Philly: IB backlash

Parents Forum
1

<p>"A school program falls out of favor" The Philadelphia Inquirer reports:</p>

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[quote]
In the Philadelphia suburbs, two districts - Cherry Hill and Lower Merion - and the private George School in Bucks County offer it. But now Cherry Hill, among the area's top performers, appears poised to dump at least part of the program.</p>

<p>Though it seems to have fallen out of favor in Cherry Hill, the program was once held up as a scholastic marvel.</p>

<p>Since the program - which emphasizes critical thinking, community service and global perspective - began in Cherry Hill in 2000, it has sparked controversy, with opponents labeling it elitist and calling for its end...</p>

<p>At a crowded, emotionally charged informational meeting last week, about 200 residents took turns at the microphone, with statements ranging from passionate defenses of IB and pleas for its expansion to arguments for why the program should be scrapped...</p>

<p>In the Philadelphia School District, five high schools began offering IB in 2005, thanks to a federal grant that also ramped up AP offerings.</p>

<p>"The school district always looks for rigorous and interesting programs, for expanding opportunities for its students," said Ellen Linky, assistant superintendent of the Office of Accelerated Learning in Philadelphia...</p>

<p>This week, a visiting delegation thinking of bringing IB to the Rose Tree-Media School District in Delaware County was impressed by IB students. O'Brien was not surprised.</p>

<p>"Kids absolutely rave about the kinds of thinking and writing skills they know they're developing," he said. "They know that's going to pay off in college."

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<p><a href="http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/living/education/16630653.htm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/living/education/16630653.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

2

<p>I'm glad someone started a thread on this; I was going to if no one else did. It's a really interesting article.</p>

<p>The issue seems to be equity and distraction. Cherry Hill has implemented the whole IB program: grade school, middle school, high school diploma program. But it has only done it at half of its schools, and it doesn't cover all of the kids at those schools. So the question is -- Do you put money into expanding this program, understanding that you may never get to the point where it's universal, and until them you are running parallel curricula? Or do you put the money into improving your standard curriculum? Or do you keep IB as a niche option? </p>

<p>As I understand it, the superintendant's recommendation is to kill the diploma program in the high school, but not the grade school or middle school programs.</p>

<p>Meanwhile, it's a little misleading to report that IB has "fallen out of favor." Although Cherry Hill has the biggest program in the area by far, Lower Merion is going to expand its high school program (from 20+ kids to 40+ kids per grade), which it offers at one of its two high schools, and Philadelphia is still implementing the program at 5 high schools.</p>

3

<p>IB is under attack in many places by the ultra-nationalists because of its multi-cultural focus. That may or may not be the case here, but it's certainly the case in Upper St. Clair near Pittsburgh.</p>

4

<p>Yes, the article mentions that. I don't think that's part of the controversy in Cherry Hill; if anything, I think it's part of what people like about the IB program there.</p>

5

<p>I went for tour in George school in newtown. The student there told me . it is very hard. He planed to take IB class before he went to George . but due the coures work load, he could not go that. I think if you have the resource, do it. otherwise concentrate on the regular school work.</p>

6

<p>This is why I paid money to send my kid to a private IB school for 13 years. I didn't have to put up with all the school politics and the right-wing crap.</p>

7

<p>In Cherry Hill, the split has created two camps - those who advocate the IB program because it offers a rigorous, diversified curriculum for advanced students and critics, who contend IB is too costly and attracts too few students, particularly for a diploma at Cherry Hill High School West where there are currently only 4 students.</p>

<p>
[quote]
Superintendent David Campbell on Tuesday recommended ending the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme at Cherry Hill High School West by June 2008...</p>

<p>Campbell noted that the IB program --- a rigorous, Swiss-based, highly structured program based on inquiry --- is not controversial in many schools throughout the nation.</p>

<p>But, he concluded, the program as implemented at West is simply not viable...</p>

<p>Campbell said he believes the district would benefit from a more uniform curriculum, better formulation and presentation of programs, and --- in some cases --- higher student expectations.</p>

<p>Among criticisms of the IB program, first implemented under the guidance of former Superintendent Morton Sherman after he was hired in 1997, is it costs too much to implement --- more than $500,000 annually --- and robs non-IB schools of needed resources.

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<p><a href="http://www.courierpostonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070123/NEWS01/70123046/1006%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.courierpostonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070123/NEWS01/70123046/1006&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>
[quote]
"For me, this is not as much a question of IB or not, but more a question of the equitable distribution of limited resources and the need for a core educational program among all schools and on behalf of all 12,000 students," Campbell said in a statement Monday.</p>

<p>In Cherry Hill, those choices must be made soon. As the 2007-08 budget process begins to unfold, it will become apparent why any expansion of IB would be fiscally irresponsible, Campbell hinted.

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<p><a href="http://www.courierpostonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070130/NEWS01/701300353/1006%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.courierpostonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070130/NEWS01/701300353/1006&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

8

<p>JHS - I still think this is an interesting topic and you ask several key questions that go right to the heart of the row over IB in PA.
[quote]
Do you put money into expanding this program, understanding that you may never get to the point where it's universal, and until them you are running parallel curricula? Or do you put the money into improving your standard curriculum? Or do you keep IB as a niche option?

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<p>From the above excerpts, the idea of keeping the IB as a niche option at Cherry Hill is generating a lot of heat. Apart from the issue of cost, is the problem/controversy also related to giving up local control of school curriculum? Would the funds now destined for the IB program be used just to beef up AP offerings?</p>