Reply to why do people prefer AP schools to IB?

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Reply to "why do people prefer AP schools to IB?"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote]So I guess Loudoun decided it wasn't worth the expense? Loudoun has the highest household incomes in the country. If they thought IB was a good idea, they could certainly afford it.

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Most families seem to prefer AP.  Also, please consider this:  we have a mobile society.  Far more American schools offer AP than IB.  What happens when a teen who has been in an AP program transfers to an IB school?

And, while Loudoun might be quite wealthy, I'm sure they consider value for expense.  Hands down, AP wins.[/quote]

PP, the bigger issue in Loudoun is that it's kind of a cluster in terms of schools and resources. With the massive population growth, the county spends a substantial sum on building schools (most of which are smaller than FCPS) in order to meet the demands of population growth. The county actually spends less on direct instruction and academic programs because it doesn't have the means to continue to build schools to meet the population growth and do expensive programs. IB is an example. The AAP program is another. Loudoun just doesn't have the resources to cover everything.

Another wrinkle and bigger reason why it's a cluster is that its population also isn't supportive of bonds or tax increases specifically for the schools. The county's politicians definitely seem in the pocket of developers, so the money that exists go to building schools (which is needed but not necessarily handled on the most efficient scale--see, small schools).

Fairfax has more resources because it's essentially built out save for a handful of elementary schools and expanding capacity here or there (or building the new high school in Herndon). It's sort of apples to oranges.

Back on topic. One thing I've found interesting is that in IB schools like Robinson is that its students who sign up for the diploma have high pass rates (in the 80's percentile I think) and that nearly 25 percent of the class is signed up for the diploma. That's quite large.[/quote]

So only around 20% of Robinson's graduating class ends up with a high pass rate in IB? That seems very low for a school like Robinson full of high performing students.[/quote]

No, only 20 percent of Robinson students complete the diploma. That's a much more difficult task than just passing a single exam (which many more students inevitably do considering at least 80 percent of the students take a course).

I don't know if there's a way to make a comparison to AP, honestly.[/quote]

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