Regional IB programs - four years later

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Not the PP, but you are asking for data that does not yet exist. The very first cohort of criteria-based magnet IB kids are in 12th grade this year. We'll know this summer how they did.

I don't have a dog in this fight, but MCPS parents always talk about how there need to be more magnet programs. So now there are three or four more. Cost is minimal since buses were running to those schools anyway - why be mad about it?

Except IB DP is two years and we should have some data by now.

When parents say they want more magnets they mean quality education as in the magnet schools that are sought after. Not to take the same shitty school put the IB label on it, overhype how great the IB program is, and call it a magnet.

Whoa there! You're twisting like a pretzel. And you've just shown everyone you don't know much about IB programs.

Gather up the best students from a region and put them together from 0800-1430 everyday. Even if the school sucks they will be better together than if they were spread out. You might not know what it's like to see your child go from zero friends / peers in 8th grade to dozens? I do. It was worth every moment! Just having classmates to talk to about weird math notation or the 12 concepts of understanding... so completely worth it!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

It's not called IB HL Calc. It's call IB HL Math Analysis, which is a two year course that covers a few years worth of math using applications. It delves much deeper into the math concepts that regular math classes.

https://www.ibo.org/contentassets/5895a05412144fe890312bad52b17044/subject-brief-dp-math-analysis-and-approaches-en.pdf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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?

I made it up

Yes sock puppet, what do we know and how do we know it. That’s as far as your intellectual ability goes. If you’re also an IB teacher as you claimed in other posts, then I feel bad for your students.

You need to take your meds.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Not the PP, but you are asking for data that does not yet exist. The very first cohort of criteria-based magnet IB kids are in 12th grade this year. We'll know this summer how they did.

I don't have a dog in this fight, but MCPS parents always talk about how there need to be more magnet programs. So now there are three or four more. Cost is minimal since buses were running to those schools anyway - why be mad about it?

Except IB DP is two years and we should have some data by now.

When parents say they want more magnets they mean quality education as in the magnet schools that are sought after. Not to take the same shitty school put the IB label on it, overhype how great the IB program is, and call it a magnet.

Why so angry? What’s it to you? These seem like great programs. I wish my daughter had applied.

[Anonymous]

Anyone knows the acceptance rate for Springbrook Regional IB?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Not the PP, but you are asking for data that does not yet exist. The very first cohort of criteria-based magnet IB kids are in 12th grade this year. We'll know this summer how they did.

I don't have a dog in this fight, but MCPS parents always talk about how there need to be more magnet programs. So now there are three or four more. Cost is minimal since buses were running to those schools anyway - why be mad about it?

Except IB DP is two years and we should have some data by now.

When parents say they want more magnets they mean quality education as in the magnet schools that are sought after. Not to take the same shitty school put the IB label on it, overhype how great the IB program is, and call it a magnet.

Whoa there! You're twisting like a pretzel. And you've just shown everyone you don't know much about IB programs.

Gather up the best students from a region and put them together from 0800-1430 everyday. Even if the school sucks they will be better together than if they were spread out. You might not know what it's like to see your child go from zero friends / peers in 8th grade to dozens? I do. It was worth every moment! Just having classmates to talk to about weird math notation or the 12 concepts of understanding... so completely worth it!

You’re just saying that grouping by ability is good, which I don’t disagree with.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Why would you have expected the regional IB programs to have better outcomes compared to before? If it were that easy to turn around a school with an IB program, we would just switch all schools to IB and solve all the problems in education. It was just a distraction.

Don't ask me that question. Ask MCPS. They're the ones who set it up.

I had no idea that the teachers leading the IB courses were the same ones from before the school became a Regional IB school.

It’s not like they will fire the staff and hire highly qualified IB teachers that are just waiting for the opportunity to work at Kennedy. Probably they do a two week training session with the existing staff, if even that.

To me the dishonest part was just how overhyped the IB program was, because it was presentas truly amazing and rigorous, when in fact it’s somewhat below AP, and like everything in education depends a lot on the teachers and students.

I think you're using that phrase incorrectly. What you meant was, "in my opinion".

AP and IB are roughy comparable for individual courses.

However, IB has a some major downsides, primarily among them that in two year of the diploma program you take the equivalent of 3 AP classes, their HL versions. It’s ok for an average student but it’s inadequate for a top student which is why you don’t see the college admissions results that some naive parents were expecting based on the MCPS administration hyping alone.

Among other arguments discussed in length you can conclude that IB is somewhat below AP.

Another issue with IB is the unbelievable amount of hype and oversell that surrounds it, with fanbois posting hilarious claims that IB dramatically improves the odds at Ivy League. Of course none of that is true, but it gets posted as fact. Source from the Kennedy IB program, please tell me how this is not downright deceptive marketing:

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/siteassets/schools/high-schools/a-j/kennedyhs/uploadedfiles/programs/ib/ib20dp20college20info202012.pdf

MCPS decides to rebrand its poorly performing schools with the new and improved IB program, that’s just a varnish to fool the unsuspecting parents.

Then you end up with regional programs that only have a single IB HL in science with an IB exam pass rate at 65%, but nonetheless claim the admission chances to various universities like UVA are 64%! UC Berkeley is 58%, University of Michigan 71%! Yay! Although in this thread we barely heard of one student maybe being accepted into Michigan across all regional programs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Not the PP, but you are asking for data that does not yet exist. The very first cohort of criteria-based magnet IB kids are in 12th grade this year. We'll know this summer how they did.

I don't have a dog in this fight, but MCPS parents always talk about how there need to be more magnet programs. So now there are three or four more. Cost is minimal since buses were running to those schools anyway - why be mad about it?

Except IB DP is two years and we should have some data by now.

When parents say they want more magnets they mean quality education as in the magnet schools that are sought after. Not to take the same shitty school put the IB label on it, overhype how great the IB program is, and call it a magnet.

None of the regional magnet students have taken an HL exam yet.

Yes, IBDP is two years, but they’ve only had a year and a half so far. We don’t yet know how many will actually get the IB diploma in June. Even if you knew the SL results from last year (which you don’t), the HL and EE marks from this year still need to be factored in.

There’s zero meaningful data to report about the regional IB magnets at this point. So far, it’s all in your fevered imagination.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Why would you have expected the regional IB programs to have better outcomes compared to before? If it were that easy to turn around a school with an IB program, we would just switch all schools to IB and solve all the problems in education. It was just a distraction.

Don't ask me that question. Ask MCPS. They're the ones who set it up.

I had no idea that the teachers leading the IB courses were the same ones from before the school became a Regional IB school.

It’s not like they will fire the staff and hire highly qualified IB teachers that are just waiting for the opportunity to work at Kennedy. Probably they do a two week training session with the existing staff, if even that.

To me the dishonest part was just how overhyped the IB program was, because it was presentas truly amazing and rigorous, when in fact it’s somewhat below AP, and like everything in education depends a lot on the teachers and students.

I think you're using that phrase incorrectly. What you meant was, "in my opinion".

AP and IB are roughy comparable for individual courses.

However, IB has a some major downsides, primarily among them that in two year of the diploma program you take the equivalent of 3 AP classes, their HL versions. It’s ok for an average student but it’s inadequate for a top student which is why you don’t see the college admissions results that some naive parents were expecting based on the MCPS administration hyping alone.

Among other arguments discussed in length you can conclude that IB is somewhat below AP.

Another issue with IB is the unbelievable amount of hype and oversell that surrounds it, with fanbois posting hilarious claims that IB dramatically improves the odds at Ivy League. Of course none of that is true, but it gets posted as fact. Source from the Kennedy IB program, please tell me how this is not downright deceptive marketing:

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/siteassets/schools/high-schools/a-j/kennedyhs/uploadedfiles/programs/ib/ib20dp20college20info202012.pdf

MCPS decides to rebrand its poorly performing schools with the new and improved IB program, that’s just a varnish to fool the unsuspecting parents.

Then you end up with regional programs that only have a single IB HL in science with an IB exam pass rate at 65%, but nonetheless claim the admission chances to various universities like UVA are 64%! UC Berkeley is 58%, University of Michigan 71%! Yay! Although in this thread we barely heard of one student maybe being accepted into Michigan across all regional programs.

Since this year’s seniors are the first to apply from regional IB magnets, and acceptances are still coming in, it’s impossible at this point to make any sort of meaningful conclusions about the effect of a regional IB program on college acceptances.

Even this year—the first regional magnet IB to graduate—won’t be necessarily be representative of future cohorts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Why would you have expected the regional IB programs to have better outcomes compared to before? If it were that easy to turn around a school with an IB program, we would just switch all schools to IB and solve all the problems in education. It was just a distraction.

Don't ask me that question. Ask MCPS. They're the ones who set it up.

I had no idea that the teachers leading the IB courses were the same ones from before the school became a Regional IB school.

It’s not like they will fire the staff and hire highly qualified IB teachers that are just waiting for the opportunity to work at Kennedy. Probably they do a two week training session with the existing staff, if even that.

To me the dishonest part was just how overhyped the IB program was, because it was presentas truly amazing and rigorous, when in fact it’s somewhat below AP, and like everything in education depends a lot on the teachers and students.

I think you're using that phrase incorrectly. What you meant was, "in my opinion".

AP and IB are roughy comparable for individual courses.

However, IB has a some major downsides, primarily among them that in two year of the diploma program you take the equivalent of 3 AP classes, their HL versions. It’s ok for an average student but it’s inadequate for a top student which is why you don’t see the college admissions results that some naive parents were expecting based on the MCPS administration hyping alone.

Among other arguments discussed in length you can conclude that IB is somewhat below AP.

Another issue with IB is the unbelievable amount of hype and oversell that surrounds it, with fanbois posting hilarious claims that IB dramatically improves the odds at Ivy League. Of course none of that is true, but it gets posted as fact. Source from the Kennedy IB program, please tell me how this is not downright deceptive marketing:

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/siteassets/schools/high-schools/a-j/kennedyhs/uploadedfiles/programs/ib/ib20dp20college20info202012.pdf

MCPS decides to rebrand its poorly performing schools with the new and improved IB program, that’s just a varnish to fool the unsuspecting parents.

Then you end up with regional programs that only have a single IB HL in science with an IB exam pass rate at 65%, but nonetheless claim the admission chances to various universities like UVA are 64%! UC Berkeley is 58%, University of Michigan 71%! Yay! Although in this thread we barely heard of one student maybe being accepted into Michigan across all regional programs.

No, that's what YOU conclude, in your weird obsession with hating on IB.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Not the PP, but you are asking for data that does not yet exist. The very first cohort of criteria-based magnet IB kids are in 12th grade this year. We'll know this summer how they did.

I don't have a dog in this fight, but MCPS parents always talk about how there need to be more magnet programs. So now there are three or four more. Cost is minimal since buses were running to those schools anyway - why be mad about it?

Except IB DP is two years and we should have some data by now.

When parents say they want more magnets they mean quality education as in the magnet schools that are sought after. Not to take the same shitty school put the IB label on it, overhype how great the IB program is, and call it a magnet.

None of the regional magnet students have taken an HL exam yet.

Yes, IBDP is two years, but they’ve only had a year and a half so far. We don’t yet know how many will actually get the IB diploma in June. Even if you knew the SL results from last year (which you don’t), the HL and EE marks from this year still need to be factored in.

There’s zero meaningful data to report about the regional IB magnets at this point. So far, it’s all in your fevered imagination.

As far as college admissions, that will always be the case, the scores will come too late to matter anyways.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Why would you have expected the regional IB programs to have better outcomes compared to before? If it were that easy to turn around a school with an IB program, we would just switch all schools to IB and solve all the problems in education. It was just a distraction.

Don't ask me that question. Ask MCPS. They're the ones who set it up.

I had no idea that the teachers leading the IB courses were the same ones from before the school became a Regional IB school.

It’s not like they will fire the staff and hire highly qualified IB teachers that are just waiting for the opportunity to work at Kennedy. Probably they do a two week training session with the existing staff, if even that.

To me the dishonest part was just how overhyped the IB program was, because it was presentas truly amazing and rigorous, when in fact it’s somewhat below AP, and like everything in education depends a lot on the teachers and students.

I think you're using that phrase incorrectly. What you meant was, "in my opinion".

AP and IB are roughy comparable for individual courses.

However, IB has a some major downsides, primarily among them that in two year of the diploma program you take the equivalent of 3 AP classes, their HL versions. It’s ok for an average student but it’s inadequate for a top student which is why you don’t see the college admissions results that some naive parents were expecting based on the MCPS administration hyping alone.

Among other arguments discussed in length you can conclude that IB is somewhat below AP.

Another issue with IB is the unbelievable amount of hype and oversell that surrounds it, with fanbois posting hilarious claims that IB dramatically improves the odds at Ivy League. Of course none of that is true, but it gets posted as fact. Source from the Kennedy IB program, please tell me how this is not downright deceptive marketing:

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/siteassets/schools/high-schools/a-j/kennedyhs/uploadedfiles/programs/ib/ib20dp20college20info202012.pdf

MCPS decides to rebrand its poorly performing schools with the new and improved IB program, that’s just a varnish to fool the unsuspecting parents.

Then you end up with regional programs that only have a single IB HL in science with an IB exam pass rate at 65%, but nonetheless claim the admission chances to various universities like UVA are 64%! UC Berkeley is 58%, University of Michigan 71%! Yay! Although in this thread we barely heard of one student maybe being accepted into Michigan across all regional programs.

No, that's what YOU conclude, in your weird obsession with hating on IB.

Are you disputing that only the 3 HL classes are equivalent to their AP counterparts? How are IB students going to be competitive with students loading up on 10 AP classes? I know, they wrote a 10 page essay that prepared them for college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Why would you have expected the regional IB programs to have better outcomes compared to before? If it were that easy to turn around a school with an IB program, we would just switch all schools to IB and solve all the problems in education. It was just a distraction.

Don't ask me that question. Ask MCPS. They're the ones who set it up.

I had no idea that the teachers leading the IB courses were the same ones from before the school became a Regional IB school.

It’s not like they will fire the staff and hire highly qualified IB teachers that are just waiting for the opportunity to work at Kennedy. Probably they do a two week training session with the existing staff, if even that.

To me the dishonest part was just how overhyped the IB program was, because it was presentas truly amazing and rigorous, when in fact it’s somewhat below AP, and like everything in education depends a lot on the teachers and students.

I think you're using that phrase incorrectly. What you meant was, "in my opinion".

AP and IB are roughy comparable for individual courses.

However, IB has a some major downsides, primarily among them that in two year of the diploma program you take the equivalent of 3 AP classes, their HL versions. It’s ok for an average student but it’s inadequate for a top student which is why you don’t see the college admissions results that some naive parents were expecting based on the MCPS administration hyping alone.

Among other arguments discussed in length you can conclude that IB is somewhat below AP.

Another issue with IB is the unbelievable amount of hype and oversell that surrounds it, with fanbois posting hilarious claims that IB dramatically improves the odds at Ivy League. Of course none of that is true, but it gets posted as fact. Source from the Kennedy IB program, please tell me how this is not downright deceptive marketing:

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/siteassets/schools/high-schools/a-j/kennedyhs/uploadedfiles/programs/ib/ib20dp20college20info202012.pdf

MCPS decides to rebrand its poorly performing schools with the new and improved IB program, that’s just a varnish to fool the unsuspecting parents.

Then you end up with regional programs that only have a single IB HL in science with an IB exam pass rate at 65%, but nonetheless claim the admission chances to various universities like UVA are 64%! UC Berkeley is 58%, University of Michigan 71%! Yay! Although in this thread we barely heard of one student maybe being accepted into Michigan across all regional programs.

No, that's what YOU conclude, in your weird obsession with hating on IB.

Are you disputing that only the 3 HL classes are equivalent to their AP counterparts? How are IB students going to be competitive with students loading up on 10 AP classes? I know, they wrote a 10 page essay that prepared them for college.

The SL classes are not more rigorous than regular classes?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Why would you have expected the regional IB programs to have better outcomes compared to before? If it were that easy to turn around a school with an IB program, we would just switch all schools to IB and solve all the problems in education. It was just a distraction.

Don't ask me that question. Ask MCPS. They're the ones who set it up.

I had no idea that the teachers leading the IB courses were the same ones from before the school became a Regional IB school.

It’s not like they will fire the staff and hire highly qualified IB teachers that are just waiting for the opportunity to work at Kennedy. Probably they do a two week training session with the existing staff, if even that.

To me the dishonest part was just how overhyped the IB program was, because it was presentas truly amazing and rigorous, when in fact it’s somewhat below AP, and like everything in education depends a lot on the teachers and students.

I think you're using that phrase incorrectly. What you meant was, "in my opinion".

AP and IB are roughy comparable for individual courses.

However, IB has a some major downsides, primarily among them that in two year of the diploma program you take the equivalent of 3 AP classes, their HL versions. It’s ok for an average student but it’s inadequate for a top student which is why you don’t see the college admissions results that some naive parents were expecting based on the MCPS administration hyping alone.

Among other arguments discussed in length you can conclude that IB is somewhat below AP.

Another issue with IB is the unbelievable amount of hype and oversell that surrounds it, with fanbois posting hilarious claims that IB dramatically improves the odds at Ivy League. Of course none of that is true, but it gets posted as fact. Source from the Kennedy IB program, please tell me how this is not downright deceptive marketing:

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/siteassets/schools/high-schools/a-j/kennedyhs/uploadedfiles/programs/ib/ib20dp20college20info202012.pdf

MCPS decides to rebrand its poorly performing schools with the new and improved IB program, that’s just a varnish to fool the unsuspecting parents.

Then you end up with regional programs that only have a single IB HL in science with an IB exam pass rate at 65%, but nonetheless claim the admission chances to various universities like UVA are 64%! UC Berkeley is 58%, University of Michigan 71%! Yay! Although in this thread we barely heard of one student maybe being accepted into Michigan across all regional programs.

No, that's what YOU conclude, in your weird obsession with hating on IB.

Are you disputing that only the 3 HL classes are equivalent to their AP counterparts? How are IB students going to be competitive with students loading up on 10 AP classes? I know, they wrote a 10 page essay that prepared them for college.

The SL classes are not more rigorous than regular classes?

To me it only matters that they are less rigorous than AP classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Why would you have expected the regional IB programs to have better outcomes compared to before? If it were that easy to turn around a school with an IB program, we would just switch all schools to IB and solve all the problems in education. It was just a distraction.

Don't ask me that question. Ask MCPS. They're the ones who set it up.

I had no idea that the teachers leading the IB courses were the same ones from before the school became a Regional IB school.

It’s not like they will fire the staff and hire highly qualified IB teachers that are just waiting for the opportunity to work at Kennedy. Probably they do a two week training session with the existing staff, if even that.

To me the dishonest part was just how overhyped the IB program was, because it was presentas truly amazing and rigorous, when in fact it’s somewhat below AP, and like everything in education depends a lot on the teachers and students.

I think you're using that phrase incorrectly. What you meant was, "in my opinion".

AP and IB are roughy comparable for individual courses.

However, IB has a some major downsides, primarily among them that in two year of the diploma program you take the equivalent of 3 AP classes, their HL versions. It’s ok for an average student but it’s inadequate for a top student which is why you don’t see the college admissions results that some naive parents were expecting based on the MCPS administration hyping alone.

Among other arguments discussed in length you can conclude that IB is somewhat below AP.

Another issue with IB is the unbelievable amount of hype and oversell that surrounds it, with fanbois posting hilarious claims that IB dramatically improves the odds at Ivy League. Of course none of that is true, but it gets posted as fact. Source from the Kennedy IB program, please tell me how this is not downright deceptive marketing:

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/siteassets/schools/high-schools/a-j/kennedyhs/uploadedfiles/programs/ib/ib20dp20college20info202012.pdf

MCPS decides to rebrand its poorly performing schools with the new and improved IB program, that’s just a varnish to fool the unsuspecting parents.

Then you end up with regional programs that only have a single IB HL in science with an IB exam pass rate at 65%, but nonetheless claim the admission chances to various universities like UVA are 64%! UC Berkeley is 58%, University of Michigan 71%! Yay! Although in this thread we barely heard of one student maybe being accepted into Michigan across all regional programs.

No, that's what YOU conclude, in your weird obsession with hating on IB.

Are you disputing that only the 3 HL classes are equivalent to their AP counterparts? How are IB students going to be competitive with students loading up on 10 AP classes? I know, they wrote a 10 page essay that prepared them for college.

The SL classes are not more rigorous than regular classes?

Do you have any evidence that they are more rigorous than regular classes?