IB: CP (Career-related Program)

The International Baccalaureate Career-related Programme, or IB CP, started implementation at Harding High School in fall of 2020. Harding is the only SPPS school to offer the Career-related Programme.

The IBCP is a challenging two-year program for students in 11th and 12th grade. The Career-related Programme is a framework of international education that incorporates the vision and educational principles of the IB into a unique programme specifically developed for students who wish to engage in career-related learning.

The IBCP’s flexible educational framework allows schools to meet the needs, backgrounds, and contexts of students. IBCP students at Harding engage in a rigorous program of study that genuinely interests them while gaining transferable and lifelong skills.

IBCP requires the study of at least two IBDP courses alongside the unique Career-related Programme core and a career-related study.

Harding High IB CP and DP Virtual Parent Information Session Video 16 Dec 2020

The IB CP Core

The core of the program consists of 4 major components.

Personal and Professional Skills course

This PPS class is a 2 semester course split across both years of the program. Students will have the chance to become career-ready by studying: personal development, communication, applied ethics, thinking processes, and intercultural understanding. This course will help guide them through the program and teach them how to be a professional in whatever career they pursue postsecondary.

Language Development

Students will explore language as part of the program. Harding offers several languages of study from Japanese, French, and Spanish to Hmong and Ojibwe/Dakota/Lakota. Students in this program are also allowed to explore a language of their choice based on their interest. This helps students develop communication skills and an international awareness when entering the global workforce.

Service Learning

Harding sees itself as a community resource. So much of how we serve the community is by educating students. The IB CP strives to use this model of service to extend outside the walls of the school. Students in the program will devote 50 hours to a project to apply the skills they have gained from their career-related studies to surrounding community. Each student's time is personally selected and based on what they see happening around them.

Reflective Project

The culminating accomplishiment of the program is in the reflective project where students take an in-depth look at an ethical dilemma in their field of study. Students have the chance to really dig into a problem they could very well face in the workplace and have a chance to grapple with the ethics of how to best lead their lives.

Career Related Studies (CRS)

This is what makes the IB Career-related Program so unique! Students can choose to pursue an education based on their own personal interests that is focused a career pathway. All pathways associated with the IB CP have external accreditation, meaning they have oversight from an external authority. In addition, most pathways will offer either college credit or nationally recognized industry certifications in their field.

Harding has worked closely with SPPS Achieves to align the district initiatives around career pathways with the IB CP to ensure students have access to the best educational programming while pursuing a high demand post-secondary career. Currently our students will have career pathway options of: NJROTC, Healthcare, and Community Justice with Business and Computer Science/IT beginning in 2023-2024. As our program continues to grow more pathways will be added in the years to come.