Because DCUMers know the facts - tgey get them from this board!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So, Falls Church for AP or Marshall for IB?

I hope we don't get another 20 pages of this...

If your kid is capable of doing the IB diploma, then assess whether AP vs IB suits their interests, abilities and goals better (you can use some of the previous 20 pages but probably better off doing additional research on each), then make the choice based on that. If your kid cannot withstand the rigor of the IB diploma, stick with Falls Church AP.

This thread is full of misinformation proclaimed as fact. Please attend curriculum nights for both schools, talk to parents and students, and make your own conclusions.

Anonymous wrote:So, Falls Church for AP or Marshall for IB?

I hope we don't get another 20 pages of this...

If your kid is capable of doing the IB diploma, then assess whether AP vs IB suits their interests, abilities and goals better (you can use some of the previous 20 pages but probably better off doing additional research on each), then make the choice based on that. If your kid cannot withstand the rigor of the IB diploma, stick with Falls Church AP.

So, Falls Church for AP or Marshall for IB?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As foreign plots go, this one is quite unsuccessful, judging from the low rates of students bothering to get an IB diploma.

Let's compare apples to apples. At a school such as Madison, approximately 44 percent of all students enroll in at least one AP course. At Marshall, the numbers are similar for IB, with approximately 43 percent of students enrolling in at least one IB course. 90 percent of students at Marshall who pursue the IB diploma are successful in obtaining the diploma. That was 85 of the 90 students who pursued the diploma.

The closest approximation of the IB diploma in AP is the AP Scholars recognition, that requires a score of three or higher on 4 AP exams. 376 students at Madison obtained this distinction.

Yes, you are right that fewer student obtain the full IB diploma. Perhaps we need to look at why? Perhaps it is the workload that is involved? I don't have the time to explore this now as I have to run off to a meeting, but if someone else wants to chime in, please do.

The 43 and 44% numbers are older numbers from 2008 that reflected the enrollment of then-current students, including the freshmen and sophomores, in AP and IB courses. That's distinct from the AP or IB participation rates for seniors by the time they graduate. Those numbers are substantially higher at both Madison and Marshall (at one point, some at Marshall were claiming the IB participation rate at the school was 99%, but that myth now appears to have been put to rest).

Undoubtedly admissions officers look to see if students at AP schools are taking AP courses and performing well on AP exams. But I don't hear admissions officers saying that they won't look at applications from students who aren't AP Scholars, compared to statements by admissions officers at some schools that they won't consider non-IB diploma candidates at IB schools. In addition, AP students have the opportunity to do well on multiple AP exams before they apply to colleges and universities. Can IB students do that as well? My understanding was that many of the IB courses are two-year courses, and that the IB exams are not graded until after the student graduates.

So, yes, the full IB diploma experience may benefit a small number of students, but the question is whether there are enough students pursuing it to warrant having eight IB high schools in FCPS, when (1) it's more expensive than AP and (2) the total number of students pursuing IB diplomas could fit comfortably in one or, at most, two schools.

Exactly which admissions officers told you this?

I'd like to see a school with a lot of AP courses offered and then the best of the IB courses offered as well.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As foreign plots go, this one is quite unsuccessful, judging from the low rates of students bothering to get an IB diploma.

Let's compare apples to apples. At a school such as Madison, approximately 44 percent of all students enroll in at least one AP course. At Marshall, the numbers are similar for IB, with approximately 43 percent of students enrolling in at least one IB course. 90 percent of students at Marshall who pursue the IB diploma are successful in obtaining the diploma. That was 85 of the 90 students who pursued the diploma.

The closest approximation of the IB diploma in AP is the AP Scholars recognition, that requires a score of three or higher on 4 AP exams. 376 students at Madison obtained this distinction.

Yes, you are right that fewer student obtain the full IB diploma. Perhaps we need to look at why? Perhaps it is the workload that is involved? I don't have the time to explore this now as I have to run off to a meeting, but if someone else wants to chime in, please do.

The 43 and 44% numbers are older numbers from 2008 that reflected the enrollment of then-current students, including the freshmen and sophomores, in AP and IB courses. That's distinct from the AP or IB participation rates for seniors by the time they graduate. Those numbers are substantially higher at both Madison and Marshall (at one point, some at Marshall were claiming the IB participation rate at the school was 99%, but that myth now appears to have been put to rest).

Undoubtedly admissions officers look to see if students at AP schools are taking AP courses and performing well on AP exams. But I don't hear admissions officers saying that they won't look at applications from students who aren't AP Scholars, compared to statements by admissions officers at some schools that they won't consider non-IB diploma candidates at IB schools. In addition, AP students have the opportunity to do well on multiple AP exams before they apply to colleges and universities. Can IB students do that as well? My understanding was that many of the IB courses are two-year courses, and that the IB exams are not graded until after the student graduates.

So, yes, the full IB diploma experience may benefit a small number of students, but the question is whether there are enough students pursuing it to warrant having eight IB high schools in FCPS, when (1) it's more expensive than AP and (2) the total number of students pursuing IB diplomas could fit comfortably in one or, at most, two schools.

Anonymous wrote:Maybe 'cause they are lazy students and don't want to work hard? As a college professor, I will take a student who can read and think and write well over someone who can stuff their heads full of facts and regurgitate them on a multiple choice test.

PP, don't you find a film like "Dr. Strangelove" that makes fun of our national paranoia funny? I think it is absolutely hiliarious! You need to "lighten up, Francis!"

As someone with advanced degrees, I like to hire and work with people who know what they're talking about before they commit pen to paper, or fingers to keyboard.

For that matter, I prefer college professors who aren't big on polemics and acknowledge that AP exams generally consist of a mix of multiple choice questions designed to test a student's command of a subject matter and essays that test a student's ability to reason and write well.

Anonymous wrote:As foreign plots go, this one is quite unsuccessful, judging from the low rates of students bothering to get an IB diploma.

Let's compare apples to apples. At a school such as Madison, approximately 44 percent of all students enroll in at least one AP course. At Marshall, the numbers are similar for IB, with approximately 43 percent of students enrolling in at least one IB course. 90 percent of students at Marshall who pursue the IB diploma are successful in obtaining the diploma. That was 85 of the 90 students who pursued the diploma.

The closest approximation of the IB diploma in AP is the AP Scholars recognition, that requires a score of three or higher on 4 AP exams. 376 students at Madison obtained this distinction.

Yes, you are right that fewer student obtain the full IB diploma. Perhaps we need to look at why? Perhaps it is the workload that is involved? I don't have the time to explore this now as I have to run off to a meeting, but if someone else wants to chime in, please do.

Purity of Essence, Peace on Earth

I would suggest that students at either school are not up to the task of deconstructing this movie in today's educational "rubric" that teachers teach in.

Anonymous wrote:As foreign plots go, this one is quite unsuccessful, judging from the low rates of students bothering to get an IB diploma.

We don't need foreign plots to subvert America, we are fully capable of doing it ourselves!

Maybe 'cause they are lazy students and don't want to work hard? As a college professor, I will take a student who can read and think and write well over someone who can stuff their heads full of facts and regurgitate them on a multiple choice test.

PP, don't you find a film like "Dr. Strangelove" that makes fun of our national paranoia funny? I think it is absolutely hiliarious! You need to "lighten up, Francis!"

As foreign plots go, this one is quite unsuccessful, judging from the low rates of students bothering to get an IB diploma.

Here is the real reason for opposition to IB.



Like fluoridation of the water supply, it is a foreign plot to subvert America. IT MUST BE STOPPED!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Marshall Basher/Madison Booster,

Are you from the Midwest? No one around here gives a crap about community support for their high school. This isn't the Midwest or deep south where the whole town turns up for football games, everyone drools over the homecoming queen, and everybody knows uncle Jack on the firetruck in the parades. Believe it or not, Vienna isn't Mayberry. Whether or not your tiny, unsightly main street businesses donate money or simply happy thoughts to Madison does not have any bearing on whether or not your school is or isn't any better than any other school. Step out from under your bridge and take a second to realize that maybe what you feel is important, isn't what everybody else feels is important.

Are you from Jupiter? Who wouldn't prefer to be at a school that has lots of community support than one that gets national attention because a teacher tells an AA child to read a poem "blacker"?

Thank troll, on the other hand at least there are minorities. I guess you feel at home in Madison with the whites.