TJ Falls to 14th in the Nation Per US News

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“Having access to a strong high school program is paramount for students as they face an ever-changing world,” Liana Loewus, the managing editor of education at U.S. News & World Report, said in a press release. “Making data on our high schools available helps parents ensure their child is in the educational environment that best sets them up to thrive.”

The slide in the rankings for Thomas Jefferson High School comes after it changed its admissions process.

In 2020, Fairfax County’s school board voted to overhaul the admissions process to eliminate some testing requirements and implement an essay lottery system in a bid to increase the number of black and Hispanic students attending the school.

But the changes resulted in a substantially lower level of Asian students being admitted to the school.

The same level of Asian students being admitted to the school, not a lower level.

Racial exclusion of Asian applications from expanded seat quota, caused the Asian student percent to go from 73% in 2020 to 54% in 2021, in just one admission cycle.

Starting to see the real impact of these racial manipulations. Advanced asian students are being restricted from gaining admission, and the under-qualified are suffering in remedial even before taking the first level math class.

Has equity politics ever benefited anyone except the politicians?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“Having access to a strong high school program is paramount for students as they face an ever-changing world,” Liana Loewus, the managing editor of education at U.S. News & World Report, said in a press release. “Making data on our high schools available helps parents ensure their child is in the educational environment that best sets them up to thrive.”

The slide in the rankings for Thomas Jefferson High School comes after it changed its admissions process.

In 2020, Fairfax County’s school board voted to overhaul the admissions process to eliminate some testing requirements and implement an essay lottery system in a bid to increase the number of black and Hispanic students attending the school.

But the changes resulted in a substantially lower level of Asian students being admitted to the school.

The same level of Asian students being admitted to the school, not a lower level.

Racial exclusion of Asian applications from expanded seat quota, caused the Asian student percent to go from 73% in 2020 to 54% in 2021, in just one admission cycle.

Starting to see the real impact of these racial manipulations. Advanced asian students are being restricted from gaining admission, and the under-qualified are suffering in remedial even before taking the first level math class.

Has equity politics ever benefited anyone except the politicians?

Everyone is benefitting from the new admissions process. Is US News ranking really your yardstick of successful admissions? For everyone else, it is one among many and definitely not the most important. Just a nice-to-have.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How much of this is due to US News adding more BASIS schools and small charters to the pool of evaluated schools?

I guess Fairfax could eliminate TJ with its 2000 kids and set up four different schools in the same building, each with 500 kids and different names and principals. Let’s say the schools were tiered, with the top admits in TJ #1, the second quartile in TJ #2, the third quartile in TJ #3, and the bottom rung in TJ #4. Then FCPS could probably have two schools in the top 5 or 10 again, but the academic experience of the students wouldn’t necessarily be all that different. Obviously, it would just be gaming the system to have a more highly ranked school or schools.

Fcps gamed the system in the name of equity. In exchange for that, they gave up being one of the top ranked schools. Additionally, they gave up being a true magnet school in the intended meaning Of that term

haha now you're saying TJ isn't a magnet anymore? y'all are hilarious

Ha ha. Yes.

[Anonymous]

If the rankings don’t change, the magazine becomes even more irrelevant.

[Anonymous]

Overrated. Test prep and anything to gain the system for admission does not do well in careers. Data shows this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The lawsuits about the "controversial" admissions changes were national news. Of course they mentioned them.

These rankings always lag a few years behind. People now know how toxic TJ was, and it's reflected in its ratings, but things will eventually start improving once the better process gets recognized.

You can argue "better process" all day long, but unless USNWP puts a lot more weight on diversity, TJ's ranking will suffer. More importantly, the kids who made it into TJ by the skin of their teeth will be stressed and hard pressed to keep up, and if teachers are forced to dumb things down, the education of the entire student body will decline.

It is already at the lower limit, with just Calc BC as the minimum TJ graduation requirement. I guess they can lower the minimum further to Algebra 2, and turn it into a gen ed school. That would be an ironic conclusion of this equity travesty.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The lawsuits about the "controversial" admissions changes were national news. Of course they mentioned them.

These rankings always lag a few years behind. People now know how toxic TJ was, and it's reflected in its ratings, but things will eventually start improving once the better process gets recognized.

You can argue "better process" all day long, but unless USNWP puts a lot more weight on diversity, TJ's ranking will suffer. More importantly, the kids who made it into TJ by the skin of their teeth will be stressed and hard pressed to keep up, and if teachers are forced to dumb things down, the education of the entire student body will decline.

It is already at the lower limit, with just Calc BC as the minimum TJ graduation requirement. I guess they can lower the minimum further to Algebra 2, and turn it into a gen ed school. That would be an ironic conclusion of this equity travesty.

Just Calc BC? Have they dumbed things down and lowered this? What was it before?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“Having access to a strong high school program is paramount for students as they face an ever-changing world,” Liana Loewus, the managing editor of education at U.S. News & World Report, said in a press release. “Making data on our high schools available helps parents ensure their child is in the educational environment that best sets them up to thrive.”

The slide in the rankings for Thomas Jefferson High School comes after it changed its admissions process.

In 2020, Fairfax County’s school board voted to overhaul the admissions process to eliminate some testing requirements and implement an essay lottery system in a bid to increase the number of black and Hispanic students attending the school.

But the changes resulted in a substantially lower level of Asian students being admitted to the school.

The same level of Asian students being admitted to the school, not a lower level.

Racial exclusion of Asian applications from expanded seat quota, caused the Asian student percent to go from 73% in 2020 to 54% in 2021, in just one admission cycle.

Starting to see the real impact of these racial manipulations. Advanced asian students are being restricted from gaining admission, and the under-qualified are suffering in remedial even before taking the first level math class.

Has equity politics ever benefited anyone except the politicians?

Everyone is benefitting from the new admissions process. Is US News ranking really your yardstick of successful admissions? For everyone else, it is one among many and definitely not the most important. Just a nice-to-have.

Only the politicians are benefiting. They are even making you work for free.
The Algebra 1 kids are suffering in remedial, and teachers are frustrated teaching middle school math instead of current course syllabus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The lawsuits about the "controversial" admissions changes were national news. Of course they mentioned them.

These rankings always lag a few years behind. People now know how toxic TJ was, and it's reflected in its ratings, but things will eventually start improving once the better process gets recognized.

You can argue "better process" all day long, but unless USNWP puts a lot more weight on diversity, TJ's ranking will suffer. More importantly, the kids who made it into TJ by the skin of their teeth will be stressed and hard pressed to keep up, and if teachers are forced to dumb things down, the education of the entire student body will decline.

It is already at the lower limit, with just Calc BC as the minimum TJ graduation requirement. I guess they can lower the minimum further to Algebra 2, and turn it into a gen ed school. That would be an ironic conclusion of this equity travesty.

Just Calc BC? Have they dumbed things down and lowered this? What was it before?

Calc AB is the minimum required, not BC. But AB itself is a mountain of a challenge for Algebra 1 kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Admissions probably didn’t help. Worth noting though that there’s been a lot of teacher turnover which I think is a bigger deal than the admissions process since it affects the quality of the education itself.

Teachers are being forced to teach rigorous TJ curriculum to a class that lacks prerequisite middle school math and science knowledge. If they voice their concerns with the lack of merit based admission criteria, they are branded as anti-equity. Frustrated with not being able to fulfill their duties, many opt to resign.

The last school board was - if nothing else - honest about their priorities:

- academics were NOT their number one priority.

They repeatedly stated “equity is the number one priority,” and they were the board who radically altered TJ’s admissions policies.

Equity is practice means dumbing-down public education in the United States.

How much more evidence do people need before we put an end to this destructive and ultimately racist cult of equity?

They also fixed the cheating problem (inside the school as well as during admissions) and the cutthroat competitive atmosphere.

Academics are important - so are other parts of a school culture. The school board did good wtih the change.

You are clearly someone with no firsthand experience with the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Admissions probably didn’t help. Worth noting though that there’s been a lot of teacher turnover which I think is a bigger deal than the admissions process since it affects the quality of the education itself.

Teachers are being forced to teach rigorous TJ curriculum to a class that lacks prerequisite middle school math and science knowledge. If they voice their concerns with the lack of merit based admission criteria, they are branded as anti-equity. Frustrated with not being able to fulfill their duties, many opt to resign.

The last school board was - if nothing else - honest about their priorities:

- academics were NOT their number one priority.

They repeatedly stated “equity is the number one priority,” and they were the board who radically altered TJ’s admissions policies.

Equity is practice means dumbing-down public education in the United States.

How much more evidence do people need before we put an end to this destructive and ultimately racist cult of equity?

They also fixed the cheating problem (inside the school as well as during admissions) and the cutthroat competitive atmosphere.

Academics are important - so are other parts of a school culture. The school board did good wtih the change.

You are clearly someone with no firsthand experience with the school.

Okay.

[Anonymous]

Thank you DEI and all the folks who were shouting from rooftops when their DC did not get admitted. Now we lost a good school thanks to the stupid governor and other nonsensical reasons.

Who is suffering .. the kids

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thank you DEI and all the folks who were shouting from rooftops when their DC did not get admitted. Now we lost a good school thanks to the stupid governor and other nonsensical reasons.

Who is suffering .. the kids

Oh shoot. TJ has lost out to ... Basis.

Umm. No thank you. I'll stick with TJ, a regular full-size public magnet school over a private charter school known for its joylessness.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For a long time the number one school in the nation, US News now has TJ at #14. Not sure how much is a change in methodology, how much is the admissions policy (surprised to see WTOP call that one out below, because they usually parrot the FCPS party line on everything), and how much is other schools getting better.

Following controversial changes to its admissions policy in 2021 to boost diversity, Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Virginia remains the top ranked school in the D.C. region and 14th in the nation, slipping from the top 10. It’s also the 5th ranked STEM school in the nation.

https://wtop.com/education/2024/04/regions-best-high-schools/

The FCPS Board was clear that they wanted the opportunity to attend TJ to extend to more of the county's students. They were not concerned about a slip in rankings and never said they were. It's the crazies on this board that said things like "The admissions changes led to a much stronger student body (by weeding out test preppers, etc.)." They were clearly wrong. Again, they are in denial about that but the FCPS Board was OK with it because the school should serve the full county and every middle school. I'm OK with that but let's not pretend it results in the best and brightest. A trade off that I for one and OK with but I freely admit that Asian students are denied seats they would otherwise have in a true merit-based system in order to further a different, and apparently legal, purpose.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Overrated. Test prep and anything to gain the system for admission does not do well in careers. Data shows this.

#backdoorKaren