International Baccalaureate at Eastern?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are you freaking serious it was never a goal to get 400 incoming freshmen into the IB program per year. If that was the case...then an application component would've been priority. If you are truly knowledgeable about IB, then you would know the high-school component does not kick into gear until 11th grade. So for someone to think that incoming freshmen are a lost cause due to IB offerings are just clueless. You are aware that Eastern is a comprehensive high school and there's only two high school (Banneker Academic High School) that offer IB and both are predominantly AA populated.

The only way you'd have more than a token number of IB diploma candidates at a school like Eastern would be to have strong PYP and MYP programs at the ES and MS level, and then make sure students were taking the right pre-IB courses in 9th and 10th grade.

In essence, this program is fairly insigniciant at a school like Eastern. It just becomes away to suggest the school is better because it's an "IB world school," but only a handful of students will get IB diplomas. For the uninitiated, you don't graduate with two diplomas. All anyone will know when they graduate is that they are a "diploma candidate," and if they don't score high enough on the IB tests they'll find out the following October that they aren't ever getting an IB diploma.

NP and you are completely wrong PP. The fact that a student who's attended non-IB schools and most likely challenged schools up to the point that they get to Eastern and that they now have a chance to build on the successes they've already achieved (likely against great odds) and have a shot at an IB diploma is IN AND OF ITSELF significant.

You apparently don't understand the idea of planting seeds of positive educational models and figuring out as you get more and more students into the program what it takes to support the students you're attracting to be successful. No, not every student who tries for an IB diploma will get one. But guess what? If there is no IB track or option, every year 0% will get an IB diploma.

Some people here have their heads so firmly stuck in privilege and concepts about who is deserving of these opportunities that they can't see the benefit of starting where you are and building from there. Of course ideally you have PYP and MYP leading up to high school. And that should definitely be a goal within DCPS. But we'll find out this year if it's possible to succeed in DCPS and get an IB diploma without that, and hopefully DCPS will keep investing in Eastern and the feeder schools (ALL OF THEM) to build this as a viable option for more and more students.

Nonsense. Eastern needs to serve the students it has, not waste money paying money to the IBO for a program that benefits just a few students and doesn't even result in a particularly meaningful credential. The IB model is a joke. There are better ways to challenge more students at a lower cost than essentially paying branding rights to the IBO.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:While providing the few with the opportunity to earn an IB diploma is great, DCPS cannot get a majority of their students at grade level in Reading in high school.

Perhaps the funding will be better spent on literacy in English rather than pushing their resources to the very few who can get an IB diploma. Will love to know how many out of the 6 kids who tried for an IB diploma actually got one and also how much money Eastern spent to get the IB World school designation.

Is it your position that DCPS should not offer IB to their students? Are you also one of the many posters that argue that DCPS need to offer more specialty programs to compete against charters?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are you freaking serious it was never a goal to get 400 incoming freshmen into the IB program per year. If that was the case...then an application component would've been priority. If you are truly knowledgeable about IB, then you would know the high-school component does not kick into gear until 11th grade. So for someone to think that incoming freshmen are a lost cause due to IB offerings are just clueless. You are aware that Eastern is a comprehensive high school and there's only two high school (Banneker Academic High School) that offer IB and both are predominantly AA populated.

The only way you'd have more than a token number of IB diploma candidates at a school like Eastern would be to have strong PYP and MYP programs at the ES and MS level, and then make sure students were taking the right pre-IB courses in 9th and 10th grade.

In essence, this program is fairly insigniciant at a school like Eastern. It just becomes away to suggest the school is better because it's an "IB world school," but only a handful of students will get IB diplomas. For the uninitiated, you don't graduate with two diplomas. All anyone will know when they graduate is that they are a "diploma candidate," and if they don't score high enough on the IB tests they'll find out the following October that they aren't ever getting an IB diploma.

NP and you are completely wrong PP. The fact that a student who's attended non-IB schools and most likely challenged schools up to the point that they get to Eastern and that they now have a chance to build on the successes they've already achieved (likely against great odds) and have a shot at an IB diploma is IN AND OF ITSELF significant.

You apparently don't understand the idea of planting seeds of positive educational models and figuring out as you get more and more students into the program what it takes to support the students you're attracting to be successful. No, not every student who tries for an IB diploma will get one. But guess what? If there is no IB track or option, every year 0% will get an IB diploma.

Some people here have their heads so firmly stuck in privilege and concepts about who is deserving of these opportunities that they can't see the benefit of starting where you are and building from there. Of course ideally you have PYP and MYP leading up to high school. And that should definitely be a goal within DCPS. But we'll find out this year if it's possible to succeed in DCPS and get an IB diploma without that, and hopefully DCPS will keep investing in Eastern and the feeder schools (ALL OF THEM) to build this as a viable option for more and more students.

Nonsense. Eastern needs to serve the students it has, not waste money paying money to the IBO for a program that benefits just a few students and doesn't even result in a particularly meaningful credential. The IB model is a joke. There are better ways to challenge more students at a lower cost than essentially paying branding rights to the IBO.

What?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:While providing the few with the opportunity to earn an IB diploma is great, DCPS cannot get a majority of their students at grade level in Reading in high school.

Perhaps the funding will be better spent on literacy in English rather than pushing their resources to the very few who can get an IB diploma. Will love to know how many out of the 6 kids who tried for an IB diploma actually got one and also how much money Eastern spent to get the IB World school designation.

Is it your position that DCPS should not offer IB to their students? Are you also one of the many posters that argue that DCPS need to offer more specialty programs to compete against charters?

If DCPS wants to offer IB, they should have some mechanism to deliver the program to students who can actually benefit from it not to a group of kids where the majority need remediation in English.

If DCPS thinks having an IB high school like Eastern will attract students who want IB from charters like DCI, they are dreaming.

The IB at Eastern sounds like a big budget suck and a waste of money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:While providing the few with the opportunity to earn an IB diploma is great, DCPS cannot get a majority of their students at grade level in Reading in high school.

Perhaps the funding will be better spent on literacy in English rather than pushing their resources to the very few who can get an IB diploma. Will love to know how many out of the 6 kids who tried for an IB diploma actually got one and also how much money Eastern spent to get the IB World school designation.

Is it your position that DCPS should not offer IB to their students? Are you also one of the many posters that argue that DCPS need to offer more specialty programs to compete against charters?

If DCPS wants to offer IB, they should have some mechanism to deliver the program to students who can actually benefit from it not to a group of kids where the majority need remediation in English.

If DCPS thinks having an IB high school like Eastern will attract students who want IB from charters like DCI, they are dreaming.

The IB at Eastern sounds like a big budget suck and a waste of money.

Hm, you still did not answer the questions. So DCPS should not offer IB in any of their comprehensive schools. It's your stance that specialty programs are for the charters. And DCPS should stick with the basics. And the students in DCPS who want something beyond the basics are just SOL. You sound like a shrill for more charters at the expense of the improvement of DCPS.

Signed,

A mom who pulled her kid from a DCI feeder school because mom was teaching all the requisite basics for future academic success at home. And BTW, DCI has yet to receive its IB certification, or a graduating class. Therefore, you don't know how successful or how many students will actually graduate with an IB diploma, if and when the school receives its certification.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:While providing the few with the opportunity to earn an IB diploma is great, DCPS cannot get a majority of their students at grade level in Reading in high school.

Perhaps the funding will be better spent on literacy in English rather than pushing their resources to the very few who can get an IB diploma. Will love to know how many out of the 6 kids who tried for an IB diploma actually got one and also how much money Eastern spent to get the IB World school designation.

Is it your position that DCPS should not offer IB to their students? Are you also one of the many posters that argue that DCPS need to offer more specialty programs to compete against charters?

If DCPS wants to offer IB, they should have some mechanism to deliver the program to students who can actually benefit from it not to a group of kids where the majority need remediation in English.

If DCPS thinks having an IB high school like Eastern will attract students who want IB from charters like DCI, they are dreaming.

The IB at Eastern sounds like a big budget suck and a waste of money.

Hm, you still did not answer the questions. So DCPS should not offer IB in any of their comprehensive schools. It's your stance that specialty programs are for the charters. And DCPS should stick with the basics. And the students in DCPS who want something beyond the basics are just SOL. You sound like a shrill for more charters at the expense of the improvement of DCPS.

Signed,

A mom who pulled her kid from a DCI feeder school because mom was teaching all the requisite basics for future academic success at home. And BTW, DCI has yet to receive its IB certification, or a graduating class. Therefore, you don't know how successful or how many students will actually graduate with an IB diploma, if and when the school receives its certification.

They should offer it at a comprehensive high school that has a sizable cohort of kids who can actually benefit from the program. It does not sound like Eastern will have even ten kids earning an IB diploma in a graduating class anytime soon. Does such a comprehensive high school exist in DC?

Generally, a program should be offered when there is demand for it to make it cost effective instead of providing a program and then waiting to see if anyone signs up for it. Maybe instead of offering IB, Eastern would have been better off providing more AP courses. DCPS seems to do everything backwards.

As for DCI, it seems to have a large cohort of kids who come from the PYP and MYP with the language background to feed into an IB diploma program.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:While providing the few with the opportunity to earn an IB diploma is great, DCPS cannot get a majority of their students at grade level in Reading in high school.

Perhaps the funding will be better spent on literacy in English rather than pushing their resources to the very few who can get an IB diploma. Will love to know how many out of the 6 kids who tried for an IB diploma actually got one and also how much money Eastern spent to get the IB World school designation.

Is it your position that DCPS should not offer IB to their students? Are you also one of the many posters that argue that DCPS need to offer more specialty programs to compete against charters?

IB is a waste of money. If students want to be challenged, they can take AP courses. If they do well on them, they save money on college credits.

The suburban school districts put IB into their lowest-performing schools b/c the high-achieving parents only want AP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:While providing the few with the opportunity to earn an IB diploma is great, DCPS cannot get a majority of their students at grade level in Reading in high school.

Perhaps the funding will be better spent on literacy in English rather than pushing their resources to the very few who can get an IB diploma. Will love to know how many out of the 6 kids who tried for an IB diploma actually got one and also how much money Eastern spent to get the IB World school designation.

As if the two are mutually exclusive... DCPS has stepped up their focus on literacy (and math) tremendously in just this last year and for the upcoming year. You will never get anything done in a system like DCPS if you take a limited view and only focus on one thing at a time. Not going to argue, there are probably always questionable funding choices. Just don't see how this IB program is one of them since the literacy and math foci have been of the highest priority across DCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are you freaking serious it was never a goal to get 400 incoming freshmen into the IB program per year. If that was the case...then an application component would've been priority. If you are truly knowledgeable about IB, then you would know the high-school component does not kick into gear until 11th grade. So for someone to think that incoming freshmen are a lost cause due to IB offerings are just clueless. You are aware that Eastern is a comprehensive high school and there's only two high school (Banneker Academic High School) that offer IB and both are predominantly AA populated.

The only way you'd have more than a token number of IB diploma candidates at a school like Eastern would be to have strong PYP and MYP programs at the ES and MS level, and then make sure students were taking the right pre-IB courses in 9th and 10th grade.

In essence, this program is fairly insigniciant at a school like Eastern. It just becomes away to suggest the school is better because it's an "IB world school," but only a handful of students will get IB diplomas. For the uninitiated, you don't graduate with two diplomas. All anyone will know when they graduate is that they are a "diploma candidate," and if they don't score high enough on the IB tests they'll find out the following October that they aren't ever getting an IB diploma.

NP and you are completely wrong PP. The fact that a student who's attended non-IB schools and most likely challenged schools up to the point that they get to Eastern and that they now have a chance to build on the successes they've already achieved (likely against great odds) and have a shot at an IB diploma is IN AND OF ITSELF significant.

You apparently don't understand the idea of planting seeds of positive educational models and figuring out as you get more and more students into the program what it takes to support the students you're attracting to be successful. No, not every student who tries for an IB diploma will get one. But guess what? If there is no IB track or option, every year 0% will get an IB diploma.

Some people here have their heads so firmly stuck in privilege and concepts about who is deserving of these opportunities that they can't see the benefit of starting where you are and building from there. Of course ideally you have PYP and MYP leading up to high school. And that should definitely be a goal within DCPS. But we'll find out this year if it's possible to succeed in DCPS and get an IB diploma without that, and hopefully DCPS will keep investing in Eastern and the feeder schools (ALL OF THEM) to build this as a viable option for more and more students.

Nonsense. Eastern needs to serve the students it has, not waste money paying money to the IBO for a program that benefits just a few students and doesn't even result in a particularly meaningful credential. The IB model is a joke. There are better ways to challenge more students at a lower cost than essentially paying branding rights to the IBO.

You have the attention of several of us: please detail what specific ways students will be better challenged at a lower cost. And also please say what Eastern payed to the IBO, since you apparently know this and are making a judgement about better use of funds. Be specific about what lower cost other "ways" would be better, or we'll know you're just blowing smoke out of your... body.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:While providing the few with the opportunity to earn an IB diploma is great, DCPS cannot get a majority of their students at grade level in Reading in high school.

Perhaps the funding will be better spent on literacy in English rather than pushing their resources to the very few who can get an IB diploma. Will love to know how many out of the 6 kids who tried for an IB diploma actually got one and also how much money Eastern spent to get the IB World school designation.

Is it your position that DCPS should not offer IB to their students? Are you also one of the many posters that argue that DCPS need to offer more specialty programs to compete against charters?

If DCPS wants to offer IB, they should have some mechanism to deliver the program to students who can actually benefit from it not to a group of kids where the majority need remediation in English.

If DCPS thinks having an IB high school like Eastern will attract students who want IB from charters like DCI, they are dreaming.

The IB at Eastern sounds like a big budget suck and a waste of money.

Hm, you still did not answer the questions. So DCPS should not offer IB in any of their comprehensive schools. It's your stance that specialty programs are for the charters. And DCPS should stick with the basics. And the students in DCPS who want something beyond the basics are just SOL. You sound like a shrill for more charters at the expense of the improvement of DCPS.

Signed,

A mom who pulled her kid from a DCI feeder school because mom was teaching all the requisite basics for future academic success at home. And BTW, DCI has yet to receive its IB certification, or a graduating class. Therefore, you don't know how successful or how many students will actually graduate with an IB diploma, if and when the school receives its certification.

They should offer it at a comprehensive high school that has a sizable cohort of kids who can actually benefit from the program. It does not sound like Eastern will have even ten kids earning an IB diploma in a graduating class anytime soon. Does such a comprehensive high school exist in DC?

Generally, a program should be offered when there is demand for it to make it cost effective instead of providing a program and then waiting to see if anyone signs up for it. Maybe instead of offering IB, Eastern would have been better off providing more AP courses. DCPS seems to do everything backwards.

As for DCI, it seems to have a large cohort of kids who come from the PYP and MYP with the language background to feed into an IB diploma program.

The only feeder school to DCI that is PYP or MYP is YY. That's one out of five schools. And so far, YY has lost approximately 1/3 of its population from PK4 through 5th grade. I personally am aware that twelve kids that were in the third grade will not be in attendance in the fifth grade. And although I have no clue how many will continue into DCI after completion of YY 5th grade, several parents have articulated interest in private, Basis, and Brookland MS. That does not bode well for your assumption that it's a large cohort of PYP and MYP former students.

It is my understanding that Eastern offers both AP and IB. DCPS need to start somewhere with IB. It makes since that it would be Eastern since Browne and Jefferson (both MYP) eventually feeds into Eastern. If Cap Hill parents continue to shun Eastern, hopefully it will become a great alternative to academically strong kids who want more than what Banneker offers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:While providing the few with the opportunity to earn an IB diploma is great, DCPS cannot get a majority of their students at grade level in Reading in high school.

Perhaps the funding will be better spent on literacy in English rather than pushing their resources to the very few who can get an IB diploma. Will love to know how many out of the 6 kids who tried for an IB diploma actually got one and also how much money Eastern spent to get the IB World school designation.

Is it your position that DCPS should not offer IB to their students? Are you also one of the many posters that argue that DCPS need to offer more specialty programs to compete against charters?

IB is a waste of money. If students want to be challenged, they can take AP courses. If they do well on them, they save money on college credits.

The suburban school districts put IB into their lowest-performing schools b/c the high-achieving parents only want AP.

What are some examples of specific suburban school districts with IB only in their lowest performing schools? And what's your source for this being a trend in the US and not some isolated thing?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:While providing the few with the opportunity to earn an IB diploma is great, DCPS cannot get a majority of their students at grade level in Reading in high school.

Perhaps the funding will be better spent on literacy in English rather than pushing their resources to the very few who can get an IB diploma. Will love to know how many out of the 6 kids who tried for an IB diploma actually got one and also how much money Eastern spent to get the IB World school designation.

Is it your position that DCPS should not offer IB to their students? Are you also one of the many posters that argue that DCPS need to offer more specialty programs to compete against charters?

IB is a waste of money. If students want to be challenged, they can take AP courses. If they do well on them, they save money on college credits.

[/b]The suburban school districts put IB into their lowest-performing schools b/c the high-achieving parents only want AP.

[b]

The parents posting in the VA school forum seem to have varying opinions. There is no consensus on what you proclaim, so you have to do better than what you posted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:While providing the few with the opportunity to earn an IB diploma is great, DCPS cannot get a majority of their students at grade level in Reading in high school.

Perhaps the funding will be better spent on literacy in English rather than pushing their resources to the very few who can get an IB diploma. Will love to know how many out of the 6 kids who tried for an IB diploma actually got one and also how much money Eastern spent to get the IB World school designation.

Is it your position that DCPS should not offer IB to their students? Are you also one of the many posters that argue that DCPS need to offer more specialty programs to compete against charters?

If DCPS wants to offer IB, they should have some mechanism to deliver the program to students who can actually benefit from it not to a group of kids where the majority need remediation in English.

If DCPS thinks having an IB high school like Eastern will attract students who want IB from charters like DCI, they are dreaming.

The IB at Eastern sounds like a big budget suck and a waste of money.

Hm, you still did not answer the questions. So DCPS should not offer IB in any of their comprehensive schools. It's your stance that specialty programs are for the charters. And DCPS should stick with the basics. And the students in DCPS who want something beyond the basics are just SOL. You sound like a shrill for more charters at the expense of the improvement of DCPS.

Signed,

A mom who pulled her kid from a DCI feeder school because mom was teaching all the requisite basics for future academic success at home. And BTW, DCI has yet to receive its IB certification, or a graduating class. Therefore, you don't know how successful or how many students will actually graduate with an IB diploma, if and when the school receives its certification.

They should offer it at a comprehensive high school that has a sizable cohort of kids who can actually benefit from the program. It does not sound like Eastern will have even ten kids earning an IB diploma in a graduating class anytime soon. Does such a comprehensive high school exist in DC?

Generally, a program should be offered when there is demand for it to make it cost effective instead of providing a program and then waiting to see if anyone signs up for it. Maybe instead of offering IB, Eastern would have been better off providing more AP courses. DCPS seems to do everything backwards.

As for DCI, it seems to have a large cohort of kids who come from the PYP and MYP with the language background to feed into an IB diploma program.

The only feeder school to DCI that is PYP or MYP is YY. That's one out of five schools. And so far, YY has lost approximately 1/3 of its population from PK4 through 5th grade. I personally am aware that twelve kids that were in the third grade will not be in attendance in the fifth grade. And although I have no clue how many will continue into DCI after completion of YY 5th grade, several parents have articulated interest in private, Basis, and Brookland MS. That does not bode well for your assumption that it's a large cohort of PYP and MYP former students.

It is my understanding that Eastern offers both AP and IB. DCPS need to start somewhere with IB. It makes since that it would be Eastern since Browne and Jefferson (both MYP) eventually feeds into Eastern. If Cap Hill parents continue to shun Eastern, hopefully it will become a great alternative to academically strong kids who want more than what Banneker offers.

YY lost 1/3 of its population in pK4 to 5th grade?!? Really.

DCI only opened last year so it's not surprising that YY lost 1/3? (lost 100% of 6 graders) of it's population before DCI.

[Anonymous]

We're at YY and can tell you no one has ever mentioned Eastern HS as an alternative to DCI. Eastern does not offer Mandarin.

We will not be continuing to DCI but are only looking at private schools that offer advanced Mandarin.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We're at YY and can tell you no one has ever mentioned Eastern HS as an alternative to DCI. Eastern does not offer Mandarin.

We will not be continuing to DCI but are only looking at private schools that offer advanced Mandarin.

This poster. Wanted to add that we will be moving out of the area. If you want your kid to continue in Mandarin like us who have invested 7yrs in a Mandarin immersion school, there aren't any alternatives to DCI unless you move.