TJ Admissions

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

2028 2027 2026 2025 2024 Asian 315 340 330 299 355 Black 19 37 32 39 10 Hispanic 41 33 45 62 16 Multiracial 34 35 26 27 29 White 140 105 117 123 86

Would never know it based on the complaining but looks like Asian is enrollment is at a historic high.

The school got bigger in the class of 2025 and yet the asian population got smaller. The asian population had been getting bigger pretty much every year since the school opened as more and more asians moved into the area.

So? One race doesn’t “own” the magnet school. Asians remain by far the overwhelming majority at TJ despite being a notable minority in the areas it draws from.

No one owns TJ but we shouldn't be stacking the deck racially either.

?
It’s not stacked. Asians remain the overwhelming majority of the school despite being a much smaller minority of the student area.

PP here, the method is currently so random it's not stacked against anyone but they made it random to reduce the asian population and increase everyone else's and reduced the merit filter to do so.

+ A million

The current policy is most unfair to the most deserving students. While every system has its drawbacks, the current system makes it very difficult to identify truly gifted students.

The whole SO team in my DC MS was accepted at TJ plus some kids who won the math olympiad, debate and such, and some random kids who also known smart.
I don’t know who is the most deserving and the truly gifted according to you.

DP here.

This kid is at woodson instead of TJ
https://www.washingtonian.com/2024/08/15/time-magazines-kid-of-the-year-is-a-fairfax-high-schooler-trying-to-cure-skin-cancer/

The best honors math students (as judged by the math teachers) from frost last year are not at TJ. Frost give s an award to the best honors geometry and honors algebra 8th graders at a private awards ceremony.

There is no way that kid's parent is just a nobody. Gaurenteed it's a scientist, doctor or engineer.

There's a lot of kids in fairfax whose parents are scientists, doctors and engineers. They aren't all developing cancer treatments.
Also, I found this: His mother, Muluemebet, works as a teacher, while his father, Wondwossen, is employed as a human resources specialist for the U.S. Agency for International Development.
He immigrated from Africa when he was 4.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

2028 2027 2026 2025 2024 Asian 315 340 330 299 355 Black 19 37 32 39 10 Hispanic 41 33 45 62 16 Multiracial 34 35 26 27 29 White 140 105 117 123 86

Would never know it based on the complaining but looks like Asian is enrollment is at a historic high.

The school got bigger in the class of 2025 and yet the asian population got smaller. The asian population had been getting bigger pretty much every year since the school opened as more and more asians moved into the area.

So? One race doesn’t “own” the magnet school. Asians remain by far the overwhelming majority at TJ despite being a notable minority in the areas it draws from.

No one owns TJ but we shouldn't be stacking the deck racially either.

?
It’s not stacked. Asians remain the overwhelming majority of the school despite being a much smaller minority of the student area.

PP here, the method is currently so random it's not stacked against anyone but they made it random to reduce the asian population and increase everyone else's and reduced the merit filter to do so.

+ A million

The current policy is most unfair to the most deserving students. While every system has its drawbacks, the current system makes it very difficult to identify truly gifted students.

The whole SO team in my DC MS was accepted at TJ plus some kids who won the math olympiad, debate and such, and some random kids who also known smart.
I don’t know who is the most deserving and the truly gifted according to you.

DP here.

This kid is at woodson instead of TJ
https://www.washingtonian.com/2024/08/15/time-magazines-kid-of-the-year-is-a-fairfax-high-schooler-trying-to-cure-skin-cancer/

The best honors math students (as judged by the math teachers) from frost last year are not at TJ. Frost give s an award to the best honors geometry and honors algebra 8th graders at a private awards ceremony.

I heard from a neighbor that kid didn't even apply to TJ, but regardless it sounds like they're going to be fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

2028 2027 2026 2025 2024 Asian 315 340 330 299 355 Black 19 37 32 39 10 Hispanic 41 33 45 62 16 Multiracial 34 35 26 27 29 White 140 105 117 123 86

Would never know it based on the complaining but looks like Asian is enrollment is at a historic high.

The school got bigger in the class of 2025 and yet the asian population got smaller. The asian population had been getting bigger pretty much every year since the school opened as more and more asians moved into the area.

So? One race doesn’t “own” the magnet school. Asians remain by far the overwhelming majority at TJ despite being a notable minority in the areas it draws from.

No one owns TJ but we shouldn't be stacking the deck racially either.

?
It’s not stacked. Asians remain the overwhelming majority of the school despite being a much smaller minority of the student area.

PP here, the method is currently so random it's not stacked against anyone but they made it random to reduce the asian population and increase everyone else's and reduced the merit filter to do so.

+ A million

The current policy is most unfair to the most deserving students. While every system has its drawbacks, the current system makes it very difficult to identify truly gifted students.

The whole SO team in my DC MS was accepted at TJ plus some kids who won the math olympiad, debate and such, and some random kids who also known smart.
I don’t know who is the most deserving and the truly gifted according to you.

Ironically, not a single kid on the math count team at our DC's middle school received an offer. How could they have known who is and is not proficient?

Being in just math count team is not really that special. That team is a large team in certain MS, unless you won state or national level. Beside, TJ is not all about math.
My kid who is get in, is not in any kind of math club. DC is just typical laid back all A geometry kid, but his verbal IQ is very high.
Maybe you need to redefining who is the “most deserving and truly gifted”, that statement is very broad, and really you don’t know personally one by one who gets in.

Carson has around 130 kids take the test to make the 30 person Mathcounts club. The Team that competes is 4 kids from that group of 30. There are 10 individual competitors sent. So the 14 kids who compete, in some form, at Chapter from Carson are pulled from a group of 130 kids. Does that mean that those kids deserve to be at TJ? No. But comparing the kid on the Mathcounts Team that participates in competition from Carson to the kid who is part of the Mathcounts Team at a school that does not have to hold tryouts to make the club or the team is really different.

And not every kid who makes the Team wants to attend TJ. There are kids who are advanced and are going to be happy to continue to their base school to be with their friends, they don't feel like they need the longer commute or the pressure that comes from being at TJ. DS knows about TJ and will make the choice on his own to apply or not. It is his decision not ours. But he is in class now with kids who are talking about prepaing since 3rd grade to attend TJ. I am guessing that most of those kids are kids who had parents wanting their kids at TJ and not kids who have been eyeing the school since 3rd grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

2028 2027 2026 2025 2024 Asian 315 340 330 299 355 Black 19 37 32 39 10 Hispanic 41 33 45 62 16 Multiracial 34 35 26 27 29 White 140 105 117 123 86

Would never know it based on the complaining but looks like Asian is enrollment is at a historic high.

The school got bigger in the class of 2025 and yet the asian population got smaller. The asian population had been getting bigger pretty much every year since the school opened as more and more asians moved into the area.

So? One race doesn’t “own” the magnet school. Asians remain by far the overwhelming majority at TJ despite being a notable minority in the areas it draws from.

No one owns TJ but we shouldn't be stacking the deck racially either.

?
It’s not stacked. Asians remain the overwhelming majority of the school despite being a much smaller minority of the student area.

PP here, the method is currently so random it's not stacked against anyone but they made it random to reduce the asian population and increase everyone else's and reduced the merit filter to do so.

+ A million

The current policy is most unfair to the most deserving students. While every system has its drawbacks, the current system makes it very difficult to identify truly gifted students.

The whole SO team in my DC MS was accepted at TJ plus some kids who won the math olympiad, debate and such, and some random kids who also known smart.
I don’t know who is the most deserving and the truly gifted according to you.

Ironically, not a single kid on the math count team at our DC's middle school received an offer. How could they have known who is and is not proficient?

Being in just math count team is not really that special. That team is a large team in certain MS, unless you won state or national level. Beside, TJ is not all about math.
My kid who is get in, is not in any kind of math club. DC is just typical laid back all A geometry kid, but his verbal IQ is very high.
Maybe you need to redefining who is the “most deserving and truly gifted”, that statement is very broad, and really you don’t know personally one by one who gets in.

Carson has around 130 kids take the test to make the 30 person Mathcounts club. The Team that competes is 4 kids from that group of 30. There are 10 individual competitors sent. So the 14 kids who compete, in some form, at Chapter from Carson are pulled from a group of 130 kids. Does that mean that those kids deserve to be at TJ? No. But comparing the kid on the Mathcounts Team that participates in competition from Carson to the kid who is part of the Mathcounts Team at a school that does not have to hold tryouts to make the club or the team is really different.

And not every kid who makes the Team wants to attend TJ. There are kids who are advanced and are going to be happy to continue to their base school to be with their friends, they don't feel like they need the longer commute or the pressure that comes from being at TJ. DS knows about TJ and will make the choice on his own to apply or not. It is his decision not ours. But he is in class now with kids who are talking about prepaing since 3rd grade to attend TJ. I am guessing that most of those kids are kids who had parents wanting their kids at TJ and not kids who have been eyeing the school since 3rd grade.

If you want to let your juvenile son make his own decisions about his future at the age of 7 or 8 about how much to focus on academics or at 11 or 12 about what school to attend without guidance from you, that's up to you.
But some of us think it is good and proper to provide guidance to our children so that when they are finally old enough to make their own choices, they will have a broad array of options to choose from.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

2028 2027 2026 2025 2024 Asian 315 340 330 299 355 Black 19 37 32 39 10 Hispanic 41 33 45 62 16 Multiracial 34 35 26 27 29 White 140 105 117 123 86

Would never know it based on the complaining but looks like Asian is enrollment is at a historic high.

The school got bigger in the class of 2025 and yet the asian population got smaller. The asian population had been getting bigger pretty much every year since the school opened as more and more asians moved into the area.

So? One race doesn’t “own” the magnet school. Asians remain by far the overwhelming majority at TJ despite being a notable minority in the areas it draws from.

No one owns TJ but we shouldn't be stacking the deck racially either.

?
It’s not stacked. Asians remain the overwhelming majority of the school despite being a much smaller minority of the student area.

PP here, the method is currently so random it's not stacked against anyone but they made it random to reduce the asian population and increase everyone else's and reduced the merit filter to do so.

+ A million

The current policy is most unfair to the most deserving students. While every system has its drawbacks, the current system makes it very difficult to identify truly gifted students.

The whole SO team in my DC MS was accepted at TJ plus some kids who won the math olympiad, debate and such, and some random kids who also known smart.
I don’t know who is the most deserving and the truly gifted according to you.

Ironically, not a single kid on the math count team at our DC's middle school received an offer. How could they have known who is and is not proficient?

Being in just math count team is not really that special. That team is a large team in certain MS, unless you won state or national level. Beside, TJ is not all about math.
My kid who is get in, is not in any kind of math club. DC is just typical laid back all A geometry kid, but his verbal IQ is very high.
Maybe you need to redefining who is the “most deserving and truly gifted”, that statement is very broad, and really you don’t know personally one by one who gets in.

Carson has around 130 kids take the test to make the 30 person Mathcounts club. The Team that competes is 4 kids from that group of 30. There are 10 individual competitors sent. So the 14 kids who compete, in some form, at Chapter from Carson are pulled from a group of 130 kids. Does that mean that those kids deserve to be at TJ? No. But comparing the kid on the Mathcounts Team that participates in competition from Carson to the kid who is part of the Mathcounts Team at a school that does not have to hold tryouts to make the club or the team is really different.

And not every kid who makes the Team wants to attend TJ. There are kids who are advanced and are going to be happy to continue to their base school to be with their friends, they don't feel like they need the longer commute or the pressure that comes from being at TJ. DS knows about TJ and will make the choice on his own to apply or not. It is his decision not ours. But he is in class now with kids who are talking about prepaing since 3rd grade to attend TJ. I am guessing that most of those kids are kids who had parents wanting their kids at TJ and not kids who have been eyeing the school since 3rd grade.

If you want to let your juvenile son make his own decisions about his future at the age of 7 or 8 about how much to focus on academics or at 11 or 12 about what school to attend without guidance from you, that's up to you.
But some of us think it is good and proper to provide guidance to our children so that when they are finally old enough to make their own choices, they will have a broad array of options to choose from.

Big Dead Poets Society energy here. Important watch for any parents who are of this mindset.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

2028 2027 2026 2025 2024 Asian 315 340 330 299 355 Black 19 37 32 39 10 Hispanic 41 33 45 62 16 Multiracial 34 35 26 27 29 White 140 105 117 123 86

Would never know it based on the complaining but looks like Asian is enrollment is at a historic high.

The school got bigger in the class of 2025 and yet the asian population got smaller. The asian population had been getting bigger pretty much every year since the school opened as more and more asians moved into the area.

So? One race doesn’t “own” the magnet school. Asians remain by far the overwhelming majority at TJ despite being a notable minority in the areas it draws from.

No one owns TJ but we shouldn't be stacking the deck racially either.

?
It’s not stacked. Asians remain the overwhelming majority of the school despite being a much smaller minority of the student area.

PP here, the method is currently so random it's not stacked against anyone but they made it random to reduce the asian population and increase everyone else's and reduced the merit filter to do so.

+ A million

The current policy is most unfair to the most deserving students. While every system has its drawbacks, the current system makes it very difficult to identify truly gifted students.

The whole SO team in my DC MS was accepted at TJ plus some kids who won the math olympiad, debate and such, and some random kids who also known smart.
I don’t know who is the most deserving and the truly gifted according to you.

Ironically, not a single kid on the math count team at our DC's middle school received an offer. How could they have known who is and is not proficient?

Being in just math count team is not really that special. That team is a large team in certain MS, unless you won state or national level. Beside, TJ is not all about math.
My kid who is get in, is not in any kind of math club. DC is just typical laid back all A geometry kid, but his verbal IQ is very high.
Maybe you need to redefining who is the “most deserving and truly gifted”, that statement is very broad, and really you don’t know personally one by one who gets in.

Carson has around 130 kids take the test to make the 30 person Mathcounts club. The Team that competes is 4 kids from that group of 30. There are 10 individual competitors sent. So the 14 kids who compete, in some form, at Chapter from Carson are pulled from a group of 130 kids. Does that mean that those kids deserve to be at TJ? No. But comparing the kid on the Mathcounts Team that participates in competition from Carson to the kid who is part of the Mathcounts Team at a school that does not have to hold tryouts to make the club or the team is really different.

And not every kid who makes the Team wants to attend TJ. There are kids who are advanced and are going to be happy to continue to their base school to be with their friends, they don't feel like they need the longer commute or the pressure that comes from being at TJ. DS knows about TJ and will make the choice on his own to apply or not. It is his decision not ours. But he is in class now with kids who are talking about prepaing since 3rd grade to attend TJ. I am guessing that most of those kids are kids who had parents wanting their kids at TJ and not kids who have been eyeing the school since 3rd grade.

My neighbors have been considering year-round swimming for their six-year-old ever since he won a race at the community pool's summer meet. They see athletic scholarships as a major advantage of starting early. Other parents are also exploring options for their kids in basketball, soccer, baseball, and more, thinking about their long-term prospects. While discussions about schools like TJ and other STEM programs typically don’t begin until 3rd to 5th grade, it makes sense for parents to focus on these options and plan their middle school preparation accordingly.

We're witnessing the consequences of parents waiting too long to address their child's math deficiencies in middle school. If they do get an offer through the current TJ lottery admissions, they face the challenge of seeking more remedial help being at the bottom of the class. Whether it's swimming, basketball, or STEM, starting preparation early can help prevent the struggle to keep up with the increased rigor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

2028 2027 2026 2025 2024 Asian 315 340 330 299 355 Black 19 37 32 39 10 Hispanic 41 33 45 62 16 Multiracial 34 35 26 27 29 White 140 105 117 123 86

Would never know it based on the complaining but looks like Asian is enrollment is at a historic high.

The school got bigger in the class of 2025 and yet the asian population got smaller. The asian population had been getting bigger pretty much every year since the school opened as more and more asians moved into the area.

So? One race doesn’t “own” the magnet school. Asians remain by far the overwhelming majority at TJ despite being a notable minority in the areas it draws from.

No one owns TJ but we shouldn't be stacking the deck racially either.

?
It’s not stacked. Asians remain the overwhelming majority of the school despite being a much smaller minority of the student area.

PP here, the method is currently so random it's not stacked against anyone but they made it random to reduce the asian population and increase everyone else's and reduced the merit filter to do so.

+ A million

The current policy is most unfair to the most deserving students. While every system has its drawbacks, the current system makes it very difficult to identify truly gifted students.

The whole SO team in my DC MS was accepted at TJ plus some kids who won the math olympiad, debate and such, and some random kids who also known smart.
I don’t know who is the most deserving and the truly gifted according to you.

Ironically, not a single kid on the math count team at our DC's middle school received an offer. How could they have known who is and is not proficient?

Being in just math count team is not really that special. That team is a large team in certain MS, unless you won state or national level. Beside, TJ is not all about math.
My kid who is get in, is not in any kind of math club. DC is just typical laid back all A geometry kid, but his verbal IQ is very high.
Maybe you need to redefining who is the “most deserving and truly gifted”, that statement is very broad, and really you don’t know personally one by one who gets in.

Carson has around 130 kids take the test to make the 30 person Mathcounts club. The Team that competes is 4 kids from that group of 30. There are 10 individual competitors sent. So the 14 kids who compete, in some form, at Chapter from Carson are pulled from a group of 130 kids. Does that mean that those kids deserve to be at TJ? No. But comparing the kid on the Mathcounts Team that participates in competition from Carson to the kid who is part of the Mathcounts Team at a school that does not have to hold tryouts to make the club or the team is really different.

And not every kid who makes the Team wants to attend TJ. There are kids who are advanced and are going to be happy to continue to their base school to be with their friends, they don't feel like they need the longer commute or the pressure that comes from being at TJ. DS knows about TJ and will make the choice on his own to apply or not. It is his decision not ours. But he is in class now with kids who are talking about prepaing since 3rd grade to attend TJ. I am guessing that most of those kids are kids who had parents wanting their kids at TJ and not kids who have been eyeing the school since 3rd grade.

Similar experience at Longfellow. MathCounts was highly competitive with just 30 kids making the team of 30. Out of those 30, the 4 best are chosen to compete, and about 10 are sent for the competition so there are plenty of backups.

Both my kids are good at math. One of my two children especially loved math and an elementary school teacher recommended him for Math Counts and the AMC8 team. Later, in MS, he was one of the 30 on Longfellow’s MathCounts team, although not one of the very top, competing 10. He also briefly participated in ACSL when good friends offered to coach him for free.

It was my child’s choice to apply for TJ. He is there because he asked us, and we supported his decision. If anyone influenced him, it was his cohort in MathCounts and in AAP over many years. I acknowledge many of his current classmates were likely under intense parental pressure when they applied to TJ.

[Anonymous]

There seems to be a healthy level of parental engagement at Carson and Longfellow that helps students excel in STEM subjects, and we can also include Cooper and Rocky Run in this category. FCPS appears to be dependent on these schools to fill a significant number of top-tier TJ class slots even after admissions change. It would be great if other FCPS schools could foster this kind of parental involvement (or "pressure", as few grudgingly term it) so that they too can produce highly qualified applicants for TJ.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There seems to be a healthy level of parental engagement at Carson and Longfellow that helps students excel in STEM subjects, and we can also include Cooper and Rocky Run in this category. FCPS appears to be dependent on these schools to fill a significant number of top-tier TJ class slots even after admissions change. It would be great if other FCPS schools could foster this kind of parental involvement (or "pressure", as few grudgingly term it) so that they too can produce highly qualified applicants for TJ.

To truly foster what you suggest would require FCPS schools to help parents in the low-sending schools to:

- have a strong family tradition of valuing education above all and view education as the means to success in life,

- promote stable marriages and emphasize the importance of staying married as a strong family unit,

- encourage parents to model hard work for their children and inform them hard work is necessary for success in life,

- encourage families to eat dinner together every night,

- encourage family dinners which are not eaten in front of a screen and do not allow phone-use by anyone during dinner,

- discourage parents from allowing children's free time to be spent on social media such as TikTok,

- encourage parents to serve healthy home-cooked meals over highly processed or take-out food (Michelle Obama promoted this healthy practice),

- encourage the parents to encourage children learning a musical instrument proficiently, and often practice at home,

- encourage parents to take high-paying careers to be able to afford enrichment opportunities for their children.



While you may scoff at these measures, I think you will find the parents in the high-sending districts tend to share these traits. And yes - I acknowledge schools likely cannot and will not intervene in family matter as I have suggested, even if it would result in their coveted equity of outcome.

You could also ignore all these commonalities, just make up your own family values (or ignore any common values as parents(s)) and just see how it goes. I wish you luck if you choose that route.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There seems to be a healthy level of parental engagement at Carson and Longfellow that helps students excel in STEM subjects, and we can also include Cooper and Rocky Run in this category. FCPS appears to be dependent on these schools to fill a significant number of top-tier TJ class slots even after admissions change. It would be great if other FCPS schools could foster this kind of parental involvement (or "pressure", as few grudgingly term it) so that they too can produce highly qualified applicants for TJ.

Sounds like the kids at Carson and Longfellow will be fine no matter where they attend HS, but it's the less privileged high-schools that would really benefit from a TJ education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There seems to be a healthy level of parental engagement at Carson and Longfellow that helps students excel in STEM subjects, and we can also include Cooper and Rocky Run in this category. FCPS appears to be dependent on these schools to fill a significant number of top-tier TJ class slots even after admissions change. It would be great if other FCPS schools could foster this kind of parental involvement (or "pressure", as few grudgingly term it) so that they too can produce highly qualified applicants for TJ.

Sounds like the kids at Carson and Longfellow will be fine no matter where they attend HS, but it's the less privileged high-schools that would really benefit from a TJ education.

But, FCPS wants top four middle school students at TJ in overwhelming number 140+, to keep the TJ ranking from taking a tumble. You seem to have trouble accepting that fact.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

2028 2027 2026 2025 2024 Asian 315 340 330 299 355 Black 19 37 32 39 10 Hispanic 41 33 45 62 16 Multiracial 34 35 26 27 29 White 140 105 117 123 86

Would never know it based on the complaining but looks like Asian is enrollment is at a historic high.

The school got bigger in the class of 2025 and yet the asian population got smaller. The asian population had been getting bigger pretty much every year since the school opened as more and more asians moved into the area.

So? One race doesn’t “own” the magnet school. Asians remain by far the overwhelming majority at TJ despite being a notable minority in the areas it draws from.

No one owns TJ but we shouldn't be stacking the deck racially either.

?
It’s not stacked. Asians remain the overwhelming majority of the school despite being a much smaller minority of the student area.

PP here, the method is currently so random it's not stacked against anyone but they made it random to reduce the asian population and increase everyone else's and reduced the merit filter to do so.

+ A million

The current policy is most unfair to the most deserving students. While every system has its drawbacks, the current system makes it very difficult to identify truly gifted students.

The whole SO team in my DC MS was accepted at TJ plus some kids who won the math olympiad, debate and such, and some random kids who also known smart.
I don’t know who is the most deserving and the truly gifted according to you.

Ironically, not a single kid on the math count team at our DC's middle school received an offer. How could they have known who is and is not proficient?

Being in just math count team is not really that special. That team is a large team in certain MS, unless you won state or national level. Beside, TJ is not all about math.
My kid who is get in, is not in any kind of math club. DC is just typical laid back all A geometry kid, but his verbal IQ is very high.
Maybe you need to redefining who is the “most deserving and truly gifted”, that statement is very broad, and really you don’t know personally one by one who gets in.

Carson has around 130 kids take the test to make the 30 person Mathcounts club. The Team that competes is 4 kids from that group of 30. There are 10 individual competitors sent. So the 14 kids who compete, in some form, at Chapter from Carson are pulled from a group of 130 kids. Does that mean that those kids deserve to be at TJ? No. But comparing the kid on the Mathcounts Team that participates in competition from Carson to the kid who is part of the Mathcounts Team at a school that does not have to hold tryouts to make the club or the team is really different.

And not every kid who makes the Team wants to attend TJ. There are kids who are advanced and are going to be happy to continue to their base school to be with their friends, they don't feel like they need the longer commute or the pressure that comes from being at TJ. DS knows about TJ and will make the choice on his own to apply or not. It is his decision not ours. But he is in class now with kids who are talking about prepaing since 3rd grade to attend TJ. I am guessing that most of those kids are kids who had parents wanting their kids at TJ and not kids who have been eyeing the school since 3rd grade.

Similar experience at Longfellow. MathCounts was highly competitive with just 30 kids making the team of 30. Out of those 30, the 4 best are chosen to compete, and about 10 are sent for the competition so there are plenty of backups.

Both my kids are good at math. One of my two children especially loved math and an elementary school teacher recommended him for Math Counts and the AMC8 team. Later, in MS, he was one of the 30 on Longfellow’s MathCounts team, although not one of the very top, competing 10. He also briefly participated in ACSL when good friends offered to coach him for free.

It was my child’s choice to apply for TJ. He is there because he asked us, and we supported his decision. If anyone influenced him, it was his cohort in MathCounts and in AAP over many years. I acknowledge many of his current classmates were likely under intense parental pressure when they applied to TJ.

The pressure seems to be a lot less now. TJ just doesn't have the draw it once did.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There seems to be a healthy level of parental engagement at Carson and Longfellow that helps students excel in STEM subjects, and we can also include Cooper and Rocky Run in this category. FCPS appears to be dependent on these schools to fill a significant number of top-tier TJ class slots even after admissions change. It would be great if other FCPS schools could foster this kind of parental involvement (or "pressure", as few grudgingly term it) so that they too can produce highly qualified applicants for TJ.

Frost sent more kids than cooper or rocky run for at least a few years now.
Rocky Run kids don't apply as much anymore and Frost (18%) has a lot more FARM kids than Cooper (5%)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There seems to be a healthy level of parental engagement at Carson and Longfellow that helps students excel in STEM subjects, and we can also include Cooper and Rocky Run in this category. FCPS appears to be dependent on these schools to fill a significant number of top-tier TJ class slots even after admissions change. It would be great if other FCPS schools could foster this kind of parental involvement (or "pressure", as few grudgingly term it) so that they too can produce highly qualified applicants for TJ.

Sounds like the kids at Carson and Longfellow will be fine no matter where they attend HS, but it's the less privileged high-schools that would really benefit from a TJ education.

They can no more benefit from a TJ education than your average college student could benefit from navy seal training.

Shifting a car going 10 mph into 4th gear isn't going to make it go 65mph, it's going to make the cart stall.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There seems to be a healthy level of parental engagement at Carson and Longfellow that helps students excel in STEM subjects, and we can also include Cooper and Rocky Run in this category. FCPS appears to be dependent on these schools to fill a significant number of top-tier TJ class slots even after admissions change. It would be great if other FCPS schools could foster this kind of parental involvement (or "pressure", as few grudgingly term it) so that they too can produce highly qualified applicants for TJ.

Frost sent more kids than cooper or rocky run for at least a few years now.
Rocky Run kids don't apply as much anymore and Frost (18%) has a lot more FARM kids than Cooper (5%)

What’s the purpose of admitting students into the bottom tier, letting them struggle with Cs and Ds, and then saying that remedial help is being provided to keep them from falling further behind? On the other end, FCPS acknowledges that the same four top middle schools are where advanced STEM talent is nurtured to not just meet the TJ rigor but enroll in advanced courses there. How does the bottom tier benefit from TJ when they’re constantly playing catch-up with the bare minimum courses while having to live with a low GPA and never get to experience the true TJ Science and Tech education?