The International Baccalaureate Visual Arts Program
Students can become a part of this exciting program in their junior year. There are two levels to the International Baccalaureate Visual Arts program: the Standard Level and the Higher Level. Standard Level is a one year course. Higher Level is a two year course. Students must have completed at least one art course before enrolling in this program.
Why would a student enroll in the International Baccalaureate Visual Arts course?
1. Any student who is an International Baccalaureate Diploma Candidate is required to take a course in the Group VI category, which includes the Visual Arts option.
and/or
2. Any student who wants to pursue art at a level that will enrich him/her, this is a viable option. At the Higher Level, the course work is similar in scope to Advanced Placement Studio Art. In fact, this can be an excellent means for earning a certificate in IB Visual Arts and possibly complete an A.P. Studio Art portfolio, simultaneously. The course is student-centered. With the help of the teacher, the student pursues the aspects of art-making that are most suitable to that individual.
3. The International Baccalaureate Visual Arts program offers an option for students with a strong interest in the study of art, culture, and art history, This is known as Standard Level B. In this program, students earn most of their grade through research. Students still create art, but less time is spent on those endeavors and more time is spent on the reading, research, and writing about art.
What are the requirements?
1. Students must have completed at least one visual art course at the high school level before enrolling in IB Visual Art.
2. Students maintain an extensive Research Workbook that is 30% of the final grade in the Standard Level A and Higher Level course. In the Standard Level B program, the Research Workbook is 70% of the student's grade.
3. All students spend time in class and outside of class exploring and creating. Students must be willing to do this.
General Information
1. Students earn a grade from the teacher, which shows up on the report card. But, the student is also graded by an External Examiner. The External Examiner is a highly qualified art professional who comes to the school to see the student's art work in an exhibit and to talk directly with the student. This is the highlight of the program. Students have the opportunity to verbalize and share ideas about their art with an objective professional. Based on this insightlful interview, and the exhibit of selected works of art, the External Examiner assigns a grade to the student. This accounts for 70% of the final grade that is bestowed by the International Baccalaureate Organization.
2. The classroom teacher evaluates the student's Research Workbook and assigns a grade, that will account for the other 30% of the student's final grade as determined by the International Baccalaureate Organization.
3. Both the External Examiner's grade and the classroom teacher's grades are monitored by experienced IB Visual Arts Readers who do the final adjustments and calculations to determine the student's grade. The Readers are presented with a Candidate Record Booklet, which has photos of the student's art work and copies of twenty pages from the student's Research Workbook. The final grade appears as a number in a range of 1-7.
7 reflects an excellent performance
6 reflects a very good performance
5 reflects a good performance
4 reflects a satisfactory performance
3 reflects a mediocre performance
2 reflects a poor performance
1 reflects a very poor performance |
