International Baccalaureate Program

Robert Black IB Coordinator, 623-780-4363
Ralph Vallecorsa IB Counsellor, 623-780-4311

Today we stand at the threshold of a great opportunity here at North Canyon High School as we rebuild our existing “pre-IB” freshman and sophomore class-schedule into the International Baccalaureate Middle-Years Program (MYP).

New construction already began for 50 seventh graders last year at Vista Verde Middle School, our sister program. And this year, 80 new seventh graders have joined their 50 peers now in the eighth grade. These 130 students will be all set for a smooth transition into the North Canyon half of MYP and, later, into our junior- and senior-level IB Diploma Program (DP).

To prepare for these students, we are planning to engineer significant changes to our freshman course offerings. IB requires that MYP students take eight courses per year — English, a second language, math, science, humanities, art, technology, and physical education. What makes these courses so special is how the eight are connected through a set of lenses, what IB calls “Areas of Interaction” — Approaches to Learning, Health and Social Education, Environment, Community and Service, and Homo Faber or “human creativity.” The International Baccalaureate approach to curriculum is inquiry-based and encourages building links among the eight subjects and between the individual and the outside world.

Because we enjoy such strong professional partnerships among teachers and administrators at Vista Verde and North Canyon, we can now offer more students a world-class education within our academically nurturing and rigorous program— now the Paradise Valley International Baccalaureate Middle Years Program.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION
For more information about the details of North Canyon High School’s International Baccalaureate Program, please download the IB Information Packet found on the side of this page.

IMPORTANT DATES

Tuesday, November 6, 2007
6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
NCHS Westpod Auditorium
IB Parent Group Meeting — Study Skills, Test-Taking Strategies, Time/Stress Management, Q & A
(for NCHS-IB 9th-12th graders and their parents)

Tuesday, January 29, 2008
6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
NCHS Westpod Auditorium
IB Parent Group Meeting — "What IB Did for Me" NCHS-IB Graduate Panel, Q & A
(for NCHS-IB 9th-12th graders and their parents)

Thursday, March 13, 2008
2:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
NCHS Auditorium
IB Talent Show Tryouts
(NCHS-IB 9th-12th graders)

Thursday, March 27, 2008
6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.
NCHS Westpod Auditorium
IB Talent Showcase and Ice Cream Social
($5 open to the public)

May 5-23, 2008
8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
NCHS Teacher Cafeteria and Lecture Hall
IB Testing
(Registration in September)

Tuesday, May 20, 2008
6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
NCHS Cafeteria and Auditorium
IB Banquet
($20 NCHS-IB 12th graders and their families)

KEY COMPONENTS OF THE IB-MIDDLE YEARS PROGRAM

Holistic Learning
•  Emphasizes links between subject areas, helping students find relevance in their learning.
Intercultural Awareness
•  Focuses on developing students’ attitudes, knowledge, and skills as they learn about other cultures as well as their own.
Communication
•  Supports students’ inquiry and understanding by fostering reflection and self-expression.
Inquiry-Based Education
•  Employs Guiding Questions to frame each unit of study.
•  Uses a variety of strategies to approach topics from multiple points of view, including the perspective of people in other cultures.
The Personal Project
•  Is completed during a student’s sophomore year in the program.
•  Highlights skills students have developed in MYP’s Approaches to Learning and another Area of Interaction, allowing those skills to be applied in practice.
•  Provides an opportunity for students to produce a creative piece of work of their choosing.
Interdisciplinary Learning
•  Relates the various subject matter and themes.
•  Presents 1–3 interdisciplinary units each year.
Rubric-Based Assessment
•  Provides each subject with prescribed rubrics, developed by subject teachers following IBO criteria.
Community and Service
•  Educates the whole person by helping students become responsible, compassionate citizens.
•  Includes 50 community service hours over the freshman and sophomore years.

Entrance Requirements

The process for selecting the incoming IB freshman class begins in the fall of the preceding school year (Look for the download-able files, including the timeline, on the right of this page). Prospective students take a standardised test to assess their verbal, math, science, and reading skills. Students then complete their application by submitting letters of recommendation from two current teachers, copies of their AIMS test scores, their middle school transcripts, as well as a 500-word original essay.

Students accepted into NCHS-IB should have already completed Algebra 1-2 in 8th grade; however, some students may be accepted into the program with the understanding that the math prerequisite will be successfully completed during summer school between 8th grade and their freshman year.

Notification of acceptance into the program is given in December. Any student who completes the first two years of MYP at Vista Verde Middle School automatically continues into the second half of MYP at North Canyon.

KEY COMPONENTS OF THE IB-DIPLOMA PROGRAM

Overview
The IBO’s goal is to provide students with the values and opportunities that will enable them to build a strong academic foundation, make wise choices, and respect others. In that way, the Diploma Program equips students with the skills and attitudes necessary later on for success both in higher education and meaningful employment.

Curriculum
The IB-Diploma Program has the strengths of a traditional liberal arts curriculum, but with three important additional features at the center of the hexagonal curriculum model: Theory of Knowledge, an Extended Essay, and CAS. Assessment is rigorous and takes place in the 11th  and 12th grade years, with final examinations in each subject assessed by an international board of examiners who are themselves carefully trained and monitored. Subjects are scored on a 1-7 scale, and those students who total 24 points on all six tests may earn an IB Diploma. More detailed information can be found at www.ibo.org.

Theory of Knowledge (TOK)
•  Stimulates critical reflection on knowledge and experience gained inside and outside the classroom and challenges students to question the bases of knowledge, to be aware of subjective and ideological biases, and to develop the ability to analyze evidence.
•  Encourages appreciation of other perspectives.
•  Examines the grounds for the intellectual, moral, political, and aesthetic judgments all human beings must make in their daily lives.

Creativity, Action, Service (CAS)
•  Continues to educate the whole person, helping students become responsible, compassionate citizens by requiring them to complete 150 CAS hours over their junior and senior years.
•  Encourages students to share their energy and special talents with others, for example, participating in theatre and musical productions, sports, and community service activities.

Extended Essay (4,000 words)
•  Acquaints diploma candidates with the kind of independent research and writing skills expected by universities.
•  Recommends students devote about 40 hours of independent study and writing time to the essay, which may be written in one of 60 subjects, including many languages.

Academic Subjects
Students study six academic subjects (refer to curriculum hexagon) in both humanities and science. Students take three of their subjects (English, biology, and history) at higher level (HL) and three others (world language, math, and an elective) at standard level (SL). HL courses represent a minimum of 240 classroom hours, while SL courses represent 150 hours each. All students, therefore, explore some subjects in depth and others with more breadth. The science-oriented student is challenged to learn a foreign language, and the linguist is obliged to become familiar with lab procedures; the math ace takes art, and the artist, math.

Grading System
The Diploma Program’s grading system is criterion-referenced, which means that each student’s performance is measured against well-defined levels of achievement consistent from one examination session to the next. Grades reflect attainment of knowledge and skills relative to set standards, not a position on a population curve