IB at Kennedy HS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How is it fair that there is ONE school in the county where students get RMS and no one else does, not even students at that HS that has the RMS?

Because it's a selective magnet program? MCPS does not have unlimited budget to offer every HS the same exact classes.

Or are you of the opinion that if everyone can't have it then no one should?

But weren't folks just saying that several other schools used to offer pre-IB classes and then were told they were no longer allowed to? Except at RMIB where I guess it's okay?

What extra costs are you talking about that would be involved in letting all schools offer rigorous English classes in 9th and 10th grade for advanced students rather than sticking them in "honors for all"?

There should be three tracks. One for the RMS level English, Honors and a third track whatever it needs to be called to help students who need assistance. The honors for all doesn't help anyone not students needing help nor those needing enrichment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How is it fair that there is ONE school in the county where students get RMS and no one else does, not even students at that HS that has the RMS?

Because it's a selective magnet program? MCPS does not have unlimited budget to offer every HS the same exact classes.

Or are you of the opinion that if everyone can't have it then no one should?

But weren't folks just saying that several other schools used to offer pre-IB classes and then were told they were no longer allowed to? Except at RMIB where I guess it's okay?

What extra costs are you talking about that would be involved in letting all schools offer rigorous English classes in 9th and 10th grade for advanced students rather than sticking them in "honors for all"?

There should be three tracks. One for the RMS level English, Honors and a third track whatever it needs to be called to help students who need assistance. The honors for all doesn't help anyone not students needing help nor those needing enrichment.

Just as there should be three tracks for science as there is for math. For ex., chemistry-honors chem-advanced chem to match with the math tracks of on-level math (or two year of same math)-honors math-and advanced math

[Anonymous]

It’s not just personnel costs — though the IB coordinator is required in each school. It’s also the substantial fees to become certified and maintain certification.

https://www.ibo.org/become-an-ib-school/fees-and-services/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Prospective parents to MCP high schools should have a better way to receive clarity on what exactly each school offers. Is there IB level math for 9th + 10th grade students at high schools that offer IBDP (besides at county-wide IB@RM)?

I think only the regional programs offer ore-aiB classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How is it fair that there is ONE school in the county where students get RMS and no one else does, not even students at that HS that has the RMS?

Because it's a selective magnet program? MCPS does not have unlimited budget to offer every HS the same exact classes.

Or are you of the opinion that if everyone can't have it then no one should?

But weren't folks just saying that several other schools used to offer pre-IB classes and then were told they were no longer allowed to? Except at RMIB where I guess it's okay?

What extra costs are you talking about that would be involved in letting all schools offer rigorous English classes in 9th and 10th grade for advanced students rather than sticking them in "honors for all"?

There should be three tracks. One for the RMS level English, Honors and a third track whatever it needs to be called to help students who need assistance. The honors for all doesn't help anyone not students needing help nor those needing enrichment.

This is exactly what they used to have, until several years ago when they eliminated the on-level and Pre-IB English classes, and put all ninth and tenth grade students into "Honors" English.

[Anonymous]

Okay, I'm jumping in here. I've read maybe 60-70% of the posts in this long thread and I've seen a lot of questions and some iffy answers so I'll try to answer what I know as a parent of current Kennedy IB student.

There are pre-IB classes and they are weighted. My kid has taken pre-IB: Algebra II, Physics, Chemistry, and English 9. I'm pretty sure there was pre-IB Biology and Geometry also available for kids taking a different track. All those classes are weighted like honors classes.

The pre-IB cohort takes AP GOV together in 9th grade and APUSH and APLang in 10th grade. These are AP courses but almost all the kids (can't guarantee 100%) are in that pre-IB cohort. In addition alot of the pre-IB kids took AP Precalculus this year in 10th grade. My impression was that that class was mostly pre-IB.

My impression is that there is a wide range of abilities inside the pre-IB cohort. This has positive and negative sides. What I've gathered is that there is a filtering that happens before the core IB classes begin in 11th grade. (Note that you can take IB level languages classes earlier, but can't take any IB Tests until 11th grade.) I will note that not pre-IB classes at the school also try to teach the IB "way/philosophy" so there is definitely an intention to make this way of teaching more universal to the school.

Teacher quality has been a mixed bag. Some excellent, some ok, some... less than inspiring. I will say that the pre-IB coordinator is really great. Responsive, knowledgeable, enthusiastic, and warm.



Kennedy currently doesn't track/teach to the IB HL Analysis Math test. They encourage kids strong in math take AP Precalculus in 10th, IB Applications 2nd year course in 11th and take the applications IB SL Test that year, and then take AP Calculus AB in 12th grade.

I don't know all the skinny on the Principal leaving, but I will say that my biggest impression was that she wasn't great at communicating. Slow to get info out and she came off as awkward/stilted.

There were a decent number of personnel changes before the 2023-24 school year, not just with the new principal, and the tragic loss of the beloved LTI teacher seemed to be keenly felt.

People mentioned security issues. My kid has felt generally safe there, but yeah, there are some community issues that have spilled into the school. I'll say that this seems to happen all through the district to a certain degree. I don't know that Kennedy is that much of an outlier.

I hope this answers a few of the questions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Brand-new principal after the last brand-new principal got pushed out.

IB program needs lots of help. Don’t send your kid.

Why was last new principal pushed out?
What were the main problems at the school last year?
Why is there an IB program at that school?

The last principal was pushed out due to a number of issues, including safety and security at the school, staff dissatisfaction and poor academic outcomes.

The Regional IB program was put in place at Kennedy to attract whiter, wealthier kids who aren’t directly zoned for Kennedy in the hopes that those kids and their families would uplift the scores and standards for the school.

The Principal was to deliver a miracle? In 1.5 years? And now the new principal will be expected to ? Is that really the expectation of MCPS? If so that right there is telling a lot about the school system.

Kennedy HS is an afterthought for Central Office. They replaced the last principal with a mid-level CO staff member. I don;t know that will be good for the school community.