Reply to If AP is more popular/better/more flexible, why does FCPS put IB in all the lower-ranked schools?

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Reply to "If AP is more popular/better/more flexible, why does FCPS put IB in all the lower-ranked schools?"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote]
There is one poster in particular who pops up on every IB thread and starts venting about how much IB costs the county and how she feels it isn't worth it. Sour grapes. She's bitter that other kids are benefitting from that funding and she wants the program eliminated. [/quote]

Not that poster.  But, the IB program costs significantly more than the AP--and serves far fewer kids in FCPS.  Coordinators alone cost close to 1M$ 
 [/quote]

And not only that, but the kids that IB serves are where all the FARMs and ESL kids in the county are.  We all know those kids will likely amount to nothing no matter how much money we throw at their schools. [/quote]

It's not that they won't amount to anything, but it does seems like the program isn't necessarily helping them since you have parents transferring their kids out of the lower performing schools using AP as an excuse. Is there any data that shows similar low performing AP and IB schools and which one has more children taking and passing high level courses?[/quote]

http://www.fcps.edu/cco/pr/apib/2013/table10.pdf

http://www.fcps.edu/cco/pr/apib/2013/table11.pdf

It looks like over 10% of the graduating class at Falls Church were AP Scholars and less than 5% at Annandale got IB diplomas. 
[/quote]

AP scholar is in no way comparable to an IB diploma. An IB diploma candidate requires one to take 13 classes, in a variety of subjects, pass 6 exams, writes and extended essay, and do significant community service.

An AP scholar is someone who passed 3 exams.   You can be an AP scholar with 3 classes in the same or similar disciplines (e.g. You could take AP Stats, AB Calc and BC Calc and make AP scholar, without even an honors level English, foreign language, history or science, or you could be like my kid who will likely take English Language, English Lit and AP Government, and graduate with very basic math and science).  [/quote]

Be that as it may, the tables underscore that fewer students at IB schools have anything that they can point to (or that FCPS considers worth highlighting) to suggest that they benefitted from attending an IB school.   [/quote]

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