TJ Failure to Notify Letter of Commendation Winners

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At the end of the day, the TOP students are TJ are NMSF. And Students are compared against their classmates at TJ for college applications, so commended means nothing except to show that you are not in that bottom group of 50-70 kids who are not commended or NMSF.

It’s kinda hilarious to see parents of commended students getting bent out of shape about their child not being thrown a party over this. The parents who are upset are likely also the same parents who prepped their child into TJ and have the pathological need to feel superior to other parents.

According to the article, 240 TJ students were semifinalists or commended. That means there were well over 200 that were neither.

That cannot be accurate and shows that Asra is full of it.

If her statement in the article was correct, would mean that there were 132 NMSF, 108 commended and 210 students who scored below the 207 cutoff in the class of 2023. (Which does not make sense given the average SAT score of 1510 the schools.) https://tjhsst.fcps.edu/sites/default/files/media/inline-files/TJ%20Profile%202020-21.pdf

And she would trying to argue that NMSF were not notified? The names of the students who achieve NMSF are published widely.

No, this is a clearly wrong. And makes me wonder what else she says that is incorrect.

The article states clearly that 240 students in the Class of 2023 were commended, and FCPS has previously disclosed that 132 TJ students from the Class of 2023 were Semifinalists.

So that means that 87 students out of the Class of 2023, which has 459 students, were neither Semifinalists nor Commended (about 19%).

So Nomani is taking issue with the administration's decision not to notify or notify promptly the 52% of students who were commended out of a concern that the 19% who were neither Semifinalists nor Commended would have hurt feelings.

At the end of the day, I tend to agree with her that this wasn't the administration's decision to make. The NMSC relied on the school administrators to notify students, and they didn't live up to their end of the bargain. Some here are claiming that the students figure out the cutoffs on their own, and knew where they stood, but in that case the feelings of those who weren't recognized were going to be hurt either way. Better for the administration to be transparent and honor their understanding with the NMSC than sit on information.

Most likely Nomani is calling attention to this now because the administration's impulses to try and proclaim that everyone at TJ is "equal" would otherwise just increase as more TJ students are admitted under the new system. It will be a couple more years before we'll know how the Class of 2025 fares, but there's every reason to think the percentage of students who aren't Semifinalists or Commended will go up. Would they try to squelch that information as well?

If TJ is going to remain elite, it needs to be transparent. If you really think TJ is a school for those with the most STEM aptitude, then there should be no shame in being in the bottom 20% of TJ students on one test, as there are undoubtedly other opportunities to excel. But if the county's residents who are paying for TJ are being asked to indulge in the fiction that TJ students are still the best and the brightest in the county, yet somehow magically equal to one another, it may just be time to pull the plug on TJ in its current incarnation and replace it with an academy program that could serve more students and without the constant drama and shenanigans.

Incorrect. The article explicitly states:

"On September 16 of this year, National Merit sent a letter to Bonitatibus listing 240 students recognized as Commended Students or Semi-Finalists. "

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At the end of the day, the TOP students are TJ are NMSF. And Students are compared against their classmates at TJ for college applications, so commended means nothing except to show that you are not in that bottom group of 50-70 kids who are not commended or NMSF.

It’s kinda hilarious to see parents of commended students getting bent out of shape about their child not being thrown a party over this. The parents who are upset are likely also the same parents who prepped their child into TJ and have the pathological need to feel superior to other parents.

According to the article, 240 TJ students were semifinalists or commended. That means there were well over 200 that were neither.

That cannot be accurate and shows that Asra is full of it.

If her statement in the article was correct, would mean that there were 132 NMSF, 108 commended and 210 students who scored below the 207 cutoff in the class of 2023. (Which does not make sense given the average SAT score of 1510 the schools.) https://tjhsst.fcps.edu/sites/default/files/media/inline-files/TJ%20Profile%202020-21.pdf

And she would trying to argue that NMSF were not notified? The names of the students who achieve NMSF are published widely.

No, this is a clearly wrong. And makes me wonder what else she says that is incorrect.

The article states clearly that 240 students in the Class of 2023 were commended, and FCPS has previously disclosed that 132 TJ students from the Class of 2023 were Semifinalists.

So that means that 87 students out of the Class of 2023, which has 459 students, were neither Semifinalists nor Commended (about 19%).

So Nomani is taking issue with the administration's decision not to notify or notify promptly the 52% of students who were commended out of a concern that the 19% who were neither Semifinalists nor Commended would have hurt feelings.

At the end of the day, I tend to agree with her that this wasn't the administration's decision to make. The NMSC relied on the school administrators to notify students, and they didn't live up to their end of the bargain. Some here are claiming that the students figure out the cutoffs on their own, and knew where they stood, but in that case the feelings of those who weren't recognized were going to be hurt either way. Better for the administration to be transparent and honor their understanding with the NMSC than sit on information.

Most likely Nomani is calling attention to this now because the administration's impulses to try and proclaim that everyone at TJ is "equal" would otherwise just increase as more TJ students are admitted under the new system. It will be a couple more years before we'll know how the Class of 2025 fares, but there's every reason to think the percentage of students who aren't Semifinalists or Commended will go up. Would they try to squelch that information as well?

If TJ is going to remain elite, it needs to be transparent. If you really think TJ is a school for those with the most STEM aptitude, then there should be no shame in being in the bottom 20% of TJ students on one test, as there are undoubtedly other opportunities to excel. But if the county's residents who are paying for TJ are being asked to indulge in the fiction that TJ students are still the best and the brightest in the county, yet somehow magically equal to one another, it may just be time to pull the plug on TJ in its current incarnation and replace it with an academy program that could serve more students and without the constant drama and shenanigans.

Incorrect. The article explicitly states:

"On September 16 of this year, National Merit sent a letter to Bonitatibus listing 240 students recognized as Commended Students or Semi-Finalists. "

You are correct. Apologize for misquoting.

And that does raise a question about the accuracy of the statement in the article, because it seems odd that TJ would have 132 Semi-Finalists (top 1%), 108 Letter of Commendation recipients (top 3%), and 219 students not recognized at all. You'd expect more Commended students than Semi-Finalists, and for more than 48% of TJ students to be either Semi-Finalists or Commended.

[Anonymous]

Given the sharp decrease in the students who scored above 1400 on the psat this year, do you think the semifinalist cutoff will be lower this year? I'm so close! Fingers crossed!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At the end of the day, the TOP students are TJ are NMSF. And Students are compared against their classmates at TJ for college applications, so commended means nothing except to show that you are not in that bottom group of 50-70 kids who are not commended or NMSF.

It’s kinda hilarious to see parents of commended students getting bent out of shape about their child not being thrown a party over this. The parents who are upset are likely also the same parents who prepped their child into TJ and have the pathological need to feel superior to other parents.

According to the article, 240 TJ students were semifinalists or commended. That means there were well over 200 that were neither.

That cannot be accurate and shows that Asra is full of it.

If her statement in the article was correct, would mean that there were 132 NMSF, 108 commended and 210 students who scored below the 207 cutoff in the class of 2023. (Which does not make sense given the average SAT score of 1510 the schools.) https://tjhsst.fcps.edu/sites/default/files/media/inline-files/TJ%20Profile%202020-21.pdf

And she would trying to argue that NMSF were not notified? The names of the students who achieve NMSF are published widely.

No, this is a clearly wrong. And makes me wonder what else she says that is incorrect.

The article states clearly that 240 students in the Class of 2023 were commended, and FCPS has previously disclosed that 132 TJ students from the Class of 2023 were Semifinalists.

So that means that 87 students out of the Class of 2023, which has 459 students, were neither Semifinalists nor Commended (about 19%).

So Nomani is taking issue with the administration's decision not to notify or notify promptly the 52% of students who were commended out of a concern that the 19% who were neither Semifinalists nor Commended would have hurt feelings.

At the end of the day, I tend to agree with her that this wasn't the administration's decision to make. The NMSC relied on the school administrators to notify students, and they didn't live up to their end of the bargain. Some here are claiming that the students figure out the cutoffs on their own, and knew where they stood, but in that case the feelings of those who weren't recognized were going to be hurt either way. Better for the administration to be transparent and honor their understanding with the NMSC than sit on information.

Most likely Nomani is calling attention to this now because the administration's impulses to try and proclaim that everyone at TJ is "equal" would otherwise just increase as more TJ students are admitted under the new system. It will be a couple more years before we'll know how the Class of 2025 fares, but there's every reason to think the percentage of students who aren't Semifinalists or Commended will go up. Would they try to squelch that information as well?

If TJ is going to remain elite, it needs to be transparent. If you really think TJ is a school for those with the most STEM aptitude, then there should be no shame in being in the bottom 20% of TJ students on one test, as there are undoubtedly other opportunities to excel. But if the county's residents who are paying for TJ are being asked to indulge in the fiction that TJ students are still the best and the brightest in the county, yet somehow magically equal to one another, it may just be time to pull the plug on TJ in its current incarnation and replace it with an academy program that could serve more students and without the constant drama and shenanigans.

Incorrect. The article explicitly states:

"On September 16 of this year, National Merit sent a letter to Bonitatibus listing 240 students recognized as Commended Students or Semi-Finalists. "

You are correct. Apologize for misquoting.

And that does raise a question about the accuracy of the statement in the article, because it seems odd that TJ would have 132 Semi-Finalists (top 1%), 108 Letter of Commendation recipients (top 3%), and 219 students not recognized at all. You'd expect more Commended students than Semi-Finalists, and for more than 48% of TJ students to be either Semi-Finalists or Commended.

It’s also interesting that she is silent on her role in this. Why did she not speak up when she was the PTSA president?

It’s such a odd article if you read it critically. It is designed to whip up and divide, not actually improve anything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At the end of the day, the TOP students are TJ are NMSF. And Students are compared against their classmates at TJ for college applications, so commended means nothing except to show that you are not in that bottom group of 50-70 kids who are not commended or NMSF.

It’s kinda hilarious to see parents of commended students getting bent out of shape about their child not being thrown a party over this. The parents who are upset are likely also the same parents who prepped their child into TJ and have the pathological need to feel superior to other parents.

According to the article, 240 TJ students were semifinalists or commended. That means there were well over 200 that were neither.

That cannot be accurate and shows that Asra is full of it.

If her statement in the article was correct, would mean that there were 132 NMSF, 108 commended and 210 students who scored below the 207 cutoff in the class of 2023. (Which does not make sense given the average SAT score of 1510 the schools.) https://tjhsst.fcps.edu/sites/default/files/media/inline-files/TJ%20Profile%202020-21.pdf

And she would trying to argue that NMSF were not notified? The names of the students who achieve NMSF are published widely.

No, this is a clearly wrong. And makes me wonder what else she says that is incorrect.

The article states clearly that 240 students in the Class of 2023 were commended, and FCPS has previously disclosed that 132 TJ students from the Class of 2023 were Semifinalists.

So that means that 87 students out of the Class of 2023, which has 459 students, were neither Semifinalists nor Commended (about 19%).

So Nomani is taking issue with the administration's decision not to notify or notify promptly the 52% of students who were commended out of a concern that the 19% who were neither Semifinalists nor Commended would have hurt feelings.

At the end of the day, I tend to agree with her that this wasn't the administration's decision to make. The NMSC relied on the school administrators to notify students, and they didn't live up to their end of the bargain. Some here are claiming that the students figure out the cutoffs on their own, and knew where they stood, but in that case the feelings of those who weren't recognized were going to be hurt either way. Better for the administration to be transparent and honor their understanding with the NMSC than sit on information.

Most likely Nomani is calling attention to this now because the administration's impulses to try and proclaim that everyone at TJ is "equal" would otherwise just increase as more TJ students are admitted under the new system. It will be a couple more years before we'll know how the Class of 2025 fares, but there's every reason to think the percentage of students who aren't Semifinalists or Commended will go up. Would they try to squelch that information as well?

If TJ is going to remain elite, it needs to be transparent. If you really think TJ is a school for those with the most STEM aptitude, then there should be no shame in being in the bottom 20% of TJ students on one test, as there are undoubtedly other opportunities to excel. But if the county's residents who are paying for TJ are being asked to indulge in the fiction that TJ students are still the best and the brightest in the county, yet somehow magically equal to one another, it may just be time to pull the plug on TJ in its current incarnation and replace it with an academy program that could serve more students and without the constant drama and shenanigans.

Incorrect. The article explicitly states:

"On September 16 of this year, National Merit sent a letter to Bonitatibus listing 240 students recognized as Commended Students or Semi-Finalists. "

You are correct. Apologize for misquoting.

And that does raise a question about the accuracy of the statement in the article, because it seems odd that TJ would have 132 Semi-Finalists (top 1%), 108 Letter of Commendation recipients (top 3%), and 219 students not recognized at all. You'd expect more Commended students than Semi-Finalists, and for more than 48% of TJ students to be either Semi-Finalists or Commended.

It’s also interesting that she is silent on her role in this. Why did she not speak up when she was the PTSA president?

It’s such a odd article if you read it critically. It is designed to whip up and divide, not actually improve anything.

Don't know. It's not uncommon for people to call attention to things or take actions in the year before a local election. That includes the School Board, which likely will announce some things next summer to try to address some issues at schools other than TJ.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wasn’t Asra the TJ PTSA President during this time period?

Why didn’t she work with the TJ Admin to address this when she was in a position of influence? Why hold on to it until 2 days before Christmas and publish to a National audience?

How would she know the information was being withheld?

If, as she claims in the article, it has been going on for YEARS and impacted college admissions, then certainly parents were mentioning it. And she, as the PTSA president, should have advocated for a change.

But, I suspect parents/students don't actually care and recognize that national merit commended means nothing to colleges coming from TJ. Therefore, she is manufacturing a crisis.

There is no way it affected college admissions. Being Commended just doesn’t have that much meaning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Given the sharp decrease in the students who scored above 1400 on the psat this year, do you think the semifinalist cutoff will be lower this year? I'm so close! Fingers crossed!

I think they already accounted for that in that link earlier. It's not a definite number but a good estimate. Are you at 218?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wasn’t Asra the TJ PTSA President during this time period?

Why didn’t she work with the TJ Admin to address this when she was in a position of influence? Why hold on to it until 2 days before Christmas and publish to a National audience?

How would she know the information was being withheld?

If, as she claims in the article, it has been going on for YEARS and impacted college admissions, then certainly parents were mentioning it. And she, as the PTSA president, should have advocated for a change.

But, I suspect parents/students don't actually care and recognize that national merit commended means nothing to colleges coming from TJ. Therefore, she is manufacturing a crisis.

There is no way it affected college admissions. Being Commended just doesn’t have that much meaning.

Which is bs. A student in VA gets a 218 and is "commended" which doesn't have much meaning. Meanwhile a student in North Dakota gets a 206 and is a semi-finalist. Why does the North Dakota student's lower score have more meaning than the Virginia student's high score?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At the end of the day, the TOP students are TJ are NMSF. And Students are compared against their classmates at TJ for college applications, so commended means nothing except to show that you are not in that bottom group of 50-70 kids who are not commended or NMSF.

It’s kinda hilarious to see parents of commended students getting bent out of shape about their child not being thrown a party over this. The parents who are upset are likely also the same parents who prepped their child into TJ and have the pathological need to feel superior to other parents.

According to the article, 240 TJ students were semifinalists or commended. That means there were well over 200 that were neither.

That cannot be accurate and shows that Asra is full of it.

If her statement in the article was correct, would mean that there were 132 NMSF, 108 commended and 210 students who scored below the 207 cutoff in the class of 2023. (Which does not make sense given the average SAT score of 1510 the schools.) https://tjhsst.fcps.edu/sites/default/files/media/inline-files/TJ%20Profile%202020-21.pdf

And she would trying to argue that NMSF were not notified? The names of the students who achieve NMSF are published widely.

No, this is a clearly wrong. And makes me wonder what else she says that is incorrect.

The article states clearly that 240 students in the Class of 2023 were commended, and FCPS has previously disclosed that 132 TJ students from the Class of 2023 were Semifinalists.

So that means that 87 students out of the Class of 2023, which has 459 students, were neither Semifinalists nor Commended (about 19%).

So Nomani is taking issue with the administration's decision not to notify or notify promptly the 52% of students who were commended out of a concern that the 19% who were neither Semifinalists nor Commended would have hurt feelings.

At the end of the day, I tend to agree with her that this wasn't the administration's decision to make. The NMSC relied on the school administrators to notify students, and they didn't live up to their end of the bargain. Some here are claiming that the students figure out the cutoffs on their own, and knew where they stood, but in that case the feelings of those who weren't recognized were going to be hurt either way. Better for the administration to be transparent and honor their understanding with the NMSC than sit on information.

Most likely Nomani is calling attention to this now because the administration's impulses to try and proclaim that everyone at TJ is "equal" would otherwise just increase as more TJ students are admitted under the new system. It will be a couple more years before we'll know how the Class of 2025 fares, but there's every reason to think the percentage of students who aren't Semifinalists or Commended will go up. Would they try to squelch that information as well?

If TJ is going to remain elite, it needs to be transparent. If you really think TJ is a school for those with the most STEM aptitude, then there should be no shame in being in the bottom 20% of TJ students on one test, as there are undoubtedly other opportunities to excel. But if the county's residents who are paying for TJ are being asked to indulge in the fiction that TJ students are still the best and the brightest in the county, yet somehow magically equal to one another, it may just be time to pull the plug on TJ in its current incarnation and replace it with an academy program that could serve more students and without the constant drama and shenanigans.

Incorrect. The article explicitly states:

"On September 16 of this year, National Merit sent a letter to Bonitatibus listing 240 students recognized as Commended Students or Semi-Finalists. "

You are correct. Apologize for misquoting.

And that does raise a question about the accuracy of the statement in the article, because it seems odd that TJ would have 132 Semi-Finalists (top 1%), 108 Letter of Commendation recipients (top 3%), and 219 students not recognized at all. You'd expect more Commended students than Semi-Finalists, and for more than 48% of TJ students to be either Semi-Finalists or Commended.

It’s also interesting that she is silent on her role in this. Why did she not speak up when she was the PTSA president?

It’s such a odd article if you read it critically. It is designed to whip up and divide, not actually improve anything.

She seems to miss the old system where students could buy test answers which seems cray cray.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wasn’t Asra the TJ PTSA President during this time period?

Why didn’t she work with the TJ Admin to address this when she was in a position of influence? Why hold on to it until 2 days before Christmas and publish to a National audience?

How would she know the information was being withheld?

If, as she claims in the article, it has been going on for YEARS and impacted college admissions, then certainly parents were mentioning it. And she, as the PTSA president, should have advocated for a change.

But, I suspect parents/students don't actually care and recognize that national merit commended means nothing to colleges coming from TJ. Therefore, she is manufacturing a crisis.

Or, most kids check their email account and don’t need to rely on their parents being notified.

+1

The kids were notified. If they cannot manage to check their email and inform their parents, I’m not sure why this merits a national media campaign.

Asra tries to manufacture inane hysteria - at the expense of our schools - to push her political agenda.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At the end of the day, the TOP students are TJ are NMSF. And Students are compared against their classmates at TJ for college applications, so commended means nothing except to show that you are not in that bottom group of 50-70 kids who are not commended or NMSF.

It’s kinda hilarious to see parents of commended students getting bent out of shape about their child not being thrown a party over this. The parents who are upset are likely also the same parents who prepped their child into TJ and have the pathological need to feel superior to other parents.

According to the article, 240 TJ students were semifinalists or commended. That means there were well over 200 that were neither.

That cannot be accurate and shows that Asra is full of it.

If her statement in the article was correct, would mean that there were 132 NMSF, 108 commended and 210 students who scored below the 207 cutoff in the class of 2023. (Which does not make sense given the average SAT score of 1510 the schools.) https://tjhsst.fcps.edu/sites/default/files/media/inline-files/TJ%20Profile%202020-21.pdf

And she would trying to argue that NMSF were not notified? The names of the students who achieve NMSF are published widely.

No, this is a clearly wrong. And makes me wonder what else she says that is incorrect.

The article states clearly that 240 students in the Class of 2023 were commended, and FCPS has previously disclosed that 132 TJ students from the Class of 2023 were Semifinalists.

So that means that 87 students out of the Class of 2023, which has 459 students, were neither Semifinalists nor Commended (about 19%).

So Nomani is taking issue with the administration's decision not to notify or notify promptly the 52% of students who were commended out of a concern that the 19% who were neither Semifinalists nor Commended would have hurt feelings.

At the end of the day, I tend to agree with her that this wasn't the administration's decision to make. The NMSC relied on the school administrators to notify students, and they didn't live up to their end of the bargain. Some here are claiming that the students figure out the cutoffs on their own, and knew where they stood, but in that case the feelings of those who weren't recognized were going to be hurt either way. Better for the administration to be transparent and honor their understanding with the NMSC than sit on information.

Most likely Nomani is calling attention to this now because the administration's impulses to try and proclaim that everyone at TJ is "equal" would otherwise just increase as more TJ students are admitted under the new system. It will be a couple more years before we'll know how the Class of 2025 fares, but there's every reason to think the percentage of students who aren't Semifinalists or Commended will go up. Would they try to squelch that information as well?

If TJ is going to remain elite, it needs to be transparent. If you really think TJ is a school for those with the most STEM aptitude, then there should be no shame in being in the bottom 20% of TJ students on one test, as there are undoubtedly other opportunities to excel. But if the county's residents who are paying for TJ are being asked to indulge in the fiction that TJ students are still the best and the brightest in the county, yet somehow magically equal to one another, it may just be time to pull the plug on TJ in its current incarnation and replace it with an academy program that could serve more students and without the constant drama and shenanigans.

Incorrect. The article explicitly states:

"On September 16 of this year, National Merit sent a letter to Bonitatibus listing 240 students recognized as Commended Students or Semi-Finalists. "

You are correct. Apologize for misquoting.

And that does raise a question about the accuracy of the statement in the article, because it seems odd that TJ would have 132 Semi-Finalists (top 1%), 108 Letter of Commendation recipients (top 3%), and 219 students not recognized at all. You'd expect more Commended students than Semi-Finalists, and for more than 48% of TJ students to be either Semi-Finalists or Commended.

It’s also interesting that she is silent on her role in this. Why did she not speak up when she was the PTSA president?

It’s such a odd article if you read it critically. It is designed to whip up and divide, not actually improve anything.

She seems to miss the old system where students could buy test answers which seems cray cray.

I'm not too impressed by the new system. But maybe that's because I know how little understanding the School Board members had of what they were doing. For example, Laura Jane Cohen didn't realize until after the new system was approved that admission was going to be based on the middle school that a student was attending, rather than their base middle school (which has the effect of penalizing kids at AAP centers and tilting the playing field in favor of less qualified students at middle schools without AAP programs).

Also, I can understand how, if you're an Asian immigrant who has worked your a** off so your kid has a shot at attending TJ, it doesn't go down well to have some insufferable White woman like Ann Bonitatibus lecture you about how you need to check your privilege.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At the end of the day, the TOP students are TJ are NMSF. And Students are compared against their classmates at TJ for college applications, so commended means nothing except to show that you are not in that bottom group of 50-70 kids who are not commended or NMSF.

It’s kinda hilarious to see parents of commended students getting bent out of shape about their child not being thrown a party over this. The parents who are upset are likely also the same parents who prepped their child into TJ and have the pathological need to feel superior to other parents.

According to the article, 240 TJ students were semifinalists or commended. That means there were well over 200 that were neither.

That cannot be accurate and shows that Asra is full of it.

If her statement in the article was correct, would mean that there were 132 NMSF, 108 commended and 210 students who scored below the 207 cutoff in the class of 2023. (Which does not make sense given the average SAT score of 1510 the schools.) https://tjhsst.fcps.edu/sites/default/files/media/inline-files/TJ%20Profile%202020-21.pdf

And she would trying to argue that NMSF were not notified? The names of the students who achieve NMSF are published widely.

No, this is a clearly wrong. And makes me wonder what else she says that is incorrect.

The article states clearly that 240 students in the Class of 2023 were commended, and FCPS has previously disclosed that 132 TJ students from the Class of 2023 were Semifinalists.

So that means that 87 students out of the Class of 2023, which has 459 students, were neither Semifinalists nor Commended (about 19%).

So Nomani is taking issue with the administration's decision not to notify or notify promptly the 52% of students who were commended out of a concern that the 19% who were neither Semifinalists nor Commended would have hurt feelings.

At the end of the day, I tend to agree with her that this wasn't the administration's decision to make. The NMSC relied on the school administrators to notify students, and they didn't live up to their end of the bargain. Some here are claiming that the students figure out the cutoffs on their own, and knew where they stood, but in that case the feelings of those who weren't recognized were going to be hurt either way. Better for the administration to be transparent and honor their understanding with the NMSC than sit on information.

Most likely Nomani is calling attention to this now because the administration's impulses to try and proclaim that everyone at TJ is "equal" would otherwise just increase as more TJ students are admitted under the new system. It will be a couple more years before we'll know how the Class of 2025 fares, but there's every reason to think the percentage of students who aren't Semifinalists or Commended will go up. Would they try to squelch that information as well?

If TJ is going to remain elite, it needs to be transparent. If you really think TJ is a school for those with the most STEM aptitude, then there should be no shame in being in the bottom 20% of TJ students on one test, as there are undoubtedly other opportunities to excel. But if the county's residents who are paying for TJ are being asked to indulge in the fiction that TJ students are still the best and the brightest in the county, yet somehow magically equal to one another, it may just be time to pull the plug on TJ in its current incarnation and replace it with an academy program that could serve more students and without the constant drama and shenanigans.

Incorrect. The article explicitly states:

"On September 16 of this year, National Merit sent a letter to Bonitatibus listing 240 students recognized as Commended Students or Semi-Finalists. "

You are correct. Apologize for misquoting.

And that does raise a question about the accuracy of the statement in the article, because it seems odd that TJ would have 132 Semi-Finalists (top 1%), 108 Letter of Commendation recipients (top 3%), and 219 students not recognized at all. You'd expect more Commended students than Semi-Finalists, and for more than 48% of TJ students to be either Semi-Finalists or Commended.

It’s also interesting that she is silent on her role in this. Why did she not speak up when she was the PTSA president?

It’s such a odd article if you read it critically. It is designed to whip up and divide, not actually improve anything.

She seems to miss the old system where students could buy test answers which seems cray cray.

So you assume that everyone who does well has bought answers? Do you also assume that less privileged students have been given answers?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wasn’t Asra the TJ PTSA President during this time period?

Why didn’t she work with the TJ Admin to address this when she was in a position of influence? Why hold on to it until 2 days before Christmas and publish to a National audience?

How would she know the information was being withheld?

If, as she claims in the article, it has been going on for YEARS and impacted college admissions, then certainly parents were mentioning it. And she, as the PTSA president, should have advocated for a change.

But, I suspect parents/students don't actually care and recognize that national merit commended means nothing to colleges coming from TJ. Therefore, she is manufacturing a crisis.

Or, most kids check their email account and don’t need to rely on their parents being notified.

+1

The kids were notified. If they cannot manage to check their email and inform their parents, I’m not sure why this merits a national media campaign.

Asra tries to manufacture inane hysteria - at the expense of our schools - to push her political agenda.

That's rich, since the changes in TJ admissions were rushed through by a Superintendent who was desperately, if ultimately unsuccessfully, trying to shore up his standing with the School Board.

When Brabrand was hired, his motto was "the main thing is the main thing." Everyone thought he meant academic achievement.

Then he pivoted to "equity is at the center of everything we do" because he concluded that's all the politicians on the School Board cared about. And he wasn't wrong, as the School Board hired a successor who claims her main goal as an educator is to "ensure" that students in the system have "equal outcomes," a concept fundamentally at odds with the very existence of TJHSST.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wasn’t Asra the TJ PTSA President during this time period?

Why didn’t she work with the TJ Admin to address this when she was in a position of influence? Why hold on to it until 2 days before Christmas and publish to a National audience?

How would she know the information was being withheld?

If, as she claims in the article, it has been going on for YEARS and impacted college admissions, then certainly parents were mentioning it. And she, as the PTSA president, should have advocated for a change.

But, I suspect parents/students don't actually care and recognize that national merit commended means nothing to colleges coming from TJ. Therefore, she is manufacturing a crisis.

Or, most kids check their email account and don’t need to rely on their parents being notified.

+1

The kids were notified. If they cannot manage to check their email and inform their parents, I’m not sure why this merits a national media campaign.

Asra tries to manufacture inane hysteria - at the expense of our schools - to push her political agenda.

That's rich, since the changes in TJ admissions were rushed through by a Superintendent who was desperately, if ultimately unsuccessfully, trying to shore up his standing with the School Board.

When Brabrand was hired, his motto was "the main thing is the main thing." Everyone thought he meant academic achievement.

Then he pivoted to "equity is at the center of everything we do" because he concluded that's all the politicians on the School Board cared about. And he wasn't wrong, as the School Board hired a successor who claims her main goal as an educator is to "ensure" that students in the system have "equal outcomes," a concept fundamentally at odds with the very existence of TJHSST.

Or…he just wants to make education more accessible to more kids. Maybe, just maybe, it wasn’t good that parents could buy an admission for their kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wasn’t Asra the TJ PTSA President during this time period?

Why didn’t she work with the TJ Admin to address this when she was in a position of influence? Why hold on to it until 2 days before Christmas and publish to a National audience?

How would she know the information was being withheld?

If, as she claims in the article, it has been going on for YEARS and impacted college admissions, then certainly parents were mentioning it. And she, as the PTSA president, should have advocated for a change.

But, I suspect parents/students don't actually care and recognize that national merit commended means nothing to colleges coming from TJ. Therefore, she is manufacturing a crisis.

Or, most kids check their email account and don’t need to rely on their parents being notified.

+1

The kids were notified. If they cannot manage to check their email and inform their parents, I’m not sure why this merits a national media campaign.

Asra tries to manufacture inane hysteria - at the expense of our schools - to push her political agenda.

That's rich, since the changes in TJ admissions were rushed through by a Superintendent who was desperately, if ultimately unsuccessfully, trying to shore up his standing with the School Board.

When Brabrand was hired, his motto was "the main thing is the main thing." Everyone thought he meant academic achievement.

Then he pivoted to "equity is at the center of everything we do" because he concluded that's all the politicians on the School Board cared about. And he wasn't wrong, as the School Board hired a successor who claims her main goal as an educator is to "ensure" that students in the system have "equal outcomes," a concept fundamentally at odds with the very existence of TJHSST.

Or…he just wants to make education more accessible to more kids. Maybe, just maybe, it wasn’t good that parents could buy an admission for their kids.

Nah, it was obvious he was pandering and they still let him go.

And it's obnoxious to imply TJ is the only school that offers an education, although that's clearly what the TJ administration and the TJAAG crazies want people to believe. If anything, it's fast outliving its usefulness.