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]You can argue all you want about IB vs. AP, but the problem is simply that the IB - AP dichotomy exist within FCPS - providing students an escape valve. Choosing AP or IB is frequently the justification for student transfers - and the direction of the transfer almost always favors the higher SES school. Think about the type of student that transfers - parents are motivated to make sure their student works hard, they probably speak English as a first language, and they probably do not qualify for F/R lunch (these aren't 100% true in all cases, but probably most of them). This means you are leaving students behind who are not likely to perform as well. This makes the school "perform" worse, leading to a downward spiral as more and more education first families avoid the school. Ironically FCPS put IB in number of the poorer schools in hopes of stemming middle class flight, but it actually made the problem worse in several cases and didn't help in others. Marshall, cited as an IB success story, actually strongly benefited from a location near Tysons that kept the SES relatively high and also from the transfer of education first students from Falls Church (remember, flowing from lower SES to higher SES) or other neighboring high schools.

It would be very interesting to have FCPS do a demographic study of transfer students. I have a feeling they wouldn't want to share the results.

[b]If[/b] the School Board wants to fix the problem they should:

1. Switch all of the high schools back to AP (this was the case at one time in the county)
2. Bring more equity to the language programs throughout the county or find a way to deliver more language options to students at their local schools (since this is another escape valve)
3. Tighten the pupil placement policy

I would recommend changing boundaries in certain cases, but an elected school board is not about to tackle that problem. They have let schools diverge too much in F/R lunch rates and parents switched out of high SES schools would revolt.
[b]
Simple question: if Lee High School, with a 55% F/R lunch rate was made one of two IB schools in FCPS, how many families would choose to transfer their students to that school? Or would they stick with their local AP school? How much do people actually love IB? Enough to send their students to one of the poorest high schools in the county?[/b]

Actually, I said our School Board wouldn't tackle boundaries, but I actually don't think they are will to do anything I mentioned above to fix the high SES - low SES school divide. The folks at the higher SES schools vote in higher numbers.

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One more note: FCPS students earning the IB Diploma make up only 3% of total FCPS graduates every year - so you could do away with the IB Diploma and literally not effect 97% of the graduates. Students only taking IB classes and not earning the IB Diploma would do just as well, if not better, taking AP classes.

2016 Total FCPS Diplomas (25 high schools): 13234

2016 Total Diplomas at FCPS IB High Schools (8 high schools): 3792

2016 [b]IB Diplomas[/b] at FCPS IB High Schools (8 high schools): [b]425[/b] (11% of the total at IB high schools, and only 3% of total FCPS Diplomas)

Considering these numbers, plus the transfer issue, and the fact that IB costs twice as much as AP, only a complete lack of common sense from the School Board is keeping IB around.[/quote]

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