Robinson dumping AP classes and focusing on IB

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:IB course sequences are needlessly complicated. The math makes little sense. And you better know that your student wants to get the IB Diploma by the time 7th grade is ending.

IB two-year courses require exams after the second year. Far from ideal.

IB is more expensive.

Students can take IB courses à la carte, but the universities like to see the IB Diploma.

I believe Robinson, Marshall, and South Lakes have the best IB Diploma rate. At Robinson, in good years, the school has between 18 and 20 percent of the students earn the IB Diploma. That means, at one of the best performing schools, 4 out of 5 students don't earn the IB Diploma. Even among the students who do earn the Diploma, I would guess that half of those would have been OK with AP. In other words, they did IB because it was what was there, not because they loved it. The number of true IB fans is pretty small.

At this point it is inertia, a small number of IB advocates, and School Board stubbornness that prevents FCPS from reconsidering how IB is provided in the county.

The county does not have to provide two advanced academic programs at the high school level. AP is straightforward, has a long history and understanding across the country, and cost less. It should be the choice for all FCPS high schools.

I would vote for a School Board candidate that endorsed this common sense.

At a minimum, FCPS should survey the parents across the IB schools to see if they want to continue the program. The problem with surveying parents is that they won't understand how convoluted IB is until their students are in immersed in it.

I purposefully moved to Robinson for the IB program. I think it's higher quality and more integrative than AP.

+1. My spouse earned the IB diploma (overseas) so we sought it out.

Another +1. My military kids attended IB international schools and we sought it out at Robinson, as well.

We live in fairfax station and yes, one of the reasons we chose this school zone was because of the IB program. In Boston where I'm from, it's actually very popular and sought out.

[Anonymous]

Still need to conduct the survey of IB and AP at all of the FCPS high schools despite a few folks on here testifying that they sought it out. Let all of the people speak.

[Anonymous]

While there are a few rah-rah IB families in our Robinson neighborhood, I don't know of any who specifically moved into the Robinson boundary for IB. IB vs. AP is actually a topic of conversation at the elementary bus stop a few times a year-- so to the poster that said that 6th grade families would really have to be taught about the topic-- if you've lived in the Robinson boundary/are in a neighborhood that chats with each other/has a community pool, you know about IB.

Are there kids who are benefitting from the option to take the full IB diploma? Sure. But if you look at the number of students graduating with the full diploma, I would argue that the schedule complexity that comes with offering it doesn't make sense. The two levels of classes in IB plus the additional requirements w/ extended essay make classes unbalanced in a way that AP does not. IB also hurts those students who may really excel in one area and struggle with writing.

I know that MANY Robinson teachers are very committed to IB, however, which means it won't be the faculty ever asking for it to be dumped. It would have to be the community.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:While there are a few rah-rah IB families in our Robinson neighborhood, I don't know of any who specifically moved into the Robinson boundary for IB. IB vs. AP is actually a topic of conversation at the elementary bus stop a few times a year-- so to the poster that said that 6th grade families would really have to be taught about the topic-- if you've lived in the Robinson boundary/are in a neighborhood that chats with each other/has a community pool, you know about IB.

Are there kids who are benefitting from the option to take the full IB diploma? Sure. But if you look at the number of students graduating with the full diploma, I would argue that the schedule complexity that comes with offering it doesn't make sense. The two levels of classes in IB plus the additional requirements w/ extended essay make classes unbalanced in a way that AP does not. IB also hurts those students who may really excel in one area and struggle with writing.

I know that MANY Robinson teachers are very committed to IB, however, which means it won't be the faculty ever asking for it to be dumped. It would have to be the community.

+1000. It’s almost like FCPS is afraid of the answers they’d get if they asked the question. For all the BS about wanting input on their strategic plan, it’s very obvious that FCPS quite deliberately refuses to seek parental input on whether they’d prefer AP to IB.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That is a really terrible decision for a school that has so many military kids.

Doesn't fcps have a military liason? Someone needs to get them involved.

IB is useless for military kids.

Which school board member is in cahoots witn the company that owns the IB program?

Not true. A lot of military kids are already accustomed to IB if they’ve been to international schools overseas.

What percentage of military kids do you think are attending international schools abroad? The percentage of deployed abroad hovers around 15%. The percentage deployed abroad whose families accompany them are far lower. It's much more common to be stationed at a base in the US and then have a unit deploy from that base with the family remaining

This question is a prime example of what people do not understand about the Robinson area. I've lived in KPW for 20 years, taught at Robinson and Lake Braddock until I retired and know both communities well.

First, the people who are military typically fall into two camps. First, many people moved to this area and bought homes early in their careers, sent their children to elementary school for some time and then rented out their homes until they were closer to retirement/exit from the military. These families then returned to the area and took jobs as contractors (supplementing their retirement or reserve pay) with their new income. Usually these people arrived back when their kids were starting high school or in middle school (which makes sense for officers -- most of whom have post-graduate degrees and were older -- well for the military not DC-- when they had kids). Robinson AND Lake Braddock communities are full of these families. People usually are fine where they are once they find a house.

These people don't care about IB, but like the area and are fine generally. Most who live walking distance send their kids to Robinson. The bulk (until over the past 5-10 years) of placements to lake Braddock were AAP kids. This dropped dramatically over the past 10 years --some due to the Lake Braddock issues (principal/admin drama) and some due to just the ebb and flow of preference of the families. The other point is that not all Robinson kids place in Lake Braddock for AP. Most do, but many place in Centreville, South County or Woodson. For these kids, they often just go to Robinson instead of spending middle school in one place, high school in a different one that isn't full of their center friends or neighborhood friends. The county cracked down on pupil placement for AP at Lake Braddock about 15 years ago and started holding the line that if you live closer to some school, you go there unless it's full (So, some Woodson and Centreville kids ended up at Fairfax for example for a bit but Woodson is open now judging from the graduation signs in my neighborhood).

The second group is indeed international military families. Robinson is actually sought out by these folks and there are a lot of them (because these are officers working in the Pentagon). These families had kids overseas in IB schools and they actually want to continue this for consistency sake. Many military family forums actually recommend the Robinson schools for this reason (if you look at rentals during high season (late spring) you will see IB being mentioned because that is often a search term).

I will say that Robinson and Lake Braddock (to a slightly lesser extent) fairly uniformly middle class/upper middle class. It's not rich, rich. But these kids are resourced. The families seem more content with their choices than other schools in the county.

For a school with a catchment area the size of Robinson, the enrollment seems quite low. Granted some of the areas have big lot sizes, but others do not.

I'm sure there are some military families who want to continue in IB based on prior assignments, but the number of military families at Hayfield, Lake Braddock, and West Springfield seems larger.

For families choosing Robinson, IB makes sense. For these other schools, obviously, having AP classes works. It's good for the military families to have these choices. I don't know why people keep crapping on Robinson. What's the point of this thread?

The milktary families who chose Robinson did so for the nicer houses or because they couldn't find housing zoned for WS or LB. IB was a drawback.

Speak for yourself. We moved here, specifically chose Robinson for the IB program - we are an active military family. IB was definetly not a drawback for our family, it was the draw. LB and Woodson were backups for us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That is a really terrible decision for a school that has so many military kids.

Doesn't fcps have a military liason? Someone needs to get them involved.

IB is useless for military kids.

Which school board member is in cahoots witn the company that owns the IB program?

Not true. A lot of military kids are already accustomed to IB if they’ve been to international schools overseas.

What percentage of military kids do you think are attending international schools abroad? The percentage of deployed abroad hovers around 15%. The percentage deployed abroad whose families accompany them are far lower. It's much more common to be stationed at a base in the US and then have a unit deploy from that base with the family remaining

This question is a prime example of what people do not understand about the Robinson area. I've lived in KPW for 20 years, taught at Robinson and Lake Braddock until I retired and know both communities well.

First, the people who are military typically fall into two camps. First, many people moved to this area and bought homes early in their careers, sent their children to elementary school for some time and then rented out their homes until they were closer to retirement/exit from the military. These families then returned to the area and took jobs as contractors (supplementing their retirement or reserve pay) with their new income. Usually these people arrived back when their kids were starting high school or in middle school (which makes sense for officers -- most of whom have post-graduate degrees and were older -- well for the military not DC-- when they had kids). Robinson AND Lake Braddock communities are full of these families. People usually are fine where they are once they find a house.

These people don't care about IB, but like the area and are fine generally. Most who live walking distance send their kids to Robinson. The bulk (until over the past 5-10 years) of placements to lake Braddock were AAP kids. This dropped dramatically over the past 10 years --some due to the Lake Braddock issues (principal/admin drama) and some due to just the ebb and flow of preference of the families. The other point is that not all Robinson kids place in Lake Braddock for AP. Most do, but many place in Centreville, South County or Woodson. For these kids, they often just go to Robinson instead of spending middle school in one place, high school in a different one that isn't full of their center friends or neighborhood friends. The county cracked down on pupil placement for AP at Lake Braddock about 15 years ago and started holding the line that if you live closer to some school, you go there unless it's full (So, some Woodson and Centreville kids ended up at Fairfax for example for a bit but Woodson is open now judging from the graduation signs in my neighborhood).

The second group is indeed international military families. Robinson is actually sought out by these folks and there are a lot of them (because these are officers working in the Pentagon). These families had kids overseas in IB schools and they actually want to continue this for consistency sake. Many military family forums actually recommend the Robinson schools for this reason (if you look at rentals during high season (late spring) you will see IB being mentioned because that is often a search term).

I will say that Robinson and Lake Braddock (to a slightly lesser extent) fairly uniformly middle class/upper middle class. It's not rich, rich. But these kids are resourced. The families seem more content with their choices than other schools in the county.

For a school with a catchment area the size of Robinson, the enrollment seems quite low. Granted some of the areas have big lot sizes, but others do not.

I'm sure there are some military families who want to continue in IB based on prior assignments, but the number of military families at Hayfield, Lake Braddock, and West Springfield seems larger.

For families choosing Robinson, IB makes sense. For these other schools, obviously, having AP classes works. It's good for the military families to have these choices. I don't know why people keep crapping on Robinson. What's the point of this thread?

The milktary families who chose Robinson did so for the nicer houses or because they couldn't find housing zoned for WS or LB. IB was a drawback.

Speak for yourself. We moved here, specifically chose Robinson for the IB program - we are an active military family. IB was definetly not a drawback for our family, it was the draw. LB and Woodson were backups for us.

And so the minority of parents continue to insist on their right to saddle the majority with a program we’d prefer not to have. Sad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid is an RMIB alum. IB should only be offered to very bright kids with a lot of support.

IB in a academically lagging school is absolutely terrible idea and a sure way to torpedo the future of struggling students.

Robinson isn't an academically lagging school, despite the handwringing on this thread. That said, the IB diploma is still a niche diploma, the majority of students are not aiming for it.

Which is why this makes no sense. A student can take one AP class and get college credit for that class. IB on the other hand is a multi year slog that most students don't want.

Robinson already punches below its weight (given the wealth in the Fairfax Station/Clifton area) due to not having a MS AAP center and the IB focus.

It's hard to see how stripping the school of some of its remaining AP classes will help. It would be better to reconsider the need for IB at all. Replacing IB with AP would both reduce the number of pupil placements and help address any scheduling problems associated with having both AP and IB (note, though, that W-L in Arlington is smaller than Robinson and appears to pull it off).

W-L HS in Arlington has a full AP program (in addition to IB), not just a handful of AP courses like LB. This is because the W-L PTA refused to accept IB unless the school maintained its complete AP curriculum. Parents also brought up that W-L was one of the first schools in the country to offer AP courses some four decades earlier. Logistically, APS wanted to maintain the same course offerings through the AP level at all the high schools. (Schools could add a specialisation like IB on top of that.) LB does not currently have an AP program of any substance. It should go all in on AP or IB based on the community’s desires/needs.

There’s a typo here. Robinson does not currently have an AP program of any substance…

[Anonymous]

If you want to know how popular it is vs AP, look at the number of kids getting the IB diploma vs the number of kids taking AP classes in neighboring pyramids. My guess is that it’s not at all popular

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Robinson parents should demand a survey be conducted. Perhaps the PTA could spearhead this effort.

The School Board will likely refuse because they don't want to hear the results and know there would be ripple effects.

The Robinson parents won’t do this because they don’t want retaliation from teachers. A good portion of the teachers don’t like to have their feathers ruffled.

Moreover: the parents of the kids already in school don’t want their kids to switch out. It would be better to survey 6th grade families instead. That way they can transition over and not interfere with current student schedules.

DP. Sixth grade famlies will have zero idea what the debate is about. The effort to inform them would have to be huge and it will be extremely difficult to get a lot of parents' attention onto this--many will just not understand or care why they're being asked this when their kid still isn't even in MS (most of FCPS sixth graders are in elementary schools). And getting out objective information? Forget it. Too much pro-AP, anti-IB sentiment among those who would be the most vocal.

Wait a second.

You don’t seem to get RSS starts at 7th. So 6th grade parents are learning about the school and choosing whether or not to send their kid to LBSS in the future.

And you also seem to think the bias would be too strongly against IB that it wouldn’t be a fair chance.

WT actual F.

It really seems to me that a) you think that 6th grade parents aren’t already thinking about this and are stupid and b) anyone who chooses against IB is stupid and therefore shouldn’t have input.

Based on this kind of elitist snobbery: I’m going to say that AP is not equitable. It isn’t flexible enough for stupid people like us who want our kids to focus on certain classes if that’s where their interests are.

I am with the PP: make an IB magnet school and leave everyone else AP. See who shows up for enrollment. Have DE for high Farms rate schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you want to know how popular it is vs AP, look at the number of kids getting the IB diploma vs the number of kids taking AP classes in neighboring pyramids. My guess is that it’s not at all popular

In 2022, 854 kids at Robinson took an IB class out of 2497 kids as of June 2022. Thats 34% of the population taking IB classes.

At Lake Braddock, 861 kids took an AP class out of 2796 kids total. That's 31% of kids taking AP classes. Full IB diploma is irrelevant. How many AP kids did the full AP Capstone with Seminar and AP Research?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That is a really terrible decision for a school that has so many military kids.

Doesn't fcps have a military liason? Someone needs to get them involved.

IB is useless for military kids.

Which school board member is in cahoots witn the company that owns the IB program?

Not true. A lot of military kids are already accustomed to IB if they’ve been to international schools overseas.

What percentage of military kids do you think are attending international schools abroad? The percentage of deployed abroad hovers around 15%. The percentage deployed abroad whose families accompany them are far lower. It's much more common to be stationed at a base in the US and then have a unit deploy from that base with the family remaining

This question is a prime example of what people do not understand about the Robinson area. I've lived in KPW for 20 years, taught at Robinson and Lake Braddock until I retired and know both communities well.

First, the people who are military typically fall into two camps. First, many people moved to this area and bought homes early in their careers, sent their children to elementary school for some time and then rented out their homes until they were closer to retirement/exit from the military. These families then returned to the area and took jobs as contractors (supplementing their retirement or reserve pay) with their new income. Usually these people arrived back when their kids were starting high school or in middle school (which makes sense for officers -- most of whom have post-graduate degrees and were older -- well for the military not DC-- when they had kids). Robinson AND Lake Braddock communities are full of these families. People usually are fine where they are once they find a house.

These people don't care about IB, but like the area and are fine generally. Most who live walking distance send their kids to Robinson. The bulk (until over the past 5-10 years) of placements to lake Braddock were AAP kids. This dropped dramatically over the past 10 years --some due to the Lake Braddock issues (principal/admin drama) and some due to just the ebb and flow of preference of the families. The other point is that not all Robinson kids place in Lake Braddock for AP. Most do, but many place in Centreville, South County or Woodson. For these kids, they often just go to Robinson instead of spending middle school in one place, high school in a different one that isn't full of their center friends or neighborhood friends. The county cracked down on pupil placement for AP at Lake Braddock about 15 years ago and started holding the line that if you live closer to some school, you go there unless it's full (So, some Woodson and Centreville kids ended up at Fairfax for example for a bit but Woodson is open now judging from the graduation signs in my neighborhood).

The second group is indeed international military families. Robinson is actually sought out by these folks and there are a lot of them (because these are officers working in the Pentagon). These families had kids overseas in IB schools and they actually want to continue this for consistency sake. Many military family forums actually recommend the Robinson schools for this reason (if you look at rentals during high season (late spring) you will see IB being mentioned because that is often a search term).

I will say that Robinson and Lake Braddock (to a slightly lesser extent) fairly uniformly middle class/upper middle class. It's not rich, rich. But these kids are resourced. The families seem more content with their choices than other schools in the county.

For a school with a catchment area the size of Robinson, the enrollment seems quite low. Granted some of the areas have big lot sizes, but others do not.

I'm sure there are some military families who want to continue in IB based on prior assignments, but the number of military families at Hayfield, Lake Braddock, and West Springfield seems larger.

For families choosing Robinson, IB makes sense. For these other schools, obviously, having AP classes works. It's good for the military families to have these choices. I don't know why people keep crapping on Robinson. What's the point of this thread?

The milktary families who chose Robinson did so for the nicer houses or because they couldn't find housing zoned for WS or LB. IB was a drawback.

Speak for yourself. We moved here, specifically chose Robinson for the IB program - we are an active military family. IB was definetly not a drawback for our family, it was the draw. LB and Woodson were backups for us.

And so the minority of parents continue to insist on their right to saddle the majority with a program we’d prefer not to have. Sad.

You do realize that DCUM isn’t real life, right? Just because your little computer friends form an echo chamber doesn’t make it “the majority.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That is a really terrible decision for a school that has so many military kids.

Doesn't fcps have a military liason? Someone needs to get them involved.

IB is useless for military kids.

Which school board member is in cahoots witn the company that owns the IB program?

Not true. A lot of military kids are already accustomed to IB if they’ve been to international schools overseas.

What percentage of military kids do you think are attending international schools abroad? The percentage of deployed abroad hovers around 15%. The percentage deployed abroad whose families accompany them are far lower. It's much more common to be stationed at a base in the US and then have a unit deploy from that base with the family remaining

This question is a prime example of what people do not understand about the Robinson area. I've lived in KPW for 20 years, taught at Robinson and Lake Braddock until I retired and know both communities well.

First, the people who are military typically fall into two camps. First, many people moved to this area and bought homes early in their careers, sent their children to elementary school for some time and then rented out their homes until they were closer to retirement/exit from the military. These families then returned to the area and took jobs as contractors (supplementing their retirement or reserve pay) with their new income. Usually these people arrived back when their kids were starting high school or in middle school (which makes sense for officers -- most of whom have post-graduate degrees and were older -- well for the military not DC-- when they had kids). Robinson AND Lake Braddock communities are full of these families. People usually are fine where they are once they find a house.

These people don't care about IB, but like the area and are fine generally. Most who live walking distance send their kids to Robinson. The bulk (until over the past 5-10 years) of placements to lake Braddock were AAP kids. This dropped dramatically over the past 10 years --some due to the Lake Braddock issues (principal/admin drama) and some due to just the ebb and flow of preference of the families. The other point is that not all Robinson kids place in Lake Braddock for AP. Most do, but many place in Centreville, South County or Woodson. For these kids, they often just go to Robinson instead of spending middle school in one place, high school in a different one that isn't full of their center friends or neighborhood friends. The county cracked down on pupil placement for AP at Lake Braddock about 15 years ago and started holding the line that if you live closer to some school, you go there unless it's full (So, some Woodson and Centreville kids ended up at Fairfax for example for a bit but Woodson is open now judging from the graduation signs in my neighborhood).

The second group is indeed international military families. Robinson is actually sought out by these folks and there are a lot of them (because these are officers working in the Pentagon). These families had kids overseas in IB schools and they actually want to continue this for consistency sake. Many military family forums actually recommend the Robinson schools for this reason (if you look at rentals during high season (late spring) you will see IB being mentioned because that is often a search term).

I will say that Robinson and Lake Braddock (to a slightly lesser extent) fairly uniformly middle class/upper middle class. It's not rich, rich. But these kids are resourced. The families seem more content with their choices than other schools in the county.

For a school with a catchment area the size of Robinson, the enrollment seems quite low. Granted some of the areas have big lot sizes, but others do not.

I'm sure there are some military families who want to continue in IB based on prior assignments, but the number of military families at Hayfield, Lake Braddock, and West Springfield seems larger.

For families choosing Robinson, IB makes sense. For these other schools, obviously, having AP classes works. It's good for the military families to have these choices. I don't know why people keep crapping on Robinson. What's the point of this thread?

The milktary families who chose Robinson did so for the nicer houses or because they couldn't find housing zoned for WS or LB. IB was a drawback.

Speak for yourself. We moved here, specifically chose Robinson for the IB program - we are an active military family. IB was definetly not a drawback for our family, it was the draw. LB and Woodson were backups for us.

And so the minority of parents continue to insist on their right to saddle the majority with a program we’d prefer not to have. Sad.

You do realize that DCUM isn’t real life, right? Just because your little computer friends form an echo chamber doesn’t make it “the majority.”

Hence the need for the survey.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you want to know how popular it is vs AP, look at the number of kids getting the IB diploma vs the number of kids taking AP classes in neighboring pyramids. My guess is that it’s not at all popular

In 2022, 854 kids at Robinson took an IB class out of 2497 kids as of June 2022. Thats 34% of the population taking IB classes.

At Lake Braddock, 861 kids took an AP class out of 2796 kids total. That's 31% of kids taking AP classes. Full IB diploma is irrelevant. How many AP kids did the full AP Capstone with Seminar and AP Research?

IB posters try to foist their own AP equivalent on AP schools to suggest what they think should be considered comparable to an IB diploma. The advantage of AP is that it isn’t such an exercise of jumping through a set of hoops established by a group in Geneva. You design your own schedule and can take more advanced courses in a particular area, or fewer, depending on your strengths and interests.

The particular AP classes mentioned by PP - AP Seminar and AP Research - are by no means necessary to take to end up with a schedule that may be as rigorous as, if not more rigorous than, a schedule for IB diploma. Don’t fall for their crap.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That is a really terrible decision for a school that has so many military kids.

Doesn't fcps have a military liason? Someone needs to get them involved.

IB is useless for military kids.

Which school board member is in cahoots witn the company that owns the IB program?

Not true. A lot of military kids are already accustomed to IB if they’ve been to international schools overseas.

What percentage of military kids do you think are attending international schools abroad? The percentage of deployed abroad hovers around 15%. The percentage deployed abroad whose families accompany them are far lower. It's much more common to be stationed at a base in the US and then have a unit deploy from that base with the family remaining

This question is a prime example of what people do not understand about the Robinson area. I've lived in KPW for 20 years, taught at Robinson and Lake Braddock until I retired and know both communities well.

First, the people who are military typically fall into two camps. First, many people moved to this area and bought homes early in their careers, sent their children to elementary school for some time and then rented out their homes until they were closer to retirement/exit from the military. These families then returned to the area and took jobs as contractors (supplementing their retirement or reserve pay) with their new income. Usually these people arrived back when their kids were starting high school or in middle school (which makes sense for officers -- most of whom have post-graduate degrees and were older -- well for the military not DC-- when they had kids). Robinson AND Lake Braddock communities are full of these families. People usually are fine where they are once they find a house.

These people don't care about IB, but like the area and are fine generally. Most who live walking distance send their kids to Robinson. The bulk (until over the past 5-10 years) of placements to lake Braddock were AAP kids. This dropped dramatically over the past 10 years --some due to the Lake Braddock issues (principal/admin drama) and some due to just the ebb and flow of preference of the families. The other point is that not all Robinson kids place in Lake Braddock for AP. Most do, but many place in Centreville, South County or Woodson. For these kids, they often just go to Robinson instead of spending middle school in one place, high school in a different one that isn't full of their center friends or neighborhood friends. The county cracked down on pupil placement for AP at Lake Braddock about 15 years ago and started holding the line that if you live closer to some school, you go there unless it's full (So, some Woodson and Centreville kids ended up at Fairfax for example for a bit but Woodson is open now judging from the graduation signs in my neighborhood).

The second group is indeed international military families. Robinson is actually sought out by these folks and there are a lot of them (because these are officers working in the Pentagon). These families had kids overseas in IB schools and they actually want to continue this for consistency sake. Many military family forums actually recommend the Robinson schools for this reason (if you look at rentals during high season (late spring) you will see IB being mentioned because that is often a search term).

I will say that Robinson and Lake Braddock (to a slightly lesser extent) fairly uniformly middle class/upper middle class. It's not rich, rich. But these kids are resourced. The families seem more content with their choices than other schools in the county.

For a school with a catchment area the size of Robinson, the enrollment seems quite low. Granted some of the areas have big lot sizes, but others do not.

I'm sure there are some military families who want to continue in IB based on prior assignments, but the number of military families at Hayfield, Lake Braddock, and West Springfield seems larger.

For families choosing Robinson, IB makes sense. For these other schools, obviously, having AP classes works. It's good for the military families to have these choices. I don't know why people keep crapping on Robinson. What's the point of this thread?

The milktary families who chose Robinson did so for the nicer houses or because they couldn't find housing zoned for WS or LB. IB was a drawback.

Speak for yourself. We moved here, specifically chose Robinson for the IB program - we are an active military family. IB was definetly not a drawback for our family, it was the draw. LB and Woodson were backups for us.

And so the minority of parents continue to insist on their right to saddle the majority with a program we’d prefer not to have. Sad.

You do realize that DCUM isn’t real life, right? Just because your little computer friends form an echo chamber doesn’t make it “the majority.”

Probably the best evidence was from 10-15 years ago when very few schools were closed to transfers due to overcrowding. At the time the number of pupil placements into AP schools was significantly higher than the pupil placements into AP schools. Of course, there was noise with that data, because people may have simply wanted to pupil place their kids to schools with higher test scores, etc, but it was a good indication of what families preferred if somewhat free to choose.

[And, no, I cannot provide a link, but I recall this from information compiled by a group that had submitted FOIA requests to FCPS and had concerns about getting redistricted from their AP high schools to South Lakes, an IB high school.]

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That is a really terrible decision for a school that has so many military kids.

Doesn't fcps have a military liason? Someone needs to get them involved.

IB is useless for military kids.

Which school board member is in cahoots witn the company that owns the IB program?

Not true. A lot of military kids are already accustomed to IB if they’ve been to international schools overseas.

What percentage of military kids do you think are attending international schools abroad? The percentage of deployed abroad hovers around 15%. The percentage deployed abroad whose families accompany them are far lower. It's much more common to be stationed at a base in the US and then have a unit deploy from that base with the family remaining

This question is a prime example of what people do not understand about the Robinson area. I've lived in KPW for 20 years, taught at Robinson and Lake Braddock until I retired and know both communities well.

First, the people who are military typically fall into two camps. First, many people moved to this area and bought homes early in their careers, sent their children to elementary school for some time and then rented out their homes until they were closer to retirement/exit from the military. These families then returned to the area and took jobs as contractors (supplementing their retirement or reserve pay) with their new income. Usually these people arrived back when their kids were starting high school or in middle school (which makes sense for officers -- most of whom have post-graduate degrees and were older -- well for the military not DC-- when they had kids). Robinson AND Lake Braddock communities are full of these families. People usually are fine where they are once they find a house.

These people don't care about IB, but like the area and are fine generally. Most who live walking distance send their kids to Robinson. The bulk (until over the past 5-10 years) of placements to lake Braddock were AAP kids. This dropped dramatically over the past 10 years --some due to the Lake Braddock issues (principal/admin drama) and some due to just the ebb and flow of preference of the families. The other point is that not all Robinson kids place in Lake Braddock for AP. Most do, but many place in Centreville, South County or Woodson. For these kids, they often just go to Robinson instead of spending middle school in one place, high school in a different one that isn't full of their center friends or neighborhood friends. The county cracked down on pupil placement for AP at Lake Braddock about 15 years ago and started holding the line that if you live closer to some school, you go there unless it's full (So, some Woodson and Centreville kids ended up at Fairfax for example for a bit but Woodson is open now judging from the graduation signs in my neighborhood).

The second group is indeed international military families. Robinson is actually sought out by these folks and there are a lot of them (because these are officers working in the Pentagon). These families had kids overseas in IB schools and they actually want to continue this for consistency sake. Many military family forums actually recommend the Robinson schools for this reason (if you look at rentals during high season (late spring) you will see IB being mentioned because that is often a search term).

I will say that Robinson and Lake Braddock (to a slightly lesser extent) fairly uniformly middle class/upper middle class. It's not rich, rich. But these kids are resourced. The families seem more content with their choices than other schools in the county.

For a school with a catchment area the size of Robinson, the enrollment seems quite low. Granted some of the areas have big lot sizes, but others do not.

I'm sure there are some military families who want to continue in IB based on prior assignments, but the number of military families at Hayfield, Lake Braddock, and West Springfield seems larger.

For families choosing Robinson, IB makes sense. For these other schools, obviously, having AP classes works. It's good for the military families to have these choices. I don't know why people keep crapping on Robinson. What's the point of this thread?

The milktary families who chose Robinson did so for the nicer houses or because they couldn't find housing zoned for WS or LB. IB was a drawback.

Speak for yourself. We moved here, specifically chose Robinson for the IB program - we are an active military family. IB was definetly not a drawback for our family, it was the draw. LB and Woodson were backups for us.

And so the minority of parents continue to insist on their right to saddle the majority with a program we’d prefer not to have. Sad.

You do realize that DCUM isn’t real life, right? Just because your little computer friends form an echo chamber doesn’t make it “the majority.”

Probably the best evidence was from 10-15 years ago when very few schools were closed to transfers due to overcrowding. At the time the number of pupil placements into AP schools was significantly higher than the pupil placements into AP schools. Of course, there was noise with that data, because people may have simply wanted to pupil place their kids to schools with higher test scores, etc, but it was a good indication of what families preferred if somewhat free to choose.

[And, no, I cannot provide a link, but I recall this from information compiled by a group that had submitted FOIA requests to FCPS and had concerns about getting redistricted from their AP high schools to South Lakes, an IB high school.]

^ “pupil placements into IB high schools.”