S/o (VA public schools). IB and college preparedness

[Anonymous]

This thread is actually a fascinating read for a psychology major. One poster is actually terrified of the IB program and I can't figure out why.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Because I thought this thread is mostly about FCPS? I'm in MoCo so I have no dog in FCPS fight. As far as I can tell, IB is received very well here and it has served my kids very, very well (two full rides). I was just curious. Well, carry on.

So, does every IB student in Montgomery county get "free rides"? I would think not. Just as every AP student does not get a "free ride". However, some do. If you have data to indicate that more IB students get "free rides", please share.

Now you are simply being stupid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Because I thought this thread is mostly about FCPS? I'm in MoCo so I have no dog in FCPS fight. As far as I can tell, IB is received very well here and it has served my kids very, very well (two full rides). I was just curious. Well, carry on.

So, does every IB student in Montgomery county get "free rides"? I would think not. Just as every AP student does not get a "free ride". However, some do. If you have data to indicate that more IB students get "free rides", please share.

?? I don't think that's what PP said...

[Anonymous]

?? I don't think that's what PP said...

PP said that IB had served her well since PP's kids got free rides. Just pointing out that AP kids also get free rides.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This thread is actually a fascinating read for a psychology major. One poster is actually terrified of the IB program and I can't figure out why.

+1.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

?? I don't think that's what PP said...

PP said that IB had served her well since PP's kids got free rides. Just pointing out that AP kids also get free rides.

that's kinda "duh" statement isn't it?

[Anonymous]

If IB is so loved in MoCo, why are Whitman, Churchill and Wootton all AP? These are widely understood to be the top HS in the county, just as the top HS in Arlington, Fairfax and Loudoun are all AP as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
If IB is so loved in MoCo, why are Whitman, Churchill and Wootton all AP? These are widely understood to be the top HS in the county, just as the top HS in Arlington, Fairfax and Loudoun are all AP as well.

Good question. I don't know for sure (sorry too lazy to research this morning) but I could guess...

I can come up with at least a couple of possible reasons for this. Probably no different than why FCPS placed IB in certain schools - 1) the schools you mentioned are, as you stated, very good schools with high SES, high test scores, high college bound rate..etc. And as you know APs' been around for many years (a lot longer than IB) and it's been fully implemented at those schools. There is really "nothing" to improve as far as school performance is concern. It's at a steady state and working really well - parents are happy (mostly), kids perform well (mostly), teachers are happy (mostly), and kids college admission rate (including top tier schools) is very good. 2) As you probably know MCPS made closing the achievement gap between white/Asian kids and blacks/Latino kids a high priority. I "think" (again, I am just guessing here), by strategically placing IB program at some of the non-W schools (except BCC and RM/IB magnet), MCPS is trying to close the achievement gap. It's a slow process but I give credit to MCPS for trying. Before IB, the schools were all AP schools which wasn't successful closing the gap. 3) IB is still relatively new. Other than RM/IB, most of these programs are less than 10years old. As you may know IB wasn't well accepted/respected when it was introduced in US years ago so it's fair to say MCPS IB program is still growing, maturing, but it still has hit the stead state performance yet.

So, it works well here - W school kids have what they need, non-W school kids can do IB/AP or both, magnet kids are happy... So everyone wins.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
If IB is so loved in MoCo, why are Whitman, Churchill and Wootton all AP? These are widely understood to be the top HS in the county, just as the top HS in Arlington, Fairfax and Loudoun are all AP as well.

Good question. I don't know for sure (sorry too lazy to research this morning) but I could guess...

I can come up with at least a couple of possible reasons for this. Probably no different than why FCPS placed IB in certain schools - 1) the schools you mentioned are, as you stated, very good schools with high SES, high test scores, high college bound rate..etc. And as you know APs' been around for many years (a lot longer than IB) and it's been fully implemented at those schools. There is really "nothing" to improve as far as school performance is concern. It's at a steady state and working really well - parents are happy (mostly), kids perform well (mostly), teachers are happy (mostly), and kids college admission rate (including top tier schools) is very good. 2) As you probably know MCPS made closing the achievement gap between white/Asian kids and blacks/Latino kids a high priority. I "think" (again, I am just guessing here), by strategically placing IB program at some of the non-W schools (except BCC and RM/IB magnet), MCPS is trying to close the achievement gap. It's a slow process but I give credit to MCPS for trying. Before IB, the schools were all AP schools which wasn't successful closing the gap. 3) IB is still relatively new. Other than RM/IB, most of these programs are less than 10years old. As you may know IB wasn't well accepted/respected when it was introduced in US years ago so it's fair to say MCPS IB program is still growing, maturing, but it still has hit the stead state performance yet.

So, it works well here - W school kids have what they need, non-W school kids can do IB/AP or both, magnet kids are happy... So everyone wins.

Sorry. "it still hasn't"... Need coffee...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
If IB is so loved in MoCo, why are Whitman, Churchill and Wootton all AP? These are widely understood to be the top HS in the county, just as the top HS in Arlington, Fairfax and Loudoun are all AP as well.

Good question. I don't know for sure (sorry too lazy to research this morning) but I could guess...

I can come up with at least a couple of possible reasons for this. Probably no different than why FCPS placed IB in certain schools - 1) the schools you mentioned are, as you stated, very good schools with high SES, high test scores, high college bound rate..etc. And as you know APs' been around for many years (a lot longer than IB) and it's been fully implemented at those schools. There is really "nothing" to improve as far as school performance is concern. It's at a steady state and working really well - parents are happy (mostly), kids perform well (mostly), teachers are happy (mostly), and kids college admission rate (including top tier schools) is very good. 2) As you probably know MCPS made closing the achievement gap between white/Asian kids and blacks/Latino kids a high priority. I "think" (again, I am just guessing here), by strategically placing IB program at some of the non-W schools (except BCC and RM/IB magnet), MCPS is trying to close the achievement gap. It's a slow process but I give credit to MCPS for trying. Before IB, the schools were all AP schools which wasn't successful closing the gap. 3) IB is still relatively new. Other than RM/IB, most of these programs are less than 10years old. As you may know IB wasn't well accepted/respected when it was introduced in US years ago so it's fair to say MCPS IB program is still growing, maturing, but it still has hit the stead state performance yet.

So, it works well here - W school kids have what they need, non-W school kids can do IB/AP or both, magnet kids are happy... So everyone wins.

+1 Excellent points. Thank you.