Regional IB programs - four years later

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The only kid I know that picked the regional program (Kennedy) dropped after 2 years and had a very poor review of the program. Will be interesting to see the IB passage rates from this cohort. I think it’s been a rocky start but that’s probably to be expected especially because I think that for that first cohort they took the stronger kids into RMIB and put the more borderline kids in the regional ones.

Spoiler alert: They won't be great.

Hopkins and uMich not good enough? What schools are then?

The poster asked about IB passage rates, not college acceptances. Those might be correlated but they are distinct things.

Nobody knows what the IB passage rates are (i.e., what percent of students who are in the IB Diploma Programme got the IB Diploma), because the students won't get (or not get) the IB Diploma until this summer.

If I remember correctly, the first regional criteria-based cohorts will graduate this year, correct?

Unless I'm wrong about that (might have been last year?), we won't have real data about how many kids matriculate into the magnet IB programs as freshmen, vs. how many actually attain the diploma, until June. If you're using data pertaining to the "old" non-magnet students, you're still comparing apples to oranges, magnet to opt-in.

For one thing, previous students attempting an IB diploma at a non-RMIB school didn't have access to the same freshman and sophomore magnet classes that are specifically designed to help prep them for the IB program. That's bound to make a huge difference in how easily they adjust to the IB format come junior year.


I did wonder something, though: what's the ramification for magnet IB kids if they decide not to aim for the diploma? Are they sent back to their home school if they don't register for the minimum three HL courses their junior year, for instance; or are they allowed to stay and continue taking IB and AP classes a la carte?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:MCPS turned a few high schools into "regional IB" programs four years ago. I remember that magnet admissions season and there was a LOT of angst over kids who applied to RM being instead seats at these regionals instead. And I remember an awful lot of unpleasant assertions that these schools / students would not perform at the same level as RM. It was ugly. Sometime really ugly.

So I am wondering how it has gone for the first cohort? I've heard about several admissions to T20 universities at our regional IB. More than there had been before. How about at your regional? Do you think it all worked out or do you think it was all for show and that MCPS failed?

Just stop.

MCPS did not "fail"

Learn the history of why there are Magnet schools to begin with then come back with your propaganda.

These schools are good. They serve a specific segment of the student population. Just like any other HS experience it will be different for different kids.

You have zero idea what you are a talking about. Stop trying to bash MCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Among the schools that offer both AP and IB, about 2/3 of the students choose AP and 1/3 IB. You can argue the students vote with their feet and follow the more beneficial program. For the exams, IB has a higher passing rate, possibly indicating that it attracts stronger students.

It seems redundant to offer both, not sure the IB diploma is that much more of an indicator of rigorous high school coursework and they are essentially equivalent. For people that like to have choices, it’s probably worth keeping it.

The regional IB programs feel somewhat of a second rate choice, the very strong students don’t need it, and they seem to have a very persistent marketing pitch.

In conclusion, meh.

This but our school has few AP classes and no advanced math after calculus which is a huge issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The only kid I know that picked the regional program (Kennedy) dropped after 2 years and had a very poor review of the program. Will be interesting to see the IB passage rates from this cohort. I think it’s been a rocky start but that’s probably to be expected especially because I think that for that first cohort they took the stronger kids into RMIB and put the more borderline kids in the regional ones.

Spoiler alert: They won't be great.

Hopkins and uMich not good enough? What schools are then?

The poster asked about IB passage rates, not college acceptances. Those might be correlated but they are distinct things.

I guarantee you they will not post the IB Diploma pass rates. They will be bellow 30% for some schools. From this point of view, the IB program is a failure, hard to justify its continuation.

I think they'll publish the pass rate, and hopefully disaggregate by which kids were in the criteria-based cohort.

MCPS has never published this data for all IB schools. Why would it start now?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Among the schools that offer both AP and IB, about 2/3 of the students choose AP and 1/3 IB. You can argue the students vote with their feet and follow the more beneficial program. For the exams, IB has a higher passing rate, possibly indicating that it attracts stronger students.

It seems redundant to offer both, not sure the IB diploma is that much more of an indicator of rigorous high school coursework and they are essentially equivalent. For people that like to have choices, it’s probably worth keeping it.

The regional IB programs feel somewhat of a second rate choice, the very strong students don’t need it, and they seem to have a very persistent marketing pitch.

In conclusion, meh.

This but our school has few AP classes and no advanced math after calculus which is a huge issue.

There’s no advanced math after IB HL Calculus either. I’m willing to bet that the AP offering at your school is better than what’s offered in the IB program.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MCPS turned a few high schools into "regional IB" programs four years ago. I remember that magnet admissions season and there was a LOT of angst over kids who applied to RM being instead seats at these regionals instead. And I remember an awful lot of unpleasant assertions that these schools / students would not perform at the same level as RM. It was ugly. Sometime really ugly.

So I am wondering how it has gone for the first cohort? I've heard about several admissions to T20 universities at our regional IB. More than there had been before. How about at your regional? Do you think it all worked out or do you think it was all for show and that MCPS failed?

Just stop.

MCPS did not "fail"

Learn the history of why there are Magnet schools to begin with then come back with your propaganda.

These schools are good. They serve a specific segment of the student population. Just like any other HS experience it will be different for different kids.

You have zero idea what you are a talking about. Stop trying to bash MCPS.

You're delusional. MCPS definitely intentionally put the Regional IB programs in schools that had abysmal academics to draw kids who have good academic numbers to come to the school and improve their numbers.

Acknowledging this fact is not "bashing" MCPS. And frankly, I don't mind the tactic if they do a good job of giving those kids positive outcomes in those Regional IB programs. That has not been the case to date at Kennedy. Hence, why Principal Adamson was brought in to clean up that mess.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MCPS turned a few high schools into "regional IB" programs four years ago. I remember that magnet admissions season and there was a LOT of angst over kids who applied to RM being instead seats at these regionals instead. And I remember an awful lot of unpleasant assertions that these schools / students would not perform at the same level as RM. It was ugly. Sometime really ugly.

So I am wondering how it has gone for the first cohort? I've heard about several admissions to T20 universities at our regional IB. More than there had been before. How about at your regional? Do you think it all worked out or do you think it was all for show and that MCPS failed?

Just stop.

MCPS did not "fail"

Learn the history of why there are Magnet schools to begin with then come back with your propaganda.

These schools are good. They serve a specific segment of the student population. Just like any other HS experience it will be different for different kids.

You have zero idea what you are a talking about. Stop trying to bash MCPS.

Do you work for MCPS? Please explain what purpose and what students it serves. From the university admissions and diploma pass rates don’t seem to serve any distinguishable purpose when you already have AP options at the same school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MCPS turned a few high schools into "regional IB" programs four years ago. I remember that magnet admissions season and there was a LOT of angst over kids who applied to RM being instead seats at these regionals instead. And I remember an awful lot of unpleasant assertions that these schools / students would not perform at the same level as RM. It was ugly. Sometime really ugly.

So I am wondering how it has gone for the first cohort? I've heard about several admissions to T20 universities at our regional IB. More than there had been before. How about at your regional? Do you think it all worked out or do you think it was all for show and that MCPS failed?

Just stop.

MCPS did not "fail"

Learn the history of why there are Magnet schools to begin with then come back with your propaganda.

These schools are good. They serve a specific segment of the student population. Just like any other HS experience it will be different for different kids.

You have zero idea what you are a talking about. Stop trying to bash MCPS.

You're delusional. MCPS definitely intentionally put the Regional IB programs in schools that had abysmal academics to draw kids who have good academic numbers to come to the school and improve their numbers.

Acknowledging this fact is not "bashing" MCPS. And frankly, I don't mind the tactic if they do a good job of giving those kids positive outcomes in those Regional IB programs. That has not been the case to date at Kennedy. Hence, why Principal Adamson was brought in to clean up that mess.

100% this. Regional IB was in fact a marketing scheme to paper over poor school performance. In the end the performance was still poor, because teachers are the same, course offerings are slim, and management was abysmal. There’s nothing special about the IB curriculum that magically better than AP for example. In the end it’s just a band aid, and of course it didn’t work. I actually feel bad for the families falling the marketing ploy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MCPS turned a few high schools into "regional IB" programs four years ago. I remember that magnet admissions season and there was a LOT of angst over kids who applied to RM being instead seats at these regionals instead. And I remember an awful lot of unpleasant assertions that these schools / students would not perform at the same level as RM. It was ugly. Sometime really ugly.

So I am wondering how it has gone for the first cohort? I've heard about several admissions to T20 universities at our regional IB. More than there had been before. How about at your regional? Do you think it all worked out or do you think it was all for show and that MCPS failed?

Just stop.

MCPS did not "fail"

Learn the history of why there are Magnet schools to begin with then come back with your propaganda.

These schools are good. They serve a specific segment of the student population. Just like any other HS experience it will be different for different kids.

You have zero idea what you are a talking about. Stop trying to bash MCPS.

Do you work for MCPS? Please explain what purpose and what students it serves. From the university admissions and diploma pass rates don’t seem to serve any distinguishable purpose when you already have AP options at the same school.

Let me chime in!

I don't know if the "IB" part of the diploma is a huge deal however having a few dozen like minded classmates in a school that otherwise would not have them is a big deal. The comradery was nice to see. I think they helped each other a lot. Classes together. Lunches together. ECs together.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MCPS turned a few high schools into "regional IB" programs four years ago. I remember that magnet admissions season and there was a LOT of angst over kids who applied to RM being instead seats at these regionals instead. And I remember an awful lot of unpleasant assertions that these schools / students would not perform at the same level as RM. It was ugly. Sometime really ugly.

So I am wondering how it has gone for the first cohort? I've heard about several admissions to T20 universities at our regional IB. More than there had been before. How about at your regional? Do you think it all worked out or do you think it was all for show and that MCPS failed?

Just stop.

MCPS did not "fail"

Learn the history of why there are Magnet schools to begin with then come back with your propaganda.

These schools are good. They serve a specific segment of the student population. Just like any other HS experience it will be different for different kids.

You have zero idea what you are a talking about. Stop trying to bash MCPS.

You're delusional. MCPS definitely intentionally put the Regional IB programs in schools that had abysmal academics to draw kids who have good academic numbers to come to the school and improve their numbers.

Acknowledging this fact is not "bashing" MCPS. And frankly, I don't mind the tactic if they do a good job of giving those kids positive outcomes in those Regional IB programs. That has not been the case to date at Kennedy. Hence, why Principal Adamson was brought in to clean up that mess.

100% this. Regional IB was in fact a marketing scheme to paper over poor school performance. In the end the performance was still poor, because teachers are the same, course offerings are slim, and management was abysmal. There’s nothing special about the IB curriculum that magically better than AP for example. In the end it’s just a band aid, and of course it didn’t work. I actually feel bad for the families falling the marketing ploy.

You know this how?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MCPS turned a few high schools into "regional IB" programs four years ago. I remember that magnet admissions season and there was a LOT of angst over kids who applied to RM being instead seats at these regionals instead. And I remember an awful lot of unpleasant assertions that these schools / students would not perform at the same level as RM. It was ugly. Sometime really ugly.

So I am wondering how it has gone for the first cohort? I've heard about several admissions to T20 universities at our regional IB. More than there had been before. How about at your regional? Do you think it all worked out or do you think it was all for show and that MCPS failed?

Just stop.

MCPS did not "fail"

Learn the history of why there are Magnet schools to begin with then come back with your propaganda.

These schools are good. They serve a specific segment of the student population. Just like any other HS experience it will be different for different kids.

You have zero idea what you are a talking about. Stop trying to bash MCPS.

Do you work for MCPS? Please explain what purpose and what students it serves. From the university admissions and diploma pass rates don’t seem to serve any distinguishable purpose when you already have AP options at the same school.

Let me chime in!

I don't know if the "IB" part of the diploma is a huge deal however having a few dozen like minded classmates in a school that otherwise would not have them is a big deal. The comradery was nice to see. I think they helped each other a lot. Classes together. Lunches together. ECs together.

Ok got it, it serves a social purpose. Seems kind of expensive for a public school but I’m happy the kids weren’t having lunch by themselves. In contrast, the AP kids had no friends and did no activities together.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The only kid I know that picked the regional program (Kennedy) dropped after 2 years and had a very poor review of the program. Will be interesting to see the IB passage rates from this cohort. I think it’s been a rocky start but that’s probably to be expected especially because I think that for that first cohort they took the stronger kids into RMIB and put the more borderline kids in the regional ones.

Spoiler alert: They won't be great.

Hopkins and uMich not good enough? What schools are then?

The poster asked about IB passage rates, not college acceptances. Those might be correlated but they are distinct things.

I guarantee you they will not post the IB Diploma pass rates. They will be bellow 30% for some schools. From this point of view, the IB program is a failure, hard to justify its continuation.

I think they'll publish the pass rate, and hopefully disaggregate by which kids were in the criteria-based cohort.

MCPS has never published this data for all IB schools. Why would it start now?

They used to publish it for RM.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MCPS turned a few high schools into "regional IB" programs four years ago. I remember that magnet admissions season and there was a LOT of angst over kids who applied to RM being instead seats at these regionals instead. And I remember an awful lot of unpleasant assertions that these schools / students would not perform at the same level as RM. It was ugly. Sometime really ugly.

So I am wondering how it has gone for the first cohort? I've heard about several admissions to T20 universities at our regional IB. More than there had been before. How about at your regional? Do you think it all worked out or do you think it was all for show and that MCPS failed?

Just stop.

MCPS did not "fail"

Learn the history of why there are Magnet schools to begin with then come back with your propaganda.

These schools are good. They serve a specific segment of the student population. Just like any other HS experience it will be different for different kids.

You have zero idea what you are a talking about. Stop trying to bash MCPS.

You're delusional. MCPS definitely intentionally put the Regional IB programs in schools that had abysmal academics to draw kids who have good academic numbers to come to the school and improve their numbers.

Acknowledging this fact is not "bashing" MCPS. And frankly, I don't mind the tactic if they do a good job of giving those kids positive outcomes in those Regional IB programs. That has not been the case to date at Kennedy. Hence, why Principal Adamson was brought in to clean up that mess.

100% this. Regional IB was in fact a marketing scheme to paper over poor school performance. In the end the performance was still poor, because teachers are the same, course offerings are slim, and management was abysmal. There’s nothing special about the IB curriculum that magically better than AP for example. In the end it’s just a band aid, and of course it didn’t work. I actually feel bad for the families falling the marketing ploy.

You know this how?

Can you do something more constructive than heckling anyone that criticizes the IB programs? Seriously are you employed by MCPS, at least disclose so we’re clear that you have some other motivations in participating in this discussion.

Put on some data that shows the program worked if you have it, I’ll wait.

In the meantime let’s look at university admissions, diploma rates, program participation rates and conclude that they point towards regional IBs being a failure at the expense of students and their families.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The only kid I know that picked the regional program (Kennedy) dropped after 2 years and had a very poor review of the program. Will be interesting to see the IB passage rates from this cohort. I think it’s been a rocky start but that’s probably to be expected especially because I think that for that first cohort they took the stronger kids into RMIB and put the more borderline kids in the regional ones.

Spoiler alert: They won't be great.

Hopkins and uMich not good enough? What schools are then?

The poster asked about IB passage rates, not college acceptances. Those might be correlated but they are distinct things.

I guarantee you they will not post the IB Diploma pass rates. They will be bellow 30% for some schools. From this point of view, the IB program is a failure, hard to justify its continuation.

Please explain how you know that.

The voices that I hear...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MCPS turned a few high schools into "regional IB" programs four years ago. I remember that magnet admissions season and there was a LOT of angst over kids who applied to RM being instead seats at these regionals instead. And I remember an awful lot of unpleasant assertions that these schools / students would not perform at the same level as RM. It was ugly. Sometime really ugly.

So I am wondering how it has gone for the first cohort? I've heard about several admissions to T20 universities at our regional IB. More than there had been before. How about at your regional? Do you think it all worked out or do you think it was all for show and that MCPS failed?

Just stop.

MCPS did not "fail"

Learn the history of why there are Magnet schools to begin with then come back with your propaganda.

These schools are good. They serve a specific segment of the student population. Just like any other HS experience it will be different for different kids.

You have zero idea what you are a talking about. Stop trying to bash MCPS.

You're delusional. MCPS definitely intentionally put the Regional IB programs in schools that had abysmal academics to draw kids who have good academic numbers to come to the school and improve their numbers.

Acknowledging this fact is not "bashing" MCPS. And frankly, I don't mind the tactic if they do a good job of giving those kids positive outcomes in those Regional IB programs. That has not been the case to date at Kennedy. Hence, why Principal Adamson was brought in to clean up that mess.

100% this. Regional IB was in fact a marketing scheme to paper over poor school performance. In the end the performance was still poor, because teachers are the same, course offerings are slim, and management was abysmal. There’s nothing special about the IB curriculum that magically better than AP for example. In the end it’s just a band aid, and of course it didn’t work. I actually feel bad for the families falling the marketing ploy.

You know this how?

Can you do something more constructive than heckling anyone that criticizes the IB programs? Seriously are you employed by MCPS, at least disclose so we’re clear that you have some other motivations in participating in this discussion.

Put on some data that shows the program worked if you have it, I’ll wait.

In the meantime let’s look at university admissions, diploma rates, program participation rates and conclude that they point towards regional IBs being a failure at the expense of students and their families.

OP here. My kid has been telling me about classmates getting accepted to top schools. That does not look like failure to me. And another poster wrote about Hopkins and Michigan acceptances. Those are great results. Maybe those kids would have been fine at any MCPS HS? But the point is that they were not. They were (are?) at a regional IB.

Are they outliers? Are there others? DCUM is probably 95% W school parents so maybe we will never know?