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• 8/6/2011 10:44 AM Concerned Taxpayer wrote:
  Hello John, This is well written and exceedingly well researched information. The question is...why doesn't the school district publish this information the same way they distribute information encouraging students to buy into the IB program? The other question is...where is the school district getting the funds to pay for the program costs and the salaries of the required administrators and support staff? The parents of children and the taxpayers of this county need to "FOLLOW THE MONEY" !!! This is not a productive program for the students overall. IB is not proven to improve grades at any level that IB is given to the students. So, why is WCSD spending so very much money for so little proven results to the detriment of those students who really could get better results with the AP program at minimal cost to the taxpayers? Something for parents and taxpayers to look into.
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• 8/7/2011 8:07 AM Father of Four wrote:
  Concerned Taxpayer,
  
  I sent this to Wooster's new IB coordinator,
  jrosenbloom@washoeschools.net,
  
  and all the school board members,
  bclark@washoe.k12.nv.us
  bmclaury@washoe.k12.nv.us
  dcarne@washoe.k12.nv.us
  egutierrez@washoe.k12.nv.us
  jmayer@washoe.k12.nv.us
  grein100@gmail.com
  sgkelley@washoe.k12.nv.us
  
  a couple days prior to posting, "What All Parents & Students Should Know BEFORE Enrolling in IB."
  
  "Mr. Rosenbloom,
  
  I realize this is one sided but do you find any inaccuracies in this posting? If not will you kindly give this information to all parents prior to them enrolling their students in IB at Wooster?
  http://myinclinevillage.com/2011/07/31/what-all-parents--students-should-know-before-enrolling-in-ib.aspx
  
  I’m not sure why WCSD, will only present one side of IB prior to students enrolling. Parents deserve to know all the facts about IB prior to enrollment."
  
  NO ONE RESPONDED!
  
  My goal is not to harm Wooster's IB programme. My goal is to get WCSD to present ALL aspects of IB to parents and students prior to student enrollment in the programme.
  
  John
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• 8/8/2011 6:59 AM Concerned Parent wrote:
  John,
  
  My guess is that the school board and the IB coordinator think that giving parents ALL the facts about IB in advance it will harm Wooster's IB program. To justify the cost for IB the district needs to keep growing enrollment.
  
  Since it appears the district won't do the right thing and provide ALL the facts about IB to parents, the school board should get involved.
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• 8/14/2011 4:19 AM Lisa McLoughlin wrote:
  No parent should have to go through what John Eppolito went through to protect and defend the integrity of American public schools against IB's strategic expansion efforts. By putting himself on the frontline, meeting with the press, engaging the community, directly confronting school officials and uncovering the facts IB doesn't want people to know, John was able to do what few Americans have been able to do - stop IB K-12.
  
  I would like to thank John for composing this informational page and his continuing efforts to share the truth about IB.
  
  http://truthaboutib.com/whatcanido.html
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• 8/15/2011 6:32 AM Father of Four wrote:
  Thank you Lisa.
  
  In the seven minute Reno High video above
  http://www.rhshuskies.com/media/apvib.m4v
  the district admits my first point, IB will increase costs for most graduates compared to their fellow AP students. The video takes a long time to down load but the vice principal from Reno High states:
  
  "Very very clearly AP offers more college credit than IB. Universities by in large will give far more credit for passed AP courses than they will for IB courses. We did a little research and we can tell you that over 200 universities actively prefer the AP program over IB vs. only four universities that prefer IB over AP."
  
  John
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• 8/15/2011 5:31 PM Lisa McLoughlin wrote:
  That's wonderful that your Reno Asst. Principal went on record on that video, John. YOU empowered her to do so. We need more administrators and college admission officers to go on record with the truth.
  
  The following comment was sent to the Bedford NH school Board, unfortunately it is anonymous but it bears repeating:
  
  To: bedfordschoolboard@sau25.net
  Subject: Re: Why Bedford IB students
  A REPLY from a NH parent:I went to MIT on Friday with my son to "look around " and ask questions about him possibly going there. IB was brought up by another parent and the admissions person said, "Well, we prefer the kids come here with AP courses and not IB but there have been students from the IB program that managed". Hardly a ringing endorsement.
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• 8/21/2011 12:40 PM Willy krusell wrote:
  Sure is obvious why Heath, Pedro, and the (bloated and incompetent) communications department only wanted Wooster telling their story!
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• 8/25/2011 6:40 AM Willy Krusell wrote:
  John,
  I think that video answers why Heath, Pedro, and the bloated incompetent communications dept. didn't allow Reno High students a chance to recruit like Wooster was given! I wonder if that vid knocked the smirk off of Stella's face. I hope it was a knockout blow to the stomach for that snotty little eurotrash camp follower that Heath brought with him.
  Simply put, AP offers college credit while IB offers pseudo intellectual facility as shown in the Breitbart clip on what was best before sliced bread.
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• 8/26/2011 5:18 AM Father of Four wrote:
  Here is the article Willy is referring to, the clip was done for the Theory of Knowledge class,
  http://biggovernment.com/lrlee/2011/07/11/is-the-international-baccalaureate-programme-co-opting-your-child/
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• 2/19/2012 2:36 PM Patricia Hammes wrote:
  It is very interesting to me as an AP and IB Coordinator that the AP curriculum and exams are beginning to be formatted in the "depth of knowledge" proposed 44 years ago and used by the IB curriculum and exams. Perhaps AP realizes now what best practices and 21st century teaching and learning are really all about. Also interesting is that my comments are subject to your moderation before being displayed. Hmmmm.
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• 2/25/2012 6:52 AM Father of Four wrote:
  1) Comments used to be displayed immediately. After publishing this article the number of hits on this site jumped from about 100 per day to over 3,000 per day. From 1/1/12 through 2/24/12 the site has averaged over 6,900 hits per day. Now I have to delete all the spam, and approve all comments (even mine).
  2) I find it interesting that IB won't acknowledge ANY of the 14 "less than flattering" aspects above. And when people bring up these facts they become a target of IB and the district pushing this ridiculous programme.
  
  Your turn Patricia...
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• 2/25/2012 7:29 AM Lisa wrote:
  Patricia,
  
  The vast majority of online newspapers/blogs require moderation of comments prior to publishing on the web. This is something 'new' to you?
  
  But worse than that, sites like IBO and Patch don't just "moderate", they outright censor or ban individuals who don't rave about the IB product.
  
  Did the moderator here alter your comment in any way? I doubt it.
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• 4/30/2012 11:46 AM John wrote:
  Hi John
  I enjoyed your material here. But was quite frustrated at times. You seem to have a lot of issues muddled: your unhappiness with the WCSD, your beliefs and attitudes towards the IB and your beliefs and attitudes towards lots of other stuff (the UN for starters)
  
  I don’t think this is really a helpful addition to the debate. I’ve commented on each point, such as I am able, but tried to keep focused on the IB.
  
  I wonder why, after all of what you say, that you concluded that you actually think the IB is “best” for high achieving students. Presumably you make this claim based on your beliefs about what a good education means, what a well-educated student means? Why does none of this appear to temper your views in the 15 points against the IB that you offer? In my professional life, I have to make this argument (that IB offers a better learning experience, and better preparation for students) every day and I like to make it because I think that it is right. If your gripe is with WCSD, fine. But be more clear in your argument.
  
  I’ve had to break up my post, to reply to meaningfully reply to yours.
  
  Regards,
  John
  
  
  1. If your point is just that more credit is given to AP courses more often than IB courses, so be it, that’s a university decision. This is not a claim against the IB.
  2. No the IB doesn’t promise better performance. It simply attempts to follow a particular view of what ‘educated’ means. Literate, numerate, socially conscious, globally aware. APs do not take this sort of a programmatic approach.
  3. Yes, IB has particular guiding assumptions about learning and what engages students and prepares them for life-long learning. However, the IB doesn’t (at the DP level) dictate how things must be taught. That’s left up to the schools and the teachers. The studies you mention rely heavily passing standardized tests as the model for ‘high achievement’. I’ve met very few educators who agree that passing state sponsored, politically driven standardized tests is what we mean by well-educated.
  4. Yes.
  5. Ok – schools have to decide on cuts across curriculum in all sorts of areas. By less flexible, I suppose you mean that there is structure in the program, but this is because it IS a program. All High Schools and Universities have the same sort of structure (taking certain classes to get the diploma). AP courses must also fit into such a structure if a student wishes to earn a diploma. I’m not sure why this is a fault of the IB. You’ve not justified 2.4.
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• 4/30/2012 11:47 AM John wrote:
  6. Again, not really a fault of the IB, you’ve simply pointed out that some conservative Christian groups differ in their ideology. Conservative Christian groups conflict on a lot of things. Some of them think that US soldiers deserve to die. Do you want to ally yourself and your argument with them? Indeed Ambrose’s statement makes it clear that what they disagree with is not the IB mission statement per se but some other imposed view. I’ve been teaching IBDP for 12 years and there’s nothing that necessarily conflicts with the Western cultural tradition of America’s founding fathers.
  7. While the IB and the UN might have links, so to does the IB have links with a number of US Government initiatives, helpfully listed in documents available on the links you offered.
  8. Why is “epistemology” such a bad word? It is the philosophical study of knowledge: how we get it, methods of various disciplines to gain it, various ways to evaluate it. America is premised on the right to ASK certain questions - surely we can ask these questions? It’s rather unfair to suggest that something is wrong with the IB simply because one of its graduates in another country turned to terrorism… what shall we say of Bundy, or McVeigh – they were educated in US high schools – are their local districts to blame?
  9. Yes, we’ve agreed that the IB has a certain ideology. Part of that ideology is that young people need to learn about the challenges facing our environment. I’m not sure where the objection lies in that. Why is this not a ‘real subject?’ Shall we simply state facts: “The earth’s resources are unevenly distributed, which leads to unsustainable economic situations for developing countries” without also suggesting that it is good to help solve this problem?
  10. I don’t know enough about PYP to comment. I do know that it offers a curriculum in a whole sense, such that a school couldn’t teach ½ and ½. It’s certainly NOT about kids ‘thinking the same’. It’s about implementing a curriculum, which is what schools do.
  11. Yes.
  12. Your use of Duke’s claim is interesting, as it doesn’t touch on IB at all. Luckily, it’s easy to find information from Duke on the website which says that BOTH IB and AP are accepted for credit.
  13. Yes, there is an expectation that when entering students for an IB exam, that teachers will teach the specification for that exam. It’s a simple matter of preparing your students in the best way. Not all specifications teach the same material. It is a disservice to place students registered for different exams in the same class, unless the teaching is appropriate for both exams.
  14. Yes. but there’s nothing UN influenced. It’s actually influenced by the French Baccalaureate, which requires philosophy to be taught in high schools.
  15. I wouldn’t be able to speak to this, other than to say you are making quite general claims. The US is IB’s fastest growing region, so what you say can’t be true for all districts.
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