TJ Admissions

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Many, many people in the Jefferson community hate the fact that they were robbed of their community school. If they didn't hate it before, they do now:

"You can often find a posting on facebook indicating where the next Kilroys- Jefferson reunion will be held. On any given week friends of “Old Jefferson” or Regular Jefferson” , will gather together, at that familiar drinking hole to pay homage to days of old. Perhaps friends will gather simply out of nostalgia, or unfortunately to celebrate the life of another Jefferson alumnus who has graduated from this world to the next.

My memories of Jefferson are vast. I remember the first time I entered the building as a freshmen, nervously walking the halls trying to find my locker for the first time. I remember the first time I went to a Friday night football game, sock hop or participated in Spirit Week. I remember the first of several hundered times of falling in love, getting into fights, or mocking Coach Faulk. I remember when Ronald Regan came to our school after it was originally post-poned after the space shuttle strategy. I remember the very first time I put on that Jefferson football jersey and ran onto the field with my teammates.

I remember when we first heard that the school was changing to SCI Tech and that the class of 1987 would be the last “regular” graduating class.

While I remember these things now, at the time most of us held few thoughts as to what that meant for the future. We were too bogged down with the parties at Chucks house, trying to graduate, or who we would date next to began to understand the repercussions of what that meant.

We were too self imposed to understand what this decison meant for the class of 1988 who had to merge with our rival school down 236 west.

As a Father of 3 teenagers, it is only now when I go to watch my son play football at TC Williams does it dawn on me the injustice we “regular Jefferson” were dealt.

Two years ago I decided to take in a Jefferson Football game. At that time the sci tech football team had not only lost all their games, but they had not even scored a single point.

Our football teams seldom faired better, but it never determined the out pouring of students, staff, and community from attending the football games every Friday night.

When I attended the sci tech game the stands were dismally shallow. The few students who were there we more intrested in tossing footballs behind the bleachers while many of the parents in the stands were there to watch there son play. There was no community of yesteryear at the game because in 1987 Regualr Jefferson cease to exist. Gone with it, a sense of community.

Last season I attended TC Williams first night game in over 30 years. The bleachers were standing room only, as alumni from the schools early beginnings were on hand to watch the football game. There was laughter, tears, hugs, as friends and loved ones gathered at their “ol school”.

You wanted to write a book about the history of the school. I think it’s important to understand that the decison makers did a poor job with the merger and eventual takeover. There was no reason that JHSST had to kill JH all together. There should have been more of an attempt to bridge the new with the old at least as far as alumni is concerned. AT the very least, we would could have a place to come home to during Home-Coming.

Sadly, our reunions are held at Kilroys in Springfield- our surrogate home."


That is utterly unconvincing. Who gives a shit if the football team sucks now?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

There should have been more of an attempt to bridge the new with the old at least as far as alumni is concerned. AT the very least, we would could have a place to come home to during Home-Coming.

Sadly, our reunions are held at Kilroys in Springfield- our surrogate home."

Do you understand how pathetic you are coming across? A father of 3 teenagers, and you're obsessing over your high school reunions and not being able to gather with your high school classmates? Have you done anything since high school? I'm no fan of TJ and couldn't care less if they got rid of it, but this is plain silly.

[Anonymous]

You may think of this note as a usual complaint, but I just wanted to let you know that TJ will have to start preparing a serious remediation program for its upcoming freshmen class. Last year, I was part of a coaching program for students interested in joining TJ. All the mediocre students (scoring generally <70% in math, verbal and writing in sample tests at our Centre) who were semi-finalists for TJ class of 2017 made it to TJ. All the top kids from this class have been rejected by TJ admissions. Not even one out of 15 made it to TJ. It came as a shock to me. They all scored above 48 in Math and above 45 in Verbal. These kids are among the top performers in their middle schools and possess superior writing and math skills. These top kids did not need to be at our Centre because they were naturally talented. If the goal of the admissions office was to select the students with true interest in STEM, I can assure you, most of the selected students from our coaching Centre will disappoint TJ.
The admission process has miserably failed TJ yet again. It is such a shame for a school that wants to maintain its top status. TJ will find out next year that most of these students lack fundamental understanding in arithmetic and algebra 1. My understanding is that the math portion of the test was very easy and that even 6th graders could have solved most of these problems easily. This allowed even the mediocre kids to score between 38 and 45 in math portion of the test. I know the school always claims that its admission process is fair and holistic. The school will find out about this group of freshmen capabilities from its teachers next year. TJ admission office truly has done a disservice to the school yet again because it has selected undeserving students over the genuinely talented ones. I guarantee you about this because I know I dealt with this group closely for over 12 months.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

There should have been more of an attempt to bridge the new with the old at least as far as alumni is concerned. AT the very least, we would could have a place to come home to during Home-Coming.

Sadly, our reunions are held at Kilroys in Springfield- our surrogate home."

Do you understand how pathetic you are coming across? A father of 3 teenagers, and you're obsessing over your high school reunions and not being able to gather with your high school classmates? Have you done anything since high school? I'm no fan of TJ and couldn't care less if they got rid of it, but this is plain silly.

I am so happy to still have and love my friends from high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You may think of this note as a usual complaint, but I just wanted to let you know that TJ will have to start preparing a serious remediation program for its upcoming freshmen class. Last year, I was part of a coaching program for students interested in joining TJ. All the mediocre students (scoring generally <70% in math, verbal and writing in sample tests at our Centre) who were semi-finalists for TJ class of 2017 made it to TJ. All the top kids from this class have been rejected by TJ admissions. Not even one out of 15 made it to TJ. It came as a shock to me. They all scored above 48 in Math and above 45 in Verbal. These kids are among the top performers in their middle schools and possess superior writing and math skills. These top kids did not need to be at our Centre because they were naturally talented. If the goal of the admissions office was to select the students with true interest in STEM, I can assure you, most of the selected students from our coaching Centre will disappoint TJ.
The admission process has miserably failed TJ yet again. It is such a shame for a school that wants to maintain its top status. TJ will find out next year that most of these students lack fundamental understanding in arithmetic and algebra 1. My understanding is that the math portion of the test was very easy and that even 6th graders could have solved most of these problems easily. This allowed even the mediocre kids to score between 38 and 45 in math portion of the test. I know the school always claims that its admission process is fair and holistic. The school will find out about this group of freshmen capabilities from its teachers next year. TJ admission office truly has done a disservice to the school yet again because it has selected undeserving students over the genuinely talented ones. I guarantee you about this because I know I dealt with this group closely for over 12 months.

I won't be surprised at all! We had a student who had taken calculus and didn't get in. The admissions process needs to be overhauled completely. The math portion of the test needs to be harder! There will be an uproar again when the "remediation" is mentioned. Are these kids smart enough to teach themselves because some of them will have to. TJ has some incompetent teachers so be prepared!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You may think of this note as a usual complaint, but I just wanted to let you know that TJ will have to start preparing a serious remediation program for its upcoming freshmen class. Last year, I was part of a coaching program for students interested in joining TJ. All the mediocre students (scoring generally <70% in math, verbal and writing in sample tests at our Centre) who were semi-finalists for TJ class of 2017 made it to TJ. All the top kids from this class have been rejected by TJ admissions. Not even one out of 15 made it to TJ. It came as a shock to me. They all scored above 48 in Math and above 45 in Verbal. These kids are among the top performers in their middle schools and possess superior writing and math skills. These top kids did not need to be at our Centre because they were naturally talented. If the goal of the admissions office was to select the students with true interest in STEM, I can assure you, most of the selected students from our coaching Centre will disappoint TJ.
The admission process has miserably failed TJ yet again. It is such a shame for a school that wants to maintain its top status. TJ will find out next year that most of these students lack fundamental understanding in arithmetic and algebra 1. My understanding is that the math portion of the test was very easy and that even 6th graders could have solved most of these problems easily. This allowed even the mediocre kids to score between 38 and 45 in math portion of the test. I know the school always claims that its admission process is fair and holistic. The school will find out about this group of freshmen capabilities from its teachers next year. TJ admission office truly has done a disservice to the school yet again because it has selected undeserving students over the genuinely talented ones. I guarantee you about this because I know I dealt with this group closely for over 12 months.

So why is this happening? I don't understand. What is the admissions looking for and why are they selecting students with poorer math skills? Is it in favor of kids who are stroner is Science?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

So why is this happening? I don't understand. What is the admissions looking for and why are they selecting students with poorer math skills? Is it in favor of kids who are stroner is Science?

I meant "stronger in Science."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

So why is this happening? I don't understand. What is the admissions looking for and why are they selecting students with poorer math skills? Is it in favor of kids who are stroner is Science?

I meant "stronger in Science."

My feeling is that TJ wants all minorities to do well in math test and therefore, it has lowered the test standard especially the math portion of the test. You may not believe this, but in the last test there was not even a single word algebra problem. The geometry problems were also very easy, so no effort was made to distinguish between those students who are good in math vs the mediocre or poor students. The TJ also rejected a lot kids who did a great job on SIS because it assumed that these kids were coached and not naturally talented. However, as part of SIS guidance, the school emphasized that students conduct research about various clubs it offers and research opportunities it provides including internship opportunities. Those who took their guidance seriously did a fine job on SIS, but TJ deemed them as being coached and not possessing aptitude for STEM. The admission office needs to hire a psychiatrist to give some sense to the people who are running the office. I am positive that this school is going down the drain. Currently enrolled students do not have enough time to think creatively...it is predominately cramming. I have yet to find a famous alumni of this school... some one who has made a significant difference in people's lives because of his or her research in medical or IT or any other scientific field.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You may think of this note as a usual complaint, but I just wanted to let you know that TJ will have to start preparing a serious remediation program for its upcoming freshmen class. Last year, I was part of a coaching program for students interested in joining TJ. All the mediocre students (scoring generally <70% in math, verbal and writing in sample tests at our Centre) who were semi-finalists for TJ class of 2017 made it to TJ. All the top kids from this class have been rejected by TJ admissions. Not even one out of 15 made it to TJ. It came as a shock to me. They all scored above 48 in Math and above 45 in Verbal. These kids are among the top performers in their middle schools and possess superior writing and math skills. These top kids did not need to be at our Centre because they were naturally talented. If the goal of the admissions office was to select the students with true interest in STEM, I can assure you, most of the selected students from our coaching Centre will disappoint TJ.
The admission process has miserably failed TJ yet again. It is such a shame for a school that wants to maintain its top status. TJ will find out next year that most of these students lack fundamental understanding in arithmetic and algebra 1. My understanding is that the math portion of the test was very easy and that even 6th graders could have solved most of these problems easily. This allowed even the mediocre kids to score between 38 and 45 in math portion of the test. I know the school always claims that its admission process is fair and holistic. The school will find out about this group of freshmen capabilities from its teachers next year. TJ admission office truly has done a disservice to the school yet again because it has selected undeserving students over the genuinely talented ones. I guarantee you about this because I know I dealt with this group closely for over 12 months.

It seems incredibly sleazy for you to post this, assuming this isn't fabricated. It's not like being a coach is privileged, like being a doctor, lawyer or priest, but weren't you purportedly mentoring kids interested in going to TJ? If so, you should be congratulating them, not second-guessing TJ's decision to admit them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You may think of this note as a usual complaint, but I just wanted to let you know that TJ will have to start preparing a serious remediation program for its upcoming freshmen class. Last year, I was part of a coaching program for students interested in joining TJ. All the mediocre students (scoring generally <70% in math, verbal and writing in sample tests at our Centre) who were semi-finalists for TJ class of 2017 made it to TJ. All the top kids from this class have been rejected by TJ admissions. Not even one out of 15 made it to TJ. It came as a shock to me. They all scored above 48 in Math and above 45 in Verbal. These kids are among the top performers in their middle schools and possess superior writing and math skills. These top kids did not need to be at our Centre because they were naturally talented. If the goal of the admissions office was to select the students with true interest in STEM, I can assure you, most of the selected students from our coaching Centre will disappoint TJ.
The admission process has miserably failed TJ yet again. It is such a shame for a school that wants to maintain its top status. TJ will find out next year that most of these students lack fundamental understanding in arithmetic and algebra 1. My understanding is that the math portion of the test was very easy and that even 6th graders could have solved most of these problems easily. This allowed even the mediocre kids to score between 38 and 45 in math portion of the test. I know the school always claims that its admission process is fair and holistic. The school will find out about this group of freshmen capabilities from its teachers next year. TJ admission office truly has done a disservice to the school yet again because it has selected undeserving students over the genuinely talented ones. I guarantee you about this because I know I dealt with this group closely for over 12 months.

Thank you for posting this. It seems a lot has changed after the long time admissions director retired a few years ago and the new person was hired. The attempt to get more African American and hispanic students means they will turn away many more qualified students who will be successful and admit many students who are not capable of doing well in the rigorous classes. But they can claim they have more diversity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You may think of this note as a usual complaint, but I just wanted to let you know that TJ will have to start preparing a serious remediation program for its upcoming freshmen class. Last year, I was part of a coaching program for students interested in joining TJ. All the mediocre students (scoring generally <70% in math, verbal and writing in sample tests at our Centre) who were semi-finalists for TJ class of 2017 made it to TJ. All the top kids from this class have been rejected by TJ admissions. Not even one out of 15 made it to TJ. It came as a shock to me. They all scored above 48 in Math and above 45 in Verbal. These kids are among the top performers in their middle schools and possess superior writing and math skills. These top kids did not need to be at our Centre because they were naturally talented. If the goal of the admissions office was to select the students with true interest in STEM, I can assure you, most of the selected students from our coaching Centre will disappoint TJ.
The admission process has miserably failed TJ yet again. It is such a shame for a school that wants to maintain its top status. TJ will find out next year that most of these students lack fundamental understanding in arithmetic and algebra 1. My understanding is that the math portion of the test was very easy and that even 6th graders could have solved most of these problems easily. This allowed even the mediocre kids to score between 38 and 45 in math portion of the test. I know the school always claims that its admission process is fair and holistic. The school will find out about this group of freshmen capabilities from its teachers next year. TJ admission office truly has done a disservice to the school yet again because it has selected undeserving students over the genuinely talented ones. I guarantee you about this because I know I dealt with this group closely for over 12 months.

It seems incredibly sleazy for you to post this, assuming this isn't fabricated. It's not like being a coach is privileged, like being a doctor, lawyer or priest, but weren't you purportedly mentoring kids interested in going to TJ? If so, you should be congratulating them, not second-guessing TJ's decision to admit them.

I'm not sure this was written by a coach at this centre. I actually think this reads as tough it was written by a student or parent of a student in this program who was not accepted to TJ.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

So why is this happening? I don't understand. What is the admissions looking for and why are they selecting students with poorer math skills? Is it in favor of kids who are stroner is Science?

I meant "stronger in Science."

My feeling is that TJ wants all minorities to do well in math test and therefore, it has lowered the test standard especially the math portion of the test. You may not believe this, but in the last test there was not even a single word algebra problem. The geometry problems were also very easy, so no effort was made to distinguish between those students who are good in math vs the mediocre or poor students. The TJ also rejected a lot kids who did a great job on SIS because it assumed that these kids were coached and not naturally talented. However, as part of SIS guidance, the school emphasized that students conduct research about various clubs it offers and research opportunities it provides including internship opportunities. Those who took their guidance seriously did a fine job on SIS, but TJ deemed them as being coached and not possessing aptitude for STEM. The admission office needs to hire a psychiatrist to give some sense to the people who are running the office. I am positive that this school is going down the drain. Currently enrolled students do not have enough time to think creatively...it is predominately cramming. I have yet to find a famous alumni of this school... some one who has made a significant difference in people's lives because of his or her research in medical or IT or any other scientific field.

Do you know what the SIS questions were this year? When my child applied, they were asked, among other things, to write about their academic and non-academic interests outside of school. My child had a time-consuming non-academic interest which became the topic for some of the short answer questions. I am sure the committee could tell how genuine my child's pursuit of this particular interest is.

I wonder if part of the reason some students may not be accepted is that they spend very little time in non-academic pursuits. I think that a child who has a high GPA and high test scores while also spending many hours in activities that are unrelated to academics will be more likely to be successful at TJ. They've shown that they can be successful at the middle school level with time left over, so they are more likely to do well at a high school that will require many hours of homework. A kid who has already learned to manage his or her time well in middle school will likely continue to do so. On the other hand a child who does well but spends all his outside of school hours in academic interests (math club, science club, tutoring, going to the TJ coaching centre) runs the risk of being seen as someone who is doing well only because of a lot of outside support.

Homework at TJ takes a lot of time, no two ways about it. If it takes all of a child's time to be successful in middle school, is that child going to be able to manage the demands of TJ?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You may think of this note as a usual complaint, but I just wanted to let you know that TJ will have to start preparing a serious remediation program for its upcoming freshmen class. Last year, I was part of a coaching program for students interested in joining TJ. All the mediocre students (scoring generally <70% in math, verbal and writing in sample tests at our Centre) who were semi-finalists for TJ class of 2017 made it to TJ. All the top kids from this class have been rejected by TJ admissions. Not even one out of 15 made it to TJ. It came as a shock to me. They all scored above 48 in Math and above 45 in Verbal. These kids are among the top performers in their middle schools and possess superior writing and math skills. These top kids did not need to be at our Centre because they were naturally talented. If the goal of the admissions office was to select the students with true interest in STEM, I can assure you, most of the selected students from our coaching Centre will disappoint TJ.
The admission process has miserably failed TJ yet again. It is such a shame for a school that wants to maintain its top status. TJ will find out next year that most of these students lack fundamental understanding in arithmetic and algebra 1. My understanding is that the math portion of the test was very easy and that even 6th graders could have solved most of these problems easily. This allowed even the mediocre kids to score between 38 and 45 in math portion of the test. I know the school always claims that its admission process is fair and holistic. The school will find out about this group of freshmen capabilities from its teachers next year. TJ admission office truly has done a disservice to the school yet again because it has selected undeserving students over the genuinely talented ones. I guarantee you about this because I know I dealt with this group closely for over 12 months. I'm

Thank you for posting this. It seems a lot has changed after the long time admissions director retired a few years ago and the new person was hired. The attempt to get more African American and hispanic students means they will turn away many more qualified students who will be successful and admit many students who are not capable of doing well in the rigorous classes. But they can claim they have more diversity.

Have you checked to see the demographic make up of the kids who need this help? My understanding is they don't have that many AAs or Hispanics at TJ so how can they possibly account for the flood of kids that need help?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You may think of this note as a usual complaint, but I just wanted to let you know that TJ will have to start preparing a serious remediation program for its upcoming freshmen class. Last year, I was part of a coaching program for students interested in joining TJ. All the mediocre students (scoring generally <70% in math, verbal and writing in sample tests at our Centre) who were semi-finalists for TJ class of 2017 made it to TJ. All the top kids from this class have been rejected by TJ admissions. Not even one out of 15 made it to TJ. It came as a shock to me. They all scored above 48 in Math and above 45 in Verbal. These kids are among the top performers in their middle schools and possess superior writing and math skills. These top kids did not need to be at our Centre because they were naturally talented. If the goal of the admissions office was to select the students with true interest in STEM, I can assure you, most of the selected students from our coaching Centre will disappoint TJ.
The admission process has miserably failed TJ yet again. It is such a shame for a school that wants to maintain its top status. TJ will find out next year that most of these students lack fundamental understanding in arithmetic and algebra 1. My understanding is that the math portion of the test was very easy and that even 6th graders could have solved most of these problems easily. This allowed even the mediocre kids to score between 38 and 45 in math portion of the test. I know the school always claims that its admission process is fair and holistic. The school will find out about this group of freshmen capabilities from its teachers next year. TJ admission office truly has done a disservice to the school yet again because it has selected undeserving students over the genuinely talented ones. I guarantee you about this because I know I dealt with this group closely for over 12 months.

It was dull and inaccurate the last time you posted and it has not gotten any better. You can't guarantee anything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:http://www.washingtonpost.com/todays_paper
A racial gap for criminals seeking mercy
Review of selection process over the past decade shows results have heavily favored whites
By Dafna Linzer, Sunday, December 04,12:20 AM

This is a great article in Post Today...and so analogous to current TJ admissions process. Truth is, the admissions office does not ask or consider race, but the results are highly scewed in favor of whites and asians. You must have a family that is able and motivated to give you a whole lot of support, lots of extra resources in time/money/discipline/transport to extracullicular activities, to be successful in the TJ admissions process.

That is crazy. Please take your meds. And a nice nap.