Marshall High School?

[Anonymous]

There's a lot of fact free assertion here about the IB program.

The IB Diploma Program (DP) is a two-year program for juniors and seniors. Most IB DP courses are two-year sequences. To achieve the IB Diploma requires the following; one course in each of six different subject areas (Language, Literature, Social Studies, Mat, Sciences and the Arts. There is a requirement to take a Theory of Knowledge (2 semesters) and write a 4,000 word Extended Essay research paper. There is also a requirement to accrue 150hrs of experience in Creativity, Activity and Service. The course is very writing intensive. Certain assignments and final IB exams are evaluated by the independent IB program officers and not by FCPS. IB is a curriculum and diploma that are recognized worldwide. Many elite colleges grant course credit for IB exams scored at 5, 6 & 7 (of 7). These exams scores are forced to a normal distribution so 34% of test takers achieve a score of 5, 13% achieve a 6 and 3% achieve a 7.

Marshall's Class of 2016 graduated 419 students. 82 students sought to earn the IB Diploma and 79 (96.3%) achieved this honor.

The IB program is a effectively an 'honors' program within the regular school. While many students take IB classes at both the Standard Level (SL) and Higher Level (HL) [N.B. that there are 'Honors' courses offered - normally to freshmen and sophomores - that are not part of the IB curriculum and like the IB courses are available to all students]. So, while many students take IB classes (similar to the way students take AP classes), to attempt the IB Diploma requires a significantly greater commitment (e.g. 4 yrs of language, the research paper, the service commitment and passing grades on final exams that are independently assessed outside of FCPS).

The IB Diploma Program is a distinct curriculum. The AP program offers 38 courses (not all available at every school) that can be tested and if certain marks are achieved, course credit may be granted in certain schools. For example, UVA grants course credit hours and/or course exemption for IB HL exam scores of 5, 6 & 7, and for AP exams scored as 4 & 5.

Now you have some real facts to ponder...

[Anonymous]

Some other facts to consider is that every IBO World School must offer the IB diploma program and agree to make that program the primary focus of the school's activities, with a dedicated IB Coordinator in place.

Even so, at one of the better IB programs in FCPS last year, roughly 81% of the students graduated without the top credential offered by the school, which admissions officers at many schools automatically default to treating as the only indication that students at IB schools are pursuing a challenging course load.

Meanwhile, students at Madison and other nearby AP schools are taking as many AP courses as they want, with higher percentages of students taking and passing AP courses, scoring higher on their SATs, and having their college applications evaluated in a less binary manner than students at IB schools who can too easily be put in IB diploma and non-diploma buckets.

For some IB diploma candidates, this is a good deal, but attending an IB school with its rigid requirements (determined by a group in Geneva with no particular affinity towards American students or universities) disadvantages many other kids. Unless you are very confident IB is the right program for your kids, you are likely better off at an AP school with a more flexible curriculum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are house hunting and hoping to buy in Vienna, feeding into Madison High, but even with a healthy budget of $850k-$900k, none of the homes we are seeing, can we envision as our forever home. So, I have questions about Marshall High School. One person I talked to described it as 'very diverse' and to him that wasn't a good thing. someone else said its 'a lot of military families'. We think diversity is great for our kids, but where we live now, we are the minority, and to be honest, we really don't like it. So, some diversity is great, but not so much we feel like the minority. We are white and Jewish. Will our kids be the only Jewish kids in their classes? Will we like communities feeding into Marshall High? Will we fit in? Thanks for any opinions.

Be patient and you'll find something decent in Vienna zoned for Madison. The spring market is just starting up now.

No knock on Marshall but it is an IB school, so make absolutely sure that is what you want before you consider it as an alternative. We moved out of an IB district, after we realized it did not also offer AP classes and that less than 25% of the students were getting IB diplomas.

25% getting the IB diploma is outstanding. It is very rigorous. To compare with an AP school, what percent are doing 8 APs?

Don't know, but the college readiness statistics for the top AP schools in FCPS like Madison are much higher than those for any of the IB schools, so they must be taking and passing more AP exams. You can tout how rigorous IB is, but something is wrong if over 75% of the kids at an IB school graduate without an IB diploma. At some IB schools, it's more like 95%.

95%? You are delusional. How about a public school example.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are house hunting and hoping to buy in Vienna, feeding into Madison High, but even with a healthy budget of $850k-$900k, none of the homes we are seeing, can we envision as our forever home. So, I have questions about Marshall High School. One person I talked to described it as 'very diverse' and to him that wasn't a good thing. someone else said its 'a lot of military families'. We think diversity is great for our kids, but where we live now, we are the minority, and to be honest, we really don't like it. So, some diversity is great, but not so much we feel like the minority. We are white and Jewish. Will our kids be the only Jewish kids in their classes? Will we like communities feeding into Marshall High? Will we fit in? Thanks for any opinions.

Be patient and you'll find something decent in Vienna zoned for Madison. The spring market is just starting up now.

No knock on Marshall but it is an IB school, so make absolutely sure that is what you want before you consider it as an alternative. We moved out of an IB district, after we realized it did not also offer AP classes and that less than 25% of the students were getting IB diplomas.

25% getting the IB diploma is outstanding. It is very rigorous. To compare with an AP school, what percent are doing 8 APs?

Don't know, but the college readiness statistics for the top AP schools in FCPS like Madison are much higher than those for any of the IB schools, so they must be taking and passing more AP exams. You can tout how rigorous IB is, but something is wrong if over 75% of the kids at an IB school graduate without an IB diploma. At some IB schools, it's more like 95%.

The IB basher is confusing the % that attempt the diploma that get the diploma vs the % of students in the school who get the IB diploma.

95%? You are delusional. How about a public school example.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are house hunting and hoping to buy in Vienna, feeding into Madison High, but even with a healthy budget of $850k-$900k, none of the homes we are seeing, can we envision as our forever home. So, I have questions about Marshall High School. One person I talked to described it as 'very diverse' and to him that wasn't a good thing. someone else said its 'a lot of military families'. We think diversity is great for our kids, but where we live now, we are the minority, and to be honest, we really don't like it. So, some diversity is great, but not so much we feel like the minority. We are white and Jewish. Will our kids be the only Jewish kids in their classes? Will we like communities feeding into Marshall High? Will we fit in? Thanks for any opinions.

Be patient and you'll find something decent in Vienna zoned for Madison. The spring market is just starting up now.

No knock on Marshall but it is an IB school, so make absolutely sure that is what you want before you consider it as an alternative. We moved out of an IB district, after we realized it did not also offer AP classes and that less than 25% of the students were getting IB diplomas.

25% getting the IB diploma is outstanding. It is very rigorous. To compare with an AP school, what percent are doing 8 APs?

Don't know, but the college readiness statistics for the top AP schools in FCPS like Madison are much higher than those for any of the IB schools, so they must be taking and passing more AP exams. You can tout how rigorous IB is, but something is wrong if over 75% of the kids at an IB school graduate without an IB diploma. At some IB schools, it's more like 95%.

95%? You are delusional. How about a public school example.

There are multiple IB high schools in FCPS where the percentage of graduates receiving IB diplomas was 5% or lower (this was as of a few years ago, as FCPS has since stopped sharing the information, perhaps to avoid scrutiny).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are house hunting and hoping to buy in Vienna, feeding into Madison High, but even with a healthy budget of $850k-$900k, none of the homes we are seeing, can we envision as our forever home. So, I have questions about Marshall High School. One person I talked to described it as 'very diverse' and to him that wasn't a good thing. someone else said its 'a lot of military families'. We think diversity is great for our kids, but where we live now, we are the minority, and to be honest, we really don't like it. So, some diversity is great, but not so much we feel like the minority. We are white and Jewish. Will our kids be the only Jewish kids in their classes? Will we like communities feeding into Marshall High? Will we fit in? Thanks for any opinions.

Be patient and you'll find something decent in Vienna zoned for Madison. The spring market is just starting up now.

No knock on Marshall but it is an IB school, so make absolutely sure that is what you want before you consider it as an alternative. We moved out of an IB district, after we realized it did not also offer AP classes and that less than 25% of the students were getting IB diplomas.

25% getting the IB diploma is outstanding. It is very rigorous. To compare with an AP school, what percent are doing 8 APs?

Don't know, but the college readiness statistics for the top AP schools in FCPS like Madison are much higher than those for any of the IB schools, so they must be taking and passing more AP exams. You can tout how rigorous IB is, but something is wrong if over 75% of the kids at an IB school graduate without an IB diploma. At some IB schools, it's more like 95%.

The IB basher is confusing the % that attempt the diploma that get the diploma vs the % of students in the school who get the IB diploma.

95%? You are delusional. How about a public school example.

I'm not confusing anything. If only 10 students in a graduating class of 100 at an IB school attempt an IB diploma, and 7 are successful, I think it's more relevant that 93% of the graduates left empty-handed than that 70% of the handful seeking an IB diploma were successful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are house hunting and hoping to buy in Vienna, feeding into Madison High, but even with a healthy budget of $850k-$900k, none of the homes we are seeing, can we envision as our forever home. So, I have questions about Marshall High School. One person I talked to described it as 'very diverse' and to him that wasn't a good thing. someone else said its 'a lot of military families'. We think diversity is great for our kids, but where we live now, we are the minority, and to be honest, we really don't like it. So, some diversity is great, but not so much we feel like the minority. We are white and Jewish. Will our kids be the only Jewish kids in their classes? Will we like communities feeding into Marshall High? Will we fit in? Thanks for any opinions.

Be patient and you'll find something decent in Vienna zoned for Madison. The spring market is just starting up now.

No knock on Marshall but it is an IB school, so make absolutely sure that is what you want before you consider it as an alternative. We moved out of an IB district, after we realized it did not also offer AP classes and that less than 25% of the students were getting IB diplomas.

25% getting the IB diploma is outstanding. It is very rigorous. To compare with an AP school, what percent are doing 8 APs?

Don't know, but the college readiness statistics for the top AP schools in FCPS like Madison are much higher than those for any of the IB schools, so they must be taking and passing more AP exams. You can tout how rigorous IB is, but something is wrong if over 75% of the kids at an IB school graduate without an IB diploma. At some IB schools, it's more like 95%.

The IB basher is confusing the % that attempt the diploma that get the diploma vs the % of students in the school who get the IB diploma.

95%? You are delusional. How about a public school example.

I'm not confusing anything. If only 10 students in a graduating class of 100 at an IB school attempt an IB diploma, and 7 are successful, I think it's more relevant that 93% of the graduates left empty-handed than that 70% of the handful seeking an IB diploma were successful.

You must be Donald Trump with your own version of reality.

25% attempting the diploma is excellent. It is equivalent to AP students taking several AP courses. What percentage do that?

It is delusional to expect 95% of a public school population to pursue the full IB diploma.

[Anonymous]

Prestigious colleges are starting to deny credit for AP classes.

https://www.marketplace.org/2013/02/20/education/more-colleges-stop-giving-credit-ap-exams

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are house hunting and hoping to buy in Vienna, feeding into Madison High, but even with a healthy budget of $850k-$900k, none of the homes we are seeing, can we envision as our forever home. So, I have questions about Marshall High School. One person I talked to described it as 'very diverse' and to him that wasn't a good thing. someone else said its 'a lot of military families'. We think diversity is great for our kids, but where we live now, we are the minority, and to be honest, we really don't like it. So, some diversity is great, but not so much we feel like the minority. We are white and Jewish. Will our kids be the only Jewish kids in their classes? Will we like communities feeding into Marshall High? Will we fit in? Thanks for any opinions.

Be patient and you'll find something decent in Vienna zoned for Madison. The spring market is just starting up now.

No knock on Marshall but it is an IB school, so make absolutely sure that is what you want before you consider it as an alternative. We moved out of an IB district, after we realized it did not also offer AP classes and that less than 25% of the students were getting IB diplomas.

25% getting the IB diploma is outstanding. It is very rigorous. To compare with an AP school, what percent are doing 8 APs?

Don't know, but the college readiness statistics for the top AP schools in FCPS like Madison are much higher than those for any of the IB schools, so they must be taking and passing more AP exams. You can tout how rigorous IB is, but something is wrong if over 75% of the kids at an IB school graduate without an IB diploma. At some IB schools, it's more like 95%.

The IB basher is confusing the % that attempt the diploma that get the diploma vs the % of students in the school who get the IB diploma.

95%? You are delusional. How about a public school example.

I'm not confusing anything. If only 10 students in a graduating class of 100 at an IB school attempt an IB diploma, and 7 are successful, I think it's more relevant that 93% of the graduates left empty-handed than that 70% of the handful seeking an IB diploma were successful.

You must be Donald Trump with your own version of reality.

25% attempting the diploma is excellent. It is equivalent to AP students taking several AP courses. What percentage do that?

It is delusional to expect 95% of a public school population to pursue the full IB diploma.

PP was saying that at some schools 95% of the kids leave without an IB diploma, not that she expects 95% to pursue and IB diploma. Reread the post.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Prestigious colleges are starting to deny credit for AP classes.

https://www.marketplace.org/2013/02/20/education/more-colleges-stop-giving-credit-ap-exams

Prestigious colleges deny both AP and IB credit. They don't think IB and AP classes are of the same caliber as their own, which makes sense. I can't imagine an IB class at Marshall or an AP class at McLean being the same as a class at an IVY. This is a decent summary that either is fine for getting you looked at by colleges, even if you don't get college credit.

http://www.collegeconfidential.com/dean/ap-vs-ib/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Prestigious colleges are starting to deny credit for AP classes.

https://www.marketplace.org/2013/02/20/education/more-colleges-stop-giving-credit-ap-exams

Prestigious colleges deny both AP and IB credit. They don't think IB and AP classes are of the same caliber as their own, which makes sense. I can't imagine an IB class at Marshall or an AP class at McLean being the same as a class at an IVY. This is a decent summary that either is fine for getting you looked at by colleges, even if you don't get college credit.

http://www.collegeconfidential.com/dean/ap-vs-ib/

Ivy admits from Marshall are few and far between. I've seen senior editions of the Madison and Marshall students newspapers (Hawk Talk and Rank N File) and Madison does much better overall. Because AP is more flexible and scalable, it's harder to put applicants in a bucket analogous to the "non-diploma candidate" bucket at IB schools.

Again, if OP originally wanted Madison, she should not quickly turn to a search in the Marshall district simply because it seems - in early March - the inventory in her price range may be limited. There are good reasons why houses sell more quickly in the Madison district.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Or you can buy a home for less in the Falls Church pyramid for 650K and pupil place to Marshall if you want IB. Our daughter attended Pine Spring ES, Luther Jackson MS and now Marshall and has received over $130K in scholarships just for her academics.

Good to hear. We're also in the Pine Spring ES pyramid (kids too young for school yet) and I've heard great things about it from our neighbors. We may or may not stay in our same house through HS, but it's good to know that others have had a positive experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Prestigious colleges are starting to deny credit for AP classes.

https://www.marketplace.org/2013/02/20/education/more-colleges-stop-giving-credit-ap-exams

Prestigious colleges deny both AP and IB credit. They don't think IB and AP classes are of the same caliber as their own, which makes sense. I can't imagine an IB class at Marshall or an AP class at McLean being the same as a class at an IVY. This is a decent summary that either is fine for getting you looked at by colleges, even if you don't get college credit.

http://www.collegeconfidential.com/dean/ap-vs-ib/

Actually coming from an IVY school I'd say the AP/IB classes would be harder. But this was several years ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Prestigious colleges are starting to deny credit for AP classes.

https://www.marketplace.org/2013/02/20/education/more-colleges-stop-giving-credit-ap-exams

Prestigious colleges deny both AP and IB credit. They don't think IB and AP classes are of the same caliber as their own, which makes sense. I can't imagine an IB class at Marshall or an AP class at McLean being the same as a class at an IVY. This is a decent summary that either is fine for getting you looked at by colleges, even if you don't get college credit.

http://www.collegeconfidential.com/dean/ap-vs-ib/

Actually coming from an IVY school I'd say the AP/IB classes would be harder. But this was several years ago.

The fact that Ivies may not give credit for AP/IB classes doesn't mean that they and other competitive schools don't resort to heuristics and presumptively reject the kids coming from IB schools who aren't IB diploma candidates. It's harder to resort to such a rule of thumb for kids coming from AP schools.

[Anonymous]

Harvard classes aren't that hard. It's getting in in the first place that's difficult.