International Baccalaureate at Eastern?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Instead of IB, why not a vocational training program that will allow these kids to get jobs in plumbing, electrical, heating and cooling, automotive, etc. and earn a good living.

Maybe they can get hired by all the contractors that DCPS is always keeping happy.

You really stepped in it now . . . . 3, 2, 1 . . . .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Instead of IB, why not a vocational training program that will allow these kids to get jobs in plumbing, electrical, heating and cooling, automotive, etc. and earn a good living.

Maybe they can get hired by all the contractors that DCPS is always keeping happy.

They have Phelps for that. You still did not answer the question regarding the academically inclined students who are not zoned for Wilson. Are they not deserving of academics beyond the basics?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is a fact that in Fairfax, the public high schools with IB are the low-performing schools with the lowest SES students. The majority higher SES schools are AP. Draw any conclusion you wish from that fact.

Fairfax is very real about the fact that most college-bound students in the area are not particularly interested in receiving an IB diploma? Why not? Because they plan to attend local schools with their friends. Their goal is Tech, UVA or even if out of state, a school in this country!

Their families see no practical reason for an IB diploma so why bother?

It's cute for DC to offer the program, but they should also be more practical and reasonable. How many of their IB graduates will really go to college abroad?

Is IB only for students bound for international schools?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is a fact that in Fairfax, the public high schools with IB are the low-performing schools with the lowest SES students. The majority higher SES schools are AP. Draw any conclusion you wish from that fact.

Fairfax is very real about the fact that most college-bound students in the area are not particularly interested in receiving an IB diploma? Why not? Because they plan to attend local schools with their friends. Their goal is Tech, UVA or even if out of state, a school in this country!

Their families see no practical reason for an IB diploma so why bother?

It's cute for DC to offer the program, but they should also be more practical and reasonable. How many of their IB graduates will really go to college abroad?

Is IB only for students bound for international schools?

No. I did IB in high school and found it really helpful for developing my critical thinking and long-form essay skills. I was one of only 6 kids in my class who did the full diploma (from a graduating clas of 400) but many others did some of the classes, and mixed and matched IB and AP courses.

[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.

Everything you're saying here is a lie. Good IB schools make their kids take AP exams for practice as sophomores.

[Anonymous]

^Not quite true. BASIS and Deal already teach Mandarin, only at the introductory level for now, but they could almost certainly be persuaded to offer upper level Mandarin to YY graduates, and others who could handle it. Both already offer upper level math. We know several kids in the lower grades at both schools who speak decent Mandarin (like us) from having lived in China, and/or having grown up in Chinese immigrant families.

The sad thing about the Eastern IB Diploma Program is that it has the potential to attract some of the strongest 8th graders from across the city as a test-in program, like the one at Richard Montgomery HS in MoCo. Yet DCPS has no plans to reinvent it as test-in program.

Richard Montgomery admits no more than 10% of applicants county wide - more than 1,000 apply for 100 highly coveted spots. As a result, it boasts some of the highest IB pass rates and point totals (pass totals run from 24-45 points) in the IB Diploma universe of around 3,000 schools internationally. It's one thing for a small number of Eastern students to scrape by with point totals in the 20s while MoCo kids score 40+ in droves.

Why can't DCPS simply copy what works in this Metro area?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is a fact that in Fairfax, the public high schools with IB are the low-performing schools with the lowest SES students. The majority higher SES schools are AP. Draw any conclusion you wish from that fact.

Fairfax is very real about the fact that most college-bound students in the area are not particularly interested in receiving an IB diploma? Why not? Because they plan to attend local schools with their friends. Their goal is Tech, UVA or even if out of state, a school in this country!

Their families see no practical reason for an IB diploma so why bother?

It's cute for DC to offer the program, but they should also be more practical and reasonable. How many of their IB graduates will really go to college abroad?

Is IB only for students bound for international schools?

It is not. I skipped two years of college because I got so many credits from my IB diploma.

I think most of the people posting here have no idea what they're talking about.

- IB diploma holder, with kids in DCI feeder schools

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is a fact that in Fairfax, the public high schools with IB are the low-performing schools with the lowest SES students. The majority higher SES schools are AP. Draw any conclusion you wish from that fact.

Fairfax is very real about the fact that most college-bound students in the area are not particularly interested in receiving an IB diploma? Why not? Because they plan to attend local schools with their friends. Their goal is Tech, UVA or even if out of state, a school in this country!

Their families see no practical reason for an IB diploma so why bother?

It's cute for DC to offer the program, but they should also be more practical and reasonable. How many of their IB graduates will really go to college abroad?

Is IB only for students bound for international schools?

No but that's the real point of an IB diploma.

Here, however, it just seems to be another option as a more rigorous academic track. There's really nothing wrong with that. But when making practical decisions about their academic choices, many decide the honors & AP classes will get their students where they need to go, so why bother with IB.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Instead of IB, why not a vocational training program that will allow these kids to get jobs in plumbing, electrical, heating and cooling, automotive, etc. and earn a good living.

Maybe they can get hired by all the contractors that DCPS is always keeping happy.

They have Phelps for that. You still did not answer the question regarding the academically inclined students who are not zoned for Wilson. Are they not deserving of academics beyond the basics?

They have DCI, Basis, etc. Eastern had 6 students trying for IB. Maybe if they had 40+ trying for IB and had a decent pass rate, say 80%, it maybe worth it but having an IB program for under 10 students? It'll be cheaper to send them to another school that can better meet their needs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Instead of IB, why not a vocational training program that will allow these kids to get jobs in plumbing, electrical, heating and cooling, automotive, etc. and earn a good living.

Maybe they can get hired by all the contractors that DCPS is always keeping happy.

They have Phelps for that. You still did not answer the question regarding the academically inclined students who are not zoned for Wilson. Are they not deserving of academics beyond the basics?

They have DCI, Basis, etc. Eastern had 6 students trying for IB. Maybe if they had 40+ trying for IB and had a decent pass rate, say 80%, it maybe worth it but having an IB program for under 10 students? It'll be cheaper to send them to another school that can better meet their needs.

This was first senior class that had IB as an option at Eastern. Makes sense that leading class is small.

For those wanting more 'challenge' there is Banneker (IB and AP), McKinley (AP), SWW (AP). Wilson also offers many AP

If you want more go to one of the charters. I am rooting for Eastern.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Instead of IB, why not a vocational training program that will allow these kids to get jobs in plumbing, electrical, heating and cooling, automotive, etc. and earn a good living.

Maybe they can get hired by all the contractors that DCPS is always keeping happy.

They have Phelps for that. You still did not answer the question regarding the academically inclined students who are not zoned for Wilson. Are they not deserving of academics beyond the basics?

They have DCI, Basis, etc. Eastern had 6 students trying for IB. Maybe if they had 40+ trying for IB and had a decent pass rate, say 80%, it maybe worth it but having an IB program for under 10 students? It'll be cheaper to send them to another school that can better meet their needs.[/quote

Good Lord women, you do know that this is Eastern's first year of graduation for IB. DCI has not graduatied anyone. You have no idea if it will be a good school in five years or not. Begin exaulting the school when it releases some PARC scores and graduate a class of 200 IB holders. As of today, they have none and apparently someone up thread said Eastern has six. it's a lottery to get into DCI. And, Basis has not graduated any students in DC and it's also lottery based that does not accept students after sixth grade. So no, they don't have Basis and DCI. My kid is at Latin, and I can tell you that fifth and ninth grade is the only opportunity they have for Latin, so scratch that off your list as well if your kid is not lucky with lottery numbers. It has been reported on the grapevine that only six or seven kids peeled off from the eighth to ninth grade this year. You have better luck with pick 6.

Now where would you like to send these kids. BTW, Deal and Wilson are out if not inbound. And the chances of getting into a feeder Deal school in six grade is getting slimmer and slimmer each year.

[Anonymous]

Just to set the record straight -- Deal is the only DCPS with an IB program. There are others implementing but do not have an approved program up and running. In addition IB is for every student at Deal. It isn't a track for just the smart kids. Everyone does it. We looked at Eastern because we live IB but went to Deal. Limping along is a perfect way to describe the program. Perhaps I am jaded coming from a Deal but I was surprised the IB program was actually an accredited program. While nicely run their level in 9th grade (when my child shadowed) was below what he was working on in 8th grade in science and math. He choose Banneker instead and did really well there. I am sure Eastern will be fine but they are definitely taking the slow road.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just to set the record straight -- [b]Deal is the only DCPS with an IB program. [b]There are others implementing but do not have an approved program up and running. In addition IB is for every student at Deal. It isn't a track for just the smart kids. Everyone does it. We looked at Eastern because we live IB but went to Deal. Limping along is a perfect way to describe the program. Perhaps I am jaded coming from a Deal but I was surprised the IB program was actually an accredited program. While nicely run their level in 9th grade (when my child shadowed) was below what he was working on in 8th grade in science and math. He choose Banneker instead and did really well there. I am sure Eastern will be fine but they are definitely taking the slow road.

There are none in DCPCS.

[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?

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.

Everything you're saying here is a lie. Good IB schools make their kids take AP exams for practice as sophomores.

I didn't know that! So how many IB students at Eastern took AP exams as sophomores?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

DCPS already does this at Deal. I would love it if my kid could go on to a HS that was also IB but not going to consider Eastern after he has attended 2 of the top performing elementary and middle schools in DCPS.

Yeah, putting IB at Eastern hs is like putting a STEM program at Dunbar. DCPS seems to think that "if they build it, they will come" and I'm not just talking about the hundred's of millions spent on the underutilized brand spanking new facilities.

So you think kids who are not zoned for Wilson deserve nothing beyond the scraps and basic?

Personally, I think AP courses offer plenty beyond "scraps and basic" (sic). There is no point to a costly IB program that serves practically no children.