Yes, we get that. No need to keep repeating it. Unfortunately, we need to keep repeating for you that this isn't the problem. The issue is the written policy indicating they will be sent back to their home school if they don't take the minimum required courseload! THAT's the part we're talking about. Stop harping on the 3 classes. The point is, parents and students aren't eager to transfer to a school with the chance that they'll be sent away their third year in if they decide they don't want to continue the program for whatever reason. Something WL-zoned students don't have to worry about if they choose not to do full-time, or only want to do one or two classes. |
That would be the case for students at whatever high school IB is placed at. |
Literally the PP a few posts above was complaining about "insider knowledge" and parents having to go through extraordinary lengths to get information. That just isn't the case. |
That's a really odd comment considering IB classes don't start until junior year. So you're talking about a kid who transferred to W-L for IB but never actually takes an IB class. This makes almost no sense. Yet again. |
Because IB doesn't actually begin until the junior year - the kid's 3rd year of high school - is precisely why they would risk being sent back halfway+ through their high school years. Parents/students aren't eager to transfer to a school, stay there and meet friends and get involved etc. for two or more years, then be sent to their assigned neighborhood school if they fail to meet the IB requirements to stay their junior or senior year. Makes perfect sense. |
The only requirements to continue with the IB program and take actual IB classes junior year are to have taken the required classes, such as AP Government and a language, in the prior two years of HS. That's it. If a student transfers to W-L explicitly to take IB classes and then doesn't even bother freshman and sophomore years to take take the non-IB classes necessary to take IB classes junior year, then yeah, I have no problem if they are sent back to their zoned HS. I mean, the student does have a modicum of responsibility here. Honestly, if a kid is that fearful of taking the non-IB requirements freshman and sophomore years than they don't sound like a good candidate for IB classes junior and senior years and probably shouldn't transfer to W-L. |
But again, this would happen no matter which school housed the IB program, because all three schools will not each have IB. So as long as IB is in one school, students from the other schools could theoretically have to move if they drop out of the program. |
You just can't seem to understand that the point isn't about location - it's about the policy. And it's a specific part of the policy that can deter students from applying to transfer into the program. Bottom line: if IB is going to be "partially" available, it should actually be partially available to everyone and not just students living in WL zone or transferring into WL; OR if APS is going to spend the money on the program because it's such a valuable curriculum, they should properly invest in it to make it a program in which ALL of the enrolled students are full-on-IB students earning IB diplomas. |
The only such public school program locally where all students are IB diploma bound is the IB magnet program at Richard Montgomery HS in Rockville. The admissions are highly competitive. WIS, a private school, also has 100% diploma track students, and has similarly competitive admissions. |
Guess we can agree to disagree, but I don't think we should make IB more exclusive. The more students take IB courses, the more IB courses they can offer. It benefits the program to have more kids participating, even if they can only do partial IB. Which many transfers are doing! This keeps coming back to the very small number of YHS or WHS kids who want to take only 1-2 IB courses. I still don't believe that's a great number, but to the extent they exist, maybe they should lobby for that right. |
Only true if EVERY kid gets off waitlist this year. Awaiting that particular fact. |
If your kid can do IB program at W-L then definitely do that over Yorktown. APS is implementing new grading for equity stds that will really hurt the rigor and caliber of the education. They can’t do that nonsense with IB though. |
They can avoid a lot of it if they stay at Yorktown and take a lot of AP classes, too. The SBG will still apply to non-IB/AP classes no matter which school they go to. |
What does "grading for equity" mean? |
Not giving or grading for homework and placing more emphasis on end of period tests so kids won’t be penalized for poor performance throughout a quarter but instead rewarded for their “progress” towards demonstrating that they meet the standards. Sounds good in theory but in practice kids may blow off most of the work until the end of the quarter. |