July/August (start of school year)
📅Planning & Scheduling
Check students’ course schedules to ensure they are placed properly and are meeting requirements for the IB diploma as well as local graduation requirements.
Start with year 12 (Diploma Programme 2 or DP2) students first, then check year 11 (DP1) students.
Check to see if your school counselor or registrar has a “graduation checklist” with a list of local requirements and course equivalencies.
Review the most recent coordinator’s notes from the Programme Resource Centre (PRC).
Be sure to pass along subject-specific info in the subject group meetings as well as any global announcements in the whole-group meeting.
Curriculum review cycles are towards the end of the coordinators’ notes; these are useful for planning necessary upcoming trainings.
Verify the final IB Exam schedule in the PRC under ‘Assessment Sessions’ within the PRC.
Create a document with every IB exam that your school offers and give it to your administration (the earlier the better, particularly if your school offers multiple programs with examinations at a similar time). Needs vary by school, but generally, the following are helpful:
Exam name (subject + paper)
Exam date
Exam time (AM or PM, usually 8am or 12pm)
Number of students (estimate if necessary)
Locations (might need to be added later)
Please see the ManageBac tutorial on Creating & Reviewing Exam Calendars for more information on this.
💁Supporting Students and Teachers
One-on-one meetings or subject group meetings can be especially helpful for newer or smaller programs. Plan to meet with each IB teacher before the first day of school begins.
Fruitful discussions with returning teachers may include:
Data review from detailed exam scores
Comparison of predicted grades and IA scores to IB grades and moderated IAs
Discussion of successes (start with some positives!)
Identification of areas of potential growth
Keep the conversation solution-oriented and positive whenever possible.
It’s great to make specific suggestions for changes, but it’s also ideal to let the teacher guide the discussion by asking for their solutions first.
Ask the teacher if there are any resources (curricular or human) that would help facilitate changes.
(Optional) Review unit planners with teachers, focusing on the reflective elements.
Approaches to teaching and learning (ATT and ATL) checklists from the PRC and embedded below can help teachers with self-reflection.
For teachers who are new to the school or new to IB:
Review the previous teacher’s data (anonymized if necessary)
Debrief on any summer workshops attended
Give an overview of your school’s current IB programme (a brief history as well as a summary of the current state of the program)
Answer any questions
New teachers may require training on ManageBac as well as IB Training so that they are fully supported. Here are some links to get them started.
Getting Started with ManageBac as administrator (for the DP Coordinator)
Getting Started with ManageBac as teacher or advisor
Creating Class Assignments and assessing these in ManageBac
For a personal touch, write a hand-written note welcoming any new teachers to your program and welcoming back returning IB faculty members.
📗Registration and Records
Be sure that IB course numbers, gradebooks, and rosters are set up correctly. Contact your administration or registrar if any errors are found.
Update ‘My School’ profile on my IB webpage.
Verify school address, demographics, and program.
Remove faculty/staff who have left the school or update roles.
Manage students and teachers in ManageBac.
Review the ManageBac Transitioning to the Next Academic Year article for step by step guidance of the following.
Roll the previous year’s grade 11 (DP1) cohort into the next school year.
Register new cohort of incoming grade 11 students (be sure to select the correct group year).
Register course candidates to courses as applicable.
Register new teachers or supervisors.
Assign supervisors and teachers as appropriate to courses, CAS, EE, and TOK.
Register with any local IB coordinator support organizations (For example, Association of IB World Schools of Georgia).
Check out textbooks to IB students (or facilitate teacher checkouts).
💬Communication and Promotion
It is important to set the tone for the year as a pedagogical leader for the IB programme.
If possible, meet with school administration prior to the start of the school year. Selecting a specific focus for the quarter or semester (for example, self-management) would be a great way to focus professional learning and discussion.
Address the entire faculty at a beginning of the year meeting. Conduct IB mini-sessions as appropriate.
Set a mandatory meeting for all IB faculty during preplanning. Topics for this meeting may include:
Instructional priorities for the year
Overview of the year’s IB-related professional learning (meeting dates, etc)
Reminders about resources available and a means of requesting new or additional resources
Review school-based guidelines about common unit planners as well as procedures for assessment date requests
Prepare IB data for each subject area as well as ‘global’ data for the entire school and make a plan for how that data can inform instructional practice.
As appropriate for public relations purposes, put together spotlights or brag sheets for the school administration and/or governing body. You could push out these celebrations in a variety of ways:
Social Media
School or programme newsletter(s)
School publications (newspaper or annual)
School board meetings
School council or local school governance meetings
Consider creating a ‘welcome back’ one-page newsletter/overview that would work for all IB stakeholders (students, teachers, parents, and school administration).
Review and update any local school IB information (e.g., IB section of a school website or school’s IB programme handbook).
💸Budget and Finances
It is important to have a full understanding of how (or whether) you are expected to manage the budgetary concerns that come along with your role as coordinator.
Schools have very different processes for budgeting and money handling. Your administrators or bookkeeper(s) should be able to offer guidance on appropriate protocols.
For many educators, mishandling of money is considered a serious ethics violation.
An example of DPC budgetary responsibilities may include:
Ensuring that annual IB dues were paid (the invoice is typically sent to the head of school between school years)
Ensuring that any summer travel reimbursements for teachers were submitted and paid
Requesting budget transfers into sub-accounts (for example, a global IB account may need to be dispersed into travel, textbooks, fees, exams, etc)
Renewing subscriptions to IB support services (ManageBac, Questionbank, InThinking, etc)
Meeting with your school or program fundraising body (booster club or parent-teacher organization) to discuss any necessary financial support outside the school’s budget (e.g., exam fees for low-income students in schools that do not pay student exam fees)
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