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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]FCPS just announced its 2016 national merit semifinalists.  There are 231 from the AP high schools (about two thirds of the number of high schools in the county), and only six from the IB high schools (about one third of the number of high schools in the county).

When is FCPS finally going to wake up and acknowledge that IB has not been a success in the county?[/quote]

Probably a bit after you realize that 1) SAT scores have nothing to do with AP/IB but are a reflection first and foremost of a student's SES status, and that 2) FCPS placed IB programs specifically in low SES schools. Hence the NMSF deck was rigged by that choice. But if you want to feel that you have proven positively that IB schools are complete junk that should be shuttered go right ahead.[/quote]

To the contrary, it appears that the honors and AP courses help the students to achieve high PSAT and SAT scores. Moreover, IB was placed in the low income schools many years ago. [b]If it were going to attract more intelligent and motivated students, it surely would have done so by now.[/b] It has not, so all your observation reinforces is how ill-advised FCPS was to saddle those schools with IB.[/quote]

Re: your bolded statement -- Wow, that neatly dismisses the "intelligent and motivated" kids at my child's high school who transferred there (from various AP schools) specifically to take IB. IB does attract students. But I suppose the anti-IB people will only accept that if hordes of students transfer into IB schools. The reality is that most families simply will keep their kids at the high schools to which the kids are assigned based on where the family lives, period, and relatively few will make the effort to do an academic transfer--either to IB or to AP.  I don't care about merit semifinalist numbers or overall school SAT scores. I care about my kid's particular strengths and interests and the program that works best for her class by class, day by day. For other families I know, AP was exactly what worked best for their kids. Great. I didn't feel any need to research test scores in order to bash AP to them.[/quote]
It seems like you are trying to obscure the facts, one of which is that, on balance, IB has failed to attract and retain significant numbers  of high-achieving kids, the rationale that FCPS gave for introducing the program years ago. Yes, some students will pupil place to IB schools, and others will simply accept that it is the only advanced available program at their schools, but there is little evidence to suggest it has been a good investment for the county, and AP remains the program of choice for the overwhelming majority of the county's higher-achieving students. That is something that surely needs to be acknowledged, as the county has finite resources and AP is less expensive than IB.
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