Reply to could West Potomac become a Marshall in 10 years?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]FCPS could also balance demographics by getting rid of IB.  IB allows hundreds of higher SES kids in many of the poorer schools to pupil place to higher SES AP schools.  It also allows higher SES kids zoned for Falls Church, which is AP, to pupil place to Marshall, which is IB.

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I don't think you're going to find much support for that.  Those motivated parents and kids who Pupil place to higher SES AP and IB schools are the ambitious kids that FCPS wants - they are primed to succeed and the parents will revolt if they can't find a way to access what the AAP and higher SES schools offer.  "Balancing demographics" is not an FCPS objective (despite some cheap talk) - serving ambitious, motivated kids is a big concern, and avoiding confrontation with their motivated, activated parents is another.[/quote]

People complain and then adjust.  If FCPS was prepared to move neighborhoods from higher SES AP schools to South Lakes in 2008, over their protests, it certainly could decide that, say, getting rid of IB at Lee and Annandale (which would boost the enrollments at both schools and stem the flight to West Springfield and Woodson) makes sense.  It would save money, and it's not like parents there who are currently pupil placing their kids to AP schools are going to show up and testify that their base schools should remain IB so they can avoid them.   [/quote]

It's true that people "complain and then adjust" - we just don't want the "adjustment" to be white flight to the higher SES districts - further exacerbating the quality differentials.  I don't understand your logic that getting rid of IB at Lee and Annandale would boost enrollment - how many students pupil place out to AP schools?  And are you sure that they would remain if both schools went to AP?  I sense that might not come about.  As to saving money - that's minuscule. I still can't get a straight answer from Senior Leadership but I can tell you that the Program Budget and Budget Questions have both reported that the differential is not great.  You'd still have IB at Marshall, Robinson, Stuart and Edison.

To address the other posters - the opposition to IB is largely premised on cost (which is as much as $2M/yr in total per the Program Budget).  IB credits are now recognized at most colleges and universities (and all the VA schools).  It is a more demanding or limited program in the sense that the requirements are significant and preclude the flexibility that AP offers.  One benefit that I think gets little attention (other than by the Administration) is the fact that the IB candidates are tested and the papers are graded offsite by third parties.  This allows for a good comparison of student achievement, and by derivation, teacher performance, against a worldwide cohort of ambitious students.  There are SOLs and the PACE assessments but the IB is the best comparator for assessing both students and teachers - this is valuable to keep tabs on the level of instruction for the ambitious and motivated, and is a good selling point for FCPS in attracting the parent with high ambitions for their student.  There's been a lot of discussion about what it does for less motivated and ambitious (or less well supported) students and while I don't think the data can be strongly relied on - I sense there may not be a lot of benefit, and other approaches might be more appropriate.[/quote]

The schools in FCPS with the highest SAT scores are primarily AP schools (and the top 6 are all AP schools), so there's little basis to assume that getting rid of IB at some schools would lead to any significant brain drain or white flight.  In fact, most IB schools in FCPS historically have lost many students to AP schools, at least until more of the AP schools started closing to transfers.  Annandale was roughly even last year, but has had substantial net out-placements in prior years, while Lee and Mount Vernon (both IB) had net out-placements of 87 and 105 students last year.  Another factor to consider is that Asian students are the highest performing cohort in FCPS, and the highest performing Asian students are also at the AP schools.

Overall, familiarity with years of test scores and demographic data in FCPS tells me that having no more than 4 IB schools (Marshall, South Lakes, Robinson and Stuart) would be enough to meet the demand; save money; probably help Stuart by making it more of a regional IB center (as opposed to just one of multiple IB schools in southeastern Fairfax); and stem some of the pupil placements that exacerbate the FARMS rates and low test scores at other schools like Lee and Mount Vernon.

But I know that there are IB promoters out there who will defend it every time - even if the IB diploma rates at their schools remain in the single digits and other students might benefit more from AP or other approaches, they will claim IB is "progressive" because their own kid (usually white) is an IB diploma candidate.  Those who wouldn't live in those districts because they only offer IB typically don't speak up, since they moved elsewhere and are less likely to chime in now. [/quote]

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