Anonymous
Post 12/02/2025 13:38     Subject: IB Costs Increasing
Wow the IB hater(s) are out in full force! Really foaming at the mouth!
Anonymous
Post 12/02/2025 13:20     Subject: IB Costs Increasing
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:The idea that IB is only valuable if you get the diploma is so silly. Is AP only valuable if you take 8 AP courses?


The entire point of IB os the diploma.


No it’s not. Are you at an IB school? The entire point of an IB curriculum is multipart and it is all aimed at building up all parts of a student. It’s part global citizen, part classical education, part rigorous curriculum, part critical thinking, part being an engaged and reflective member of your community, and part communication both written and oral. Students benefit from this if they take 1 IB class or all IB classes. At all the IB schools, students take the classes at high rates even if they don’t work towards the IB diploma. They are still benefiting from the program.

Are there some shortcomings with IB, yes. Particularly around math, it needs to go deeper into college mathematics. But it’s a great program and sets students up for success in college.

All the AP advocates overlook the shortcomings with AP and there are many. The teaching to the test, the lack of depth, the poor development of critical thinking. Then there is the empirical data that a large number of students either don’t take the exam or score 3 or lower. If you are judging IB based on the number achieving the diploma, AP should be judged just as harshly for the students who don’t pass the College Board evaluation.


And if kids only take one or two IB classes, how are they "building up all parts of a student. It’s part global citizen, part classical education, part rigorous curriculum, part critical thinking, part being an engaged and reflective member of your community, and part communication both written and oral." It seems to me that you need the specialized IB classes, plus the IB classes in all fields in order to benefit from the classical education and rigorous curriculum not just one or two SL classes so that they can say kids took an IB class or test.

AP English Lit students have had other English classes that teach the "classical" education for English, ie reading books, writing papers, and learning to think critically. They take AP Lit having had that background and then focusing on the material in a manner similar to a college class. Unless you are arguing that deep dives into class literature in AP lit is somehow not teaching kids how to think critically about literature is not a part of classical education.

This notion that IB somehow produces a better scholar is false. The only people saying that are the few parents who love the program because it caters to kids who learn in that particular manner. The program makes people feel special because it is exotic and different. Kids come out of AP and IB ready for college. IB costs more and produces fewer kids who follow through with the premise of the program, which is earning the IB degree. AP does not have a similar goal, a specific diploma is not the goal of the program.


Agree. Somehow, I think that IB proponents assume that AP classes require no writing. It is true that AP math is math, but the English and History AP classes require tons and tons of writing.

Sad for the math oriented kid at an IB school.

AP offers flexibility--lots of options.
Anonymous
Post 12/02/2025 12:41     Subject: IB Costs Increasing
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:The idea that IB is only valuable if you get the diploma is so silly. Is AP only valuable if you take 8 AP courses?


The entire point of IB os the diploma.


No it’s not. Are you at an IB school? The entire point of an IB curriculum is multipart and it is all aimed at building up all parts of a student. It’s part global citizen, part classical education, part rigorous curriculum, part critical thinking, part being an engaged and reflective member of your community, and part communication both written and oral. Students benefit from this if they take 1 IB class or all IB classes. At all the IB schools, students take the classes at high rates even if they don’t work towards the IB diploma. They are still benefiting from the program.

Are there some shortcomings with IB, yes. Particularly around math, it needs to go deeper into college mathematics. But it’s a great program and sets students up for success in college.

All the AP advocates overlook the shortcomings with AP and there are many. The teaching to the test, the lack of depth, the poor development of critical thinking. Then there is the empirical data that a large number of students either don’t take the exam or score 3 or lower. If you are judging IB based on the number achieving the diploma, AP should be judged just as harshly for the students who don’t pass the College Board evaluation.


And if kids only take one or two IB classes, how are they "building up all parts of a student. It’s part global citizen, part classical education, part rigorous curriculum, part critical thinking, part being an engaged and reflective member of your community, and part communication both written and oral." It seems to me that you need the specialized IB classes, plus the IB classes in all fields in order to benefit from the classical education and rigorous curriculum not just one or two SL classes so that they can say kids took an IB class or test.

AP English Lit students have had other English classes that teach the "classical" education for English, ie reading books, writing papers, and learning to think critically. They take AP Lit having had that background and then focusing on the material in a manner similar to a college class. Unless you are arguing that deep dives into class literature in AP lit is somehow not teaching kids how to think critically about literature is not a part of classical education.

This notion that IB somehow produces a better scholar is false. The only people saying that are the few parents who love the program because it caters to kids who learn in that particular manner. The program makes people feel special because it is exotic and different. Kids come out of AP and IB ready for college. IB costs more and produces fewer kids who follow through with the premise of the program, which is earning the IB degree. AP does not have a similar goal, a specific diploma is not the goal of the program.
Anonymous
Post 12/02/2025 12:25     Subject: IB Costs Increasing
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:The idea that IB is only valuable if you get the diploma is so silly. Is AP only valuable if you take 8 AP courses?


The entire point of IB os the diploma.


No it’s not. Are you at an IB school? The entire point of an IB curriculum is multipart and it is all aimed at building up all parts of a student. It’s part global citizen, part classical education, part rigorous curriculum, part critical thinking, part being an engaged and reflective member of your community, and part communication both written and oral. Students benefit from this if they take 1 IB class or all IB classes. At all the IB schools, students take the classes at high rates even if they don’t work towards the IB diploma. They are still benefiting from the program.

Are there some shortcomings with IB, yes. Particularly around math, it needs to go deeper into college mathematics. But it’s a great program and sets students up for success in college.

All the AP advocates overlook the shortcomings with AP and there are many. The teaching to the test, the lack of depth, the poor development of critical thinking. Then there is the empirical data that a large number of students either don’t take the exam or score 3 or lower. If you are judging IB based on the number achieving the diploma, AP should be judged just as harshly for the students who don’t pass the College Board evaluation.


The IB math and science classes, even the HL ones, are not rigorous enough. They just are not. It does not work for kids who are STEM interested.

AP classes teaching writing and communication, they approach it differently but they teach it.

There are too many kids signing up for AP classes because FCPS wants every kid to take AP/IB classes and tests, regardless if it is a good fit. The difference is that they are equating IB SL classes with IB HL classes and AP classes. In reality, IB SL classes are honors level classes. I would love to see the percent of kids who take IB SL and IB HL, I would guess that the number of IB HL is very small.
Anonymous
Post 12/02/2025 12:17     Subject: IB Costs Increasing
Anonymous wrote:The idea that IB is only valuable if you get the diploma is so silly. Is AP only valuable if you take 8 AP courses?


Because, contrary to what you are going to post, the IB program is about getting the diploma. It is not about taking the SL classes that kids want to take with a few HL classes. The IB program is not about choosing one or two or three IB classes, the entire program is about getting the diploma.

Kids learn to write in AP classes, IB is not the only one that teaches writing. AP provides flexibility which IB does not, unless you decide you are going to treat IB like AP and take only the classes you want. If you are doing that, and not working toward the diploma, then you should be taking AP.
Anonymous
Post 12/02/2025 12:15     Subject: IB Costs Increasing
The tiny 2% of people who like IB will convince the SB to keep it at the expense of the rest of the county. With some schools being brutally penalized for having it (transfers out). And taxpayers footing the unnecessary bill. FCPS is lost and will not recover as long as this type of SB reigns.
Anonymous
Post 12/02/2025 12:11     Subject: IB Costs Increasing
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:The idea that IB is only valuable if you get the diploma is so silly. Is AP only valuable if you take 8 AP courses?


The entire point of IB os the diploma.


No it’s not. Are you at an IB school? The entire point of an IB curriculum is multipart and it is all aimed at building up all parts of a student. It’s part global citizen, part classical education, part rigorous curriculum, part critical thinking, part being an engaged and reflective member of your community, and part communication both written and oral. Students benefit from this if they take 1 IB class or all IB classes. At all the IB schools, students take the classes at high rates even if they don’t work towards the IB diploma. They are still benefiting from the program.

Are there some shortcomings with IB, yes. Particularly around math, it needs to go deeper into college mathematics. But it’s a great program and sets students up for success in college.

All the AP advocates overlook the shortcomings with AP and there are many. The teaching to the test, the lack of depth, the poor development of critical thinking. Then there is the empirical data that a large number of students either don’t take the exam or score 3 or lower. If you are judging IB based on the number achieving the diploma, AP should be judged just as harshly for the students who don’t pass the College Board evaluation.
Anonymous
Post 12/02/2025 11:19     Subject: IB Costs Increasing
Anonymous wrote:The idea that IB is only valuable if you get the diploma is so silly. Is AP only valuable if you take 8 AP courses?


The entire point of IB os the diploma.
Anonymous
Post 12/02/2025 11:18     Subject: IB Costs Increasing
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:This is why locking into IB for five more years at eight high schools is a bad idea, but FCPS is too sclerotic to look at what makes sense. They make a big deal about the need for a fresh boundary review, but then they turn around and perpetuate lackluster IB programs.


Some families see having IB as some type of special programming that they have to defend, never mind that their kids are not completing the diploma. We are at SLHS and the number of parents who approach IB classes as if they are similar to AP classes is high. They don't understand that the SL classes do not get college credit and then complain when their kids go to college that their kid didn't get college credits for their classes. They assume that IB is so different then AP that their kids will be better prepared for college then a kid in AP, ignoring the thousands of kids with AP classes who go to college and do just fine. It is like IB is a badge of honor.

And very few of their kids go for the diploma because it isn't flexible enough and they don't want to take the extra classes.

If FCPS is going to force schools to have IB, they should have to have a full slate of AP classes at those kids so kids have a choice. Without that, the kids who want AP will keep leaving the schools. I suspect that the only reason Robinson doesn't see more kids placing out is because they have AP and IB. The SLHS departures would look worse if they didn't have kids from Herndon placing into SLHS.

I suspect that the Western HS will lead to more pupil placing from SLHS and HHS to the new Western HS as there will be a closer by AP program that offers a different learning path that kids can pupil place for.


My kids got the IB diploma, but who cares? When in anyone's life does a high school diploma matter? It's the emphasis on writing that sets them up for success.


We care because IB is a waste of taxpayer money that could be sprnt more effectively on AP.

We also care because the low performing schools are flooded with IB programs, which translates into almost all of the hugher performing kids transferring out to get to an AP school, which lowers the achievement and ranking of IB schools turning them into pariah schools, while overcrowding the AP schools, making them targets for rezoning, not because they are overcrowded with in boundary kids but because the IB to AP transfers are pushing the AP schools over capacity and making the IB schools under capacity.
Anonymous
Post 12/02/2025 11:11     Subject: IB Costs Increasing
Anonymous wrote:This is why locking into IB for five more years at eight high schools is a bad idea, but FCPS is too sclerotic to look at what makes sense. They make a big deal about the need for a fresh boundary review, but then they turn around and perpetuate lackluster IB programs.


FCPS should keep IB at 2-3 schools, Robinson because IB is successful there, Marshall because they are the top of the middling mediocre IB schools, and only one in the geographical bottom of the county, perhaps at Lewis because it has space.

Every other IB program should be eliminated as it is a very expensive, virtually worthless, waste of taxpayer money and a failure based on lack of results.
Anonymous
Post 12/02/2025 11:07     Subject: IB Costs Increasing
Anonymous wrote:The idea that IB is only valuable if you get the diploma is so silly. Is AP only valuable if you take 8 AP courses?


But from what read here, if only taking 8 AP a student is not on track for top schools, right?
Anonymous
Post 12/02/2025 11:07     Subject: IB Costs Increasing
Anonymous wrote:FCPS needs to take a critical look at all of its programs. Like many things FCPS on the whole executes IB poorly.

Reduce the offering to 2 or 3 schools, shore up the program so that those who want it for their kids can have the best IB program FCPS can offer.

Allow pupil placement into IB schools which also should offer full slate of AP and DE courses.


Agree.
Anonymous
Post 12/02/2025 11:06     Subject: IB Costs Increasing
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Would love to get rid of IB programs and offer more AP and dual enrollment classes. Robinson parent.


Marshall parent here. What's wrong with giving students as many options as possible? If taught correctly, IB courses prepare students for college just as well as DE and AP classes.

It’s not about preparing for college, it’s about attaining college credits. IB credits aren’t as universally accepted.


That’s actually incorrect. IB credits are taken at most schools. 20 years ago not consistently the case. But in 2025, schools honor them as much as AP. This is perpetual myth being spread around the community.


That wasn't our experience, we felt lied to about the college credits. But overall we were happy with the program. Our kids cranked out their college essays like they were nothing, no pricy college counselors needed.


Most of the kids at our high performing AP kids crank out their college essays without the help of college counselors.

In fact, with 3 seniors, now on my 4th, I only know of one kid who had a college counselor help with their essay, and that was an only child of very wealthy parents.

All the other kids write them on their own, with maybe a proofread and feedback from their AP lit or AP lang teachers.

IB is a blatant waste of taxpayer money
Anonymous
Post 12/02/2025 11:01     Subject: IB Costs Increasing
The idea that IB is only valuable if you get the diploma is so silly. Is AP only valuable if you take 8 AP courses?
Anonymous
Post 12/02/2025 10:36     Subject: IB Costs Increasing
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:This is why locking into IB for five more years at eight high schools is a bad idea, but FCPS is too sclerotic to look at what makes sense. They make a big deal about the need for a fresh boundary review, but then they turn around and perpetuate lackluster IB programs.


Some families see having IB as some type of special programming that they have to defend, never mind that their kids are not completing the diploma. We are at SLHS and the number of parents who approach IB classes as if they are similar to AP classes is high. They don't understand that the SL classes do not get college credit and then complain when their kids go to college that their kid didn't get college credits for their classes. They assume that IB is so different then AP that their kids will be better prepared for college then a kid in AP, ignoring the thousands of kids with AP classes who go to college and do just fine. It is like IB is a badge of honor.

And very few of their kids go for the diploma because it isn't flexible enough and they don't want to take the extra classes.

If FCPS is going to force schools to have IB, they should have to have a full slate of AP classes at those kids so kids have a choice. Without that, the kids who want AP will keep leaving the schools. I suspect that the only reason Robinson doesn't see more kids placing out is because they have AP and IB. The SLHS departures would look worse if they didn't have kids from Herndon placing into SLHS.

I suspect that the Western HS will lead to more pupil placing from SLHS and HHS to the new Western HS as there will be a closer by AP program that offers a different learning path that kids can pupil place for.


My kids got the IB diploma, but who cares? When in anyone's life does a high school diploma matter? It's the emphasis on writing that sets them up for success.