693 FCPS Students Named National Merit Commended Scholars in 2024

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's amazing to me just how many kids who were so gifted in 2nd grade that they needed to be isolated from the general population and placed in a self contained gifted program aren't even at the 97th percentile as 11th graders.

Yes! This needed to be said! 😆

What happened to the MS AAP students who get school choice and have their own safe cohort due to their giftedness?

[Anonymous]

Yes… if you remove being an excellent test taker from the admissions criteria, you’ll have a class of kids who aren’t necessarily that great at taking standardized tests.

Thankfully, being a good test taker has no practical application other than school admissions processes. So who cares?

I’m more interested in the increase in Regeneron finalists.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes… if you remove being an excellent test taker from the admissions criteria, you’ll have a class of kids who aren’t necessarily that great at taking standardized tests.

Thankfully, being a good test taker has no practical application other than school admissions processes. So who cares?

I’m more interested in the increase in Regeneron finalists.

That’s always a very small number compared to the total size of TJ’s class, so more likely to fluctuate randomly.

The fact that the majority of TJ’s class isn’t even getting LOCs really calls into question the continued need for this school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes… if you remove being an excellent test taker from the admissions criteria, you’ll have a class of kids who aren’t necessarily that great at taking standardized tests.

Thankfully, being a good test taker has no practical application other than school admissions processes. So who cares?

I’m more interested in the increase in Regeneron finalists.

Were any of these kids URMs? Were any from lower income middle schools? Were any of them FARMS? Were any of them passed over for 9th grade admissions and instead admitted as froshmores? I'm willing to bet you that they're all non-FARMS Asian kids from the traditional TJ feeder middle schools. If so, it means they got in despite the new process and not due to the new process. That is doubly true if any of them are froshmore admits.

[Anonymous]

You are all crazy. A 4% drop in the number of students in the top 97% of students in the County has you foaming at the mouth.

TJ is a public school that should be available to all the MSs in the County, that includes schools with a high poverty level and ELL level. There are smart kids at those schools who have not had the same exposure to math and science as kids from high SES schools. They deserve a chance to be exposed to classes that move at a faster pace and push them just like the kids from higher SES schools. They might not score as high on the SAT but they are better off for being in a school that pushes them and challenges them. They might earn C’s and B’s at TJ but being surrounded by highly motivated peers is a good thing for kids who have never had that type of exposure.

Not every kid at TJ needs to be the same with the same goals. Adding in kids from Poe and Stone and giving them a chance to work with kids who are bright and motivated who have had more exposure to STEM from Carson, Longfellow, Cooper, and Rocky Run is good for those kids. It is challenging them in a different way. They might only score in the 90th percentile on the SAT but they are learning so much more than they would at their base school.

They are smart and gifted, they have not had the same opportunities to explore these fields. Does it show in their grades at TJ and on the SAT? Sure. Are they failures because they are not in the 97th percentile? No. Historically the vast majority of kids at TJ were not in the commended group or the Semi-Finalists based on SAT scores. So now there are a few more kids in that category. TJ still has far more kids in that catagory than any other school in FCPS. McLean, Langley, and Oakton have a few more kids that are the 97th percentile, good for them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes… if you remove being an excellent test taker from the admissions criteria, you’ll have a class of kids who aren’t necessarily that great at taking standardized tests.

Thankfully, being a good test taker has no practical application other than school admissions processes. So who cares?

I’m more interested in the increase in Regeneron finalists.

Were any of these kids URMs? Were any from lower income middle schools? Were any of them FARMS? Were any of them passed over for 9th grade admissions and instead admitted as froshmores? I'm willing to bet you that they're all non-FARMS Asian kids from the traditional TJ feeder middle schools. If so, it means they got in despite the new process and not due to the new process. That is doubly true if any of them are froshmore admits.

All I can say is the many bright kids who didn't get selected are doing great at their home schools! For the many less privileged students who can now access TJ, this is a life-changing experience for them!

[Anonymous]

There is nothing more satisfying than kicking some GT butt. Hate AAP.

[Anonymous]

Link to FCPS data by HS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
TJ is a public school that should be available to all the MSs in the County, that includes schools with a high poverty level and ELL level. There are smart kids at those schools who have not had the same exposure to math and science as kids from high SES schools. They deserve a chance to be exposed to classes that move at a faster pace and push them just like the kids from higher SES schools. They might not score as high on the SAT but they are better off for being in a school that pushes them and challenges them. They might earn C’s and B’s at TJ but being surrounded by highly motivated peers is a good thing for kids who have never had that type of exposure.

The bolded is the tricky part, and it's entirely possible that FCPS is going about this the wrong way. Exposing underprivileged bright kids to high achieving peers and advanced classes is a huge positive in general. But, getting Bs and Cs at TJ could really hurt the kid's college prospects. Likewise, falling back to the base school with terrible grades in 9th from TJ isn't helping anyone. If the kid isn't academically advanced enough to handle many of the high level STEM classes and is instead almost entirely taking classes that would have been available at the base school, I'm not sure there's a huge point in attending TJ. I wish the eastern part of the county had a STEM magnet middle school program, so the kids could be exposed to TJ-ish rigor earlier and be able to make a more informed decision.

It will be interesting to compare the college outcomes for kids who attended TJ from high FARMS areas with the kids who remained at the base school and were at the top of the class in their high FARMS school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
TJ is a public school that should be available to all the MSs in the County, that includes schools with a high poverty level and ELL level. There are smart kids at those schools who have not had the same exposure to math and science as kids from high SES schools. They deserve a chance to be exposed to classes that move at a faster pace and push them just like the kids from higher SES schools. They might not score as high on the SAT but they are better off for being in a school that pushes them and challenges them. They might earn C’s and B’s at TJ but being surrounded by highly motivated peers is a good thing for kids who have never had that type of exposure.

The bolded is the tricky part, and it's entirely possible that FCPS is going about this the wrong way. Exposing underprivileged bright kids to high achieving peers and advanced classes is a huge positive in general. But, getting Bs and Cs at TJ could really hurt the kid's college prospects. Likewise, falling back to the base school with terrible grades in 9th from TJ isn't helping anyone. If the kid isn't academically advanced enough to handle many of the high level STEM classes and is instead almost entirely taking classes that would have been available at the base school, I'm not sure there's a huge point in attending TJ. I wish the eastern part of the county had a STEM magnet middle school program, so the kids could be exposed to TJ-ish rigor earlier and be able to make a more informed decision.

It will be interesting to compare the college outcomes for kids who attended TJ from high FARMS areas with the kids who remained at the base school and were at the top of the class in their high FARMS school.

Would the URM kids accepted at TJ that would be going to Lewis or Mt. Vernon or Justice would end up in the AP track or staying in school. The URM kids that are FARMs based might not end up in those classes because their peer group are not likely to end up in those classes. The AP/IB track kids at those schools are the small UMC/MC kids that live in the boundaries. A poor URM might choose to take Gen Ed classes because that is where his/her friends are. They might not look at college because their friends are not looking at college. It is more likely then not harder to encourage a smart kid who is poor and URM to stay on the AP/IB path then it is to encourage them to stick with harder classes at a school like TJ.

So many people argue that the cohort in AAP and TJ matters and for a kid who does not have a lot of friends who are taking advanced classes or parents who can support them, a place filled with kids excited about school might be a better fit even if the grades are B’s and C’s.

I do think it would be interesting to compare the FARMs/URM outcomes from TJ to their base school but I think the outcome is going to be different than what you expect.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's amazing to me just how many kids who were so gifted in 2nd grade that they needed to be isolated from the general population and placed in a self contained gifted program aren't even at the 97th percentile as 11th graders.

Yes! This needed to be said! 😆

What happened to the MS AAP students who get school choice and have their own safe cohort due to their giftedness?

I would bet that most of the commended kids at TJ are kids coming out of Carson, Rocky Run, Longfellow, and Cooper who were in the AAP program.

I don’t understand why so many parents hold on to this bizarre jealousy of AAP. It is an imperfect selection process. Some kids who belong in the program are not accepted. Some kids who are accepted would be fine in Gen Ed. We all know plenty of kids taking AP/IB classes who were not in AAP. I would guess we know kids who were in AAP who don’t do great in school. Move on. Support your kid regardless of AAP or not and celebrate their success.

People in this forum have a weird fixation with AAP/TJ. They either think that it is proof that their kid is a genius and superior or they think that their kid was unfairly snubbed. It is kind of crazy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You are all crazy. A 4% drop in the number of students in the top 97% of students in the County has you foaming at the mouth.

TJ is a public school that should be available to all the MSs in the County, that includes schools with a high poverty level and ELL level. There are smart kids at those schools who have not had the same exposure to math and science as kids from high SES schools. They deserve a chance to be exposed to classes that move at a faster pace and push them just like the kids from higher SES schools. They might not score as high on the SAT but they are better off for being in a school that pushes them and challenges them. They might earn C’s and B’s at TJ but being surrounded by highly motivated peers is a good thing for kids who have never had that type of exposure.

Not every kid at TJ needs to be the same with the same goals. Adding in kids from Poe and Stone and giving them a chance to work with kids who are bright and motivated who have had more exposure to STEM from Carson, Longfellow, Cooper, and Rocky Run is good for those kids. It is challenging them in a different way. They might only score in the 90th percentile on the SAT but they are learning so much more than they would at their base school.

They are smart and gifted, they have not had the same opportunities to explore these fields. Does it show in their grades at TJ and on the SAT? Sure. Are they failures because they are not in the 97th percentile? No. Historically the vast majority of kids at TJ were not in the commended group or the Semi-Finalists based on SAT scores. So now there are a few more kids in that category. TJ still has far more kids in that catagory than any other school in FCPS. McLean, Langley, and Oakton have a few more kids that are the 97th percentile, good for them.

Thank you.

[Anonymous]

There’s always the option to:

1) Not assume that all of the kids who you don’t think belong are getting Bs and Cs;

2) Let their families be concerned with what’s best for them and not presume that they have the same priorities that you do.

Novel idea, I know.

[Anonymous]

I know someone who scored very high on the SAT but wrote a very un-compelling personal statement and grades were good but not amazing (in WSHS), though there's for sure a STEM penalty. To me this says good test taker/lots of test prep but not well rounded. Probably was in AAP!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There’s always the option to:

1) Not assume that all of the kids who you don’t think belong are getting Bs and Cs;

2) Let their families be concerned with what’s best for them and not presume that they have the same priorities that you do.

Novel idea, I know.

2 is great, as long as they're being given an accurate picture and making their choices accordingly. If a kid knows that TJ will be very challenging and a huge grind that results in a lot of Bs and Cs, but still wants to do it, more power to them. If the admitted kids are given the impression that they're highly qualified for TJ and will thrive there when it likely will be a very challenging grind, that's a problem.