CAS - Creativity, Activity, Service
Historically, CAS has been one of the most misunderstood and neglected IB requirements here at Stanton. This is probably because in CAS the IBO combines the most ambitious and multifaceted goals with a method of assessment that is so simple it is hard for parents, students, and teachers to believe. We'll treat these in reverse order.
At the end of the two years of the IB program, one solitary representative of the International Baccalaureate Organization reports to IB one of two statuses with respect to CAS: either a student satisfied all the requirements, or they did not. Here at Stanton, the person that does this is the IB Coordinator, and they are the final authority on all things CAS. Ultimately, it is their integrity that is staked every June when the IBO is told 'these students have successfully completed the CAS program.'
The following represent the exact requirements of what students need to complete to finish their CAS program, with details to follow:
1. CAS log forms that detail the completion of a total of 150 hours of CAS experiences, as well as the CAS project details.
2. A reasonable balance between each of the three strands of CAS.
3. Approximately 50 hours minimum of each CAS strand.
4. A minimum of FOUR CAS Reflections - One per each CAS strand, and a fourth for the CAS Project
5. Each of the seven learning objectives (below) met at least one time.
6. A Final CAS Reflection Summary detailing all CAS experiences
So what will the coordinator be looking for, and what is the procedure for showing it to them? In brief, a Stanton IB student needs to document (i.e., keep track of) ongoing written reflections that demonstrate intentional pursuit of seven essential outcomes across three broad categories--Creativity, Activity, and Service, with approximately 50 hours of time invested in a reasonable balance of the three, while completing a project planned by a student which lasts a minimum of a month. (Easy enough, right?) At the very end of the CAS program, a student will need to write a summary reflection looking back on everything they completed, considering how completely the essential outcomes were achieved.
The essential outcomes are extremely broad. Here they are, copied word-for-word from the IB CAS Guide:
As for the three categories:
So how do you make something "count" toward CAS? In general, many of the activities that students naturally do can also count for CAS. The most important pieces of CAS are that the students are reflective, acting deliberately, and planning their experiences to align with the learning objectives. If these 3 general points are being met, then in general, it can count for CAS (to a certain extent).
Download the CAS forms pictured below from the "Forms and Docs" section of this website, or grab a copy in the IB Coordinators office, fill and print it out, and then ask someone in the main office to put it in the IB Coordinator's box. After that I'll review it, and as long as everything looks good, it will be filed in your CAS folder in the coordinator's office. At that point it "counts!" You should keep copies of all these forms for your records so that a) you know where you stand with regard to CAS, b) you have access to volunteer and extracurricular information when applying to schools and for scholarships, and c) you have a backup in case the original form does not make it into your folder.
At the end of the two years of the IB program, one solitary representative of the International Baccalaureate Organization reports to IB one of two statuses with respect to CAS: either a student satisfied all the requirements, or they did not. Here at Stanton, the person that does this is the IB Coordinator, and they are the final authority on all things CAS. Ultimately, it is their integrity that is staked every June when the IBO is told 'these students have successfully completed the CAS program.'
The following represent the exact requirements of what students need to complete to finish their CAS program, with details to follow:
1. CAS log forms that detail the completion of a total of 150 hours of CAS experiences, as well as the CAS project details.
2. A reasonable balance between each of the three strands of CAS.
3. Approximately 50 hours minimum of each CAS strand.
4. A minimum of FOUR CAS Reflections - One per each CAS strand, and a fourth for the CAS Project
5. Each of the seven learning objectives (below) met at least one time.
6. A Final CAS Reflection Summary detailing all CAS experiences
So what will the coordinator be looking for, and what is the procedure for showing it to them? In brief, a Stanton IB student needs to document (i.e., keep track of) ongoing written reflections that demonstrate intentional pursuit of seven essential outcomes across three broad categories--Creativity, Activity, and Service, with approximately 50 hours of time invested in a reasonable balance of the three, while completing a project planned by a student which lasts a minimum of a month. (Easy enough, right?) At the very end of the CAS program, a student will need to write a summary reflection looking back on everything they completed, considering how completely the essential outcomes were achieved.
The essential outcomes are extremely broad. Here they are, copied word-for-word from the IB CAS Guide:
- Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth: Students are able to see themselves as individuals with various abilities and skills, of which some are more developed then others.
- Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process: A new challenge may be an unfamiliar experience or an extension of an existing one. The newly acquired or developed skill may be shown through experiences the student had not previously undertaken or through increased expertise in the established area.
- Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience: Students can articulate the stages from conceiving an idea to executing a plan for a CAS experience or series of CAS experiences. This may be accomplished in collaboration with other participants. Students may show their knowledge and awareness by building on a previous experience or by launching a new idea or process.
- Show commitment to and perseverance in CAS experiences: Students demonstrate regular involvement and active engagement in CAS.
- Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively: Students are able to identify, demonstrate and critically discuss the benefits and challenges of collaboration gained through CAS experiences.
- Demonstrate engagement with issues of global significance: Students are able to identify and demonstrate their understanding of global issues, make responsible decisions, and take appropriate action in response to the issues either locally, nationally, or internationally.
- Recognize and consider the ethics of choices and actions: Students show awareness of the consequences of choice and actions in planning and carrying out CAS experiences.
As for the three categories:
- Creativity is anything that requires individual creativity from the student logging the hours, e.g., planning an event for a club, writing a novel, acting in a play, etc.
- Activity is anything that promotes the student's physical health.
- Service is anything that involves providing something of indisputable value to people outside of your biological or faith family without receiving anything in return. (Note that this disqualifies religious proselytizing, as well as watching children for parents, because that is only within an insular faith/family; service must extend outward. That said, if you are repairing roofs or installing a wheelchair ramp as part of a religious mission, that can be included in CAS--religious motivation is by no means discouraged, it just cannot be the entirety of the service provided.)
So how do you make something "count" toward CAS? In general, many of the activities that students naturally do can also count for CAS. The most important pieces of CAS are that the students are reflective, acting deliberately, and planning their experiences to align with the learning objectives. If these 3 general points are being met, then in general, it can count for CAS (to a certain extent).
Download the CAS forms pictured below from the "Forms and Docs" section of this website, or grab a copy in the IB Coordinators office, fill and print it out, and then ask someone in the main office to put it in the IB Coordinator's box. After that I'll review it, and as long as everything looks good, it will be filed in your CAS folder in the coordinator's office. At that point it "counts!" You should keep copies of all these forms for your records so that a) you know where you stand with regard to CAS, b) you have access to volunteer and extracurricular information when applying to schools and for scholarships, and c) you have a backup in case the original form does not make it into your folder.
In the second semester of 12th grade, students are permitted to conclude their CAS program by doing a summary reflection and turning it in to the IB Coordinator. The summary reflection should be 500-1500 words (though it can be longer), and should merely look back on everything that the student did, considering what was intended, actually realized, and as always, what was learned. The form is loose Coordinator checks off.
Below is the cover sheet that is at the front of every student's individual CAS file folder. Once each requirement has been checked off, the student's folder will go into a storage bin until January of the year following graduation, then the documents will be discarded.
Below is the cover sheet that is at the front of every student's individual CAS file folder. Once each requirement has been checked off, the student's folder will go into a storage bin until January of the year following graduation, then the documents will be discarded.
One final word on CAS: there is no way of getting around the fact that it represents an impersonal accountability system for personal growth. This can be frustrating for people of all ages, but particularly teenagers. One student a few years back perfectly captured the way many students feel about CAS with a sarCAStic summary reflection.
I love this student's honesty and wit, but students who feel this way should keep a few things in mind:
Many Stanton students end up doing the vast majority of their CAS reflections right before they are due, with very little intellectual engagement in the process. They "satisfy the CAS requirements," and get their IB diplomas, but I do think that they miss an opportunity to get something extremely valuable out of the experience. So let the CAS program be your kick in the pants, so to speak, but actually try to form the habit of sincerely reflecting in writing on what you want to accomplish and what you need to do to accomplish it. Below is the "Cycle of Experiential Learning" as IB diagrams it in the CAS guide. Is there any good reason not to make that reality in your life?
- IB is a voluntary program, and CAS is part of it, which leads directly to #2...
- Documenting your reflections on an activity as part of membership in an organization does not cancel any other intrinsic motivation you may have had for the activity. That line of logic is like saying, "You didn't help those people after the hurricane because you actually cared about them; you only did it because you work for the Red Cross and they make their employees do that." Being a member of Red Cross means you likely care about those people affected by the hurricane. The Red Cross volunteer might have ulterior motives, but that is his problem, which leads to #3...
- Life is complicated, and will always consist of a mixture of motives; are you in school just to please your parents, to learn skills necessary to land a job eventually, because you're genuinely interested in some of it--which *one* is it? Only you can know the complex reasons for the things you do (and the crazy thing is, often even you won't know the why of something(s) you do). This leads to #4...
- Ultimately, all the written reflections, essential outcomes, and categories are designed by IB to get you into the habit of doing something that very few people do well even as adults: intentionally plan what you will do in the future based on thoughtful consideration of what you've done in the past. Many, if not most, will have a terrible romantic relationship, and will then enter another romance with exactly the same kind of person. Or someone who hates his job will move to another city, only to get the exact same kind of hated job. Perhaps the biggest reason that CAS or similar soul-searching-by-policy programs are so disliked is that they remind us how big the difference is between the ideal we have for the way we'd like to be and who we daily choose to be. CAS can show you that you scarcely ever "plan and initiate" something, because you only do what your parents or friends suggest. Or it can expose that you are so wrapped up in theater that you never do any community service, i.e., you never do anything other than entertain people.
Many Stanton students end up doing the vast majority of their CAS reflections right before they are due, with very little intellectual engagement in the process. They "satisfy the CAS requirements," and get their IB diplomas, but I do think that they miss an opportunity to get something extremely valuable out of the experience. So let the CAS program be your kick in the pants, so to speak, but actually try to form the habit of sincerely reflecting in writing on what you want to accomplish and what you need to do to accomplish it. Below is the "Cycle of Experiential Learning" as IB diagrams it in the CAS guide. Is there any good reason not to make that reality in your life?
Finally, there has been an increase in recent years of students requiring repeated warnings before they provide the required CAS documentation. If this trend continues, there will be a second student who fails to receive his IB diploma for failure to satisfy the CAS requirement (it has only happened once in Stanton's history)--the coordinator only has so many labor hours to corral delinquent students. Ongoing CAS participation and documentation is fundamentally the IB student's responsibility.