DP courses for the CP, the language development requirement is satisfied. However, the language portfolio must still be completed to the satisfaction of the school.