Reply to why do people prefer AP schools to IB?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]New York Times:  "In the more affluent, homogeneous sections of Fairfax, high schools such as Langley, where about 2 percent of students are on free or reduced lunch, have rejected I.B. and stuck with the College Board’s Advanced Placement program. And with good reason."

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That's NOT the NY Times opinion, that is "Patrick Welsh, a retired teacher, taught English at T.C. Williams High School in Alexandria, Va.", well known for his rabid opposition to IB (probably posts on this board too).

Here is from the NYT Education front page article "International Program Catches On in U.S. Schools" by Tamar Lewin, who frequently writes on education for the NYT:
“No question, the people who founded the I.B. were sitting in Geneva, post-World War II, thinking about how to ensure world peace, so the clear philosophical bent is that by integrating learning and understanding issues from multiple perspectives, we can promote global thinking,” he said. “But what sold me on the program was that it’s good pedagogy, that it really shows kids how things go together.”

Still, Mr. Mosca has no plans to eliminate the school’s Advanced Placement offerings.

“A.P. is great for content-based traditional learning,” he said. “It’s great for kids who like to memorize. But for more creative kids, who want to make those connections, there’s nothing like the I.B.”

We can do battle of the quotes all day long - it doesn't prove anything. We can't do a randomized experiment. To answer OP's question on why people in FFX CTY prefer AP to IB: many reasons. It's harder, has many requirements, it is (mostly) in the lower SES/lower performing schools and parents choose the best-performing school they can (and some conflate the IB and AP with that correlation). Parents interested in rigorous education for their kids should research both options in more substantive ways than reading anonymous forums.[/quote]

Yes, parents pick the best-performing schools they can.  In the absence of causation, and despite the presence of anecdotes (puffery from paid IB shills), they go with correlation, and see that most of the top schools in FCPS are AP; most of the worst schools are IB; and 15-20 years of spending extra on IB has not stopped the further decline of the schools saddled with IB programs.

And it's entirely fair to question the juxtaposition of IB's supposedly being "harder" with its placement in lower SES/lower performing schools.  Either it's not actually harder, FCPS made a major blunder in placing it where it did or, most likely, both.  All reasons, again, to gravitate towards the AP schools with great track records and plenty of (gasp) "traditional learning" taking place. [/quote]

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