International Baccalaureate Diploma Program (IB)
The IB Diploma Program is a district-wide offering available only at Harriton High School.
Designed initially for students who are internationally mobile, the IB Diploma offers access to universities throughout the world. Universities, including in the United States, regard the IB Diploma curriculum as outstanding preparation for college-level work. Students determine in their sophomore year if they wish to participate in IB, and they complete the program's requirements during junior and senior years.
Unlike AP courses, which are selected on an a-la-carte basis, IB courses are studied in the context of a unified, comprehensive diploma experience. Because the IB is a diploma program, students take courses in all disciplines: a literature course in their first language; a language acquisition course; a history course; an experimental science course; a mathematics course; and an elective chosen from Visual Arts, Music, Psychology, Economics, Theatre, or a second science. IB students seek a balanced education: a humanities-oriented student can craft an IB schedule that is rooted in the humanities, but he/she must still study math and sciences; likewise, a student deeply rooted in STEM subjects can craft a schedule that is very heavy in quantitative studies, but he/she must still study the humanities.
In addition to these six courses, students complete three "core elements" of the Diploma Program:
- CAS (creativity, activity, service), a student-designed suite of activities that engages students in endeavors that are creative, action-oriented, and provide service
- Extended Essay, a 4,000 word essay in original research
- Theory of Knowledge, a metacognitive course that engages the students in the evaluation of the nature of knowledge and how we come to understand the world around us.
The six subjects and the core are unified philosophically by the fundamental understanding that acquiring knowledge is a critical step toward the greater goal of critical thinking. IB teachers foster an environment conducive to the development of deep analytical skills, including long-term projects, active engagement of the students in seminar-type lessons, research tasks, and writing assignments.
Key Features of the IB Experience
- a rigorous curriculum taught in 150 countries
- an interdisciplinary study in which inter-curricular links are natural
- an emphasis on internationalism
- a cohort experience in which a common group of students studies a common set of subjects, fostering close ties among each other and their teachers
- an international flavor, as the program attracts students from throughout the world who seek an IB diploma to facilitate their university studies either back in their homeland or a future destination.