IB @ CHS

  • The faculty and staff of Coppell High School would like to welcome you to the Coppell High School International Baccalaureate webpage. CHS was authorized as an IB world school in December 2008. The first IB classes taught at CHS began in August 2009. We have graduated ten classes of IB Diploma candidates.  In August 2022 our fourteenth class of students (the Class of 2024) began the program, and together with the Class of 2023 we will serve almost 400 candidates pursuing the IB Diploma or a Course certificate in one or more IB subject courses. This places us in the top tier of IB programs in the state in terms of candidates enrolled in an IB program. From our authorization as an IB World School our stated goal has been to be the best program in the state of Texas. We continue forward in our pursuit of that goal.

    The IB Diploma Program at CHS

    All students at Coppell High School who are entering the 11th Grade year (or who are in the 11th or 12th grade and transferring to CHS from another IB DP) may join the IB program as long as they are willing and able to undertake its requirements. As part of the program students must complete six IB subject courses from at least five of the six IB DP subject areas: Language & Literature, Language Acquisition, Individuals & Societies, the Sciences, Mathematics, and the Arts. In addition to the grades earned at CHS, upon completion of the courses students receive a score of 1-7 based on the quality of externally graded examinations and internally marked authentic assessments. For either three or four of the courses, students must complete examinations at the higher level (HL). If students complete the core IB activities below (CAS, Extended Essay, Theory of Knowledge) and earn at least 24 marks on their six IB course exams, they qualify for the International Baccalaureate (IB) diploma. Students are required to take the IB exams when they complete their courses and, like AP exams, there are associated fees. The total of all fees for the two-year program will be $800 for students beginning the program in the fall of 2022 (a modest adjustment may be made to this total after IBO releases its scale of fees in September 2022, but this should be marginal if necessary at all). Several payment plans are available and accommodations based on financial need can be worked out on an individual basis.

    • Creativity, Action, Service (CAS) – one qualifying activity per week over the two years of the program
    • Extended Essay (EE) – original research paper of up to 4000 words on a topic of personal interest, mentored by a faculty member
    • Theory of Knowledge (ToK) course – Two-semester course taken over the two years of the program. The first semester is taken in the spring of the junior year, and the second in the fall of the senior year.

     

    The IB Course Certificate Option at CHS

    Coppell High School also offers the Course Certificate option which allows our students to choose 2 to 4 IB subject courses to try to earn certificates that can qualify for college credit. This allows for students who are interested in an IB educational experience to choose that for selected subjects when, for one reason or another, they are not willing or able to pursue the IB Diploma pathway. Course candidates must meet the same requirements in each course as the Diploma candidates, must enroll in at least two subject courses (excluding the Theory of Knowledge course), and must complete the examinations for all IB courses that they take. Fees for Course candidates are prorated to cover only the costs of the registration and the exams for the courses that they choose. A schedule for these fees can be found in the "Pre-Registration Guide for Sophomores" or in the "IB Student Handbook" in the "Resources" menu on this page.