Robinson

[Anonymous]

Can someone tell me a bit about this school? I have looked into the demographics and it seems uniformly well off with low ESOL/FARMS. Why is it such a middle of the pack school in FCPS?

Am I missing something about Robinson?

[Anonymous]

It doesn't have as many Asian kids boosting its test scores as Woodson, Oakton, McLean, etc.

It has the IB program, which at least in FCPS is considered less desirable than AP (Robinson does have some AP classes, just not a full menu).

And, Lake Braddock SS has the middle-school AAP (advanced academics) program in the area, and is an AP school with enough capacity to accept transfers, so there are a lot of AAP kids from the Robinson pyramid who stay at LBSS through high school.

Adjust for those factors, and it's about where you'd expect academically. Overall, it's considered a big school that operates well, especially for its size.

[Anonymous]

It is middle of the back because the upper 12 or so schools are all very high scoring and highly rated. Middle of the pack Robinson is one of the highest schools in the state.

Also, Robinson is IB which brings down the rankings in a lot of those "best schools" lists. They are comparable to West Springfield, Lake Braddock, Woodson, Chantilly, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It doesn't have as many Asian kids boosting its test scores as Woodson, Oakton, McLean, etc.

It has the IB program, which at least in FCPS is considered less desirable than AP (Robinson does have some AP classes, just not a full menu).

And, Lake Braddock SS has the middle-school AAP (advanced academics) program in the area, and is an AP school with enough capacity to accept transfers, so there are a lot of AAP kids from the Robinson pyramid who stay at LBSS through high school.

Adjust for those factors, and it's about where you'd expect academically. Overall, it's considered a big school that operates well, especially for its size.

The IB program, and the fact that there are no AAP centers at all in the pyramid (at either the elementary or middle school levels) mean that many high achieving families look elsewhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It doesn't have as many Asian kids boosting its test scores as Woodson, Oakton, McLean, etc.

It has the IB program, which at least in FCPS is considered less desirable than AP (Robinson does have some AP classes, just not a full menu).

And, Lake Braddock SS has the middle-school AAP (advanced academics) program in the area, and is an AP school with enough capacity to accept transfers, so there are a lot of AAP kids from the Robinson pyramid who stay at LBSS through high school.

Adjust for those factors, and it's about where you'd expect academically. Overall, it's considered a big school that operates well, especially for its size.

The IB program, and the fact that there are no AAP centers at all in the pyramid (at either the elementary or middle school levels) mean that many high achieving families look elsewhere.

The flip side being that it does not appeal to parents who start prepping their kids for TJ in kindergarten.

That's a plus or minus, depending on your outlook.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It doesn't have as many Asian kids boosting its test scores as Woodson, Oakton, McLean, etc.

It has the IB program, which at least in FCPS is considered less desirable than AP (Robinson does have some AP classes, just not a full menu).

And, Lake Braddock SS has the middle-school AAP (advanced academics) program in the area, and is an AP school with enough capacity to accept transfers, so there are a lot of AAP kids from the Robinson pyramid who stay at LBSS through high school.

Adjust for those factors, and it's about where you'd expect academically. Overall, it's considered a big school that operates well, especially for its size.

The IB program, and the fact that there are no AAP centers at all in the pyramid (at either the elementary or middle school levels) mean that many high achieving families look elsewhere.

The flip side being that it does not appeal to parents who start prepping their kids for TJ in kindergarten.

That's a plus or minus, depending on your outlook.

That was a good one. 😊

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It doesn't have as many Asian kids boosting its test scores as Woodson, Oakton, McLean, etc.

It has the IB program, which at least in FCPS is considered less desirable than AP (Robinson does have some AP classes, just not a full menu).

And, Lake Braddock SS has the middle-school AAP (advanced academics) program in the area, and is an AP school with enough capacity to accept transfers, so there are a lot of AAP kids from the Robinson pyramid who stay at LBSS through high school.

Adjust for those factors, and it's about where you'd expect academically. Overall, it's considered a big school that operates well, especially for its size.

The IB program, and the fact that there are no AAP centers at all in the pyramid (at either the elementary or middle school levels) mean that many high achieving families look elsewhere.

The flip side being that it does not appeal to parents who start prepping their kids for TJ in kindergarten.

That's a plus or minus, depending on your outlook.

That was a good one. 😊

Much of the cheating element is missing.

[Anonymous]

what's so undesirable about IB?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:what's so undesirable about IB?

IB is a specific track that requires a lot of writing. It is a full load course that is challenging. It is based on how many European countries run the last two years of High School, technically all 4 years of high school but the European system is pretty different then the US. The last 2 years of high school are closer to earning an Associates Degree at a Junior College.

Many parents in the US grew up with AP and prefer the idea that their kids can pick and choose what advanced classes that their kids take. They prefer the flexibility of the AP offerings.

I have seen some people explain that IB teaches more critical thinking and emphasises writing while AP is much more focused on an in-depth understand of a specific subject.

I was an AP child but my kid will end up at an IB school. I am fine with that. I actually think that his more STEM directed brain needs the challenge of writing more and that it will only benefit him in college and as an adult.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It doesn't have as many Asian kids boosting its test scores as Woodson, Oakton, McLean, etc.

It has the IB program, which at least in FCPS is considered less desirable than AP (Robinson does have some AP classes, just not a full menu).

And, Lake Braddock SS has the middle-school AAP (advanced academics) program in the area, and is an AP school with enough capacity to accept transfers, so there are a lot of AAP kids from the Robinson pyramid who stay at LBSS through high school.

Adjust for those factors, and it's about where you'd expect academically. Overall, it's considered a big school that operates well, especially for its size.

The IB program, and the fact that there are no AAP centers at all in the pyramid (at either the elementary or middle school levels) mean that many high achieving families look elsewhere.

The flip side being that it does not appeal to parents who start prepping their kids for TJ in kindergarten.

That's a plus or minus, depending on your outlook.

That was a good one. 😊

Much of the cheating element is missing.

Last few posts are making a good case that Robinson is a place where middle-brow white racists can find a home.

Racists comes in more than one color and are everywhere in the county.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:what's so undesirable about IB?

It opens the door to the world. For many, that’s undesirable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It doesn't have as many Asian kids boosting its test scores as Woodson, Oakton, McLean, etc.

It has the IB program, which at least in FCPS is considered less desirable than AP (Robinson does have some AP classes, just not a full menu).

And, Lake Braddock SS has the middle-school AAP (advanced academics) program in the area, and is an AP school with enough capacity to accept transfers, so there are a lot of AAP kids from the Robinson pyramid who stay at LBSS through high school.

Adjust for those factors, and it's about where you'd expect academically. Overall, it's considered a big school that operates well, especially for its size.

The IB program, and the fact that there are no AAP centers at all in the pyramid (at either the elementary or middle school levels) mean that many high achieving families look elsewhere.

The flip side being that it does not appeal to parents who start prepping their kids for TJ in kindergarten.

That's a plus or minus, depending on your outlook.

That was a good one. 😊

Much of the cheating element is missing.

Last few posts are making a good case that Robinson is a place where middle-brow white racists can find a home.

Racists come in more than one color and are everywhere in the county.

^ corrected

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:what's so undesirable about IB?

It opens the door to the world. For many, that’s undesirable.

IB is heavy on the marketing hype - buzzwords like turning kids into "lifelong learners" and "global citizens."

Then kids sign up (or get pushed into IB by their parents) and find it has a lot of distribution requirements, is writing-heavy, is Euro-centric, has a lot of assignments that feel like busywork, penalizes you if you bail on the IB diploma track, and doesn't even reward you with an IB diploma until after you've graduated from high school. Meanwhile the AP kids have more flexibility in designing their schedules, have more tangible evidence of their accomplishments because they take AP exams earlier, aren't forced into a binary model (diploma/non-diploma tracks), have more STEM options, and do at least as well when it comes to college admissions and performance.

In Robinson's case, a nearby AP school - Lake Braddock - houses the middle school AAP program, so the AAP kids from the Robinson pyramid have multiple incentives to pupil place in order to stay at Lake Braddock for high school.

[Anonymous]

It's still confusing.

So, basically, Robinson would be higher performing if it had an AAP center in the pyramid that fed into its middle school? Otherwise, taking the school at face value, it's an IB school that is middle of the road among the FCPS schools, its not diverse, it's not poor, and it's large but well run?

I just don't know why I don't hear much about Robinson on here. Is it because it's just a content school? Parents don't hate it? Neighboring schools view it as a non-entity? A large one, but not one that would be a comparator because of IB?

I live in the Robinson pyramid and my kid is in AAP. And while Lake Braddock is our middle school, we live closer to Woodson. Does that mean we can't pupil place? Our neighbors kids went to Woodson, so I am trying to figure out if this is just another planning fail for FCPS (pulling AAP out of an entire pyramid that probably could support a center) or if there's something else.

What's messed up is that we live about a five minute walk from Robinson. I'd hate to force my kids to bus for access to AAP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's still confusing.

So, basically, Robinson would be higher performing if it had an AAP center in the pyramid that fed into its middle school? [Yes] Otherwise, taking the school at face value, it's an IB school that is middle of the road among the FCPS schools, its not diverse, it's not poor, and it's large but well run [Yes, to the foregoing, although it's considered better than "middle of the road" for FCPS]?

I just don't know why I don't hear much about Robinson on here. Is it because it's just a content school? Parents don't hate it? Neighboring schools view it as a non-entity? A large one, but not one that would be a comparator because of IB? [In general there are more DCUM posters from Arlington, McLean, and Vienna than from Fairfax Station, Burke, etc. Don't read too much into the frequency with which a particular school gets discussed on DCUM. Also, the high schools in your area are generally in good condition and less likely to be overcrowded than in some parts of the county, which eliminates stress about boundaries.]

I live in the Robinson pyramid and my kid is in AAP. And while Lake Braddock is our middle school, we live closer to Woodson. Does that mean we can't pupil place? Our neighbors kids went to Woodson, so I am trying to figure out if this is just another planning fail for FCPS (pulling AAP out of an entire pyramid that probably could support a center) or if there's something else. [FCPS is full of planning fails. It would make more sense for Robinson to have AAP at the MS level and not send kids to Lake Braddock (and also Rocky Run). But if you do pupil place, your option would likely be Lake Braddock rather than Woodson, because Woodson is closed to transfers now and Lake Braddock is not. That might actually work out better if your kid attends LBSS for middle school AAP.]

What's messed up is that we live about a five minute walk from Robinson. I'd hate to force my kids to bus for access to AAP.

Responded to your comments in brackets - good luck.