Diploma Programme, Block 1: Friday 11:15 to 12:45

Room: Huron

presented by Hannah C. Tyson, English Instructor, Senior IB Examiner, UWC-USA
Naomi Swinton, Coordinator, Constructive Engagement of Conflict, Bartos Institute, UWC-USA
Anne Farrell, Teacher, IB Group 2 English, UWC-USA

The panelists will demonstrate ways in which diploma students can more fully integrate various areas of the hexagon: academic pursuits, CAS and TOK. Anne Farrell will report on her advanced UWC course, "The Articulate Mammal", in which students explore psycholinguistics, second-language learning and research on the Great Apes as it relates to language and philosophy. These students then design language lessons and tutor peers. Naomi Swinton and Hannah Tyson will discuss their work with "Social Change and Information Technology," another UWC course in which students examine and apply social change applications of technology in a year-long project on border and immigration issues. In both courses, CAS and TOK connections are foregrounded and integrated.

Room: Mayfair

presented by Boyd Roberts, Director, International Global Citizen's Award

Humanity faces unprecedented global challenges. This session (presentation and discussion) considers how schools can address the IB learner profile, and help to develop students as active global citizens now, responding personally to these challenges. Currently being piloted, the innovative International Global Citizen's Award (www.globalcitizensaward.org) encourages and recognizes development of individual students (13+) as "caring", "principled" global citizens. Participating schools cooperate globally and act locally to implement their own versions of the common international model. Although it can build on and incorporate elements of MYP and Diploma Programme, the award can also be offered to non-IB students in IB World Schools.

Room: Superior B

presented by Eric Hieser, Executive Director, Sturgis Charter Public School
Chris Andre, Associate Director, Sturgis Charter Public School
Mark Blake, Special Education Resource Teacher, Sturgis Charter Public School
Eric Hillebrand, History Teacher, Sturgis Charter Public School

Sturgis Charter Public School, a non-selective public high school, believes that all high school students deserve the opportunity to be exposed to the knowledge, skills, and habits of the mind that are inherent in IB Diploma Programme courses. While many high schools specify passing scores on placement tests or minimum course and/or grade prerequisites for enrolling in IB courses, Sturgis employs an "IB for All" philosophy by requiring ALL students in grades 11-12 to take ALL of their coursework in the IB Diploma Programme. The panel will discuss the successes and challenges with this "IB for All" approach, including issues regarding special education and support for students who face academic challenges.

Do High Levels of Preparation Lead to Enrollment in Selective Colleges?

Room: Missouri

presented by Vanessa Coca, Research Analyst, Consortium on Chicago School Research
Jamiliyah Gilliam, Qualitative Researcher, University of Chicago
Eliza Moeller, Lead Qualitative Researcher, Consortium on Chicago School Research

The IB program has been used by the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) as a part of its strategy to provide greater access to rigorous coursework to low-income and minority students in its neighborhood high schools. Has access to high levels of preparation through the IB program translated into enrollment in selective colleges? This presentation takes an in-depth look at this question through case studies of IB students as they progress from their junior year along the pathway to college enrollment, and examines the role of support in college choice. It concludes by showing the college pathway of IB students compared to their CPS classmates, and whether their college choices matched their level of preparation.

Room: Ohio

presented by Linda Blair, Diploma Programme Coordinator, Thomas Alva Edison High School
Anne Stowe, Diploma Programme Coordinator, South Lakes High School
Cheryl Knutsen, Director of Student Services, Thomas Alva Edison High School
Shannon Chastain-Tully, Director of Student Services, South Lakes High School

Just as a sound structural framework supports the elements of a house, the 4 X 4 block schedule sustains and strengthens the implementation of the IB Diploma Programme. Two forms of block scheduling, alternating day and modified 4 X 4, are used successfully in two suburban, ethnically and economically diverse public high schools. After an overview of the two formats that blend IB opportunities for students with some scheduling dilemmas for the guidance departments, a discussion will ensue among session participants about ways to incorporate the seemingly disparate elements of the block schedule and IB requirements.