Regional IB programs - four years later

[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.

Because the whole point of the regional program was to lure top kids to the school. It wasn't the IB curriculum, which was in place at Kennedy before this program.

It still remains the goal to this day. They make it seem that the program is the way to an ivy admission. I can’t really fault the gullible parents looking for an edge for their kids, I’m more shocked at the dishonesty of the administrators that make all those fake claims with a straight face.

"They" who? Who said that, and where and when did they say it?

They, the IBO. Can you spot the lies and the dishonest sales pitch?

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

I'm certainly spotting dishonesty, namely yours. That doesn't say what you say it says. Who are you so oddly invested in hating on the IB program? Did you used to work for them and they fired you? Did you both want to adopt the same dog at the animal shelter, but the dog went to the IB program instead of you?

Strange that you don’t think claiming an average admission rate of 58% at UC Berkeley for IBD graduates is dishonest. Cornell is 31%! Princeton is 16!

Do you think it’s ethical that school administrators make that kind of presentation in information nights for parents?

How about the claim that “there is no more challenging curriculum than the IB curriculum”. How can you say that when your school has only one HL science course?

[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.

Because the whole point of the regional program was to lure top kids to the school. It wasn't the IB curriculum, which was in place at Kennedy before this program.

It still remains the goal to this day. They make it seem that the program is the way to an ivy admission. I can’t really fault the gullible parents looking for an edge for their kids, I’m more shocked at the dishonesty of the administrators that make all those fake claims with a straight face.

"They" who? Who said that, and where and when did they say it?

They, the IBO. Can you spot the lies and the dishonest sales pitch?

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

IMO, it's a self selecting group. Only serious students join IBDP. It's a ton of work, so the students are very invested in the program and getting into top colleges.

FWIW, my kid was in IBDP, and it really did prepare them for college, just as that slide states:

Students reported they felt prepared by the Diploma Programme to succeed in college.

Students reported that they:
•felt prepared to succeed and excel in their coursework
•had strong academic skills, especially related to analytical writing
•learned academic behaviours like work ethic, motivation, time management, and help-seeking that were sources of strength in the transition to college-level work
•identified preparation in the IB programme as the source of their success as college students

Having stated that, IBDP is no guarantee to a T10. Unless your parents can donate obscene amounts of money to a college, there are no guarantees to elite college admissions these days.

[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.

Because the whole point of the regional program was to lure top kids to the school. It wasn't the IB curriculum, which was in place at Kennedy before this program.

It still remains the goal to this day. They make it seem that the program is the way to an ivy admission. I can’t really fault the gullible parents looking for an edge for their kids, I’m more shocked at the dishonesty of the administrators that make all those fake claims with a straight face.

"They" who? Who said that, and where and when did they say it?

They, the IBO. Can you spot the lies and the dishonest sales pitch?

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

I'm certainly spotting dishonesty, namely yours. That doesn't say what you say it says. Who are you so oddly invested in hating on the IB program? Did you used to work for them and they fired you? Did you both want to adopt the same dog at the animal shelter, but the dog went to the IB program instead of you?

Strange that you don’t think claiming an average admission rate of 58% at UC Berkeley for IBD graduates is dishonest. Cornell is 31%! Princeton is 16!

Do you think it’s ethical that school administrators make that kind of presentation in information nights for parents?

How about the claim that “there is no more challenging curriculum than the IB curriculum”. How can you say that when your school has only one HL science course?

First, you don't know how to read a data table.

Second, what is the basis for your belief that this is dishonest? Other than, "Nuh uh, that can't be right, therefore they're lying!"?

[Anonymous]

DP. The question that the MCPS IB information doesn't provide is a comparison, not of IBDP to no-program or unspecified-program education, but of IBDP to the likely course of education for those who might consider IBDP.

That population tends to self-select from among high performers/the highly able. The comparison should be versus the other programs/courses of study that are avaiable, including magnets and high proportions of honors/AP/college-level coursework. And not just at the local school or regional IB, where those options might be limited, but from the most rigorous available in the county, as that is the implied alternative to which MCPS is suggesting IB to students with that profile.

IB can be great. It can provide a reasonable alternative when robustly implemented with fidelity, well coordinated with fullsome AP options and presented as a choice among other rigorous pathways made highly available.

The question is whether MCPS can or will provide the school support necessary to make the regional IBs live up to that (if they aren't already doing so -- from this discussion, it seems the jury is still out on that).

Further, if they can't or won't, will they acknowledge that and look to provide equitable alternatives, whether by increasing magnet seats for programs that do live up to the standard or by fulfilling that via local programming, to serve all students with such achievement/ability, regardless of pyramid.

[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.

Because the whole point of the regional program was to lure top kids to the school. It wasn't the IB curriculum, which was in place at Kennedy before this program.

It still remains the goal to this day. They make it seem that the program is the way to an ivy admission. I can’t really fault the gullible parents looking for an edge for their kids, I’m more shocked at the dishonesty of the administrators that make all those fake claims with a straight face.

"They" who? Who said that, and where and when did they say it?

They, the IBO. Can you spot the lies and the dishonest sales pitch?

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

I'm certainly spotting dishonesty, namely yours. That doesn't say what you say it says. Who are you so oddly invested in hating on the IB program? Did you used to work for them and they fired you? Did you both want to adopt the same dog at the animal shelter, but the dog went to the IB program instead of you?

Strange that you don’t think claiming an average admission rate of 58% at UC Berkeley for IBD graduates is dishonest. Cornell is 31%! Princeton is 16!

Do you think it’s ethical that school administrators make that kind of presentation in information nights for parents?

How about the claim that “there is no more challenging curriculum than the IB curriculum”. How can you say that when your school has only one HL science course?

First, you don't know how to read a data table.

Second, what is the basis for your belief that this is dishonest? Other than, "Nuh uh, that can't be right, therefore they're lying!"?

Your critical thinking shtick is lamer than you imagine.

Who has the burden of proof here, me or the people making the claims? By this argument it’s ok to make any kind of statement to students and their parents, as long as it can’t be proven false, and you put a broken link as a “reference”.

You can also evaluate these claims against common knowledge and empirical observations. If those numbers were true, year after year you’d see graduates going in large numbers to these universities, but you don’t!

Why don’t you explain to me how to read that table, what did I miss? Got it, Stanford 15%!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DP. The question that the MCPS IB information doesn't provide is a comparison, not of IBDP to no-program or unspecified-program education, but of IBDP to the likely course of education for those who might consider IBDP.

That population tends to self-select from among high performers/the highly able. The comparison should be versus the other programs/courses of study that are avaiable, including magnets and high proportions of honors/AP/college-level coursework. And not just at the local school or regional IB, where those options might be limited, but from the most rigorous available in the county, as that is the implied alternative to which MCPS is suggesting IB to students with that profile.

IB can be great. It can provide a reasonable alternative when robustly implemented with fidelity, well coordinated with fullsome AP options and presented as a choice among other rigorous pathways made highly available.

The question is whether MCPS can or will provide the school support necessary to make the regional IBs live up to that (if they aren't already doing so -- from this discussion, it seems the jury is still out on that).

Further, if they can't or won't, will they acknowledge that and look to provide equitable alternatives, whether by increasing magnet seats for programs that do live up to the standard or by fulfilling that via local programming, to serve all students with such achievement/ability, regardless of pyramid.

This is a very sensible analysis, I agree with you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DP. The question that the MCPS IB information doesn't provide is a comparison, not of IBDP to no-program or unspecified-program education, but of IBDP to the likely course of education for those who might consider IBDP.

That population tends to self-select from among high performers/the highly able. The comparison should be versus the other programs/courses of study that are avaiable, including magnets and high proportions of honors/AP/college-level coursework. And not just at the local school or regional IB, where those options might be limited, but from the most rigorous available in the county, as that is the implied alternative to which MCPS is suggesting IB to students with that profile.

IB can be great. It can provide a reasonable alternative when robustly implemented with fidelity, well coordinated with fullsome AP options and presented as a choice among other rigorous pathways made highly available.

The question is whether MCPS can or will provide the school support necessary to make the regional IBs live up to that (if they aren't already doing so -- from this discussion, it seems the jury is still out on that).

Further, if they can't or won't, will they acknowledge that and look to provide equitable alternatives, whether by increasing magnet seats for programs that do live up to the standard or by fulfilling that via local programming, to serve all students with such achievement/ability, regardless of pyramid.

The bold is spot on. The program can work, especially when combined with the AP and post AP options, implementation matters. You really need to evaluate the results critically. What students is it trying to serve and how does it do that job? Does the diploma matter? What is the value to the student? What are its shortcomings?

Unfortunately the problem is that the district mindset is “we did IB therefore it’s rigorous.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DP. The question that the MCPS IB information doesn't provide is a comparison, not of IBDP to no-program or unspecified-program education, but of IBDP to the likely course of education for those who might consider IBDP.

That population tends to self-select from among high performers/the highly able. The comparison should be versus the other programs/courses of study that are avaiable, including magnets and high proportions of honors/AP/college-level coursework. And not just at the local school or regional IB, where those options might be limited, but from the most rigorous available in the county, as that is the implied alternative to which MCPS is suggesting IB to students with that profile.

IB can be great. It can provide a reasonable alternative when robustly implemented with fidelity, well coordinated with fullsome AP options and presented as a choice among other rigorous pathways made highly available.

The question is whether MCPS can or will provide the school support necessary to make the regional IBs live up to that (if they aren't already doing so -- from this discussion, it seems the jury is still out on that).

Further, if they can't or won't, will they acknowledge that and look to provide equitable alternatives, whether by increasing magnet seats for programs that do live up to the standard or by fulfilling that via local programming, to serve all students with such achievement/ability, regardless of pyramid.

The bold is spot on. The program can work, especially when combined with the AP and post AP options, implementation matters. You really need to evaluate the results critically. What students is it trying to serve and how does it do that job? Does the diploma matter? What is the value to the student? What are its shortcomings?

Unfortunately the problem is that the district mindset is “we did IB therefore it’s rigorous.”

You seem to be very familiar with the regional IB. I am assuming as the parent of a current student? Would you be able / willing to discuss where they and their classmates have been accepted to college?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DP. The question that the MCPS IB information doesn't provide is a comparison, not of IBDP to no-program or unspecified-program education, but of IBDP to the likely course of education for those who might consider IBDP.

That population tends to self-select from among high performers/the highly able. The comparison should be versus the other programs/courses of study that are avaiable, including magnets and high proportions of honors/AP/college-level coursework. And not just at the local school or regional IB, where those options might be limited, but from the most rigorous available in the county, as that is the implied alternative to which MCPS is suggesting IB to students with that profile.

IB can be great. It can provide a reasonable alternative when robustly implemented with fidelity, well coordinated with fullsome AP options and presented as a choice among other rigorous pathways made highly available.

The question is whether MCPS can or will provide the school support necessary to make the regional IBs live up to that (if they aren't already doing so -- from this discussion, it seems the jury is still out on that).

Further, if they can't or won't, will they acknowledge that and look to provide equitable alternatives, whether by increasing magnet seats for programs that do live up to the standard or by fulfilling that via local programming, to serve all students with such achievement/ability, regardless of pyramid.

The bold is spot on. The program can work, especially when combined with the AP and post AP options, implementation matters. You really need to evaluate the results critically. What students is it trying to serve and how does it do that job? Does the diploma matter? What is the value to the student? What are its shortcomings?

Unfortunately the problem is that the district mindset is “we did IB therefore it’s rigorous.”

You seem to be very familiar with the regional IB. I am assuming as the parent of a current student? Would you be able / willing to discuss where they and their classmates have been accepted to college?

One of the things I’m certain of is that the admission rate of IB grads to UC Berkeley is definitely not 58%.

I know you’ll come back with an inane retort like “how do we know that” because that’s all the “analysis” you’re capable of doing.

If you look at the entire thread, your contribution is completely vacuous and consists only of silly challenges along the lines of “who said that”, plus generic statements like “it doesn’t show what you claim it shows”.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DP. The question that the MCPS IB information doesn't provide is a comparison, not of IBDP to no-program or unspecified-program education, but of IBDP to the likely course of education for those who might consider IBDP.

That population tends to self-select from among high performers/the highly able. The comparison should be versus the other programs/courses of study that are avaiable, including magnets and high proportions of honors/AP/college-level coursework. And not just at the local school or regional IB, where those options might be limited, but from the most rigorous available in the county, as that is the implied alternative to which MCPS is suggesting IB to students with that profile.

IB can be great. It can provide a reasonable alternative when robustly implemented with fidelity, well coordinated with fullsome AP options and presented as a choice among other rigorous pathways made highly available.

The question is whether MCPS can or will provide the school support necessary to make the regional IBs live up to that (if they aren't already doing so -- from this discussion, it seems the jury is still out on that).

Further, if they can't or won't, will they acknowledge that and look to provide equitable alternatives, whether by increasing magnet seats for programs that do live up to the standard or by fulfilling that via local programming, to serve all students with such achievement/ability, regardless of pyramid.

The bold is spot on. The program can work, especially when combined with the AP and post AP options, implementation matters. You really need to evaluate the results critically. What students is it trying to serve and how does it do that job? Does the diploma matter? What is the value to the student? What are its shortcomings?

Unfortunately the problem is that the district mindset is “we did IB therefore it’s rigorous.”

You seem to be very familiar with the regional IB. I am assuming as the parent of a current student? Would you be able / willing to discuss where they and their classmates have been accepted to college?

One of the things I’m certain of is that the admission rate of IB grads to UC Berkeley is definitely not 58%.

I know you’ll come back with an inane retort like “how do we know that” because that’s all the “analysis” you’re capable of doing.

If you look at the entire thread, your contribution is completely vacuous and consists only of silly challenges along the lines of “who said that”, plus generic statements like “it doesn’t show what you claim it shows”.

Er.... you have me mixed up with somebody else. Please continue that debate as it is sort of useful! But please also tell us about the admissions results at your school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DP. The question that the MCPS IB information doesn't provide is a comparison, not of IBDP to no-program or unspecified-program education, but of IBDP to the likely course of education for those who might consider IBDP.

That population tends to self-select from among high performers/the highly able. The comparison should be versus the other programs/courses of study that are avaiable, including magnets and high proportions of honors/AP/college-level coursework. And not just at the local school or regional IB, where those options might be limited, but from the most rigorous available in the county, as that is the implied alternative to which MCPS is suggesting IB to students with that profile.

IB can be great. It can provide a reasonable alternative when robustly implemented with fidelity, well coordinated with fullsome AP options and presented as a choice among other rigorous pathways made highly available.

The question is whether MCPS can or will provide the school support necessary to make the regional IBs live up to that (if they aren't already doing so -- from this discussion, it seems the jury is still out on that).

Further, if they can't or won't, will they acknowledge that and look to provide equitable alternatives, whether by increasing magnet seats for programs that do live up to the standard or by fulfilling that via local programming, to serve all students with such achievement/ability, regardless of pyramid.

The bold is spot on. The program can work, especially when combined with the AP and post AP options, implementation matters. You really need to evaluate the results critically. What students is it trying to serve and how does it do that job? Does the diploma matter? What is the value to the student? What are its shortcomings?

Unfortunately the problem is that the district mindset is “we did IB therefore it’s rigorous.”

You seem to be very familiar with the regional IB. I am assuming as the parent of a current student? Would you be able / willing to discuss where they and their classmates have been accepted to college?

One of the things I’m certain of is that the admission rate of IB grads to UC Berkeley is definitely not 58%.

I know you’ll come back with an inane retort like “how do we know that” because that’s all the “analysis” you’re capable of doing.

If you look at the entire thread, your contribution is completely vacuous and consists only of silly challenges along the lines of “who said that”, plus generic statements like “it doesn’t show what you claim it shows”.

Er.... you have me mixed up with somebody else. Please continue that debate as it is sort of useful! But please also tell us about the admissions results at your school?

I’ll let you lead in with the admission results from the IB programs. Do they line up well with the predictions from the slides? Particularly interested in UC Berkeley, but if you have some Ivy League data, that’s good too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DP. The question that the MCPS IB information doesn't provide is a comparison, not of IBDP to no-program or unspecified-program education, but of IBDP to the likely course of education for those who might consider IBDP.

That population tends to self-select from among high performers/the highly able. The comparison should be versus the other programs/courses of study that are avaiable, including magnets and high proportions of honors/AP/college-level coursework. And not just at the local school or regional IB, where those options might be limited, but from the most rigorous available in the county, as that is the implied alternative to which MCPS is suggesting IB to students with that profile.

IB can be great. It can provide a reasonable alternative when robustly implemented with fidelity, well coordinated with fullsome AP options and presented as a choice among other rigorous pathways made highly available.

The question is whether MCPS can or will provide the school support necessary to make the regional IBs live up to that (if they aren't already doing so -- from this discussion, it seems the jury is still out on that).

Further, if they can't or won't, will they acknowledge that and look to provide equitable alternatives, whether by increasing magnet seats for programs that do live up to the standard or by fulfilling that via local programming, to serve all students with such achievement/ability, regardless of pyramid.

The bold is spot on. The program can work, especially when combined with the AP and post AP options, implementation matters. You really need to evaluate the results critically. What students is it trying to serve and how does it do that job? Does the diploma matter? What is the value to the student? What are its shortcomings?

Unfortunately the problem is that the district mindset is “we did IB therefore it’s rigorous.”

You seem to be very familiar with the regional IB. I am assuming as the parent of a current student? Would you be able / willing to discuss where they and their classmates have been accepted to college?

One of the things I’m certain of is that the admission rate of IB grads to UC Berkeley is definitely not 58%.

I know you’ll come back with an inane retort like “how do we know that” because that’s all the “analysis” you’re capable of doing.

If you look at the entire thread, your contribution is completely vacuous and consists only of silly challenges along the lines of “who said that”, plus generic statements like “it doesn’t show what you claim it shows”.

Er.... you have me mixed up with somebody else. Please continue that debate as it is sort of useful! But please also tell us about the admissions results at your school?

I’ll let you lead in with the admission results from the IB programs. Do they line up well with the predictions from the slides? Particularly interested in UC Berkeley, but if you have some Ivy League data, that’s good too.

Copying this from a different thread today about Spring Brook

[Post New]02/01/2024 08:10Subject: Re:Spring Brook criteria based IB Program experience.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
It makes me worry if we should accept it. Wonder if the cohort is good.


This year's university acceptances include NYU, Brandeis, BU, MIT, Michigan, UMD, Johns Hopkins so far. One or two went to the Ivy League last year. Maybe not as impressive as some other schools but I will be over the moon happy if my kid gets into one of those!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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

They offer this at Kennedy, to the best of my knowledge. Am I wrong? I have the dumb math kid who is in the SL version.

I'm really tired of hearing my kid's high school get bashed by people who would never send their kids there regardless. Hearing you bash Ms. Davis and the other teachers who have invested so much of their time into our kids is also disheartening. One thing I think most of you don't understand (I suspect most of you never had the luxury of understanding), is learning for its own sake is important. We didn't want our kid to take IB to go to a "top college," or keep up with W schools, we wanted them to go because the classes would challenge and interest them and play to their strengths. We wanted them to do IB because writing is something they do best. Taking AP exams is joyless. Learning, and learning how to learn is part of what makes an adaptable, well-rounded member of society who can find a job and be a good person.

When our kid got into Kennedy and not RMIB I was relieved. I didn't want them in a toxic pressure cooker in the first place, I wanted them in a collaborative learning environment with peers and teachers that "got" them. Kennedy has given us that. In fact, I'm not sure another high school in the DCC could have done it as well. I must note we are zoned for Blair, so that was an option.

I really liked the former principal. He came from a middle school that holds a 2E program, and he told me once that those were the kind of kids he thought could integrate into the IB: intense, quirky kids with tons of potential who needed a smaller environment than the typical chaos of a Moco high school.

I still think he's right. Those kinds of kids (they don't have to be 2E) have thrived.

We don't have one of the high flyers at Kennedy IB. Our kid has struggled for grades at times (as far as I can tell they're *not* inflated, they don't do that at FARMS schools, where parents don't complain), but Kennedy's done a great job of meeting them where they're at. They turned in their ToK paper and it was fantastic. They've learned executive function. They take school seriously. They're happy.

And they've gotten into six colleges, all with merit, all ranked from the 50s to 100 in US News and World Report. We're still waiting to hear from the reaches.

I'm so tired of how toxic this place can be. How mean-spirited so many of you are about hard-working people doing their jobs, and minor children who are working so hard.

My kid's sitting for the IB diploma. They did the work. Will they pass? I don't know. I don't care. It was the experience that mattered, college credit is gravy. (Most of the schools they're applying to only give credit and don't let them out of core requirements anyway, so it doesn't matter as much. If some of you looked beyond state schools you'd find that true at most of the better slacs.)

Again, six merit offers. Happy kid. I know there's a lot of you who can't say the same.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:DP. The question that the MCPS IB information doesn't provide is a comparison, not of IBDP to no-program or unspecified-program education, but of IBDP to the likely course of education for those who might consider IBDP.

That population tends to self-select from among high performers/the highly able. The comparison should be versus the other programs/courses of study that are avaiable, including magnets and high proportions of honors/AP/college-level coursework. And not just at the local school or regional IB, where those options might be limited, but from the most rigorous available in the county, as that is the implied alternative to which MCPS is suggesting IB to students with that profile.

IB can be great. It can provide a reasonable alternative when robustly implemented with fidelity, well coordinated with fullsome AP options and presented as a choice among other rigorous pathways made highly available.

The question is whether MCPS can or will provide the school support necessary to make the regional IBs live up to that (if they aren't already doing so -- from this discussion, it seems the jury is still out on that).

Further, if they can't or won't, will they acknowledge that and look to provide equitable alternatives, whether by increasing magnet seats for programs that do live up to the standard or by fulfilling that via local programming, to serve all students with such achievement/ability, regardless of pyramid.

The bold is spot on. The program can work, especially when combined with the AP and post AP options, implementation matters. You really need to evaluate the results critically. What students is it trying to serve and how does it do that job? Does the diploma matter? What is the value to the student? What are its shortcomings?

Unfortunately the problem is that the district mindset is “we did IB therefore it’s rigorous.”

You seem to be very familiar with the regional IB. I am assuming as the parent of a current student? Would you be able / willing to discuss where they and their classmates have been accepted to college?

One of the things I’m certain of is that the admission rate of IB grads to UC Berkeley is definitely not 58%.

I know you’ll come back with an inane retort like “how do we know that” because that’s all the “analysis” you’re capable of doing.

If you look at the entire thread, your contribution is completely vacuous and consists only of silly challenges along the lines of “who said that”, plus generic statements like “it doesn’t show what you claim it shows”.

Er.... you have me mixed up with somebody else. Please continue that debate as it is sort of useful! But please also tell us about the admissions results at your school?

I’ll let you lead in with the admission results from the IB programs. Do they line up well with the predictions from the slides? Particularly interested in UC Berkeley, but if you have some Ivy League data, that’s good too.

Copying this from a different thread today about Spring Brook

[Post New]02/01/2024 08:10Subject: Re:Spring Brook criteria based IB Program experience.
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It makes me worry if we should accept it. Wonder if the cohort is good.


This year's university acceptances include NYU, Brandeis, BU, MIT, Michigan, UMD, Johns Hopkins so far. One or two went to the Ivy League last year. Maybe not as impressive as some other schools but I will be over the moon happy if my kid gets into one of those!

Who said that? How do we know it’s true?

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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.

Because the whole point of the regional program was to lure top kids to the school. It wasn't the IB curriculum, which was in place at Kennedy before this program.

It still remains the goal to this day. They make it seem that the program is the way to an ivy admission. I can’t really fault the gullible parents looking for an edge for their kids, I’m more shocked at the dishonesty of the administrators that make all those fake claims with a straight face.

"They" who? Who said that, and where and when did they say it?

They, the IBO. Can you spot the lies and the dishonest sales pitch?

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

You mean the table that cites the college acceptances that's sourced from the IBDP themselves c. 2012? In 2012, it was a bit easier to get into those schools and the percentages are probably correct for the population sampled.

Are you mad MCPS didn't update their slide?

Look, we all know who you are. I suspect you're the same dude crapping all over the College That Changes Lives Thread. You've got that style. We get it. You hate small colleges. You hate IB. You only think there are a few majors that can exist to define success.

We all feel sorry for you.

Now, in all kindness, please go away.