What changes in the TJ admissions procedure do you predict this year ?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How do you know who 90% of the commenters are? Such baseless statements used to justify your opinion makes your opinion suspect.

I am still waiting for Langley to be adjusted the FCPS demographics and HS sports teams to be based on a lottery.

Yes, i agree with you. We should bring lottery to HS sports team and if possible in NFL to have equal representation of asians there Probably in olympic teams too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A public school should be educating a representative cross section of the public and providing opportunities for kids who have interest and aptitude. It's fine with me if TJ is not the same or as "elite" as it has been. I don't want my public tax dollars used as it has been used. I would prefer to have it be a magnet STEM school that finds and develops talent.

If you want the most elite school that is so far above and beyond --- then send your kid to a private school that meets your expectations.

90% of the people freaking out about this are interested in TJ for their kids only has a conduit for college and the life the tiger parents have planned out for their cubs. There are truly exceptional kids, but they are a smaller group.

Bravo to the state and district for trying to change TJ.

Why are you so racist to undermine Asian kids?

DP. This change will benefit Asian students too.

I dont think Asian parents will appreciate any back door entry for their kids. They would wish their kids to prove their mettle to get in. If an Asian kid does not deserve to get in through merit the asian parent will not cry the grape is sour.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How do you know who 90% of the commenters are? Such baseless statements used to justify your opinion makes your opinion suspect.

I am still waiting for Langley to be adjusted the FCPS demographics and HS sports teams to be based on a lottery.

My guess is that, as soon as the Cooper MS renovation is done, they will move a bunch of Tysons apartments to Langley, including rentals.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A public school should be educating a representative cross section of the public and providing opportunities for kids who have interest and aptitude. It's fine with me if TJ is not the same or as "elite" as it has been. I don't want my public tax dollars used as it has been used. I would prefer to have it be a magnet STEM school that finds and develops talent.

If you want the most elite school that is so far above and beyond --- then send your kid to a private school that meets your expectations.

90% of the people freaking out about this are interested in TJ for their kids only has a conduit for college and the life the tiger parents have planned out for their cubs. There are truly exceptional kids, but they are a smaller group.

Bravo to the state and district for trying to change TJ.

What if the interest isn't evenly distributed among all of the community for a variety of reasons?

What if the talent isn't evenly distributed among all of the community for a variety of reasons?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://go.boarddocs.com/vsba/fairfax/Board.nsf/files/BTGKX652F413/$file/TJHSST%20Admissions%20Merit%20Lottery%20Proposal.pdf

With lottery system, TJ will just become a glorified charter school and it will no longer be a magnet school. Anyone with 3.5+ GPA with Algebra I in 7th or 8th grade will have an equal chance, which will be a lot. I see that Regions 1 and 2, which usually send majority of the kids to TJ will stand to lose most and Regions 3 and 4 will gain significantly with 70 students cap.

In our case, our base school comes under Franklin (Region 5), where as AAP center is Carson (Region 1). DS started his 7th grade in Carson as he is in AAP. Few of his AAP classmates chose to go to Franklin Level IV for personal reasons - may be it will work out better for them. I am thinking if we should also transfer back to Franklin in 8th grade as application pool will be much larger in Region 1 as compared to Region 5. What do you think?

The lottery is based on where you live, not what school you attend. It doesn't matter if you attend Franklin or Carson; you will be put into the Franklin-based lottery if you live in the Franklin attendance area.

You've got to be shi**ing me! What a dumb idea! Now every parent with a kid at Carson's will rent an apartment in the Franklin attendance area, provide that as their address to FCPS, and take their chances instead of spending money on prep! The gaming of the system will continue.

Why can't FCPS do something real for a change? More education and test prep opportunities for identified URM/low income smart kids maybe?

Most of the kids that don't apply today don't for a reason one of them being that the curriculum is tough. If that doesn't change, then why would they apply? The school will continue to be predominantly Asian anyways (unless they fix it with their "holistic" curation).

Can't believe the idiots we have to suffer..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A public school should be educating a representative cross section of the public and providing opportunities for kids who have interest and aptitude. It's fine with me if TJ is not the same or as "elite" as it has been. I don't want my public tax dollars used as it has been used. I would prefer to have it be a magnet STEM school that finds and develops talent.

If you want the most elite school that is so far above and beyond --- then send your kid to a private school that meets your expectations.

90% of the people freaking out about this are interested in TJ for their kids only has a conduit for college and the life the tiger parents have planned out for their cubs. There are truly exceptional kids, but they are a smaller group.

Bravo to the state and district for trying to change TJ.

What if the interest isn't evenly distributed among all of the community for a variety of reasons?

What if the talent isn't evenly distributed among all of the community for a variety of reasons?

Then the revised approach will increase interest, and we all know who you think does and does not have “talent.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If they were serious about eliminating disparities, they would examine the AAP program. Fairfax County has the nation’s 10th largest public school system, with more than 188,000 students. Of those, 25 percent are Hispanic and 10 percent are African-American. But over the last 10 years, blacks and Hispanics have constituted only 12 percent of the students deemed eligible for Level IV, the most advanced academic program. Notably, the data show that when black and Hispanic students do submit intelligence tests, they are just as likely to gain admission as their white and Asian counterparts. When these students are excluded from the AAP program, the probability that they will have completed Algebra 1 by 8th grade is lower, and their ability to succeed at TJ is compromised. Do these politicians have the courage to examine biases in the AAP program?

They did examine the AAP program with several experts who wrote a long report and discussed it at a meeting. I think it was last spring. Wake up.

Goodness, I've been asleep all this time and didn't notice that AAP is now a lottery system. Is it now? Did they make that change - it's been a year, and the same logic applies surely. In fact, at that young age, induction into the AAP by a lottery system would benefit far more students across all demographics and family situations. Did it happen?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://go.boarddocs.com/vsba/fairfax/Board.nsf/files/BTGKX652F413/$file/TJHSST%20Admissions%20Merit%20Lottery%20Proposal.pdf

With lottery system, TJ will just become a glorified charter school and it will no longer be a magnet school. Anyone with 3.5+ GPA with Algebra I in 7th or 8th grade will have an equal chance, which will be a lot. I see that Regions 1 and 2, which usually send majority of the kids to TJ will stand to lose most and Regions 3 and 4 will gain significantly with 70 students cap.

In our case, our base school comes under Franklin (Region 5), where as AAP center is Carson (Region 1). DS started his 7th grade in Carson as he is in AAP. Few of his AAP classmates chose to go to Franklin Level IV for personal reasons - may be it will work out better for them. I am thinking if we should also transfer back to Franklin in 8th grade as application pool will be much larger in Region 1 as compared to Region 5. What do you think?

The lottery is based on where you live, not what school you attend. It doesn't matter if you attend Franklin or Carson; you will be put into the Franklin-based lottery if you live in the Franklin attendance area.

You've got to be shi**ing me! What a dumb idea! Now every parent with a kid at Carson's will rent an apartment in the Franklin attendance area, provide that as their address to FCPS, and take their chances instead of spending money on prep! The gaming of the system will continue.

Why can't FCPS do something real for a change? More education and test prep opportunities for identified URM/low income smart kids maybe?

Most of the kids that don't apply today don't for a reason one of them being that the curriculum is tough. If that doesn't change, then why would they apply? The school will continue to be predominantly Asian anyways (unless they fix it with their "holistic" curation).

Can't believe the idiots we have to suffer..

Beautifully said. The democrats cant think straight. they can think only crooked.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If they were serious about eliminating disparities, they would examine the AAP program. Fairfax County has the nation’s 10th largest public school system, with more than 188,000 students. Of those, 25 percent are Hispanic and 10 percent are African-American. But over the last 10 years, blacks and Hispanics have constituted only 12 percent of the students deemed eligible for Level IV, the most advanced academic program. Notably, the data show that when black and Hispanic students do submit intelligence tests, they are just as likely to gain admission as their white and Asian counterparts. When these students are excluded from the AAP program, the probability that they will have completed Algebra 1 by 8th grade is lower, and their ability to succeed at TJ is compromised. Do these politicians have the courage to examine biases in the AAP program?

They did examine the AAP program with several experts who wrote a long report and discussed it at a meeting. I think it was last spring. Wake up.

Goodness, I've been asleep all this time and didn't notice that AAP is now a lottery system. Is it now? Did they make that change - it's been a year, and the same logic applies surely. In fact, at that young age, induction into the AAP by a lottery system would benefit far more students across all demographics and family situations. Did it happen?

Yes, you have been asleep.

Start a new thread and we can bring you up to speed on AAP. Or use the search function.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A public school should be educating a representative cross section of the public and providing opportunities for kids who have interest and aptitude. It's fine with me if TJ is not the same or as "elite" as it has been. I don't want my public tax dollars used as it has been used. I would prefer to have it be a magnet STEM school that finds and develops talent.

If you want the most elite school that is so far above and beyond --- then send your kid to a private school that meets your expectations.

90% of the people freaking out about this are interested in TJ for their kids only has a conduit for college and the life the tiger parents have planned out for their cubs. There are truly exceptional kids, but they are a smaller group.

Bravo to the state and district for trying to change TJ.

What if the interest isn't evenly distributed among all of the community for a variety of reasons?

What if the talent isn't evenly distributed among all of the community for a variety of reasons?

Then the revised approach will increase interest, and we all know who you think does and does not have “talent.”

Talent can be due to financial circumstances, but what you are intimating says a lot about your perspectie.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How do you know who 90% of the commenters are? Such baseless statements used to justify your opinion makes your opinion suspect.

I am still waiting for Langley to be adjusted the FCPS demographics and HS sports teams to be based on a lottery.

Yes, i agree with you. We should bring lottery to HS sports team and if possible in NFL to have equal representation of asians there Probably in olympic teams too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://go.boarddocs.com/vsba/fairfax/Board.nsf/files/BTGKX652F413/$file/TJHSST%20Admissions%20Merit%20Lottery%20Proposal.pdf

With lottery system, TJ will just become a glorified charter school and it will no longer be a magnet school. Anyone with 3.5+ GPA with Algebra I in 7th or 8th grade will have an equal chance, which will be a lot. I see that Regions 1 and 2, which usually send majority of the kids to TJ will stand to lose most and Regions 3 and 4 will gain significantly with 70 students cap.

In our case, our base school comes under Franklin (Region 5), where as AAP center is Carson (Region 1). DS started his 7th grade in Carson as he is in AAP. Few of his AAP classmates chose to go to Franklin Level IV for personal reasons - may be it will work out better for them. I am thinking if we should also transfer back to Franklin in 8th grade as application pool will be much larger in Region 1 as compared to Region 5. What do you think?

The lottery is based on where you live, not what school you attend. It doesn't matter if you attend Franklin or Carson; you will be put into the Franklin-based lottery if you live in the Franklin attendance area.

You've got to be shi**ing me! What a dumb idea! Now every parent with a kid at Carson's will rent an apartment in the Franklin attendance area, provide that as their address to FCPS, and take their chances instead of spending money on prep! The gaming of the system will continue.

Why can't FCPS do something real for a change? More education and test prep opportunities for identified URM/low income smart kids maybe?

Most of the kids that don't apply today don't for a reason one of them being that the curriculum is tough. If that doesn't change, then why would they apply? The school will continue to be predominantly Asian anyways (unless they fix it with their "holistic" curation).

Can't believe the idiots we have to suffer..

Beautifully said. The democrats cant think straight. they can think only crooked.

The "tough" curriculum will change too.

This change addresses many issues, directly or indirectly. Nonpartisan people can think about these things instead of just complain.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://go.boarddocs.com/vsba/fairfax/Board.nsf/files/BTGKX652F413/$file/TJHSST%20Admissions%20Merit%20Lottery%20Proposal.pdf

With lottery system, TJ will just become a glorified charter school and it will no longer be a magnet school. Anyone with 3.5+ GPA with Algebra I in 7th or 8th grade will have an equal chance, which will be a lot. I see that Regions 1 and 2, which usually send majority of the kids to TJ will stand to lose most and Regions 3 and 4 will gain significantly with 70 students cap.

In our case, our base school comes under Franklin (Region 5), where as AAP center is Carson (Region 1). DS started his 7th grade in Carson as he is in AAP. Few of his AAP classmates chose to go to Franklin Level IV for personal reasons - may be it will work out better for them. I am thinking if we should also transfer back to Franklin in 8th grade as application pool will be much larger in Region 1 as compared to Region 5. What do you think?

The lottery is based on where you live, not what school you attend. It doesn't matter if you attend Franklin or Carson; you will be put into the Franklin-based lottery if you live in the Franklin attendance area.

You've got to be shi**ing me! What a dumb idea! Now every parent with a kid at Carson's will rent an apartment in the Franklin attendance area, provide that as their address to FCPS, and take their chances instead of spending money on prep! The gaming of the system will continue.

Why can't FCPS do something real for a change? More education and test prep opportunities for identified URM/low income smart kids maybe?

Most of the kids that don't apply today don't for a reason one of them being that the curriculum is tough. If that doesn't change, then why would they apply? The school will continue to be predominantly Asian anyways (unless they fix it with their "holistic" curation).

Can't believe the idiots we have to suffer..

Beautifully said. The democrats cant think straight. they can think only crooked.

The "tough" curriculum will change too.

This change addresses many issues, directly or indirectly. Nonpartisan people can think about these things instead of just complain.

So tough curriculum will change too? then why do you need TJ? Thank God atleast we have Montgomerry blair in this area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I posted this on other thread (sorry), but it probably belongs here - Wondering what your thoughts on these questions about the changes to TJ admissions

1. What exactly is the holistic process into the lottery pool for each region?
2. Does the race or gender play any role in this holistic approach of getting placed into the pool in the holistic approach?
3. Can we say that, any kid who has GPA 3.5+, enrolled in Algebra I by 8th grade and answer the questionnaire with some reasonable essay (assume its some write up at home with help of parents about why you want to go to TJ??) will get into the pool for the each region and have an equal chance within the region? i.e., a kid with just 3.5+ GPA is as likely to get in to the pool (or not selected) as the kid with highest GPA of 4.0+?
4. Can we say that from among the kids who are in the pool, a female hispanic kid and a male asian kid have the same chance of getting picked by the lottery within the region?

No, if a female hispanic kid is there in the pool she should be given holistic priority. Damn the asian kid that too a male. How dare he wishes to get into the lottery in the first place?

People, please don't get distracted with the rhetoric pitting asians against hispanics and blacks. This entire process is about getting more white people into the schools, while making some token moves to appease other minorities. Look at the data and the projections. The biggest projected increase is for white kids.

I just read through the slides and this is incorrect. The biggest projected increases by far are in black and Hispanic students.

I'm not exactly sure how or whether the plan will work but I approve of making changes to the admissions process. Right now, it isn't working properly for any student, Asian or non-Asian.

YEs, the current system works on the basis of merit. It does not take into consideration whether it is Asian or non-Asian. Color of the skin did not matter so far in the process but not now

I don’t know how you could possibly believe this unless you are profoundly racist.

The new system is racist against Asian students since it was specifically designed to lower Asian students and increase black and Hispanic students.

FCPS has no plans to deal with the consequences of large numbers of freshmen who will flunk out of TJ (TJ has minimum 3.0 unweighted gpa requirement) and have their gpa ruined for college under this lottery system. Morons not addressing the root of the problem- improving the elementary schools in poorer neighborhoods.

Who says they have to maintain that minimum GPA policy in perpetuity?

So many straw-man arguments from the obvious defenders of an indefensible status quo.

SB members keep asking why are black and Hispanic kids not applying? and the Superintendent is implying it's because they are bullied at TJ. Give me a break.

Why would bright/capable black or Hispanic kids apply/attend TJ and study like crazy and get substantially lower gpa than they would have attained at their base schools? Especially if they can just coast by at their base schools and get higher gpas and get to (have a better chance) top schools under affirmative action program. The new system will not increase the applications by black/Hispanic kids significantly. There is no tangible benefit for them to attend TJ and TJ offers only negatives for black/Hispanic kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I posted this on other thread (sorry), but it probably belongs here - Wondering what your thoughts on these questions about the changes to TJ admissions

1. What exactly is the holistic process into the lottery pool for each region?
2. Does the race or gender play any role in this holistic approach of getting placed into the pool in the holistic approach?
3. Can we say that, any kid who has GPA 3.5+, enrolled in Algebra I by 8th grade and answer the questionnaire with some reasonable essay (assume its some write up at home with help of parents about why you want to go to TJ??) will get into the pool for the each region and have an equal chance within the region? i.e., a kid with just 3.5+ GPA is as likely to get in to the pool (or not selected) as the kid with highest GPA of 4.0+?
4. Can we say that from among the kids who are in the pool, a female hispanic kid and a male asian kid have the same chance of getting picked by the lottery within the region?

No, if a female hispanic kid is there in the pool she should be given holistic priority. Damn the asian kid that too a male. How dare he wishes to get into the lottery in the first place?

People, please don't get distracted with the rhetoric pitting asians against hispanics and blacks. This entire process is about getting more white people into the schools, while making some token moves to appease other minorities. Look at the data and the projections. The biggest projected increase is for white kids.

I just read through the slides and this is incorrect. The biggest projected increases by far are in black and Hispanic students.

I'm not exactly sure how or whether the plan will work but I approve of making changes to the admissions process. Right now, it isn't working properly for any student, Asian or non-Asian.

YEs, the current system works on the basis of merit. It does not take into consideration whether it is Asian or non-Asian. Color of the skin did not matter so far in the process but not now

I don’t know how you could possibly believe this unless you are profoundly racist.

Seriously, the results speak for themselves.

This is long overdue.