IB is a rigorous two-year comprehensive curriculum for grades 11 and 12 that prepares students for post-secondary study. Our District's high schools have been authorized to offer IB since the 1998-99 school year.

IB Brochure
Updated Feb. 14, 2008

April 23, 2007 Board of Education Presentation on IB at Portage Schools

Middle Years IB Information

September 21, 2006 Parent Presentation on Middle Years Program

Extended Essay Topics by 2008 IB Diploma Candidates

Three core components for all IB Diploma students are Theory of Knowledge, Extended Essay, and Creativity, Action, Service. Following are the essay topics from this year's students:

Central Essays

Abhishek Adusumilli (History): What events prior to Kruschev removing the missiles in Cuba and with the hindsight of results after show that Cuba thought they were going to get invaded during the Cuban Missile Crisis?

Lindsey Alberty (Psychology): An analysis of the biological validity of Dissociative Identity Disorder.

Andrea Blanchard (History): To what extent did American laws and kindnesses contribute to easing the suffering for Irish emigrants during the Great Potato Famine of the 1840’s?

Gina Cosgrove (Physics): To what extent do the number of harmonic frequencies and their amplitudes determine the sound quality of an E-string on the violin?

Sarah Edwards (French): Les loisirs, la littérature, et les innovations des XVII e et XIX e siècles.

Paul Garza (History): To what extent was the Kaiser’s naval expansion as a part of Weltpolitik a destabilizing force in Europe in the years prior to 1914?

Rachel Han (History): To what extent did geopolitics cause the Japanese atrocities in Nanking, China, in the 1930-1940’s to go unnoticed and constantly evolve within the United States and other countries?

Ryan Karnemaat (Mathematics): The origins, applications, and unique characteristics of the Fibonacci Sequence.

Alex Martin (Biology): Green fluorescent protein and its transformation into E. coli and other bacterial species.

Debbie Mathias (History): The Jewish Enlightenment.

Annaliese McGavin (Psychology): An analysis of violent media and its effect on the behavior of youth.

Sarah Nemire (English): Analysis of J. D. Salinger’s characterization of Holder Caulfield in The Catcher in the Rye.

Kaye Raczkowski (Psychology): To what extent do schizophrenia’s negative symptoms limit one’s functionality in modern society?

Danielle Rayman (Biology): An examination of the progression, effects, and implications of Pandemic Influenza.

Shivani Saith (Biology): The treatment of natural impurities found in standard drinking water.

Irfan Syed (Music): How did twentieth-century composer Shostakovich use his compositions to portray his feelings about Russian society?

Caitlin Taylor (French): L’évolution de Noël en France depuis le Moyen Âge.

Hannah Whistler (Visual Arts): To what extent has the Camera Obscura been used as an aid for artists, especially in relation to Johannes Vermeer?

Northern Essays

Callie Flack (in literature): A literary comparison between Jules Verne’s Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and Pavlou’s Decipher.

Daniel Gimmler (in Spanish): To what extent did Franco’s regime affect the autonomy of the Spanish region of Catalonia?

Lauren Hearit: Contemporary Manhood: Exploring the Changing Stereotypes of Manhood in Tom Wolfe’s A Man in Full.

Hsin-Hsin Lee (in Spanish): To what extent and in what ways did the Aztecs impact modern Mexican society?

Rodney Miers: To what extent did Simón Bolivar’s declaration of a dictatorship over GranColombia ( Republic of Columbia) contribute to its eventual disintegration?

Kevin Peck (in French): Conscience and Existentialism: Characterization as a reflection of philosophy in Jean-Paul Sartre’s novels Le Mur and Les Jeux sont faits

Tara Slough (in history): To what extent did the French Revolution influence the domestic policy of Catherine II (the Great) of Russia between 1789 and 1796?

Alex Stephens (in history): To what extent can the failure of the Luftwaffe in the Battle of Britain be attributed to the leadership of the Luftwaffe?

Josh Symes (in history): Assess the significance of the influence of the Barbary States ( Morocco, Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli) in European policies and decision-making from 1725-1800.