McLoughlin is the creator and chief promoter of the Truth About IB Web site, truthaboutib.com. On my Admissions 101 discussion group here at washingtonpost.com, I started a discussion recently of her site being mentioned in the New York Times, but that newspaper failed to mention her. I thought this would irritate her, which is good for me because McLoughlin slapping me around is interesting theater. Her often-acidic comments keep Admissions 101 page view numbers high, particularly when the subject is IB (which McLoughlin loathes) versus IB's much larger and more influential counterpart, Advanced Placement (which McLoughlin likes.)
This time, ColoradoCowgirl, one of the IB critics McLoughlin has brought to Admissions 101, challenged me to prove what, if anything, is incorrect on truthaboutib.com. Feeling lazy that day, I made a lame suggestion that the truthaboutib folks should read my book about IB, "Supertest," and tell me where I went wrong instead. McLoughlin called that "a really poor attempt at a dodge."
So I agreed to critique her Web site. I haven't read everything on it, but enough to report, somewhat to my surprise, that it is pretty good. Its raging paranoia about IB being a threat to American values and U.S. sovereignty is completely divorced from reality, but compared with other overheated ideological Web sites, it is remarkably fair, even balanced in a few places.
The "Overview" section of truthaboutib.com is clear and mostly straightforward. It declares right away that the site has an agenda, exposing flaws in the IB program.
IB is a group of introductory college level courses and tests. It was created in Geneva by some private school teachers, including Americans, to offer a consistent introductory college program for the children of diplomats and businessmen around the world. It has since become popular in U.S. schools, where it is found on more than 500 campuses, mostly public high schools.
It is well known in the Washington area, where I live and work. About two dozen schools have IB here. IB also has a Middle Years Program for middle schools and a Primary Years Program for elementary schools. They are growing but are not nearly as important or successful as the IB in high schools, so I haven't paid much attention to them and will ignore them in this critique.
I think AP and IB are both good. They provide the most challenging courses in U.S. high schools today. I think IB is slightly better because its exams are usually all free response questions, with few of the multiple choice questions that make up half of AP, and because a student who goes for the IB diploma in addition to her regular high school diploma must write a 4,000 word researched essay. (Students who don't want to get the IB diploma, which also requires taking six IB exams, can take fewer IB courses and tests and look just as good to colleges as students taking the same number of AP courses and tests.)
McLoughlin thinks IB is bad because it charges schools much more than AP does for its services, because it is more difficult to get college credit for good scores on IB exams, and because she thinks it promotes what she calls "a socialist/NWO [New World Order] agenda."
The truthaboutib.com overview says its goals are to inform parents, educators and taxpayers about IB, advocate a return to "the 'traditional' American system of high schools with Standard, Honors and AP levels," "invest in American (AP) courses and examinations which have a longer record of acceptance, quality and greater national and global recognition" and "advocate for the retention of local educational control and U.S. sovereignty."
There is nothing wrong with giving out more information, which truthaboutib.com does well. Many of its items are, in fact, stories by me, about which I have no complaints, except that truthaboutib.com in a couple of instances distorts my meaning. A link to one column of mine was "AP or IB? Neither," when the real headline on the column was "AP vs. IB vs. Neither: A Plea for Peace and Love." I was trying to bring all sides together, but the truthaboutib.com made it sound like I am rejecting both programs. When I showed McLoughlin a draft of this column, she promptly restored my original headline.
I clicked on another link, "IB Math Fraud," and saw this headline: "Read Jay Mathews' coverage of Fraudulent IB Math Evaluation." That sounded like the IB organization was up to no good, but in fact the column was about a math professor who was angry not with IB, but with the Fordham Institute for too much editing of a report he did for the institute on AP and IB math courses and tests. McLoughlin, seeing this part of my column, said she disagreed with my interpretation and left the link as is.
I think IB has greater global recognition than AP, but that's not important. It is, however, wrong to say that advocating for AP is calling for "retention of local educational control and U.S. sovereignty." There is nothing the least bit local, as the term is usually used, about AP. Critics regularly mourn how AP courses discourage local high school teachers from creating their own advanced offerings. Many educators say AP squelches local initiative. Truthaboutib.com ignores that point. The Web site also appears to overlook the fact that AP is in the process of changing its courses to be more like IB, with more choices in test questions so teachers can explore some topics more deeply.
Truthaboutib.com is right to point out that college academic departments do not usually treat AP and IB equally, a form of inexplicable discrimination that I have been railing against for years. Essentially, the professors who make the rules about giving college credit for AP and IB know something about AP, but next to nothing about IB. Out of ignorance, apparently, they give more credit for AP than IB courses. That Fordham Institute report covered in the "IB Math Fraud" item shows that AP and IB single-year courses and tests in math, history, English and biology are similar in content and rigor. But the college professors don't seem to know that. When I ask them to explain why they discriminate against IB, they rarely give an answer. Their university spokespersons say they don't know, and in most cases are unable to find out.
To the credit of truthaboutib.com, my piece outlining the credit problem is all there. Less attractive is the Web site's habit of saying the difference in credit means IB is not as good a program, without mentioning that IB students report it has little effect on their college success. If they can't get formal credit, they take the college's placement test or have a chat with the professor, and still get the advanced course they are looking for.
Truthaboutib.com is full of accounts of community fights over IB. These are rare, but exciting in a way. Usually the IB supporters are portrayed as dark agents of intolerance and ignorance, and the anti-IB people are the heroes. Some critics think that IB is a threat to American life because some of its leaders have been associated with United Nations agencies. Some Americans also are bothered by an organization committed to teaching students about the wider world. In some instances, critics have charged IB with promoting unconventional, cult-like philosophies.
McLoughlin, however, rejects the charge that IB and AP promote different teaching styles. Some people say IB is more progressive and more focused on concepts and AP is more traditional and focused on content. Truthaboutib disagrees: "The individual AP class, like IB, is so much a product of the teacher that any IB or AP class can differ in terms of instructional methodology from one day to the next," which is exactly right.
Truthaboutib.com's best argument is about money. It exaggerates the cost of IB in some instances, but a careful reader will get a fairly accurate picture. In my book I calculated that an average public high school -- my example was Mount Vernon High in Fairfax County, Va. -- spent about $56,000 a year on IB, including subscription and test fees. McLoughlin says it is more than that for many schools. Whatever the case, it is much more than an AP program would cost.
IB is expensive, in part, because it insists that all IB teachers be trained (AP does not), and because all those essay questions on IB tests are more expensive to grade (half of AP exams are machine scored.) I argue that $56,000 was about the amount that school paid for its baseball and softball programs. As much as I adore those sports, which my children played, I think IB is more important.
But McLoughlin, and truthaboutib.com, are right to point out the cost as a vital issue. If a school can't afford IB, it should go with AP. The two programs are almost exactly as good. Truthaboutib.com would an even better information source than if it emphasized that point.
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