IB Career-Related Program

IB Career-Related Programme

The Career-Related Program (CP) is a separate, but related offering from the IB Diploma Program (DP).  It will offer students involved in Project Lead the Way the chance to participate in relevant elements of an IB education. CP students take a selection of courses and a unique core. The IBCP prepares our students for the ever changing world of work and higher education.

IBCP Requirements:

  • A minimum of two IB Program (DP) courses

  • Service Learning program: Encourages service learning, emphasizes the affective development of students and concentrates on the concepts of partnership and learning. The student’s community and service activities will, whenever possible, be related to their technology or engineering career interest.

  • Personal and Professional Skills (PPS): This one-year course is taught during one semester of the junior year and first semester of the senior year. It emphasizes the development of transferable skills needed to operate successfully in society.  The course is placed in the context of engineering and will highlight critical thinking, personal and interpersonal development, problem-solving, and the acquisition of practical skills. This course is a requirement for all IBCP students.

  • Language course (IB language is recommended): All students enrolled in the IBCP will be required to take an additional language course.  Taking language during only junior year will require the student to complete some additional language activities during senior year, which is why an IB language course is recommended.  Students will create a Language Portfolio to document their language development, and how they relate to their career studies.

  • Reflective project: The reflective project is an extended piece of reflective work that can be submitted in a variety of formats.  It emphasizes the ethical dilemma associated with a particular issue drawn from the student’s engineering or technology studies. The reflective project will be submitted at the end of the course and will be an opportunity for the student to draw together the various strands of their studies.

  • Three PLTW courses: Students must take and successfully complete a minimum of three PLTW courses, with students being required to take at least one PLTW during both their junior and senior years. Ideally, the student takes a PLTW course during all four years.

    • Introduction to Engineering Design (IED): Required

    • Principles of Engineering (POE):  Required

    • Student may choose any one of the following PLTW courses that best reflects their engineering interests during junior or senior year:

      • Civil Engineering and Architecture (CEA)

      • Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM)

      • Digital Electronics (DE)

      • Engineering Design and Development (EDD)

      • Computer Science Principles (CSP)

All PLTW and IB courses offer the potential for college credit upon completion. Students may choose to take the entire PLTW sequence AND pursue the IBCP Certification.