Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Texas > Dallas
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 02-17-2013, 10:10 PM
 
227 posts, read 527,088 times
Reputation: 167

Advertisements

Quote:
Originally Posted by mom2gurls View Post
We are all over the map because we can work from home....so that part is easy!!! Dh would like to have an office in plano..so we are looking at all possibilities within a 30 minute commute radius (if possible).

Do you have to "apply" to the IB? I am looking for my soon to be 8th grader who is doing the "pre IB" right now (learner profiles, she has done a year of IB in primary)..and two in middle...so we are used to the way of thinking.

What would the the best feeder route be for Plano east...maybe we should look in parts of parker and murphy?
I hear you. It is great that you are not tied to a work place. Usually high school guidance counselors come to middle schools and discuss all options with students and parents. You can apply in IB and they decide by looking at middle school counselor's recommendation and student records.

Now, Plano East Sr High houses the 9-12 IB Academy and students all over PISD can apply. It's not difficult to get in if you score decent grades, its more about being able to stay in. You will have to drive your child to and from your local middle or Jr high and buses will go from there to & from IB Academy. If you stay on east then child stays in PESH even if he decides to quit IB but if you live on west side than he will have back up option to join Plano West Sr.

This is all second hand information as after a few meetings I lost interest once my child decided to go to Shepton instead so please confirm things yourself. If you are coming from abroad then just e-mail IB Academy for first hand information. From what I have heard they are quite accommodating and being a big district deal with several foreign transfer students every year.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 02-17-2013, 10:35 PM
 
3,810 posts, read 8,702,862 times
Reputation: 5537
Parker will feed Armstrong/Murphy/East. Murphy feeds Murphy/McMillen/East. Armstrong is the weakest MS in the district. I'm not sure how McMillen and Williams are shaking out academically. Up until the last school year, all East feeding students went MS/Williams/East. Then they opened McMillen and were able to split the school. Williams had a not very good reputation up until a few years ago. Lots of discipline issues. The current principal did a good job of squashing that as much as she could in an overcrowded school filled with hormonal ninth and tenth graders from massively different socio-economic backgrounds.

Although I will say parents I know from both schools have not had anything negative to say since they got the school enrollments to a normal level.

And I will say that I believe if you are IB track you daughter would still go to Williams then on to East. But the kids all feed back together for 11-12 so even if she made friends in the neighborhood, she would still end up in school with them at some point.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 02-17-2013, 11:12 PM
 
Location: Texas
5,872 posts, read 8,065,649 times
Reputation: 2971
Quote:
Originally Posted by biafra4life View Post
I know a couple of folks in McKinney who pulled their kids out of McKinney ISD and enrolled in Imagine...they have nothing but good things to say about the school. The fact that its IB even tempted me to consider it for a brief second...till I thought about the fact that I live in Wylie and work in Addison...just no way that commute was going to work.
Our McKinney friends say that when the school opened there was tremendous demand for the school. Enrollment lines were down the street and round the corner...what does that say about the state of McKinney ISD schools?

Nothing, just that IB programs are few and far between, which creates the demand for them. Also the fact that the Imagine school was "mostly" tuition free was what created the massive firestorm for applicants and have people from as far as Lewisville & Carrollton taking their kids there.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 02-18-2013, 10:31 AM
 
287 posts, read 514,561 times
Reputation: 189
Very interesting thread...thanks for posting. I look forward to reading more input on this subject!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 02-18-2013, 12:20 PM
 
16,087 posts, read 41,028,028 times
Reputation: 6374
See: TIBS - Texas IB Schools

This site also lists schools offering IB PYP and MYP. The feeder to Woodrow, J. L. Long Middle School, was selected as a candidate school last year and expects accreditation this fall. I believe there are only a couple dozen public schools in Texas offering IB MYP.

First round applications for IB from students outside the district/attendance zone for Woodrow were due last Friday. Second-round apps are due by March 27 - see:

PROSPECTIVE STUDENTS
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 02-18-2013, 01:48 PM
 
1,282 posts, read 3,543,428 times
Reputation: 1064
Quote:
Originally Posted by biafra4life View Post
Our McKinney friends say that when the school opened there was tremendous demand for the school. Enrollment lines were down the street and round the corner...what does that say about the state of McKinney ISD schools?
Nothing, considering that many enrolled are also from surrounding school districts as well. It was actually quite easy to get in for the upper grades, but the lower elementary were nuts! My son is 90th on the wait list for 1st, and there was still over 100+ on the wait list after him. And that was with the full 100 spots open at the beginning of the year since it was brand new. The appeal/demand is that it is a small school environment that provides the IB program through ALL 13 grades (K-12) at NO additional cost over regular public school! It could have been anywhere in Collin County and would have gotten the same interest, possibly even higher if it had been more central (i.e more easily accessible) to the more populated parts further south. The point is that since there is nothing quite like it nearby (Irving's North Hills or Westlake Academy are the closest), demand for such a program will be great.

FYI...there were no "enrollment lines" since there was a couple months of application period and then a lottery drawing at the end...but maybe you just meant that as a figure of speech
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 02-18-2013, 02:04 PM
 
350 posts, read 746,421 times
Reputation: 309
Quote:
Originally Posted by MurphyPl1 View Post
And I will say that I believe if you are IB track you daughter would still go to Williams then on to East. But the kids all feed back together for 11-12 so even if she made friends in the neighborhood, she would still end up in school with them at some point.
Plano ISD has changed the IB program so that all four years will be housed at Plano East. They'll keep the freshmen/sophomores in a dedicated IB wing/building. This takes effect starting next year.

On another note, so far it seems that McMillen has a good reputation. The campus is amazing, for what it's worth. I also think that Williams has gotten a lot better the last few years now that it only houses 1100 students instead of over 2,000.

As stated earlier, the program serves the entire district, so you can live in an area that would otherwise feed to Plano West or Plano Senior, but still go to IB at Plano East.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 02-18-2013, 04:17 PM
 
16,087 posts, read 41,028,028 times
Reputation: 6374
Besides the IB Diploma, Woodrow has been one of the first schools (less than two-dozen in the USA) authorized to offer IBCC through its STEM and BEF (Business, Entrepreneurship and Finance) academies:

See:

The IB Career-related Certificate (IBCC)

IBCC Schools in North America

STEM and BEF are also accredited by NAF: National Academy Foundation
The Engineering section is affiliated with Project Lead the Way: PLTW | STEM Education Curriculum for Middle and High Schools
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 02-18-2013, 05:09 PM
 
297 posts, read 510,110 times
Reputation: 323
Not sure how PISD works for middle school but am familiar with IB program. Most districts that have the IB program also have a feeder middle school that has these kids already on a track for IB. They will be taking their freshman math, Algebra I in either 7th or 8th grade. If they do 7th then 8th they do their second year math. They also start with their first year English in 8th grade. Some will offer high school credit for 2 full years of foreign language from middle school = 1 year of high school credit. Then to top it off to help clear the students schedule they can offer an after school program that has their high school health and speech credits.

Most IB kids I know and have known were still involved in EC's in and out of school. Time management is key. That is what I've heard that really gave the IB kids a leg up in college, they knew how to manage their studies and still have fun. It is not for everyone but the kids that stick to the program come out ahead.

Call each district and ask if there is a magnet school for their gifted/talented students for middle school that will feed into the IB program for high school.
Plano
Allen
Garland
Coppell
Dallas

Here is a good start to all of the programs offered thru IB for Texas:
http://www.texasibschools.org/members/list.cfm
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 02-18-2013, 05:23 PM
 
Location: Dallas, TX
2,346 posts, read 6,899,093 times
Reputation: 2324
Quote:
Originally Posted by PISDstudent View Post
Plano ISD has changed the IB program so that all four years will be housed at Plano East. They'll keep the freshmen/sophomores in a dedicated IB wing/building. This takes effect starting next year.
Yep, so anywhere in the Plano East area (essentially everything in PISD east of US 75) would be ideal transportation-wise. Those kids can just catch the local bus to PESH.

Quote:
On another note, so far it seems that McMillen has a good reputation. The campus is amazing, for what it's worth. I also think that Williams has gotten a lot better the last few years now that it only houses 1100 students instead of over 2,000.
Yep again. That new school is jaw-dropping. And Williams is doing a lot better now that you don't have 2000+ kids crammed in there. The Health Sciences Academy should boost it a bit, as well.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2020 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Texas > Dallas
View detailed profiles of:

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top