INCLINE VILLLAGE, Nev. — Despite the appearance of fierce opposition to the Implementation of International Baccalaureate in Incline schools, the Washoe County School District maintains the curriculum is right for Incline schools and its students.

Some parents and Incline residents agree, as IBIV — a non-profit group dedicated to raising funds for IB implementation — has been founded and begun raising money in earnest.

However, a group of residents have informally assembled under the leadership of Incline resident and father of four John Eppolito and begun disseminating information which purportedly reveals shortcomings of IB.

Eppolito is circulating a flier dubbed “Fact Sheet — IB Incline Village 5/7/2010 – John Eppolito.”

The Bonanza presented WCSD officials with statements from the fact sheet pertaining to the district and asked them to respond. The following contains the facts as presented on Eppolito's flier followed by the district's response. The responses were submitted to the Bonanza by Steve Mulvenon, spokesman for the WCSD.

Facts and responses

Fact: There are currently 80 students at Incline High taking at least one AP course.

District response: Close enough. Our count shows 78 students were enrolled in one or more AP classes this year. Traditionally, there are 75-80 kids total in the whole school who take at least one AP test in any given year; this includes 10th, 11th and 12th graders. See comment below about the difference between classes and tests. Another necessary measure to gage academic success is the percentage of juniors and seniors taking at least one AP or IB class. For Incline that was 38 percent and for Wooster it was 55 percent.

Fact: Incline High currently has 16 AP classes.

District Response: Not true. There's a difference between “AP classes” and “AP tests” i.e., some of our classes are combined w/ other classes i.e., Spanish AP Lang and AP Spanish Lit are combined this year. AP Arts, Physics, AP Calculus AB and BC, etc. It is misleading to say “AP classes”. However, we can/have offered 16 different subject tests in years past, depending on the need/demand of students for those tests. Remember, an AP test can be taken without taking an associated class. IHS offered 11 AP classes but administered tests in 16 different subjects this year.

Fact: Incline had the greatest percentage of students in the WCSD taking the SAT — 68 percent. It also has the highest passage rate for AP exams in the district at 79 percent.

District response: Both true, but somewhat misleading in what it leaves out. If the intent is to show a high level of academic success, one needs to look at SAT scores, not just the participation. One should also examine the ACT test participation and scores. On ACT participation, Incline's rate was 49 percent. Five other high schools were higher. Incline's average ACT math score (20.9) and English score (20.5) were both below the district average of 22.1 for math and 21.2 for English.

On the SAT, Incline's Verbal score of 491 was below the district average of 519 and the Math score of 502 was below the district average score of 528.

(The fact sheet) language on “passing rate” for the AP/IB exams is misleading. One does not pass or fail those exams. A student just receives a score. A score of 3 or higher on the AP and 4 or higher on the IB is usually necessary for colleges to award credit. For Incline HS that percentage was 79 percent and for Wooster it was 68 percent. That's for the whole school. Looking just at the students in the IB program at Wooster, of the 106 IB students that tested in 2009, 83 earned a score of a 4 or higher (78 percent).

None of this is meant to denigrate the fine school that Incline HS is. It is shown, however, to indicate that there is certainly room for improvement.

Fact: Wooster had 25 IB Diplomas in 2009. WCSD had 2,957 graduates. How many graduates did Wooster have so we can get a better percentage?

District Response: Wooster's graduating class was 184.

Most of these statistics are from the 2009 Data Profile available on the district website at http://www.washoecountyschools.org/community/annual-reports-publications/data-profiles

Fact: Both Incline Elementary and Incline Middle School did not meet state AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress) and are on the state “watch list”.

District Response: Not true. Both schools failed to make AYP for year 1. A school goes on the watch list after not making AYP for a second year.

Fact: Is there quantifiable evidence that IB increases student performance?

District Response: Yes. Here are several examples:

Let's look at Upper St. Clair, PA, where they have the K-12 continuum. USC is a middle- to upper-class community with highly educated professors, business people, their families.

Upper Saint Clair, Pennsylvania

K-12 continuum

“Since the three IB programs were introduced, student enrollment has increased and grown as the District has moved to full implementation stretching from grades first to twelve. This growth has been balanced with fluctuation and changes in various class cohorts as the students continue through the system from grade-to-grade.”

The Pittsburgh Business Times ranks it first in the region for the fourth straight year, as well as the top in the state based on the last three years of test scores.    

“In short, it's really a generational community-wide commitment to a high performing educational system,” the superintendent said.

The district is ranked 9th in PA and is 5/5 star on www.schooldigger.com. The site also has the PSSA (Pennsylvania testing) results posted for each school. Streams Elementary is the one that is IB, not the other two, and is top ten in the state. You will note the consistent uptick in test scores and consistent population through the years since IB was implemented. Baker Elementary, not IB, has seen a decrease in enrollment and test scores. Both middle schools have improved (they have a 5-6, and 7-8 school configurations).

The big picture of IB can be seen at Aspen High School:

Aspen stats:

• Enrollment has increased 25 percent since starting the IB, from 400 to 530 (2008 stat).

• 60 percent of the students take at least one IB certificate course

• 90 percent pass the certificate exams

• 12 percent-15 percent of graduating students receive the full diploma

• 92 percent pass rate of the full diploma

• 88 percent of their graduates go on to a 4-year college, more than double IHS's 44 percent last year

• 57 percent of graduates attend university outside of Colorado, in spite of their tempting IB diploma package of 24 semester credits.

Questions and Answers

Eppolito submitted three questions to the Bonanza he wanted the district to answer. The Bonanza forwarded them on to the district and the following contains the original questions and the response:

Q: Why is the board allowing Incline to skip the IBO required feasibility study?

A: The feasibility study is optional, not required.

Q: Which is it, do we have to pay for IB if we want it, or will the District pay if we can't raise the funds?

A: We have consistently said that the community needs to raise the necessary funds. We have also consistently said that to provide the necessary teacher allocations now, so the schools can complete their master schedules, those funds would be included in our 2010-11 budget and the community will reimburse the district. We continue to believe that if enrollment stabilizes, and the drop out rate improves, that the program will be self-sustaining over time.

Q: Why is the school board also allowing our new Superintendent and new Deputy Superintendent to skip the IB investigation stage recommended by the task force?

A: The task force's “investigation” recommendation carried no timeline. This argument is a red herring.

Sex Ed

Eppolito circulated an e-mail which claimed sexual education would be taught in the thirdrd grade under the IB format. The Bonanza asked the following question and received the following response:

Q: Mr. Eppolito claimed sex education is taught beginning in third grade. We were hoping to obtain a confirmation or denial. If it is true, does the district believe it's too early for children to be exposed to sex education, and can the district alter the program to postpone the introduction of sex-related lesson plans?

A: First, this is irrelevant to the IB discussion. Second, our sex ed program, called SHARE, begins in the fourth grade.