Diploma Programme

Students seeking an IB Diploma (known as Diploma Candidates) will take 3 courses at a Higher Level and 3 at a standard Level. Students not pursuing the IB Diploma (known as Course Candidates) may sit for courses of interest. Diploma Candidates must take at least one course in each of six areas. The one exception to this is that students may choose to take an extra course from Groups 1-5 in lieu of a Group 6 course. All Diploma Program courses at GRC last two years. Green Run Collegiate offers the following Diploma Program courses in the 11th and 12th grade years:

Important Notes:

• Standard Level (SL) and Higher Level (HL) classes differ in scope, breadth, and depth. Although both are considered the equivalent of college courses, students in Higher Level classes master more content and skills.
• All DP classes provide weighted credit to a student’s Grade Point Average in both years

Subject Areas	Grade 11	Grade 12
Studies in Language and Literature	Standard Level (SL) Language and Literature, Year 1 Higher Level (HL) Language and Literature, Year 1	Standard Level (SL) Language and Literature, Year 2 Higher Level (HL) Language and Literature, Year 2
Language Acquisition	SL Spanish ab initio, Year 1 SL Spanish, Year 1 SL French ab initio, Year 1 SL French, Year 1	SL Spanish ab initio, Year 2 SL Spanish, Year 2 SL French ab initio, Year 2 SL French, Year 2
Individuals and Societies	SL History, Year 1 HL History, Year 1 HL Psychology, Year 1 AP Physics	SL History, Year 2 HL History, Year 2 HL Psychology, Year 2
Experimental Sciences	HL Biology, Year 1 SL Chemistry, Year 1 SL Sports, Exercise and Health Science, Year 1	HL Biology, Year 2 SL Chemistry, Year 2 SL Sports, Exercise and Health Science, Year 2
Mathematics	SL Applications and Interpretation Year 1 SL Analysis and Approaches Year 1	SL Applications and Interpretation Year 1 SL Analysis and Approaches Year 1 AP Calculus
Electives	Visual Arts HL, Year 1 Theatre HL, Year 1	Visual Arts HL, Year 2 Theatre HL, Year 2
Theory of Knowledge	Part One takes place during the spring semester.	Part Two takes place during the fall semester.

Diploma Candidate students are also required to successfully complete the three components of the Diploma Program Core: Theory of Knowledge, the Extended Essay, as well as Creativity, Activity and Service.

Theory of Knowledge

This course provides students an opportunity to reflect on the nature of knowledge and how we know what we claim to know. TOK supports and is support by all DP subjects. Discussion, questioning, and reflection are the foundation of the course, which encourages greater awareness of their personal and ideological assumptions and cultural perspectives. This course is assessed through oral presentation and a 1,600 word essay, which tests the student’s ability to apply TOK to a real-life context.

Extended Essay

Under the supervision of an advisor, each Diploma Candidate student investigates a topic of interest related to one of the 6 DP subjects and writes a 4,000 word paper. Students engage in the same high-level research, writing, and creativity that they will experience in college and careers.

Extended Essay Student Resources:

• Extended Essay Student Packet
• Green Run Collegiate EE Timeline
• EE Goals Form

Creativity, Activity and Service (CAS)

IB students will “live” the Learner Profile Traits, through CAS, in order to better understand their role in society. DP students will participate in extracurricular activities, such as the arts, sports, and community service, in order to demonstrate their capability to problem-solve, collaborate, and persevere. Students reach achievement in this integral part when they are able to encapsulate their experiences and reflections through their CAS portfolio.

CAS Student Resources:

• CAS Student Handbook

The IB Diploma Program uses both internal and external assessments to evaluate students’ academic performance:

• External assessments form the basis of the assessment for most courses, due to their high levels of objectivity and reliability. They can include essays, structured problems, short-response questions, data-response questions, text-response questions and case-study questions.
• Internal assessments are performance tasks that are evaluated by the DP teacher. They can include oral work in languages, laboratory work in the sciences, investigations in mathematics and artistic performances.

External assessments are completed by GRC students in May, towards the end of their second year in the course. Both external and internal assessments are used to calculate students’ final IB grade; scores range from 7 to 1, with 7 being the highest.

For a Diploma student, the Diploma result score is made up of the combined scores for each subject. The Diploma is rewarded to students who gain at least 24 points, subject to certain minimum levels of performance, including successful completion of the three essential elements of the DP core. (International Baccalaureate Organization website)