why do people prefer AP schools to IB?

[Anonymous]

11:22 and 11:51 are spot on. There is no research to suggest that low income families are looking for the most rigorous program for their children in high school.

[Anonymous]

No question that bright kids benefit from challenging programs. But, IB is limiting in the confines of its requirements. There are plenty of bright kids in low SES situations, but,in many cases, low SES kids have enough other demands on their plate. It seems to me that we need to build foundations for these kids--rather than throw them in the deep end.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Excellent - thanks for providing the context. It's interesting how an anonymous forum can generate such extremes of good and terrible information/opinion... I really wonder if Langley would reject IB if they were sure it would not open the gates to pupil placement. As it is Langley and McLean students pupil place to Marshall to take IB - so there is some demand. Of course, any single program is not for everyone and anyone considering these decisions must do some real work to understand the pros & cons.

You can speculate, but there are eight high schools that have had IB for 15-20 years in FCPS, and Langley parents aren't exactly wallflowers. If large numbers thought IB would be an improvement, they've had plenty of time to ask for it. That hasn't happened. Also given Langley's location in a corner of the county, they'd have no reason to fear "opening the gates to pupil placement" since most students at AP schools would still be closer to another IB school. The exception would be the eastern part of the McLean HS district, but McLean doesn't send all that many kids to Marshall for IB. [According to FCPS, Marshall had 60 "Student Transfer Regulation" out-placements last year, compared to 53 at Langley and 47 at McLean.]

More likely, if FCPS proposed to convert Langley to IB, there'd be a repeat of the Woodson situation years ago, with parents organizing a successful effort to reverse the decision.

[Anonymous]

My kids have gone through both IB and AP FCPS schools, and I can tell you that both will provide excellent prep for college, which is the bottom line. All of mine that have graduated have gotten into their first choice school.

One of my DC who did the IB diploma is a STEM student at a HYPS school and found her HS prep better than many of her peers.

I have no problem with AP. Fine program. My kid who did AP has done very well in college. But, this "more flexibility" in AP canard is false. Like your kids, by the time they fill up graduation requirements there is not that much space left for electives, and the problem is not too few choices, but too many.

Do not conflate IB with the IB diploma (meant to challenge the top students). The vast majority of kids at IB schools do not do the full diploma...they treat it like AP and take IB classes individually. If they take a certain number they get an IB Certificate. I had one kid who did not do the IB diploma because DC hated English and did not want to take the tough IB version...DC loaded up in STEM courses instead.

We can certainly argue that IB may be inappropriate for some of the schools in which it's been placed (I agree with that). That is a worthwhile discussion. Placing a few IB schools throughout the county so that each student has the option to do IB seems sensible. But the posters here who feel they need to prove that IB is horrible and inferior are wrong. It is a fine program, well respected by colleges, for those who want it. Honestly, whether AP or IB, you are learning essentially the same material and will be well prepared for college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kids have gone through both IB and AP FCPS schools, and I can tell you that both will provide excellent prep for college, which is the bottom line. All of mine that have graduated have gotten into their first choice school.

One of my DC who did the IB diploma is a STEM student at a HYPS school and found her HS prep better than many of her peers.

I have no problem with AP. Fine program. My kid who did AP has done very well in college. But, this "more flexibility" in AP canard is false. Like your kids, by the time they fill up graduation requirements there is not that much space left for electives, and the problem is not too few choices, but too many.

Do not conflate IB with the IB diploma (meant to challenge the top students). The vast majority of kids at IB schools do not do the full diploma...they treat it like AP and take IB classes individually. If they take a certain number they get an IB Certificate. I had one kid who did not do the IB diploma because DC hated English and did not want to take the tough IB version...DC loaded up in STEM courses instead.

We can certainly argue that IB may be inappropriate for some of the schools in which it's been placed (I agree with that). That is a worthwhile discussion. Placing a few IB schools throughout the county so that each student has the option to do IB seems sensible. But the posters here who feel they need to prove that IB is horrible and inferior are wrong. It is a fine program, well respected by colleges, for those who want it. Honestly, whether AP or IB, you are learning essentially the same material and will be well prepared for college.

I think most people here want to keep IB at some schools. The option for IB is definitely something that many don't want to give up. But the idea that IB is somehow going to become more popular in the eastern portion of the county has been played out and its time to make a change.

[Anonymous]

The best public schools in NoVa are all AP. End of story.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The best public schools in NoVa are all AP. End of story.

Your ignorance amazes me. I'm speechless.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The best public schools in NoVa are all AP. End of story.

Your ignorance amazes me. I'm speechless.

"Defenseless" in the face of truth is more like it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The best public schools in NoVa are all AP. End of story.

OK , I'll bite. How do you determine the best public schools in NoVa?

[Anonymous]

Bottom line: School Board keeps claiming we are in a budget crisis and don't have enough money. AP and IB target the same kids and most prefer AP. Both are not sustainable in a school unless it is an extremely large school with high SES.

Get rid of IB. AP is cheaper.

[Anonymous]

This thread has so much faulty logic, I don't even know where to begin.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bottom line: School Board keeps claiming we are in a budget crisis and don't have enough money. AP and IB target the same kids and most prefer AP. Both are not sustainable in a school unless it is an extremely large school with high SES.

Get rid of IB. AP is cheaper.

Financial considerations are absolutely a valid criticism. Both in a single school a non-starter. A few IB schools scattered and reasonably accessible to all is an option. Folks in McLean and Langley have no problem with having the option to send their kid to Marshall if IB is their preferred program.

[Anonymous]

I graduated from high school 18 years ago, so I am not sure how all of this has changed. I attending an IB program in Florida and we didn't have a non-complete program. You either did the full program or not. I started freshman year in "pre-IB" and it was a lottery to get a seat of the 100 available. They called them magnet schools back then, which made no sense since my program was in north county in a wealthy area. The other one was at St. Pete High, which was a dump.

Anyways, we ended up taking both the IB and the AP exams, since the state of Florida paid money to performing schools at the time based on AP exam results. I found the AP exams to be a joke, and since I was angry I had to take them, I answered one half in Spanish (not a native language of mine) and the other one I wrote about how my biology teacher was bald. I am pretty sure I got 3s on both of those.

I pursued engineering in both undergrad and graduate school. Eventually gave up on engineering and went to law school. I have always felt the IB program was the best fit for any talented student. That said, Florida was unique in that the "pool" of kids was very different compared to here I suspect, and even though my local high school had AP classes, the "level" of student was likely not the same. If I didn't go to IB, my parents would have sent me to Tampa Jesuit, and they didn't have girls, so I deftly avoided that.

[Anonymous]

Palm Harbor University High is the best IB HS in Florida. Wish we could move back there so my kids would get the geographical bump for HYPS, Chicago or Duke

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I graduated from high school 18 years ago, so I am not sure how all of this has changed. I attending an IB program in Florida and we didn't have a non-complete program. You either did the full program or not. I started freshman year in "pre-IB" and it was a lottery to get a seat of the 100 available. They called them magnet schools back then, which made no sense since my program was in north county in a wealthy area. The other one was at St. Pete High, which was a dump.

Anyways, we ended up taking both the IB and the AP exams, since the state of Florida paid money to performing schools at the time based on AP exam results. I found the AP exams to be a joke, and since I was angry I had to take them, I answered one half in Spanish (not a native language of mine) and the other one I wrote about how my biology teacher was bald. I am pretty sure I got 3s on both of those.

I pursued engineering in both undergrad and graduate school. Eventually gave up on engineering and went to law school. I have always felt the IB program was the best fit for any talented student. That said, Florida was unique in that the "pool" of kids was very different compared to here I suspect, and even though my local high school had AP classes, the "level" of student was likely not the same. If I didn't go to IB, my parents would have sent me to Tampa Jesuit, and they didn't have girls, so I deftly avoided that.

Very different model than IB in NoVa where few students complete the IB diploma and the stronger students are in the AP schools and classes.