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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]It may be helpful to consider that there is no equivalent "AP diploma" - students simply take AP courses and then test.  Many students at Marshall take IB courses and then test.  Far fewer do the significant extra work to qualify for the IB Diploma.  The students who commit to this are truly taking on an exceptional workload with no equivalent in the AP world.

Also note that Marshall introduced the IB program in 1997 as part of a drive to attract a higher socio-economic class to the school.  It was felt that a more diverse student body (and parental support) could help upgrade the school.  The Marshall community is significantly more diverse socially and economically than the Madison community - students represent 82 countries and speak more than 65 languages - 46% are minorities (18% Asian,17% Hispanic, 5% African American and 6% multi-racial).

The IB program is effectively a 'school within a school' and those students who participate have little to no interaction in class rooms with the other students.  Of course, in the athletics and other extra-curriculars there is more widespread participation.  The result is that analysis of 'averages' is highly misleading.  While hundreds of students take IB courses, very few commit to pursuing an IB Diploma.  Marshall has an exceptional success rate with those students who did commit in 2015 - approximately 93% succeeded.  As a percentage of the overall class, this select group is approximately 20%.  Marshall's success with students taking IB exams is supported by the fact that in 20 courses, Marshall's IB average test score was greater than the world average.

And a final thought, before you condemn the IB program, consider that this program is international and both trains and evaluates teachers and students against their peers from around the world.  An IB diploma from Marshall is directly equivalent to what is taught and tested in IB programs from France, Hong Kong, Bogota or Paris.  The teachers are both taught and are evaluated  on their grading each year - a sample of student work is assessed locally and then submitted to Geneva for independent evaluation with feedback to the teachers.  The objectives of the IB Program are exactly aligned with the FCPS Portrait of a Graduate - embodying the goal of teaching students the skills necessary to succeed in the modern world.  The AP program has no comprehensive evaluation and feedback, nor does it establish expectations for developing a broad skill set and capabilities that IB encompasses.

The IB program is certainly not for every student.  It is writing intensive and has a substantial work requirement in addition to the regular classes.  It requires 4 years of language with a minimum tested facility.  It requires a substantial research paper.  It requires a substantial service commitment.  And it requires an additional class in the Theory of Knowledge (Philosophy).  And it requires a high level of tested performance in a broad range of studies.  IB students are actively recruited by the best universities and are successful in being accepted.  I'll post again at the end of the month when the college acceptances are finalized.

I don't mean to diminish those students who undertake AP course work.  My intention is to facilitate understanding of the difference between taking courses (either IB or AP) and the commitment to achieving an IB Diploma.  I hope that helps...[/quote]

Your post is disingenuous and misleading.  You purport not to diminish those students who undertake AP course work, but of course that is exactly what you set out to do here.

If the IB Diploma "has no equivalent in the AP world," there is no "equivalent in the IB world" to the flexibility and subject-matter depth that AP students can explore.  It doesn't make the IB experience better, just different, and the fact remains that the majority of the county's higher-achieving students gravitate towards the AP curriculum.  The Marshall IB Diploma candidates don't have any leg-up on students at nearby schools taking a lot of AP classes.  They do have an advantage relative to the other Marshall students.

You are correct, of course, that FCPS introduced IB into certain schools decades ago with the hope that it would attract a higher SES student body.  It did not. In fact, just the opposite occurred.  Most of the county's IB schools have become poorer over the years, and several now see large pupil placements every year to AP schools.  For example, Mount Vernon, Lee, and Annandale (all IB) lose dozens of students to West Potomac, West Springfield and Woodson (all AP) every year.  If the SES profile of Marshall is more affluent now than it was in 1997, it's not because FCPS installed IB there, but instead because it's located near jobs in Tysons and a few Metro stations.

As for the notion that the IB program is essentially a "school within a school," perhaps that is the case, but it reinforces the fact that the non-IB Diploma candidates at the school, who typically comprise 75-95% of the student body, end up attending a "school outside a school," where they don't have access to AP classes and yet are made aware, in different ways and on a regular basis, of their second-class status within those schools. I attended a graduation ceremony at an IB school in FCPS where the IB coordinator spoke longer than anyone else besides the graduation speaker, including the principal, touting how wonderful the IB program was.  Fun stuff for the IB Diploma candidates, but not so great for the other students.  Compare that to the environment at Madison or other top AP schools, where the vast majority of students take varying numbers of AP courses, no one gets pushed off the pedestal because they only took nine, as opposed to 11, AP courses, and it is just one large, strong school.

When it comes to college admissions from Marshall, one need not wait until later this year, but can look at past examples here (look for the June editions): http://www.gcmnews.net/media/rnf/print/  Quite honestly, it's not especially impressive, particularly if you are familiar with the college admissions from nearby AP schools like Langley and Madison.

OP originally was looking for a house in the Madison district, with a budget ($900K) that isn't out of line at all with the typical house in Vienna.  Unless she really, really thinks that IB is the right program for her kids, I would suggest she stick to her guns, and wait to see if more houses in her budget zoned for Madison are listed soon.  IB is much more of a niche program than AP, and there are a lot of folks who buy in IB districts without really understanding what the program involves or whether it would be a good fit for their kids.

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