Anonymous
Post 07/18/2025 14:51     Subject: Re:what is the difference between Madison HS, Oakton, and Reston high schools?

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
That is simply untrue. Sure, only speaking from our own experience as a past Foreign Service family, but over 15+ years, almost each single family I’ve known of coming back from government service overseas, including military, has been “where are the IB schools?”. We are incredibly grateful that FCPS offers it. Why all the hatred for IB in this forum? You worry your AP kid just won’t shine as much? You are scared of “other” kids transferring? I don’t get it. IB parents never complain about AP, couldn’t care less, they’re just happy with their choice and carry on.


This is one person's opinion. I strongly disagree and prefer AP. Military people live all over the United States. I've never known any to look for the IB school. (spouse of retired military)


+1. FCPS should have a single IB school where kids actually commit to doing the IB program. Having eight IB schools is a waste of money and not good for the kids, either. And the schools with the most military families are West Springfield and Lake Braddock - both AP. So much for seeking out IB.



Set IB as an academy type program. Kids can transfer into the IB school as Juniors when the IB classes start. Given the low number of people completing the diploma, it would be a nice way to use space at one of the underutilized HS.
Anonymous
Post 07/18/2025 13:16     Subject: Re:what is the difference between Madison HS, Oakton, and Reston high schools?

Anonymous wrote:
That is simply untrue. Sure, only speaking from our own experience as a past Foreign Service family, but over 15+ years, almost each single family I’ve known of coming back from government service overseas, including military, has been “where are the IB schools?”. We are incredibly grateful that FCPS offers it. Why all the hatred for IB in this forum? You worry your AP kid just won’t shine as much? You are scared of “other” kids transferring? I don’t get it. IB parents never complain about AP, couldn’t care less, they’re just happy with their choice and carry on.


This is one person's opinion. I strongly disagree and prefer AP. Military people live all over the United States. I've never known any to look for the IB school. (spouse of retired military)


+1. FCPS should have a single IB school where kids actually commit to doing the IB program. Having eight IB schools is a waste of money and not good for the kids, either. And the schools with the most military families are West Springfield and Lake Braddock - both AP. So much for seeking out IB.

Anonymous
Post 07/18/2025 13:06     Subject: Re:what is the difference between Madison HS, Oakton, and Reston high schools?

That is simply untrue. Sure, only speaking from our own experience as a past Foreign Service family, but over 15+ years, almost each single family I’ve known of coming back from government service overseas, including military, has been “where are the IB schools?”. We are incredibly grateful that FCPS offers it. Why all the hatred for IB in this forum? You worry your AP kid just won’t shine as much? You are scared of “other” kids transferring? I don’t get it. IB parents never complain about AP, couldn’t care less, they’re just happy with their choice and carry on.


This is one person's opinion. I strongly disagree and prefer AP. Military people live all over the United States. I've never known any to look for the IB school. (spouse of retired military)
Anonymous
Post 07/18/2025 13:01     Subject: Re:what is the difference between Madison HS, Oakton, and Reston high schools?

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
No. You have to look at the other schools. There are a lot more kids Pupil placing out of IB schools than AP Schools. [This is totally meaningless unless you know that the kids were in the IB program. In reality, very few of them at all were likely in IB.]

Here is another reason Herndon kids may be pupil placing into South Lakes:

The AAP kids go to Hughes from Herndon Middle School. Hughes shares a campus with South Lakes. The kids are accustomed to going there.
It has the Middle Years IB Program and I am confident that the focus is to get the kids into IB in high school.

Until FCPS eliminates the IB program, this is likely to consider. The students are being told, I am sure, that IB is superior.


I doubt that kids at Hughes are being hard sold on IB, otherwise you would have more then 50 kids completing the IB diploma each year. The AAP kids at Hughes have friends there and are probably chosing to stay with their friends, not that they want to complete the IB program.

Kids are transferring out of IB school before they can take IB classes in favor of AP classes. They are required to take AP classes at the HS that they are pupil placed in. If they don't take AP classes, they have to return to your base school. Do you think that a student taking an AP class as a freshman is not likely to take IB classes as a Junior, when most IB classes become available to students? So yes, those kids who transferred to AP schools and are taking AP classes would have been taking IB classes.

We hope to be pupil placing our son out of an IB school into an AP school. He will have had 2 years of a foreign language at MS, just in case he says he wants to stay at the IB school, so he can take the IB Diploma. If he chooses to stay at the IB program, he will work the IB diploma because it is the most rigorous path at an IB school. If he goes to the AP school, I figure he will take some where in the neighborhood of 10 APs, maybe more.

And yes, there are kids from IB schools that end up at TJ but that is a relatively small number of kids.

SLHS sends 33 kids to TJ
Robinson sends 50
Justice sends 26
Mount Vernon sends 24
Lewis sends 39
Madison sends 66



Someone has a real problem keeping Madison and Marshall straight on these threads.

The statistics for how many kids Annandale "sends' to TJ are distorted because TJ is located within the Annandale district and some families move into that area after their kids get into TJ for convenience.


Yup, I confuse Madison and Marshall. Marshall transfers out 195 kids and transfers in 64. Marshall sends 84 kids to TJ. So, 111 kids transfer out of Marshall to schools that are not TJ.
Annandale has 56 kids at TJ. It transfers out 294 kids with 50 transferring in. I don't think that is because parents are moving to the area to attend TJ.

The point is that the number of kids transferring out of the IB schools is far higher than the number of kids transferring in for IB, South Lakes seems to be the exception to that rule. I suspect that the 164 kids transferring from Herndon to SLHS are AAP kids with friends at SLHS whose parents would prefer them at a different school then Herndon.

I understand that some folks really like the IB program but I think they are in the minority. The people who are taking IB ala carte would take the same type of AP classes. They probably don't care if it is IB or AP.


If the TJ students reside in the Annandale district, then the 294 "transfers out" this past year include the 56 kids living within the Annandale boundaries at TJ. Of the remaining 238, 144 can be accounted for by transfers of 10 or more kids to these schools:

Lake Braddock: 87
Woodson: 23
Edison: 14
Bryant Alternative: 10
Falls Church: 10

That leaves 94 unaccounted for, although Annandale had fewer than 10 transfers to Fairfax, Justice, Langley, Lewis, Madison, Marshall, McLean, Oakton, Robinson, West Potomac, and West Springfield. I suspect some of the transfers were also to other alternative programs for which FCPS doesn't provide more details.


This talk about transfers is pointless and misleading because you don't know whether these were IB kids at the origin school or that they took any AP classes when they got to the destination school.

It could easily be that the IB kids are staying at the IB schools. You just don't have the information to conclude that these transfers "say anything" about IB vs AP.


Pupil placement requires that you take the classes that you used as your reason for leaving your base school. If you leave IB to pupil place at an AP school, you have to take an AP class each year. If you don’t you, you return to your IB base school. If you pupil place for a language, you have to take said language. If you don’t you are returned to your base school. If you transfer for AP and a language, you have to take AP classes and the language, otherwise you return to your base.

So, students who leave an IB school to pupil place at an AP school have to take AP classes. That is how it works.


But we don't know the reason for any of these transfers. There are other reasons than wanting to take AP classes. Therefore we cannot conclude that these transfers show that people want to do AP rather than IB.


Please, we all know this is likely. Sure, there are some other changes--for example, parent works at the school, but the numbers are an indicator. There are not that many reasons available for pupil placement.


Most people who move out of one school for another are gaming system to move into what they view as a more desirable school. You think all those language transfers are an indicator that students really, really love foreign languages? It's not, and AP/IB is no different.

A very vocal minority of parents care about AP, but many parents and students are happy with IB, and an even larger amount of people don't care.

You can keep arguing about the superiority of AP on your echo chamber here, but that doesn't prove anything.


I don't agree with this. A majority of parents and students who are actually informed about the pros and cons of AP and IB prefer AP for its greater flexibility. Sure, if your kid is just going to take basic classes, it doesn't matter, but that's not the typical profile of an FCPS family.

It's telling that FCPS hasn't tried to replace AP with IB at any FCPS high school since the Woodson debacle in 1999 (the IB programs at Annandale and Lee/Lewis were already planned at the time). If FCPS tried to impose IB on families at the top AP schools, there would be considerable opposition. Do you really think the opposite would be true if they proposed to revert to AP at one or more of the current IB schools?



That is simply untrue. Sure, only speaking from our own experience as a past Foreign Service family, but over 15+ years, almost each single family I’ve known of coming back from government service overseas, including military, has been “where are the IB schools?”. We are incredibly grateful that FCPS offers it. Why all the hatred for IB in this forum? You worry your AP kid just won’t shine as much? You are scared of “other” kids transferring? I don’t get it. IB parents never complain about AP, couldn’t care less, they’re just happy with their choice and carry on.
Anonymous
Post 07/17/2025 21:32     Subject: Re:what is the difference between Madison HS, Oakton, and Reston high schools?

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
No. You have to look at the other schools. There are a lot more kids Pupil placing out of IB schools than AP Schools. [This is totally meaningless unless you know that the kids were in the IB program. In reality, very few of them at all were likely in IB.]

Here is another reason Herndon kids may be pupil placing into South Lakes:

The AAP kids go to Hughes from Herndon Middle School. Hughes shares a campus with South Lakes. The kids are accustomed to going there.
It has the Middle Years IB Program and I am confident that the focus is to get the kids into IB in high school.

Until FCPS eliminates the IB program, this is likely to consider. The students are being told, I am sure, that IB is superior.


I doubt that kids at Hughes are being hard sold on IB, otherwise you would have more then 50 kids completing the IB diploma each year. The AAP kids at Hughes have friends there and are probably chosing to stay with their friends, not that they want to complete the IB program.

Kids are transferring out of IB school before they can take IB classes in favor of AP classes. They are required to take AP classes at the HS that they are pupil placed in. If they don't take AP classes, they have to return to your base school. Do you think that a student taking an AP class as a freshman is not likely to take IB classes as a Junior, when most IB classes become available to students? So yes, those kids who transferred to AP schools and are taking AP classes would have been taking IB classes.

We hope to be pupil placing our son out of an IB school into an AP school. He will have had 2 years of a foreign language at MS, just in case he says he wants to stay at the IB school, so he can take the IB Diploma. If he chooses to stay at the IB program, he will work the IB diploma because it is the most rigorous path at an IB school. If he goes to the AP school, I figure he will take some where in the neighborhood of 10 APs, maybe more.

And yes, there are kids from IB schools that end up at TJ but that is a relatively small number of kids.

SLHS sends 33 kids to TJ
Robinson sends 50
Justice sends 26
Mount Vernon sends 24
Lewis sends 39
Madison sends 66



Someone has a real problem keeping Madison and Marshall straight on these threads.

The statistics for how many kids Annandale "sends' to TJ are distorted because TJ is located within the Annandale district and some families move into that area after their kids get into TJ for convenience.


Yup, I confuse Madison and Marshall. Marshall transfers out 195 kids and transfers in 64. Marshall sends 84 kids to TJ. So, 111 kids transfer out of Marshall to schools that are not TJ.
Annandale has 56 kids at TJ. It transfers out 294 kids with 50 transferring in. I don't think that is because parents are moving to the area to attend TJ.

The point is that the number of kids transferring out of the IB schools is far higher than the number of kids transferring in for IB, South Lakes seems to be the exception to that rule. I suspect that the 164 kids transferring from Herndon to SLHS are AAP kids with friends at SLHS whose parents would prefer them at a different school then Herndon.

I understand that some folks really like the IB program but I think they are in the minority. The people who are taking IB ala carte would take the same type of AP classes. They probably don't care if it is IB or AP.


If the TJ students reside in the Annandale district, then the 294 "transfers out" this past year include the 56 kids living within the Annandale boundaries at TJ. Of the remaining 238, 144 can be accounted for by transfers of 10 or more kids to these schools:

Lake Braddock: 87
Woodson: 23
Edison: 14
Bryant Alternative: 10
Falls Church: 10

That leaves 94 unaccounted for, although Annandale had fewer than 10 transfers to Fairfax, Justice, Langley, Lewis, Madison, Marshall, McLean, Oakton, Robinson, West Potomac, and West Springfield. I suspect some of the transfers were also to other alternative programs for which FCPS doesn't provide more details.


This talk about transfers is pointless and misleading because you don't know whether these were IB kids at the origin school or that they took any AP classes when they got to the destination school.

It could easily be that the IB kids are staying at the IB schools. You just don't have the information to conclude that these transfers "say anything" about IB vs AP.


Pupil placement requires that you take the classes that you used as your reason for leaving your base school. If you leave IB to pupil place at an AP school, you have to take an AP class each year. If you don’t you, you return to your IB base school. If you pupil place for a language, you have to take said language. If you don’t you are returned to your base school. If you transfer for AP and a language, you have to take AP classes and the language, otherwise you return to your base.

So, students who leave an IB school to pupil place at an AP school have to take AP classes. That is how it works.


But we don't know the reason for any of these transfers. There are other reasons than wanting to take AP classes. Therefore we cannot conclude that these transfers show that people want to do AP rather than IB.


Please, we all know this is likely. Sure, there are some other changes--for example, parent works at the school, but the numbers are an indicator. There are not that many reasons available for pupil placement.


Most people who move out of one school for another are gaming system to move into what they view as a more desirable school. You think all those language transfers are an indicator that students really, really love foreign languages? It's not, and AP/IB is no different.

A very vocal minority of parents care about AP, but many parents and students are happy with IB, and an even larger amount of people don't care.

You can keep arguing about the superiority of AP on your echo chamber here, but that doesn't prove anything.


I don't agree with this. A majority of parents and students who are actually informed about the pros and cons of AP and IB prefer AP for its greater flexibility. Sure, if your kid is just going to take basic classes, it doesn't matter, but that's not the typical profile of an FCPS family.

It's telling that FCPS hasn't tried to replace AP with IB at any FCPS high school since the Woodson debacle in 1999 (the IB programs at Annandale and Lee/Lewis were already planned at the time). If FCPS tried to impose IB on families at the top AP schools, there would be considerable opposition. Do you really think the opposite would be true if they proposed to revert to AP at one or more of the current IB schools?


If IB was THE best, TJ would be an IB school. It’s not and if IB schools changed to AP school tomorrow, most parents would be happy. The voices that would complain likely would not have any kids going to those schools or even attempting to do full IB diploma. It’s a holdover that sounds good to say FCPS has but it is not helping kids.
Anonymous
Post 07/17/2025 16:32     Subject: Re:what is the difference between Madison HS, Oakton, and Reston high schools?

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
No. You have to look at the other schools. There are a lot more kids Pupil placing out of IB schools than AP Schools. [This is totally meaningless unless you know that the kids were in the IB program. In reality, very few of them at all were likely in IB.]

Here is another reason Herndon kids may be pupil placing into South Lakes:

The AAP kids go to Hughes from Herndon Middle School. Hughes shares a campus with South Lakes. The kids are accustomed to going there.
It has the Middle Years IB Program and I am confident that the focus is to get the kids into IB in high school.

Until FCPS eliminates the IB program, this is likely to consider. The students are being told, I am sure, that IB is superior.


I doubt that kids at Hughes are being hard sold on IB, otherwise you would have more then 50 kids completing the IB diploma each year. The AAP kids at Hughes have friends there and are probably chosing to stay with their friends, not that they want to complete the IB program.

Kids are transferring out of IB school before they can take IB classes in favor of AP classes. They are required to take AP classes at the HS that they are pupil placed in. If they don't take AP classes, they have to return to your base school. Do you think that a student taking an AP class as a freshman is not likely to take IB classes as a Junior, when most IB classes become available to students? So yes, those kids who transferred to AP schools and are taking AP classes would have been taking IB classes.

We hope to be pupil placing our son out of an IB school into an AP school. He will have had 2 years of a foreign language at MS, just in case he says he wants to stay at the IB school, so he can take the IB Diploma. If he chooses to stay at the IB program, he will work the IB diploma because it is the most rigorous path at an IB school. If he goes to the AP school, I figure he will take some where in the neighborhood of 10 APs, maybe more.

And yes, there are kids from IB schools that end up at TJ but that is a relatively small number of kids.

SLHS sends 33 kids to TJ
Robinson sends 50
Justice sends 26
Mount Vernon sends 24
Lewis sends 39
Madison sends 66



Someone has a real problem keeping Madison and Marshall straight on these threads.

The statistics for how many kids Annandale "sends' to TJ are distorted because TJ is located within the Annandale district and some families move into that area after their kids get into TJ for convenience.


Yup, I confuse Madison and Marshall. Marshall transfers out 195 kids and transfers in 64. Marshall sends 84 kids to TJ. So, 111 kids transfer out of Marshall to schools that are not TJ.
Annandale has 56 kids at TJ. It transfers out 294 kids with 50 transferring in. I don't think that is because parents are moving to the area to attend TJ.

The point is that the number of kids transferring out of the IB schools is far higher than the number of kids transferring in for IB, South Lakes seems to be the exception to that rule. I suspect that the 164 kids transferring from Herndon to SLHS are AAP kids with friends at SLHS whose parents would prefer them at a different school then Herndon.

I understand that some folks really like the IB program but I think they are in the minority. The people who are taking IB ala carte would take the same type of AP classes. They probably don't care if it is IB or AP.


If the TJ students reside in the Annandale district, then the 294 "transfers out" this past year include the 56 kids living within the Annandale boundaries at TJ. Of the remaining 238, 144 can be accounted for by transfers of 10 or more kids to these schools:

Lake Braddock: 87
Woodson: 23
Edison: 14
Bryant Alternative: 10
Falls Church: 10

That leaves 94 unaccounted for, although Annandale had fewer than 10 transfers to Fairfax, Justice, Langley, Lewis, Madison, Marshall, McLean, Oakton, Robinson, West Potomac, and West Springfield. I suspect some of the transfers were also to other alternative programs for which FCPS doesn't provide more details.


This talk about transfers is pointless and misleading because you don't know whether these were IB kids at the origin school or that they took any AP classes when they got to the destination school.

It could easily be that the IB kids are staying at the IB schools. You just don't have the information to conclude that these transfers "say anything" about IB vs AP.


Pupil placement requires that you take the classes that you used as your reason for leaving your base school. If you leave IB to pupil place at an AP school, you have to take an AP class each year. If you don’t you, you return to your IB base school. If you pupil place for a language, you have to take said language. If you don’t you are returned to your base school. If you transfer for AP and a language, you have to take AP classes and the language, otherwise you return to your base.

So, students who leave an IB school to pupil place at an AP school have to take AP classes. That is how it works.


But we don't know the reason for any of these transfers. There are other reasons than wanting to take AP classes. Therefore we cannot conclude that these transfers show that people want to do AP rather than IB.


Please, we all know this is likely. Sure, there are some other changes--for example, parent works at the school, but the numbers are an indicator. There are not that many reasons available for pupil placement.


Most people who move out of one school for another are gaming system to move into what they view as a more desirable school. You think all those language transfers are an indicator that students really, really love foreign languages? It's not, and AP/IB is no different.

A very vocal minority of parents care about AP, but many parents and students are happy with IB, and an even larger amount of people don't care.

You can keep arguing about the superiority of AP on your echo chamber here, but that doesn't prove anything.


I don't agree with this. A majority of parents and students who are actually informed about the pros and cons of AP and IB prefer AP for its greater flexibility. Sure, if your kid is just going to take basic classes, it doesn't matter, but that's not the typical profile of an FCPS family.

It's telling that FCPS hasn't tried to replace AP with IB at any FCPS high school since the Woodson debacle in 1999 (the IB programs at Annandale and Lee/Lewis were already planned at the time). If FCPS tried to impose IB on families at the top AP schools, there would be considerable opposition. Do you really think the opposite would be true if they proposed to revert to AP at one or more of the current IB schools?
Anonymous
Post 07/17/2025 16:26     Subject: Re:what is the difference between Madison HS, Oakton, and Reston high schools?

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
No. You have to look at the other schools. There are a lot more kids Pupil placing out of IB schools than AP Schools. [This is totally meaningless unless you know that the kids were in the IB program. In reality, very few of them at all were likely in IB.]

Here is another reason Herndon kids may be pupil placing into South Lakes:

The AAP kids go to Hughes from Herndon Middle School. Hughes shares a campus with South Lakes. The kids are accustomed to going there.
It has the Middle Years IB Program and I am confident that the focus is to get the kids into IB in high school.

Until FCPS eliminates the IB program, this is likely to consider. The students are being told, I am sure, that IB is superior.


I doubt that kids at Hughes are being hard sold on IB, otherwise you would have more then 50 kids completing the IB diploma each year. The AAP kids at Hughes have friends there and are probably chosing to stay with their friends, not that they want to complete the IB program.

Kids are transferring out of IB school before they can take IB classes in favor of AP classes. They are required to take AP classes at the HS that they are pupil placed in. If they don't take AP classes, they have to return to your base school. Do you think that a student taking an AP class as a freshman is not likely to take IB classes as a Junior, when most IB classes become available to students? So yes, those kids who transferred to AP schools and are taking AP classes would have been taking IB classes.

We hope to be pupil placing our son out of an IB school into an AP school. He will have had 2 years of a foreign language at MS, just in case he says he wants to stay at the IB school, so he can take the IB Diploma. If he chooses to stay at the IB program, he will work the IB diploma because it is the most rigorous path at an IB school. If he goes to the AP school, I figure he will take some where in the neighborhood of 10 APs, maybe more.

And yes, there are kids from IB schools that end up at TJ but that is a relatively small number of kids.

SLHS sends 33 kids to TJ
Robinson sends 50
Justice sends 26
Mount Vernon sends 24
Lewis sends 39
Madison sends 66



Someone has a real problem keeping Madison and Marshall straight on these threads.

The statistics for how many kids Annandale "sends' to TJ are distorted because TJ is located within the Annandale district and some families move into that area after their kids get into TJ for convenience.


Yup, I confuse Madison and Marshall. Marshall transfers out 195 kids and transfers in 64. Marshall sends 84 kids to TJ. So, 111 kids transfer out of Marshall to schools that are not TJ.
Annandale has 56 kids at TJ. It transfers out 294 kids with 50 transferring in. I don't think that is because parents are moving to the area to attend TJ.

The point is that the number of kids transferring out of the IB schools is far higher than the number of kids transferring in for IB, South Lakes seems to be the exception to that rule. I suspect that the 164 kids transferring from Herndon to SLHS are AAP kids with friends at SLHS whose parents would prefer them at a different school then Herndon.

I understand that some folks really like the IB program but I think they are in the minority. The people who are taking IB ala carte would take the same type of AP classes. They probably don't care if it is IB or AP.


If the TJ students reside in the Annandale district, then the 294 "transfers out" this past year include the 56 kids living within the Annandale boundaries at TJ. Of the remaining 238, 144 can be accounted for by transfers of 10 or more kids to these schools:

Lake Braddock: 87
Woodson: 23
Edison: 14
Bryant Alternative: 10
Falls Church: 10

That leaves 94 unaccounted for, although Annandale had fewer than 10 transfers to Fairfax, Justice, Langley, Lewis, Madison, Marshall, McLean, Oakton, Robinson, West Potomac, and West Springfield. I suspect some of the transfers were also to other alternative programs for which FCPS doesn't provide more details.


This talk about transfers is pointless and misleading because you don't know whether these were IB kids at the origin school or that they took any AP classes when they got to the destination school.

It could easily be that the IB kids are staying at the IB schools. You just don't have the information to conclude that these transfers "say anything" about IB vs AP.


Pupil placement requires that you take the classes that you used as your reason for leaving your base school. If you leave IB to pupil place at an AP school, you have to take an AP class each year. If you don’t you, you return to your IB base school. If you pupil place for a language, you have to take said language. If you don’t you are returned to your base school. If you transfer for AP and a language, you have to take AP classes and the language, otherwise you return to your base.

So, students who leave an IB school to pupil place at an AP school have to take AP classes. That is how it works.


But we don't know the reason for any of these transfers. There are other reasons than wanting to take AP classes. Therefore we cannot conclude that these transfers show that people want to do AP rather than IB.


Please, we all know this is likely. Sure, there are some other changes--for example, parent works at the school, but the numbers are an indicator. There are not that many reasons available for pupil placement.


Most people who move out of one school for another are gaming system to move into what they view as a more desirable school. You think all those language transfers are an indicator that students really, really love foreign languages? It's not, and AP/IB is no different.

A very vocal minority of parents care about AP, but many parents and students are happy with IB, and an even larger amount of people don't care.

You can keep arguing about the superiority of AP on your echo chamber here, but that doesn't prove anything.


It proves that programming is not equitable. Why have two different programs when communities do not have a say?
Anonymous
Post 07/17/2025 16:20     Subject: Re:what is the difference between Madison HS, Oakton, and Reston high schools?

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
No. You have to look at the other schools. There are a lot more kids Pupil placing out of IB schools than AP Schools. [This is totally meaningless unless you know that the kids were in the IB program. In reality, very few of them at all were likely in IB.]

Here is another reason Herndon kids may be pupil placing into South Lakes:

The AAP kids go to Hughes from Herndon Middle School. Hughes shares a campus with South Lakes. The kids are accustomed to going there.
It has the Middle Years IB Program and I am confident that the focus is to get the kids into IB in high school.

Until FCPS eliminates the IB program, this is likely to consider. The students are being told, I am sure, that IB is superior.


I doubt that kids at Hughes are being hard sold on IB, otherwise you would have more then 50 kids completing the IB diploma each year. The AAP kids at Hughes have friends there and are probably chosing to stay with their friends, not that they want to complete the IB program.

Kids are transferring out of IB school before they can take IB classes in favor of AP classes. They are required to take AP classes at the HS that they are pupil placed in. If they don't take AP classes, they have to return to your base school. Do you think that a student taking an AP class as a freshman is not likely to take IB classes as a Junior, when most IB classes become available to students? So yes, those kids who transferred to AP schools and are taking AP classes would have been taking IB classes.

We hope to be pupil placing our son out of an IB school into an AP school. He will have had 2 years of a foreign language at MS, just in case he says he wants to stay at the IB school, so he can take the IB Diploma. If he chooses to stay at the IB program, he will work the IB diploma because it is the most rigorous path at an IB school. If he goes to the AP school, I figure he will take some where in the neighborhood of 10 APs, maybe more.

And yes, there are kids from IB schools that end up at TJ but that is a relatively small number of kids.

SLHS sends 33 kids to TJ
Robinson sends 50
Justice sends 26
Mount Vernon sends 24
Lewis sends 39
Madison sends 66



Someone has a real problem keeping Madison and Marshall straight on these threads.

The statistics for how many kids Annandale "sends' to TJ are distorted because TJ is located within the Annandale district and some families move into that area after their kids get into TJ for convenience.


Yup, I confuse Madison and Marshall. Marshall transfers out 195 kids and transfers in 64. Marshall sends 84 kids to TJ. So, 111 kids transfer out of Marshall to schools that are not TJ.
Annandale has 56 kids at TJ. It transfers out 294 kids with 50 transferring in. I don't think that is because parents are moving to the area to attend TJ.

The point is that the number of kids transferring out of the IB schools is far higher than the number of kids transferring in for IB, South Lakes seems to be the exception to that rule. I suspect that the 164 kids transferring from Herndon to SLHS are AAP kids with friends at SLHS whose parents would prefer them at a different school then Herndon.

I understand that some folks really like the IB program but I think they are in the minority. The people who are taking IB ala carte would take the same type of AP classes. They probably don't care if it is IB or AP.


If the TJ students reside in the Annandale district, then the 294 "transfers out" this past year include the 56 kids living within the Annandale boundaries at TJ. Of the remaining 238, 144 can be accounted for by transfers of 10 or more kids to these schools:

Lake Braddock: 87
Woodson: 23
Edison: 14
Bryant Alternative: 10
Falls Church: 10

That leaves 94 unaccounted for, although Annandale had fewer than 10 transfers to Fairfax, Justice, Langley, Lewis, Madison, Marshall, McLean, Oakton, Robinson, West Potomac, and West Springfield. I suspect some of the transfers were also to other alternative programs for which FCPS doesn't provide more details.


This talk about transfers is pointless and misleading because you don't know whether these were IB kids at the origin school or that they took any AP classes when they got to the destination school.

It could easily be that the IB kids are staying at the IB schools. You just don't have the information to conclude that these transfers "say anything" about IB vs AP.


Pupil placement requires that you take the classes that you used as your reason for leaving your base school. If you leave IB to pupil place at an AP school, you have to take an AP class each year. If you don’t you, you return to your IB base school. If you pupil place for a language, you have to take said language. If you don’t you are returned to your base school. If you transfer for AP and a language, you have to take AP classes and the language, otherwise you return to your base.

So, students who leave an IB school to pupil place at an AP school have to take AP classes. That is how it works.


But we don't know the reason for any of these transfers. There are other reasons than wanting to take AP classes. Therefore we cannot conclude that these transfers show that people want to do AP rather than IB.


Please, we all know this is likely. Sure, there are some other changes--for example, parent works at the school, but the numbers are an indicator. There are not that many reasons available for pupil placement.


Most people who move out of one school for another are gaming system to move into what they view as a more desirable school. You think all those language transfers are an indicator that students really, really love foreign languages? It's not, and AP/IB is no different.

A very vocal minority of parents care about AP, but many parents and students are happy with IB, and an even larger amount of people don't care.

You can keep arguing about the superiority of AP on your echo chamber here, but that doesn't prove anything.
Anonymous
Post 07/17/2025 15:52     Subject: Re:what is the difference between Madison HS, Oakton, and Reston high schools?

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
No. You have to look at the other schools. There are a lot more kids Pupil placing out of IB schools than AP Schools. [This is totally meaningless unless you know that the kids were in the IB program. In reality, very few of them at all were likely in IB.]

Here is another reason Herndon kids may be pupil placing into South Lakes:

The AAP kids go to Hughes from Herndon Middle School. Hughes shares a campus with South Lakes. The kids are accustomed to going there.
It has the Middle Years IB Program and I am confident that the focus is to get the kids into IB in high school.

Until FCPS eliminates the IB program, this is likely to consider. The students are being told, I am sure, that IB is superior.


I doubt that kids at Hughes are being hard sold on IB, otherwise you would have more then 50 kids completing the IB diploma each year. The AAP kids at Hughes have friends there and are probably chosing to stay with their friends, not that they want to complete the IB program.

Kids are transferring out of IB school before they can take IB classes in favor of AP classes. They are required to take AP classes at the HS that they are pupil placed in. If they don't take AP classes, they have to return to your base school. Do you think that a student taking an AP class as a freshman is not likely to take IB classes as a Junior, when most IB classes become available to students? So yes, those kids who transferred to AP schools and are taking AP classes would have been taking IB classes.

We hope to be pupil placing our son out of an IB school into an AP school. He will have had 2 years of a foreign language at MS, just in case he says he wants to stay at the IB school, so he can take the IB Diploma. If he chooses to stay at the IB program, he will work the IB diploma because it is the most rigorous path at an IB school. If he goes to the AP school, I figure he will take some where in the neighborhood of 10 APs, maybe more.

And yes, there are kids from IB schools that end up at TJ but that is a relatively small number of kids.

SLHS sends 33 kids to TJ
Robinson sends 50
Justice sends 26
Mount Vernon sends 24
Lewis sends 39
Madison sends 66



Someone has a real problem keeping Madison and Marshall straight on these threads.

The statistics for how many kids Annandale "sends' to TJ are distorted because TJ is located within the Annandale district and some families move into that area after their kids get into TJ for convenience.


Yup, I confuse Madison and Marshall. Marshall transfers out 195 kids and transfers in 64. Marshall sends 84 kids to TJ. So, 111 kids transfer out of Marshall to schools that are not TJ.
Annandale has 56 kids at TJ. It transfers out 294 kids with 50 transferring in. I don't think that is because parents are moving to the area to attend TJ.

The point is that the number of kids transferring out of the IB schools is far higher than the number of kids transferring in for IB, South Lakes seems to be the exception to that rule. I suspect that the 164 kids transferring from Herndon to SLHS are AAP kids with friends at SLHS whose parents would prefer them at a different school then Herndon.

I understand that some folks really like the IB program but I think they are in the minority. The people who are taking IB ala carte would take the same type of AP classes. They probably don't care if it is IB or AP.


If the TJ students reside in the Annandale district, then the 294 "transfers out" this past year include the 56 kids living within the Annandale boundaries at TJ. Of the remaining 238, 144 can be accounted for by transfers of 10 or more kids to these schools:

Lake Braddock: 87
Woodson: 23
Edison: 14
Bryant Alternative: 10
Falls Church: 10

That leaves 94 unaccounted for, although Annandale had fewer than 10 transfers to Fairfax, Justice, Langley, Lewis, Madison, Marshall, McLean, Oakton, Robinson, West Potomac, and West Springfield. I suspect some of the transfers were also to other alternative programs for which FCPS doesn't provide more details.


This talk about transfers is pointless and misleading because you don't know whether these were IB kids at the origin school or that they took any AP classes when they got to the destination school.
It could easily be that the IB kids are staying at the IB schools. You just don't have the information to conclude that these transfers "say anything" about IB vs AP.


Pupil placement requires that you take the classes that you used as your reason for leaving your base school. If you leave IB to pupil place at an AP school, you have to take an AP class each year. If you don’t you, you return to your IB base school. If you pupil place for a language, you have to take said language. If you don’t you are returned to your base school. If you transfer for AP and a language, you have to take AP classes and the language, otherwise you return to your base.

So, students who leave an IB school to pupil place at an AP school have to take AP classes. That is how it works.


This is incorrect. We are doing pupil placement for AP and my child needs to take 4 AP classes by the end of their junior year. They do not need to take one every year as many kids to do not take an AP class as a freshman.


I was wondering how they handle AP in freshman year. I am surprised that they don't have a requirement by sophomore year since AP classes are available then. And I know kids who take AP Comp Sci as freshmen.


Anonymous
Post 07/17/2025 15:15     Subject: Re:what is the difference between Madison HS, Oakton, and Reston high schools?

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
No. You have to look at the other schools. There are a lot more kids Pupil placing out of IB schools than AP Schools. [This is totally meaningless unless you know that the kids were in the IB program. In reality, very few of them at all were likely in IB.]

Here is another reason Herndon kids may be pupil placing into South Lakes:

The AAP kids go to Hughes from Herndon Middle School. Hughes shares a campus with South Lakes. The kids are accustomed to going there.
It has the Middle Years IB Program and I am confident that the focus is to get the kids into IB in high school.

Until FCPS eliminates the IB program, this is likely to consider. The students are being told, I am sure, that IB is superior.


I doubt that kids at Hughes are being hard sold on IB, otherwise you would have more then 50 kids completing the IB diploma each year. The AAP kids at Hughes have friends there and are probably chosing to stay with their friends, not that they want to complete the IB program.

Kids are transferring out of IB school before they can take IB classes in favor of AP classes. They are required to take AP classes at the HS that they are pupil placed in. If they don't take AP classes, they have to return to your base school. Do you think that a student taking an AP class as a freshman is not likely to take IB classes as a Junior, when most IB classes become available to students? So yes, those kids who transferred to AP schools and are taking AP classes would have been taking IB classes.

We hope to be pupil placing our son out of an IB school into an AP school. He will have had 2 years of a foreign language at MS, just in case he says he wants to stay at the IB school, so he can take the IB Diploma. If he chooses to stay at the IB program, he will work the IB diploma because it is the most rigorous path at an IB school. If he goes to the AP school, I figure he will take some where in the neighborhood of 10 APs, maybe more.

And yes, there are kids from IB schools that end up at TJ but that is a relatively small number of kids.

SLHS sends 33 kids to TJ
Robinson sends 50
Justice sends 26
Mount Vernon sends 24
Lewis sends 39
Madison sends 66



Someone has a real problem keeping Madison and Marshall straight on these threads.

The statistics for how many kids Annandale "sends' to TJ are distorted because TJ is located within the Annandale district and some families move into that area after their kids get into TJ for convenience.


Yup, I confuse Madison and Marshall. Marshall transfers out 195 kids and transfers in 64. Marshall sends 84 kids to TJ. So, 111 kids transfer out of Marshall to schools that are not TJ.
Annandale has 56 kids at TJ. It transfers out 294 kids with 50 transferring in. I don't think that is because parents are moving to the area to attend TJ.

The point is that the number of kids transferring out of the IB schools is far higher than the number of kids transferring in for IB, South Lakes seems to be the exception to that rule. I suspect that the 164 kids transferring from Herndon to SLHS are AAP kids with friends at SLHS whose parents would prefer them at a different school then Herndon.

I understand that some folks really like the IB program but I think they are in the minority. The people who are taking IB ala carte would take the same type of AP classes. They probably don't care if it is IB or AP.


If the TJ students reside in the Annandale district, then the 294 "transfers out" this past year include the 56 kids living within the Annandale boundaries at TJ. Of the remaining 238, 144 can be accounted for by transfers of 10 or more kids to these schools:

Lake Braddock: 87
Woodson: 23
Edison: 14
Bryant Alternative: 10
Falls Church: 10

That leaves 94 unaccounted for, although Annandale had fewer than 10 transfers to Fairfax, Justice, Langley, Lewis, Madison, Marshall, McLean, Oakton, Robinson, West Potomac, and West Springfield. I suspect some of the transfers were also to other alternative programs for which FCPS doesn't provide more details.


This talk about transfers is pointless and misleading because you don't know whether these were IB kids at the origin school or that they took any AP classes when they got to the destination school.
It could easily be that the IB kids are staying at the IB schools. You just don't have the information to conclude that these transfers "say anything" about IB vs AP.


Pupil placement requires that you take the classes that you used as your reason for leaving your base school. If you leave IB to pupil place at an AP school, you have to take an AP class each year. If you don’t you, you return to your IB base school. If you pupil place for a language, you have to take said language. If you don’t you are returned to your base school. If you transfer for AP and a language, you have to take AP classes and the language, otherwise you return to your base.

So, students who leave an IB school to pupil place at an AP school have to take AP classes. That is how it works.


This is incorrect. We are doing pupil placement for AP and my child needs to take a total of 4 AP classes and 3 have to be done by the end of their junior year. They do not need to take one every year as many kids to do not take an AP class as a freshman.
Anonymous
Post 07/17/2025 15:15     Subject: Re:what is the difference between Madison HS, Oakton, and Reston high schools?

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
No. You have to look at the other schools. There are a lot more kids Pupil placing out of IB schools than AP Schools. [This is totally meaningless unless you know that the kids were in the IB program. In reality, very few of them at all were likely in IB.]

Here is another reason Herndon kids may be pupil placing into South Lakes:

The AAP kids go to Hughes from Herndon Middle School. Hughes shares a campus with South Lakes. The kids are accustomed to going there.
It has the Middle Years IB Program and I am confident that the focus is to get the kids into IB in high school.

Until FCPS eliminates the IB program, this is likely to consider. The students are being told, I am sure, that IB is superior.


I doubt that kids at Hughes are being hard sold on IB, otherwise you would have more then 50 kids completing the IB diploma each year. The AAP kids at Hughes have friends there and are probably chosing to stay with their friends, not that they want to complete the IB program.

Kids are transferring out of IB school before they can take IB classes in favor of AP classes. They are required to take AP classes at the HS that they are pupil placed in. If they don't take AP classes, they have to return to your base school. Do you think that a student taking an AP class as a freshman is not likely to take IB classes as a Junior, when most IB classes become available to students? So yes, those kids who transferred to AP schools and are taking AP classes would have been taking IB classes.

We hope to be pupil placing our son out of an IB school into an AP school. He will have had 2 years of a foreign language at MS, just in case he says he wants to stay at the IB school, so he can take the IB Diploma. If he chooses to stay at the IB program, he will work the IB diploma because it is the most rigorous path at an IB school. If he goes to the AP school, I figure he will take some where in the neighborhood of 10 APs, maybe more.

And yes, there are kids from IB schools that end up at TJ but that is a relatively small number of kids.

SLHS sends 33 kids to TJ
Robinson sends 50
Justice sends 26
Mount Vernon sends 24
Lewis sends 39
Madison sends 66



Someone has a real problem keeping Madison and Marshall straight on these threads.

The statistics for how many kids Annandale "sends' to TJ are distorted because TJ is located within the Annandale district and some families move into that area after their kids get into TJ for convenience.


Yup, I confuse Madison and Marshall. Marshall transfers out 195 kids and transfers in 64. Marshall sends 84 kids to TJ. So, 111 kids transfer out of Marshall to schools that are not TJ.
Annandale has 56 kids at TJ. It transfers out 294 kids with 50 transferring in. I don't think that is because parents are moving to the area to attend TJ.

The point is that the number of kids transferring out of the IB schools is far higher than the number of kids transferring in for IB, South Lakes seems to be the exception to that rule. I suspect that the 164 kids transferring from Herndon to SLHS are AAP kids with friends at SLHS whose parents would prefer them at a different school then Herndon.

I understand that some folks really like the IB program but I think they are in the minority. The people who are taking IB ala carte would take the same type of AP classes. They probably don't care if it is IB or AP.


If the TJ students reside in the Annandale district, then the 294 "transfers out" this past year include the 56 kids living within the Annandale boundaries at TJ. Of the remaining 238, 144 can be accounted for by transfers of 10 or more kids to these schools:

Lake Braddock: 87
Woodson: 23
Edison: 14
Bryant Alternative: 10
Falls Church: 10

That leaves 94 unaccounted for, although Annandale had fewer than 10 transfers to Fairfax, Justice, Langley, Lewis, Madison, Marshall, McLean, Oakton, Robinson, West Potomac, and West Springfield. I suspect some of the transfers were also to other alternative programs for which FCPS doesn't provide more details.


This talk about transfers is pointless and misleading because you don't know whether these were IB kids at the origin school or that they took any AP classes when they got to the destination school.
It could easily be that the IB kids are staying at the IB schools. You just don't have the information to conclude that these transfers "say anything" about IB vs AP.


Pupil placement requires that you take the classes that you used as your reason for leaving your base school. If you leave IB to pupil place at an AP school, you have to take an AP class each year. If you don’t you, you return to your IB base school. If you pupil place for a language, you have to take said language. If you don’t you are returned to your base school. If you transfer for AP and a language, you have to take AP classes and the language, otherwise you return to your base.

So, students who leave an IB school to pupil place at an AP school have to take AP classes. That is how it works.


This is incorrect. We are doing pupil placement for AP and my child needs to take 4 AP classes by the end of their junior year. They do not need to take one every year as many kids to do not take an AP class as a freshman.
Anonymous
Post 07/17/2025 13:11     Subject: Re:what is the difference between Madison HS, Oakton, and Reston high schools?

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
No. You have to look at the other schools. There are a lot more kids Pupil placing out of IB schools than AP Schools. [This is totally meaningless unless you know that the kids were in the IB program. In reality, very few of them at all were likely in IB.]

Here is another reason Herndon kids may be pupil placing into South Lakes:

The AAP kids go to Hughes from Herndon Middle School. Hughes shares a campus with South Lakes. The kids are accustomed to going there.
It has the Middle Years IB Program and I am confident that the focus is to get the kids into IB in high school.

Until FCPS eliminates the IB program, this is likely to consider. The students are being told, I am sure, that IB is superior.


I doubt that kids at Hughes are being hard sold on IB, otherwise you would have more then 50 kids completing the IB diploma each year. The AAP kids at Hughes have friends there and are probably chosing to stay with their friends, not that they want to complete the IB program.

Kids are transferring out of IB school before they can take IB classes in favor of AP classes. They are required to take AP classes at the HS that they are pupil placed in. If they don't take AP classes, they have to return to your base school. Do you think that a student taking an AP class as a freshman is not likely to take IB classes as a Junior, when most IB classes become available to students? So yes, those kids who transferred to AP schools and are taking AP classes would have been taking IB classes.

We hope to be pupil placing our son out of an IB school into an AP school. He will have had 2 years of a foreign language at MS, just in case he says he wants to stay at the IB school, so he can take the IB Diploma. If he chooses to stay at the IB program, he will work the IB diploma because it is the most rigorous path at an IB school. If he goes to the AP school, I figure he will take some where in the neighborhood of 10 APs, maybe more.

And yes, there are kids from IB schools that end up at TJ but that is a relatively small number of kids.

SLHS sends 33 kids to TJ
Robinson sends 50
Justice sends 26
Mount Vernon sends 24
Lewis sends 39
Madison sends 66



Someone has a real problem keeping Madison and Marshall straight on these threads.

The statistics for how many kids Annandale "sends' to TJ are distorted because TJ is located within the Annandale district and some families move into that area after their kids get into TJ for convenience.


Yup, I confuse Madison and Marshall. Marshall transfers out 195 kids and transfers in 64. Marshall sends 84 kids to TJ. So, 111 kids transfer out of Marshall to schools that are not TJ.
Annandale has 56 kids at TJ. It transfers out 294 kids with 50 transferring in. I don't think that is because parents are moving to the area to attend TJ.

The point is that the number of kids transferring out of the IB schools is far higher than the number of kids transferring in for IB, South Lakes seems to be the exception to that rule. I suspect that the 164 kids transferring from Herndon to SLHS are AAP kids with friends at SLHS whose parents would prefer them at a different school then Herndon.

I understand that some folks really like the IB program but I think they are in the minority. The people who are taking IB ala carte would take the same type of AP classes. They probably don't care if it is IB or AP.


If the TJ students reside in the Annandale district, then the 294 "transfers out" this past year include the 56 kids living within the Annandale boundaries at TJ. Of the remaining 238, 144 can be accounted for by transfers of 10 or more kids to these schools:

Lake Braddock: 87
Woodson: 23
Edison: 14
Bryant Alternative: 10
Falls Church: 10

That leaves 94 unaccounted for, although Annandale had fewer than 10 transfers to Fairfax, Justice, Langley, Lewis, Madison, Marshall, McLean, Oakton, Robinson, West Potomac, and West Springfield. I suspect some of the transfers were also to other alternative programs for which FCPS doesn't provide more details.


This talk about transfers is pointless and misleading because you don't know whether these were IB kids at the origin school or that they took any AP classes when they got to the destination school.

It could easily be that the IB kids are staying at the IB schools. You just don't have the information to conclude that these transfers "say anything" about IB vs AP.


Pupil placement requires that you take the classes that you used as your reason for leaving your base school. If you leave IB to pupil place at an AP school, you have to take an AP class each year. If you don’t you, you return to your IB base school. If you pupil place for a language, you have to take said language. If you don’t you are returned to your base school. If you transfer for AP and a language, you have to take AP classes and the language, otherwise you return to your base.

So, students who leave an IB school to pupil place at an AP school have to take AP classes. That is how it works.


But we don't know the reason for any of these transfers. There are other reasons than wanting to take AP classes. Therefore we cannot conclude that these transfers show that people want to do AP rather than IB.


Why don't you go ahead and start a topic asking how many people would like to change from AP to IB in FCPS and see how that goes.


Anonymous
Post 07/17/2025 13:01     Subject: Re:what is the difference between Madison HS, Oakton, and Reston high schools?

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
No. You have to look at the other schools. There are a lot more kids Pupil placing out of IB schools than AP Schools. [This is totally meaningless unless you know that the kids were in the IB program. In reality, very few of them at all were likely in IB.]

Here is another reason Herndon kids may be pupil placing into South Lakes:

The AAP kids go to Hughes from Herndon Middle School. Hughes shares a campus with South Lakes. The kids are accustomed to going there.
It has the Middle Years IB Program and I am confident that the focus is to get the kids into IB in high school.

Until FCPS eliminates the IB program, this is likely to consider. The students are being told, I am sure, that IB is superior.


I doubt that kids at Hughes are being hard sold on IB, otherwise you would have more then 50 kids completing the IB diploma each year. The AAP kids at Hughes have friends there and are probably chosing to stay with their friends, not that they want to complete the IB program.

Kids are transferring out of IB school before they can take IB classes in favor of AP classes. They are required to take AP classes at the HS that they are pupil placed in. If they don't take AP classes, they have to return to your base school. Do you think that a student taking an AP class as a freshman is not likely to take IB classes as a Junior, when most IB classes become available to students? So yes, those kids who transferred to AP schools and are taking AP classes would have been taking IB classes.

We hope to be pupil placing our son out of an IB school into an AP school. He will have had 2 years of a foreign language at MS, just in case he says he wants to stay at the IB school, so he can take the IB Diploma. If he chooses to stay at the IB program, he will work the IB diploma because it is the most rigorous path at an IB school. If he goes to the AP school, I figure he will take some where in the neighborhood of 10 APs, maybe more.

And yes, there are kids from IB schools that end up at TJ but that is a relatively small number of kids.

SLHS sends 33 kids to TJ
Robinson sends 50
Justice sends 26
Mount Vernon sends 24
Lewis sends 39
Madison sends 66



Someone has a real problem keeping Madison and Marshall straight on these threads.

The statistics for how many kids Annandale "sends' to TJ are distorted because TJ is located within the Annandale district and some families move into that area after their kids get into TJ for convenience.


Yup, I confuse Madison and Marshall. Marshall transfers out 195 kids and transfers in 64. Marshall sends 84 kids to TJ. So, 111 kids transfer out of Marshall to schools that are not TJ.
Annandale has 56 kids at TJ. It transfers out 294 kids with 50 transferring in. I don't think that is because parents are moving to the area to attend TJ.

The point is that the number of kids transferring out of the IB schools is far higher than the number of kids transferring in for IB, South Lakes seems to be the exception to that rule. I suspect that the 164 kids transferring from Herndon to SLHS are AAP kids with friends at SLHS whose parents would prefer them at a different school then Herndon.

I understand that some folks really like the IB program but I think they are in the minority. The people who are taking IB ala carte would take the same type of AP classes. They probably don't care if it is IB or AP.


If the TJ students reside in the Annandale district, then the 294 "transfers out" this past year include the 56 kids living within the Annandale boundaries at TJ. Of the remaining 238, 144 can be accounted for by transfers of 10 or more kids to these schools:

Lake Braddock: 87
Woodson: 23
Edison: 14
Bryant Alternative: 10
Falls Church: 10

That leaves 94 unaccounted for, although Annandale had fewer than 10 transfers to Fairfax, Justice, Langley, Lewis, Madison, Marshall, McLean, Oakton, Robinson, West Potomac, and West Springfield. I suspect some of the transfers were also to other alternative programs for which FCPS doesn't provide more details.


This talk about transfers is pointless and misleading because you don't know whether these were IB kids at the origin school or that they took any AP classes when they got to the destination school.

It could easily be that the IB kids are staying at the IB schools. You just don't have the information to conclude that these transfers "say anything" about IB vs AP.


Pupil placement requires that you take the classes that you used as your reason for leaving your base school. If you leave IB to pupil place at an AP school, you have to take an AP class each year. If you don’t you, you return to your IB base school. If you pupil place for a language, you have to take said language. If you don’t you are returned to your base school. If you transfer for AP and a language, you have to take AP classes and the language, otherwise you return to your base.

So, students who leave an IB school to pupil place at an AP school have to take AP classes. That is how it works.


But we don't know the reason for any of these transfers. There are other reasons than wanting to take AP classes. Therefore we cannot conclude that these transfers show that people want to do AP rather than IB.


Please, we all know this is likely. Sure, there are some other changes--for example, parent works at the school, but the numbers are an indicator. There are not that many reasons available for pupil placement.
Anonymous
Post 07/17/2025 12:54     Subject: Re:what is the difference between Madison HS, Oakton, and Reston high schools?

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
No. You have to look at the other schools. There are a lot more kids Pupil placing out of IB schools than AP Schools. [This is totally meaningless unless you know that the kids were in the IB program. In reality, very few of them at all were likely in IB.]

Here is another reason Herndon kids may be pupil placing into South Lakes:

The AAP kids go to Hughes from Herndon Middle School. Hughes shares a campus with South Lakes. The kids are accustomed to going there.
It has the Middle Years IB Program and I am confident that the focus is to get the kids into IB in high school.

Until FCPS eliminates the IB program, this is likely to consider. The students are being told, I am sure, that IB is superior.


I doubt that kids at Hughes are being hard sold on IB, otherwise you would have more then 50 kids completing the IB diploma each year. The AAP kids at Hughes have friends there and are probably chosing to stay with their friends, not that they want to complete the IB program.

Kids are transferring out of IB school before they can take IB classes in favor of AP classes. They are required to take AP classes at the HS that they are pupil placed in. If they don't take AP classes, they have to return to your base school. Do you think that a student taking an AP class as a freshman is not likely to take IB classes as a Junior, when most IB classes become available to students? So yes, those kids who transferred to AP schools and are taking AP classes would have been taking IB classes.

We hope to be pupil placing our son out of an IB school into an AP school. He will have had 2 years of a foreign language at MS, just in case he says he wants to stay at the IB school, so he can take the IB Diploma. If he chooses to stay at the IB program, he will work the IB diploma because it is the most rigorous path at an IB school. If he goes to the AP school, I figure he will take some where in the neighborhood of 10 APs, maybe more.

And yes, there are kids from IB schools that end up at TJ but that is a relatively small number of kids.

SLHS sends 33 kids to TJ
Robinson sends 50
Justice sends 26
Mount Vernon sends 24
Lewis sends 39
Madison sends 66



Someone has a real problem keeping Madison and Marshall straight on these threads.

The statistics for how many kids Annandale "sends' to TJ are distorted because TJ is located within the Annandale district and some families move into that area after their kids get into TJ for convenience.


Yup, I confuse Madison and Marshall. Marshall transfers out 195 kids and transfers in 64. Marshall sends 84 kids to TJ. So, 111 kids transfer out of Marshall to schools that are not TJ.
Annandale has 56 kids at TJ. It transfers out 294 kids with 50 transferring in. I don't think that is because parents are moving to the area to attend TJ.

The point is that the number of kids transferring out of the IB schools is far higher than the number of kids transferring in for IB, South Lakes seems to be the exception to that rule. I suspect that the 164 kids transferring from Herndon to SLHS are AAP kids with friends at SLHS whose parents would prefer them at a different school then Herndon.

I understand that some folks really like the IB program but I think they are in the minority. The people who are taking IB ala carte would take the same type of AP classes. They probably don't care if it is IB or AP.


If the TJ students reside in the Annandale district, then the 294 "transfers out" this past year include the 56 kids living within the Annandale boundaries at TJ. Of the remaining 238, 144 can be accounted for by transfers of 10 or more kids to these schools:

Lake Braddock: 87
Woodson: 23
Edison: 14
Bryant Alternative: 10
Falls Church: 10

That leaves 94 unaccounted for, although Annandale had fewer than 10 transfers to Fairfax, Justice, Langley, Lewis, Madison, Marshall, McLean, Oakton, Robinson, West Potomac, and West Springfield. I suspect some of the transfers were also to other alternative programs for which FCPS doesn't provide more details.


This talk about transfers is pointless and misleading because you don't know whether these were IB kids at the origin school or that they took any AP classes when they got to the destination school.

It could easily be that the IB kids are staying at the IB schools. You just don't have the information to conclude that these transfers "say anything" about IB vs AP.


Pupil placement requires that you take the classes that you used as your reason for leaving your base school. If you leave IB to pupil place at an AP school, you have to take an AP class each year. If you don’t you, you return to your IB base school. If you pupil place for a language, you have to take said language. If you don’t you are returned to your base school. If you transfer for AP and a language, you have to take AP classes and the language, otherwise you return to your base.

So, students who leave an IB school to pupil place at an AP school have to take AP classes. That is how it works.


But we don't know the reason for any of these transfers. There are other reasons than wanting to take AP classes. Therefore we cannot conclude that these transfers show that people want to do AP rather than IB.
Anonymous
Post 07/16/2025 18:07     Subject: Re:what is the difference between Madison HS, Oakton, and Reston high schools?

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No. You have to look at the other schools. There are a lot more kids Pupil placing out of IB schools than AP Schools. [This is totally meaningless unless you know that the kids were in the IB program. In reality, very few of them at all were likely in IB.]

Here is another reason Herndon kids may be pupil placing into South Lakes:

The AAP kids go to Hughes from Herndon Middle School. Hughes shares a campus with South Lakes. The kids are accustomed to going there.
It has the Middle Years IB Program and I am confident that the focus is to get the kids into IB in high school.

Until FCPS eliminates the IB program, this is likely to consider. The students are being told, I am sure, that IB is superior.


I doubt that kids at Hughes are being hard sold on IB, otherwise you would have more then 50 kids completing the IB diploma each year. The AAP kids at Hughes have friends there and are probably chosing to stay with their friends, not that they want to complete the IB program.

Kids are transferring out of IB school before they can take IB classes in favor of AP classes. They are required to take AP classes at the HS that they are pupil placed in. If they don't take AP classes, they have to return to your base school. Do you think that a student taking an AP class as a freshman is not likely to take IB classes as a Junior, when most IB classes become available to students? So yes, those kids who transferred to AP schools and are taking AP classes would have been taking IB classes.

We hope to be pupil placing our son out of an IB school into an AP school. He will have had 2 years of a foreign language at MS, just in case he says he wants to stay at the IB school, so he can take the IB Diploma. If he chooses to stay at the IB program, he will work the IB diploma because it is the most rigorous path at an IB school. If he goes to the AP school, I figure he will take some where in the neighborhood of 10 APs, maybe more.

And yes, there are kids from IB schools that end up at TJ but that is a relatively small number of kids.

SLHS sends 33 kids to TJ
Robinson sends 50
Justice sends 26
Mount Vernon sends 24
Lewis sends 39
Madison sends 66



Someone has a real problem keeping Madison and Marshall straight on these threads.

The statistics for how many kids Annandale "sends' to TJ are distorted because TJ is located within the Annandale district and some families move into that area after their kids get into TJ for convenience.


Yup, I confuse Madison and Marshall. Marshall transfers out 195 kids and transfers in 64. Marshall sends 84 kids to TJ. So, 111 kids transfer out of Marshall to schools that are not TJ.
Annandale has 56 kids at TJ. It transfers out 294 kids with 50 transferring in. I don't think that is because parents are moving to the area to attend TJ.

The point is that the number of kids transferring out of the IB schools is far higher than the number of kids transferring in for IB, South Lakes seems to be the exception to that rule. I suspect that the 164 kids transferring from Herndon to SLHS are AAP kids with friends at SLHS whose parents would prefer them at a different school then Herndon.

I understand that some folks really like the IB program but I think they are in the minority. The people who are taking IB ala carte would take the same type of AP classes. They probably don't care if it is IB or AP.


If the TJ students reside in the Annandale district, then the 294 "transfers out" this past year include the 56 kids living within the Annandale boundaries at TJ. Of the remaining 238, 144 can be accounted for by transfers of 10 or more kids to these schools:

Lake Braddock: 87
Woodson: 23
Edison: 14
Bryant Alternative: 10
Falls Church: 10

That leaves 94 unaccounted for, although Annandale had fewer than 10 transfers to Fairfax, Justice, Langley, Lewis, Madison, Marshall, McLean, Oakton, Robinson, West Potomac, and West Springfield. I suspect some of the transfers were also to other alternative programs for which FCPS doesn't provide more details.


This talk about transfers is pointless and misleading because you don't know whether these were IB kids at the origin school or that they took any AP classes when they got to the destination school.

It could easily be that the IB kids are staying at the IB schools. You just don't have the information to conclude that these transfers "say anything" about IB vs AP.


Pupil placement requires that you take the classes that you used as your reason for leaving your base school. If you leave IB to pupil place at an AP school, you have to take an AP class each year. If you don’t you, you return to your IB base school. If you pupil place for a language, you have to take said language. If you don’t you are returned to your base school. If you transfer for AP and a language, you have to take AP classes and the language, otherwise you return to your base.

So, students who leave an IB school to pupil place at an AP school have to take AP classes. That is how it works.


I believe that is the intent. I question the execution of the policy.