TJ admissions now verifying free and reduced price meal status for successful 2026 applicants

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“And they took away teacher recommendations. If they cared about taking high achieving students they would not have done that…“

Bet that it was the teachers who did not want to write recommendations each year..TJ just respected their opinions..

they already have enough BS to deal with, including being outed to Youngkin for teaching so called CRT

Youngkin proposed something about transgender, pronouns etc last week? But, I would have rather preferred an announcement that they were planning to fund additional STEM academies in Virginia.. oh well.

Interesting because I’ve been reading in other threads that the best STEM schools other than TJ are the existing top neighborhood schools with lots of challenging math/science courses and that courses with STEM just stuck in their names often are poorly taught or nothing special. So just creating more “STEM academies” sounds more like PR than anything else.

Being able to take calculus in 9th or 10th grade and continuing this progression without having to go to a community college or take classes online, is not PR.

You don’t have to be a “STEM academy” to do this. You just need to offer challenging classes. And why push calculus on 9th graders unless they are truly ready?

The number who are truly ready is generally so low that schools can't offer their own higher level classes. Having a larger group at TJ allows them to offer these classes.
The number of kids who are ready for this is higher than you think, particularly for calculus in 10th grade.

After 126 pages this is the #1 point.

1. TJ should only be for kids who are truly advanced in math not all this woke bs with folks taking Algebra 1 in 8th and somehow getting in.
2. Most of the top tier AAP feeder high schools have a big enough cohort to have entire classes advanced at this level so TJ isn't needed.
3. TJ should just be shut down at this point it's redundant.

TJ is used by economic development folks to bring companies in and used by companies to attract talent to the area. Diluting TJ or closing it only reduces overall tax revenues. But then again, logic has long left the house. Shut it down!

This was relevant in the 1980s it's not today

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“And they took away teacher recommendations. If they cared about taking high achieving students they would not have done that…“

Bet that it was the teachers who did not want to write recommendations each year..TJ just respected their opinions..

they already have enough BS to deal with, including being outed to Youngkin for teaching so called CRT

Youngkin proposed something about transgender, pronouns etc last week? But, I would have rather preferred an announcement that they were planning to fund additional STEM academies in Virginia.. oh well.

Interesting because I’ve been reading in other threads that the best STEM schools other than TJ are the existing top neighborhood schools with lots of challenging math/science courses and that courses with STEM just stuck in their names often are poorly taught or nothing special. So just creating more “STEM academies” sounds more like PR than anything else.

Being able to take calculus in 9th or 10th grade and continuing this progression without having to go to a community college or take classes online, is not PR.

You don’t have to be a “STEM academy” to do this. You just need to offer challenging classes. And why push calculus on 9th graders unless they are truly ready?

The number who are truly ready is generally so low that schools can't offer their own higher level classes. Having a larger group at TJ allows them to offer these classes.
The number of kids who are ready for this is higher than you think, particularly for calculus in 10th grade.

After 126 pages this is the #1 point.

1. TJ should only be for kids who are truly advanced in math not all this woke bs with folks taking Algebra 1 in 8th and somehow getting in.
2. Most of the top tier AAP feeder high schools have a big enough cohort to have entire classes advanced at this level so TJ isn't needed.
3. TJ should just be shut down at this point it's redundant.

TLDR TJ should only be for rich kids and not serve the greater community

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“And they took away teacher recommendations. If they cared about taking high achieving students they would not have done that…“

Bet that it was the teachers who did not want to write recommendations each year..TJ just respected their opinions..

they already have enough BS to deal with, including being outed to Youngkin for teaching so called CRT

Youngkin proposed something about transgender, pronouns etc last week? But, I would have rather preferred an announcement that they were planning to fund additional STEM academies in Virginia.. oh well.

Interesting because I’ve been reading in other threads that the best STEM schools other than TJ are the existing top neighborhood schools with lots of challenging math/science courses and that courses with STEM just stuck in their names often are poorly taught or nothing special. So just creating more “STEM academies” sounds more like PR than anything else.

Being able to take calculus in 9th or 10th grade and continuing this progression without having to go to a community college or take classes online, is not PR.

You don’t have to be a “STEM academy” to do this. You just need to offer challenging classes. And why push calculus on 9th graders unless they are truly ready?

The number who are truly ready is generally so low that schools can't offer their own higher level classes. Having a larger group at TJ allows them to offer these classes.
The number of kids who are ready for this is higher than you think, particularly for calculus in 10th grade.

After 126 pages this is the #1 point.

1. TJ should only be for kids who are truly advanced in math not all this woke bs with folks taking Algebra 1 in 8th and somehow getting in.
2. Most of the top tier AAP feeder high schools have a big enough cohort to have entire classes advanced at this level so TJ isn't needed.
3. TJ should just be shut down at this point it's redundant.

TLDR TJ should only be for rich kids and not serve the greater community

DP. The tl;dr should be that TJ is meant to match kids with the appropriate level of service and meet the needs of kids who cannot have their needs met at their base school. Obviously, there will be kids at Langley who can have their needs met at their base school who are objectively stronger students than some kids at Annandale High school who can't have their needs met there. It's not at all a problem to admit kids who are outliers at their base schools, even if the definition of an outlier varies by school.

But, FCPS does have a small cohort of kids who are taking Calculus in either 8th or 9th grade. Those kids will not have an adequate peer group nor will they have adequate course offerings at their base school, since almost every FCPS base school only offers one year of DE post-calculus math. TJ has a wealth of post calc math classes that they will no longer be able to offer if they lack sufficient cohort of kids who are that advanced. It logistically makes the most sense to place the kids who are exceptionally advanced and who will quite literally run out of classes at the base school at a school like TJ, which has the appropriate classes. It likewise makes little sense to place kids at TJ who are unlikely to need anything. beyond the standard AP Calc and AP Science classes offered at every FCPS high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“And they took away teacher recommendations. If they cared about taking high achieving students they would not have done that…“

Bet that it was the teachers who did not want to write recommendations each year..TJ just respected their opinions..

they already have enough BS to deal with, including being outed to Youngkin for teaching so called CRT

Youngkin proposed something about transgender, pronouns etc last week? But, I would have rather preferred an announcement that they were planning to fund additional STEM academies in Virginia.. oh well.

Interesting because I’ve been reading in other threads that the best STEM schools other than TJ are the existing top neighborhood schools with lots of challenging math/science courses and that courses with STEM just stuck in their names often are poorly taught or nothing special. So just creating more “STEM academies” sounds more like PR than anything else.

Being able to take calculus in 9th or 10th grade and continuing this progression without having to go to a community college or take classes online, is not PR.

You don’t have to be a “STEM academy” to do this. You just need to offer challenging classes. And why push calculus on 9th graders unless they are truly ready?

The number who are truly ready is generally so low that schools can't offer their own higher level classes. Having a larger group at TJ allows them to offer these classes.
The number of kids who are ready for this is higher than you think, particularly for calculus in 10th grade.

After 126 pages this is the #1 point.

1. TJ should only be for kids who are truly advanced in math not all this woke bs with folks taking Algebra 1 in 8th and somehow getting in.
2. Most of the top tier AAP feeder high schools have a big enough cohort to have entire classes advanced at this level so TJ isn't needed.
3. TJ should just be shut down at this point it's redundant.

TLDR TJ should only be for rich kids and not serve the greater community

DP. The tl;dr should be that TJ is meant to match kids with the appropriate level of service and meet the needs of kids who cannot have their needs met at their base school. Obviously, there will be kids at Langley who can have their needs met at their base school who are objectively stronger students than some kids at Annandale High school who can't have their needs met there. It's not at all a problem to admit kids who are outliers at their base schools, even if the definition of an outlier varies by school.

But, FCPS does have a small cohort of kids who are taking Calculus in either 8th or 9th grade. Those kids will not have an adequate peer group nor will they have adequate course offerings at their base school, since almost every FCPS base school only offers one year of DE post-calculus math. TJ has a wealth of post calc math classes that they will no longer be able to offer if they lack sufficient cohort of kids who are that advanced. It logistically makes the most sense to place the kids who are exceptionally advanced and who will quite literally run out of classes at the base school at a school like TJ, which has the appropriate classes. It likewise makes little sense to place kids at TJ who are unlikely to need anything. beyond the standard AP Calc and AP Science classes offered at every FCPS high school.

So basically if I get my kid way ahead by signing them up for outside math they should automatically get into to TJ?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“And they took away teacher recommendations. If they cared about taking high achieving students they would not have done that…“

Bet that it was the teachers who did not want to write recommendations each year..TJ just respected their opinions..

they already have enough BS to deal with, including being outed to Youngkin for teaching so called CRT

Youngkin proposed something about transgender, pronouns etc last week? But, I would have rather preferred an announcement that they were planning to fund additional STEM academies in Virginia.. oh well.

Interesting because I’ve been reading in other threads that the best STEM schools other than TJ are the existing top neighborhood schools with lots of challenging math/science courses and that courses with STEM just stuck in their names often are poorly taught or nothing special. So just creating more “STEM academies” sounds more like PR than anything else.

Being able to take calculus in 9th or 10th grade and continuing this progression without having to go to a community college or take classes online, is not PR.

You don’t have to be a “STEM academy” to do this. You just need to offer challenging classes. And why push calculus on 9th graders unless they are truly ready?

The number who are truly ready is generally so low that schools can't offer their own higher level classes. Having a larger group at TJ allows them to offer these classes.
The number of kids who are ready for this is higher than you think, particularly for calculus in 10th grade.

After 126 pages this is the #1 point.

1. TJ should only be for kids who are truly advanced in math not all this woke bs with folks taking Algebra 1 in 8th and somehow getting in.
2. Most of the top tier AAP feeder high schools have a big enough cohort to have entire classes advanced at this level so TJ isn't needed.
3. TJ should just be shut down at this point it's redundant.

TJ is used by economic development folks to bring companies in and used by companies to attract talent to the area. Diluting TJ or closing it only reduces overall tax revenues. But then again, logic has long left the house. Shut it down!

This was relevant in the 1980s it's not today

Way more relevant. Esp in tech. Have you heard of the war for talent?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
So basically if I get my kid way ahead by signing them up for outside math they should automatically get into to TJ?

Signing up for outside math is not the same as being capable of advanced math.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
So basically if I get my kid way ahead by signing them up for outside math they should automatically get into to TJ?

Signing up for outside math is not the same as being capable of advanced math.

That's the key point. In the United States it's not common or expected to be signing up for additional schoolwork especially if your kid is already above grade level.

These are all actions that are common in other countries. It's time to stop servicing folks who are in Calculus in 9th or 10th not because they are actually talented but because they have been suppplemented at home or in official afterschool sessions/classes for years priors.

There are many kids who would be "advanced" in math if they spent double the normal time on math; outside of school in addition to in-school instruction.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
So basically if I get my kid way ahead by signing them up for outside math they should automatically get into to TJ?

Signing up for outside math is not the same as being capable of advanced math.

That's the key point. In the United States it's not common or expected to be signing up for additional schoolwork especially if your kid is already above grade level.

These are all actions that are common in other countries. It's time to stop servicing folks who are in Calculus in 9th or 10th not because they are actually talented but because they have been suppplemented at home or in official afterschool sessions/classes for years priors.

There are many kids who would be "advanced" in math if they spent double the normal time on math; outside of school in addition to in-school instruction.

[phone]

[Anonymous]

TJ has a large catchment area. It's reasonable to expect there to be at least 30 kids who are naturally that talented in math and who belong in 9th grade Calc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:TJ has a large catchment area. It's reasonable to expect there to be at least 30 kids who are naturally that talented in math and who belong in 9th grade Calc.

Also, FCPS is very strict about accelerating kids. FCPS kids who take Algebra in 5th or earlier are quite rare. Gatehouse doesn't sign off on letting more than a few kids per grade level take this path. Parents of kids who are ahead due to a lot of outside supplementation will not have any luck in pushing their kids ahead. They won't meet the FCPS metrics, and skipping ahead will not be an option. More kids are allowed to take Algebra in 6th, but it's still probably only around 50 kids in the entire county. There are pretty strict requirements, and they can't simply be met by heavy supplementation.

Private schools and LCPS might be worse with allowing kids to overaccelerate. TJ has no real obligation to admit those kids. If LCPS is accelerating kids willy nilly, that's their problem. Likewise, kids who are ahead and will run out of math because they took Summer Geometry shouldn't be guaranteed a spot at TJ. TJ should have an obligation to admit the very few kids that FCPS deemed as needing extreme acceleration, and who additionally have a track record of straight As in Honors Algebra, Honors Geometry, Honors Algebra II, and Honors Precalc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“And they took away teacher recommendations. If they cared about taking high achieving students they would not have done that…“

Bet that it was the teachers who did not want to write recommendations each year..TJ just respected their opinions..

they already have enough BS to deal with, including being outed to Youngkin for teaching so called CRT

Youngkin proposed something about transgender, pronouns etc last week? But, I would have rather preferred an announcement that they were planning to fund additional STEM academies in Virginia.. oh well.

Interesting because I’ve been reading in other threads that the best STEM schools other than TJ are the existing top neighborhood schools with lots of challenging math/science courses and that courses with STEM just stuck in their names often are poorly taught or nothing special. So just creating more “STEM academies” sounds more like PR than anything else.

Being able to take calculus in 9th or 10th grade and continuing this progression without having to go to a community college or take classes online, is not PR.

You don’t have to be a “STEM academy” to do this. You just need to offer challenging classes. And why push calculus on 9th graders unless they are truly ready?

The number who are truly ready is generally so low that schools can't offer their own higher level classes. Having a larger group at TJ allows them to offer these classes.
The number of kids who are ready for this is higher than you think, particularly for calculus in 10th grade.

After 126 pages this is the #1 point.

1. TJ should only be for kids who are truly advanced in math not all this woke bs with folks taking Algebra 1 in 8th and somehow getting in.
2. Most of the top tier AAP feeder high schools have a big enough cohort to have entire classes advanced at this level so TJ isn't needed.
3. TJ should just be shut down at this point it's redundant.

TLDR TJ should only be for rich kids and not serve the greater community

DP. The tl;dr should be that TJ is meant to match kids with the appropriate level of service and meet the needs of kids who cannot have their needs met at their base school. Obviously, there will be kids at Langley who can have their needs met at their base school who are objectively stronger students than some kids at Annandale High school who can't have their needs met there. It's not at all a problem to admit kids who are outliers at their base schools, even if the definition of an outlier varies by school.

But, FCPS does have a small cohort of kids who are taking Calculus in either 8th or 9th grade. Those kids will not have an adequate peer group nor will they have adequate course offerings at their base school, since almost every FCPS base school only offers one year of DE post-calculus math. TJ has a wealth of post calc math classes that they will no longer be able to offer if they lack sufficient cohort of kids who are that advanced. It logistically makes the most sense to place the kids who are exceptionally advanced and who will quite literally run out of classes at the base school at a school like TJ, which has the appropriate classes. It likewise makes little sense to place kids at TJ who are unlikely to need anything. beyond the standard AP Calc and AP Science classes offered at every FCPS high school.

It's not sufficient to be advanced by course (don't even think it's necessary). These days there are many "advanced" kids who have big mathematical gaps (can barely reason geometrically, may not even be fully comfortable with some algebraic manipulations, etc.). What's far more important (and harder to do) is for kids to develop strong problem solving skills, i.e be able to figure out and solve things that they don't initially know how to do right away. One good proxy for this skill is being good at math contests. In fact I don't even think "advanced" is necessary, only problem solving skills are, to be able to succeed at TJ. I'd take kids who do very well on the AMC 10 and above contests any day over kids who were accelerated in base school math classes with nothing else to show, and the reason is that there is no problem solving skills being taught in K12 math classes, even calculus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“And they took away teacher recommendations. If they cared about taking high achieving students they would not have done that…“

Bet that it was the teachers who did not want to write recommendations each year..TJ just respected their opinions..

they already have enough BS to deal with, including being outed to Youngkin for teaching so called CRT

Youngkin proposed something about transgender, pronouns etc last week? But, I would have rather preferred an announcement that they were planning to fund additional STEM academies in Virginia.. oh well.

Interesting because I’ve been reading in other threads that the best STEM schools other than TJ are the existing top neighborhood schools with lots of challenging math/science courses and that courses with STEM just stuck in their names often are poorly taught or nothing special. So just creating more “STEM academies” sounds more like PR than anything else.

Being able to take calculus in 9th or 10th grade and continuing this progression without having to go to a community college or take classes online, is not PR.

You don’t have to be a “STEM academy” to do this. You just need to offer challenging classes. And why push calculus on 9th graders unless they are truly ready?

The number who are truly ready is generally so low that schools can't offer their own higher level classes. Having a larger group at TJ allows them to offer these classes.
The number of kids who are ready for this is higher than you think, particularly for calculus in 10th grade.

After 126 pages this is the #1 point.

1. TJ should only be for kids who are truly advanced in math not all this woke bs with folks taking Algebra 1 in 8th and somehow getting in.
2. Most of the top tier AAP feeder high schools have a big enough cohort to have entire classes advanced at this level so TJ isn't needed.
3. TJ should just be shut down at this point it's redundant.

TLDR TJ should only be for rich kids and not serve the greater community

DP. The tl;dr should be that TJ is meant to match kids with the appropriate level of service and meet the needs of kids who cannot have their needs met at their base school. Obviously, there will be kids at Langley who can have their needs met at their base school who are objectively stronger students than some kids at Annandale High school who can't have their needs met there. It's not at all a problem to admit kids who are outliers at their base schools, even if the definition of an outlier varies by school.

But, FCPS does have a small cohort of kids who are taking Calculus in either 8th or 9th grade. Those kids will not have an adequate peer group nor will they have adequate course offerings at their base school, since almost every FCPS base school only offers one year of DE post-calculus math. TJ has a wealth of post calc math classes that they will no longer be able to offer if they lack sufficient cohort of kids who are that advanced. It logistically makes the most sense to place the kids who are exceptionally advanced and who will quite literally run out of classes at the base school at a school like TJ, which has the appropriate classes. It likewise makes little sense to place kids at TJ who are unlikely to need anything. beyond the standard AP Calc and AP Science classes offered at every FCPS high school.

It's not sufficient to be advanced by course (don't even think it's necessary). These days there are many "advanced" kids who have big mathematical gaps (can barely reason geometrically, may not even be fully comfortable with some algebraic manipulations, etc.). What's far more important (and harder to do) is for kids to develop strong problem solving skills, i.e be able to figure out and solve things that they don't initially know how to do right away. One good proxy for this skill is being good at math contests. In fact I don't even think "advanced" is necessary, only problem solving skills are, to be able to succeed at TJ. I'd take kids who do very well on the AMC 10 and above contests any day over kids who were accelerated in base school math classes with nothing else to show, and the reason is that there is no problem solving skills being taught in K12 math classes, even calculus.

They aren't looking for advanced problem solvers either. Each of the last two years, an 8th grade JMO qualifier got rejected from TJ.

I'm not even specifically stating that kids with high AMC 10 scores or kids taking Calculus in 8th or 9th grade ought to be guaranteed admissions. I think that if a child is taking precalc in 8th, has straight As throughout, and has qualified for AIME a couple times, that kid is the real deal. Kids like this should undoubtedly be accepted to TJ. I would not be surprised if the majority of kids that FCPS has accelerated to Algebra in 5th or earlier would fit this profile.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
So basically if I get my kid way ahead by signing them up for outside math they should automatically get into to TJ?

Signing up for outside math is not the same as being capable of advanced math.

That's the key point. In the United States it's not common or expected to be signing up for additional schoolwork especially if your kid is already above grade level.

These are all actions that are common in other countries. It's time to stop servicing folks who are in Calculus in 9th or 10th not because they are actually talented but because they have been suppplemented at home or in official afterschool sessions/classes for years priors.

There are many kids who would be "advanced" in math if they spent double the normal time on math; outside of school in addition to in-school instruction.

Like it or, you xenophobic moron, this is the United States. These are people legally in the US contributing to the economy. Maybe even your boss. So you can't wish them away with your nonsense. If people like you were in charge we wouldn't have had great universities, nuclear capabilities and so many other things in this country. All of that came from outside the United States. Deal with it!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
So basically if I get my kid way ahead by signing them up for outside math they should automatically get into to TJ?

Signing up for outside math is not the same as being capable of advanced math.

That's the key point. In the United States it's not common or expected to be signing up for additional schoolwork especially if your kid is already above grade level.

These are all actions that are common in other countries. It's time to stop servicing folks who are in Calculus in 9th or 10th not because they are actually talented but because they have been suppplemented at home or in official afterschool sessions/classes for years priors.

There are many kids who would be "advanced" in math if they spent double the normal time on math; outside of school in addition to in-school instruction.

Like it or, you xenophobic moron, this is the United States. These are people legally in the US contributing to the economy. Maybe even your boss. So you can't wish them away with your nonsense. If people like you were in charge we wouldn't have had great universities, nuclear capabilities and so many other things in this country. All of that came from outside the United States. Deal with it!

Guess what these test prepping fools aren't the smartest kids. You know what makes the US better than those Asian countries creativity and real understanding. There are so many of these prepped kids who have no depth. It's all drill and kill. Deal with that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
So basically if I get my kid way ahead by signing them up for outside math they should automatically get into to TJ?

Signing up for outside math is not the same as being capable of advanced math.

That's the key point. In the United States it's not common or expected to be signing up for additional schoolwork especially if your kid is already above grade level.

These are all actions that are common in other countries. It's time to stop servicing folks who are in Calculus in 9th or 10th not because they are actually talented but because they have been suppplemented at home or in official afterschool sessions/classes for years priors.

There are many kids who would be "advanced" in math if they spent double the normal time on math; outside of school in addition to in-school instruction.

Like it or, you xenophobic moron, this is the United States. These are people legally in the US contributing to the economy. Maybe even your boss. So you can't wish them away with your nonsense. If people like you were in charge we wouldn't have had great universities, nuclear capabilities and so many other things in this country. All of that came from outside the United States. Deal with it!

Guess what these test prepping fools aren't the smartest kids. You know what makes the US better than those Asian countries creativity and real understanding. There are so many of these prepped kids who have no depth. It's all drill and kill. Deal with that.

You still don't get the point. Asian-origin kids are part of the United States! You may not want to accept it given your racist self. But they are here, doing well, and will continue to outperform. And taken the US to new heights. Despite your jealousy and lack of sense.