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Weighing AP vs. IB
The West County Boundary Study unearthed a whole host of arguments against redistricting. The most vocal opponents were parents whose children would be moved from Chantilly and Oakton high schools into the under-enrolled South Lakes High School in Reston.
Beyond demographics and socio-economic statistics, the starkest difference between South Lakes and the other schools whose boundaries were changed is the advanced academic programs offered at each school.
Of Fairfax County's 24 high schools, eight, including South Lakes, offer the International Baccalaureate, a relatively new advanced studies program that began in Europe and took hold in the United State in the 1980s. The remainder offer the more familiar Advanced Placement program, which has been run by the College Board since 1955.
At the heart of any comparison between the two programs is often the question of college credit. Opponents of the IB program have claimed that colleges simply don't offer the same credits for IB classes as they do for AP courses.
Both programs offer tests at the conclusion of courses that are then submitted to universities for credit. Certain scores on the tests qualify for credits.
Erin Albright, the IB coordinator at Annandale High School, has seen IB diploma students enter George Mason and Virginia Tech with sophomore standings from credits earned from the IB program. But college credit just isn't the point of the IB program, she said.
“The AP was designed as a credit-producing program. Originally the IB was a university admission credential, so it is kind of being used in a way it was not designed for,” she said.
While IB students can still earn college credit, the IB curriculum offers a greater preparation for college coursework thanks to its writing-intensive focus, she said.
“It's not enough to memorize a body of information, but take that information and use it in new ways,” she said.
Students may participate in the IB program in one of two ways, either earning a certificate, which requires only one course, or the full IB diploma, which requires students to take at least one course in all six areas; English, foreign language, history/social sciences, natural sciences, mathematics, and arts and electives.
The AP courses can be taken individually or students can earn the AP certificate, a Fairfax County creation that was offered after the College Board discontinued its AP diploma program.
To earn that certificate, students must complete five AP courses and score a 3 or better on the AP tests.
Beyond the coursework requirements, the IB diploma requires students to complete the Creativity, Action, Service component, which includes 150 hours of activities outside of class. They must write a 4,000-word independent research paper and take a Theory of Knowledge class.
“For somebody like my son ... I know he'd not be able to do it, he's way too active in sports,” said Stacy Gullette, whose son is a seventh-grader at Rachel Carson Middle School. The Gullette's home was recently redistricted into the South Lakes boundary, and Gullette said she is considering pupil placement for her son.
Gullette said she would feel compelled to have her son complete the diploma, which would take away from other activities. With the AP program, her older son, who is in 10th grade at Westfield, can pick and choose classes and earn credits for college.
“What I hope is they can get enough AP courses to get a semester or even a year's worth. That's money in the pocket in terms of tuition,” she said.
Part of the negative perception of the IB program may stem from the reason it was introduced, Albright said.
“It was implemented originally in schools trying to raise their academic profile,” she said. “If it has the reputation of being lesser ... then it's the only place in the United States that that's the case.”
School Board Member Stu Gibson represents the Hunter Mill District, which includes South Lakes, and has had two daughters participate in the IB program. He believes the benefits of the program are already being seen, with the rise in SAT scores last year at Stuart, Mount Vernon and South Lakes high schools.
“Those are three IB schools fed by IB middle-years schools. The kids who took the SAT last year were in the seventh grade when each of those middle-years programs started. Coincidence? I don't think so,” he said.
Unfortunately, you see Ms. Compton confused the "IB Program" with the "IB Diploma Program". Sure, as Ms. Albright said, you can see IB Program students receive sophomore status -- but they are ONLY the IB Diploma Program students -- and not the normal IB Students. And those Diploma students have mainly satisfied their college requirements of general hours, but not of specific required courses. So, they won't need to take only the fun electives that college students love. They still must take more boring 1st year required classes than your average AP student with comparable courses.
In virtually any County IB school, only about 10 to 15% of the students graduate with the Diploma. In contrast, about 40% of the students in AP schools in Western Fairfax County graduate with 3 or more AP courses (the same number of "higher level" IB courses an IB Diploma student will take). The typical IB program (not the Diploma) student will work hard and not get the credit for it. You should look at the syllabii. Sure, they cover a lot of neat topics. But they won't equate to a college class.
I also like how Mr. Gibson notes the increased SAT scores at South Lakes, Stuart, and Mt. Vernon. I invite you to go to FCPS.edu and see how 1) South Lakes' SAT gains in 2007 only brought them back up to the levels of 2005. And that was because they had less of their lower performing students take the exam (everyone knows that as more students take the exam, its the lower achieving kids who decide to give it a try. So, its these lower achieving kids who were discouraged from taking the test).
Mt. Vernon did have gains, but also because more of the lower achieving kids did not take the exam.
Stuart? Yes, they did increase. However, the very programs that their principal has instilled to increase achievement (not related to IB) they (Mr. Gibson and the rest of the Board) took out of the budget. Sorry Stuart.
IB and AP have very different objectives. On a per student basis, IB hard costs alone are about 6 times that of AP. And this does not include the soft costs of limiting the courses available to the non-IB students, because of the requirement of the school to offer IB courses to the Diploma candidates, no matter the class size. South Lakes complained that they didn't have the numbers to offer various classes. But looking at a course catalog at Falls Church, a smaller AP school of similar demographics, you see they do offer many of the classes that were noted in the list shown at the initial boundary hearing meeting.
The fact that the Board thinks they are the same is an insult to both programs, as well as the students and parents involved. And to redistrict kids without offering both programs (full programs, not just a few AP courses)makes the Board either look clueless or arrogant.
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