Reply to IB Program- What is it? IB or AP?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]IB has been such a waste of time and money in FCPS.  It strains credulity that FCPS won't listen to parents and kill it, even when people have repeatedly expressed their anger over  getting redistricted to IB schools.[/quote]

I feel like I am missing something. Honest question, no snark - if it is as much a slam dunk as you claim, why, with all of the budget problems FCPS has faced, hasn't IB been reduced to 1 or 2 schools? As you've presented above, it's a pretty straightforward argument - high costs, low participation rates (meaning negligible parental/staff resistance) , AP is probably better known and more popular...

If this is such obvious low-hanging fruit that is win-win for all involved, why hasn't it happened? What do Board members say? What's the inside scoop? There must be something, right?[/quote]

Why not (and I definitely would not say scaling back IB is a win-win for everybody, just for the majority):

* There are a limited number of people familiar with both programs.

* The majority who prefer AP generally seek out AP districts and take no further interest in IB, whereas the much smaller number of students and families who like IB will defend it aggressively.

* FCPS allows liberal pupil-placement, so you can transfer from an IB school to an AP school (and some like the ability to arbitrage school boundaries by buying into a less-expensive IB school district and then pupil placing to an AP school in a more expensive district).

* FCPS institutionally does not admit mistakes or scrutinize the effectiveness of programs once they are in place.

* Significant numbers of parents at most IB schools live in low-SES communities where they are simply grateful that their children are getting a free education.

* Others will simply view criticisms of the IB program as an attack on their school and defend it, even if they personally would prefer AP if the matter were up for a fresh vote.

* Some parents like the fact that IB allows their children to attend a "school within a school" and, therefore, defend IB for that reason.

* The IBO gets an enormous amount of money from area public school systems and there are literally dozens of people in FCPS and the DC area who have a direct, vested interest in promoting IB (ranging from IBO officials at the 'IB Global Centre for the Americas" in Bethesda, Maryland to the dedicated "IB coordinators" at individual schools throughout the DC area).

* If you criticize IB as inefficient or wasteful, you are attacked personally.

* There are few School Board members who have a good grasp of the FCPS budget, and some Board members embrace the "feel-good" notions that IB espouses, such as creating "global citizens" and "lifetime learners."

* As IB is now installed at numerous schools, it is easier to claim that it's a success by pointing to whatever statistics can be cited in any particular year to suggest progress (whether it's a higher number of IB diploma recipients, a larger number of IB test takers, or a higher pass rate on IB exams) than to ask the tough "what if" questions (i.e., would most students at a school actually be better served by AP, or if the money spent on IB was spent instead to hire more teachers or offer additional classes).

* Any discussion of cost-cutting measures typically gets drowned in a sea of comments about other programs or initiatives that also cost money; in response, FCPS's traditional response has not been to cut the "low-hanging fruit," but instead to put on the chopping block, at least in the first instance, those programs that parents most want to preserve (music, sports, language instruction) in order to trigger calls for a greater transfer from the Board of Supervisors.  Then, if FCPS still needs to cut costs, it is easier for FCPS to just fire teachers than cut a program that someone, somewhere likes.       
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