1.
Dr. Trombetta and Mr. Bluey asked the Administrative staff repeatedly starting early last summer for information to review the IB program. As experienced board members they were familiar with the IB program. Information was slow in coming and so through the summer and the fall of 2005 Dr. Trombetta and Mr. Bluey began their own independent investigation. When, in December the new board was installed, Dr. Trombetta with the backing of the new majority, asked Dr. Lombardo once again to provide information. This information was finally presented in early February. The presentation which was made by the school administration and staff lacked depth and professionalism. It was a presentation filled with anecdotal information without any empirical evidence to support their assertions.
Nevertheless the board reviewed this information, openly and in executive committee. Comments from residents were solicited and considered. The board determined that the program at the elementary and middle years level was costly and a duplication of the curriculum already in place in the traditional classrooms. They determined that the Diploma Program was unpopular, having graduated less than 10 since its inception 7 years ago, and was easily replaced with more popular equally rigorous AP courses.
The timing of the decision was dictated by the rules of the IBO, which specify that termination must occur before 6 months of the succeeding school year. In addition it was necessary to allow for planning for the course schedule for the following year. Further delay would have prohibited proper scheduling for all students. On February 20th, the Board voted to phase out the program.
2. What is the cost of the IB Program?
The IB program, instituted more than 5 years ago, has costs of more than $200,000 per year. Moreover the program costs not only dollars, but opportunity. As Dr. Sulkowski said on February 20, 2006, our concentration on the IB Program has sacrificed our offerings in the rigorous, nationally-recognized AP program. Dr. Sulkowski also pointed to the cost to students not enrolled in either IB or in AP courses. These electives are offered to students at the high end of the academic spectrum. What is the cost to those at the middle or the lower end of the spectrum? Bigger class sizes? Fewer choices? The popular and cost-effective middle school Flight Program was canceled last year. Could it have been retained had we not been so keen on IB?
Upper St. Clair pays its teachers better than most School Districts in the state, indeed in the country. This School District currently is spending more than $159,000 annually on professional development. In addition we are paying a premium (an amount added to their regular salaries) to more than 25 staff members of up to $11,000 yearly for their leadership in curriculum development. With these kinds of resources the School Board Majority determined that there was no need to pay for an outside curriculum.
4. How many students are in the IB Program?
Currently in K-12 there are around 650 students enrolled in IB. The experience is that these numbers drop as the students progress through middle school and drastically when they reach the high school. The 9th grade class is only 38 students and that will continue to decline as students reach the 11th grade. The IB Diploma Program in the 11th and 12th grades has graduated only a handful of students since its inception in 1999. The tiny class sizes (4-10 students in some classes) make it expensive and necessitate an uneven and unfair distribution of resources.
5. What is different about IB?
IB is a program of study which embraces an inquiry based method of teaching and a curriculum which seeks to make connections between disciplines. ACLU's Vic Walczak claims that "IB teaches students to think about problems for themselves and research their own conclusions. It gives a different angle, from a global and a multicultural perspective." Why does he think that only IB does this? IB did not invent perspective, problem solving, and critical thinking. These are standard tools in every excellent classroom.
Proponents claim that the IB curriculum seeks to find common causes and consequences when studying history for example. Teachers coming out of the University of Pittsburgh School of Education are trained to teach history from multiple perspectives and to introduce analytical tools in the classroom that allow students to act as historians to make comparisons. Our excellent professional staff is already engaged in teaching students in this way. IB is simply a duplication of the teaching and learning that is going on throughout the schools. In fact when the program was started in 1999, teachers who went to IB schools to receive an orientation and training in the program remarked that they saw little to no difference between IB and what they were already doing in their classrooms.
Proponents of IB claim that it is more rigorous than the traditional curriculum. Actually MYP and Primary Years curriculum is the very same as the traditional USC curriculum. In addition, in these years the classes are heterogeneous groupings. They are not tracked or accelerated. USC Administrators are careful to let parents who are interested in the MYP or Primary Years know that they are not accelerated or gifted classes. Students are selected by request or by lottery if necessary.
The Diploma Program at the 11th and 12th grade is a rigorous course of study that may lead to a Diploma and/or college credit. It is however very unpopular. In fact it is so unpopular that 70% of the IB classes are combined with the more popular AP classes because so few students choose IB.
Furthermore IB is unpopular in general. There are only 35 of the full programs in the entire US! There are only 17 IB Programs of any kind in Pennsylvania and that is including public and private schools. After careful consideration other school districts have also determined that the disadvantages far outweigh any advantages. The more popular AP program can easily replace the IB Diploma program for those students seeking this level of instruction.
6. Does canceling the IB Program affect our real estate values?
There is no evidence indicating that real estate values will be affected in any way by this decision. On the contrary, real estate values were rising (although not meeting inflation) before the IB Program was instituted in our Schools. During the time we have had IB, real estate values have been largely stagnant and in fact not keeping up with inflation (from the period 1995 to 2005 inflation was 30%. During that same time property values increased by 22% in Upper St. Clair). USC real estate is more endangered by rising taxes than by whether or not there is an IB program at the school. Peters Township has experienced a tremendous increase in property value during this same stagnant period in Upper St. Clair. They do not have an IB Program. Their overall tax burden per household however is much lower than ours.
Nonetheless your School Directors are aware that the USC school's good reputation is important to maintain our community's value. They are therefore always careful to be sure that any budget cutting does not threaten the high level of education that our schools are known for.