TJ Falls to 14th in the Nation Per US News
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Anonymous
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The community has been concerned about test prep for decades…
2001: https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/2001/12/01/outsmarting-the-competition-into-thomas-jefferson-high/3f547eb4-a62d-439e-adbb-c409403deea6/ “attended a private learning center in Burke for test practice and admissions counseling -- even advice on elementary school extracurricular activities. “ "Families go through incredible behavior just to try to get their kids into Jefferson by moving into a particular area or renting a town house near Longfellow [Middle School] or others that they think will give them an edge." “The frenzy highlights a current districtwide controversy about the admission process. Domenech wants to increase the number of students attending Jefferson from less affluent areas of the county” For the first time, applicants who registered to take the test this year were given a 16-page booklet with test-taking strategies and sample questions. "We knew that kids were getting help," said admissions coordinator Christel G. Payne, "and it just wasn't fair that a great deal knew what they were facing when they went in on Saturday morning and others would go in cold with no idea what they would be looking at." MCPS: “Eileen Steinkraus, the magnet coordinator, said applicants used to take the Preliminary SAT, but so many students studied for the test that they abolished it four years ago and had a testing service develop a test for them.” |
Anonymous
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There was enough concern in the community about test prep companies "cracking the test" that they changed the test/process multiple times over the years. Affluent families who could afford these programs were buying their kids an unfair advantage in admissions. In fact, back in 2017 the SB switched to quant-q, which intentionally didn’t share prep, in an effort to reduce this unfair advantage. https://www.washingtonian.com/2017/04/26/is-the-no-1-high-school-in-america-thomas-jefferson-fairfax-discrimination/ “ “Is it gonna once again advantage those kids whose parents can pay to sign them up for special prep camps to now be prepping for science testing as well?” Megan McLaughlin [FCPS School Board] asked when presented with the new plan. Admissions director Jeremy Shughart doesn’t think so. The firm that markets the math portion of the test, Quant-Q, doesn’t release materials to the public, a practice that should make them harder for test-prep schools to crack.” |
Anonymous
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TJ students and others have publicly acknowledged the unfair advantage that money can buy and that test prep companies have a "cache of previous and example prompts".
https://www.tjtoday.org/29411/features/students-divided-on-proposed-changes-to-admissions-process/ “ “Personally, TJ admissions was not a challenge to navigate. I had a sibling who attended before me. However, a lot of resources needed to navigate admissions cost money. That is an unfair advantage given to more economically advantaged students,” junior Vivi Rao said. ” https://www.tjtoday.org/23143/showcase/the-children-left-behind/ “ Families with more money can afford to give children that extra edge by signing them up for whatever prep classes they can find. They can pay money to tutoring organizations to teach their children test-taking skills, “skills learned outside of school,” and to access a cache of previous and example prompts, as I witnessed when I took TJ prep; even if prompts become outdated by test changes, even access to old prompts enables private tutoring pupils to gain an upper edge over others: pupils become accustomed to the format of the writing sections and gain an approximate idea of what to expect.” |
Anonymous
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Test prep companies acknowledge trying to "crack the test".
https://katedalby.com/get-tj-update/ The math required for the test is basic math, algebra, and geometry. In the past, we have used old SAT tests from 30 years ago augmented with select problems to mimic the Quant Q. In order to adapt to the changes, we will increase the number of permutation and combination problems in response to students’ observations about the math last fall. https://www.optimaltjprep.com/ ““M. said that the math questions were very similar to the challenge problems she did with you in classes.” - C.R. (Mother, after 2018-19 test) “E. said that the math questions were very close to what she did with you during the last 2 sessions. To quote her exactly: 'Dr, Tripathi's math problems were dead on point.' We really appreciate your help with her preparation for the test!” - L.R. (Father, after 2017-18 test)” Many videos showing how to solve actual SIS math questions on TJ admissions tests: https://www.youtube.com/@katedalbysinspiringtestpre864/videos https://www.youtube.com/@EduAvenuesTJTestPrep https://www.youtube.com/@principiatutorsconsultants4395/videos |
Anonymous
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And parent were willing to spend big bucks to give their kids a leg up in admissions:
$2120 https://plcprep.com/1-on-1_tutoring.php $200-300 per hour https://www.principiatutors.com/our-pricing $625 https://fairfaxcollegiate.com/test-prep/tjhsst-prep $1000+ including practice tests https://web.archive.org/web/20190411164031/http://katedalby.com/tj-admissions-prep/ $800 self paced $2400 small group https://www.tjtestprep.com/ $1950 https://www.principiatutors.com/tj-sps-pse-prep $6985+ signature program that runs over two years “pass any test for admission into specialized programs like AOS/AET and TJ” https://tinyurl.com/tjtestprepoptions |
Anonymous
that’s nice, dear YouTube free SAT prep: - free FCPS SAT prep resources - free High school college admissions center SAT prep resources - free Public library SAT prep guides - free Etc. |
Anonymous
| Doesn’t FCPS now offer free private tutoring to every student at no cost? |
Anonymous
That's silly. We were there, we saw the board taking about racial diversity throughout the entire process. The backdrop of BLM let them push it through but it was all about race. You know it. I know it. Everyone knows it. If wealth determined how well you did on these tests why would Stuyvesant be 50% farm? How did TJ go from majority white to majority Asian? |
Anonymous
Go back to the videos of the board meetings at the time they speed this new admissions system. It was all about the benefits of racial diversity and blm |
Anonymous
All the FCPS board meetings were primarily about race. Back when it was ok to discriminate based on race as long as it was "anti racism" It's all on YouTube. I can link to them if you like. |
Anonymous
That's why they changed to a test that didn't have free trying available in the hopes that kids would not be able to study for the test. They STILL couldn't get the racial profile they desired so they just got rid of the test and things got a lot easier. Until kids started failing. |
Anonymous
It's supposed to serve the smart kids regardless of race or income. TJ used to have an average SAT score of 1520. What do you think it was for the class of 2025? |
Anonymous
Given that the % ED has gone up 800% I’m guessing it will go down some. SAT scores are correlated with wealth. |
Anonymous
Diversity of HHI has always been a concern. As has test prepping. There were multiple reasons. |
Anonymous
Is this a serious question? Because the answer is wealthy Indian families concentrated in Loudoun and western Fairfax. They’re by FAR the wealthiest demographic in Northern Virginia. |