TJ top 1.5 percent

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: Significant achievements would mostly be based on extracurriculars. Some middle schools have excellent parental support for teams and clubs and at other middle schools opportunities for clubs are completely non-existent. Not fair to penalize a kid for attending a school that doesn't offer anything. And lastly teacher recommendations are also completely open to bias.

The question is about whether they are taking the top students within a school. All these kids would have the same extracurricular options as they are going to the same school. This year, there were some kids who did very well at a statewide level on some of these activities, who were rejected, while kids who were cut from the team were accepted to TJ.

Unless you know every detail of the applications of all of these kids, you don’t have a leg to stand on in criticizing the Admissions Office for who they select. It’s not your role to have an opinion on who should or should not get into TJ.

As has been mentioned earlier, many of these teams are “coached” by volunteer parents who decide who is and is not selected to be part of these teams based on factors other than skill/intelligence/competence.

The same is true in youth sports. Sometimes a kid who didn’t make the travel team in 8th grade for whatever reason ends up being the star of or a major player for the high school team.

And here’s another factor to consider: Every year, there is a significant number of students who simply write on their Student Portrait Sheet that they don’t want to go to TJ. It is an easy out for students whose parents are obsessed with TJ but who don’t want it themselves.

There is no way for the parent to find out that they did this and it explains more perplexing rejections that you’d think. It’s entirely possible that your kid has told you all along that they want to go but torpedoed themselves without you knowing.

Not talking about my kid here. Other students at the school, the top students were passed over for pretty weak students. Some were waitlisted, others rejected. I doubt the 'write they don't want to go option' but it would explain a rejection. TJ application office is not aware of these extracurriculars and ability level beyond GPA and some essays. It's possible they accepted the kid because they wrote about their passion for stem and being hurt when cut from the team, and rejecting the student that says they qualified for nationals.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It does support the goal of quality education for all. I wish there was a comparable program for students who want to emphasize the arts and have been cultivating talents in those areas and want that additional level of support that only a program with a focus on those areas can support.

There's nothing wrong with TJ, and there's nothing wasteful about... the only thing wrong and wasteful is some of the parents attitudes and incessant complaining about it, in an effort either to get their particular kid into the program and/or shape things in such a way that elevates their POV of how things "should" be over that of professional educators or the community at large.

Disagree. It continues to take up a disproportionate amount of FCPS’s time, attention, and resources. In a struggling school system that often fails to address the basic needs of students, it’s become an unnecessary luxury item.

Well, it's not going anywhere, so I would argue that the greater waste of time - unless you have a real plan - is to continue to suggest that it should go away.

But no, you continue to insist on clicking on and replying to threads that you could very easily just ignore and waste your time in doing so.

There is nothing that says we have to have a magnet school in perpetuity that chews up an excessive amount of FCPS bandwidth and seats students from other jurisdictions when FCPS is turning other high schools into 3000-student factories. It’s a testimony to your arrogance to suggest otherwise.

Dp.

You sound like a deranged jealous person who has no chance at TJ.

You’re too obtuse to realize that even if you make TJ disappear you will help no one. you're only working to deprive some gifted kids of opportunities.

There would be more opportunities for more students if the School Board and FCPS leadership worked to improve all high/secondary schools and didn’t fetishize a single school. But, sure, let’s pretend the only gifted kids in NoVa are at TJ, regardless of whatever increasingly half-assed approach is employed to select them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It does support the goal of quality education for all. I wish there was a comparable program for students who want to emphasize the arts and have been cultivating talents in those areas and want that additional level of support that only a program with a focus on those areas can support.

There's nothing wrong with TJ, and there's nothing wasteful about... the only thing wrong and wasteful is some of the parents attitudes and incessant complaining about it, in an effort either to get their particular kid into the program and/or shape things in such a way that elevates their POV of how things "should" be over that of professional educators or the community at large.

TJ is one of the 19 Governors school in VA. See the list below for the school in arts (and other areas)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Governor%27s_Schools_(Virginia)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It does support the goal of quality education for all. I wish there was a comparable program for students who want to emphasize the arts and have been cultivating talents in those areas and want that additional level of support that only a program with a focus on those areas can support.

There's nothing wrong with TJ, and there's nothing wasteful about... the only thing wrong and wasteful is some of the parents attitudes and incessant complaining about it, in an effort either to get their particular kid into the program and/or shape things in such a way that elevates their POV of how things "should" be over that of professional educators or the community at large.

TJ is one of the 19 Governors school in VA. See the list below for the school in arts (and other areas)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Governor%27s_Schools_(Virginia)

That link says that TJ and Maggie Walker in Richmond are the only two regular 4 year high school governor's schools. You made PP's point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: Significant achievements would mostly be based on extracurriculars. Some middle schools have excellent parental support for teams and clubs and at other middle schools opportunities for clubs are completely non-existent. Not fair to penalize a kid for attending a school that doesn't offer anything. And lastly teacher recommendations are also completely open to bias.

The question is about whether they are taking the top students within a school. All these kids would have the same extracurricular options as they are going to the same school. This year, there were some kids who did very well at a statewide level on some of these activities, who were rejected, while kids who were cut from the team were accepted to TJ.

Unless you know every detail of the applications of all of these kids, you don’t have a leg to stand on in criticizing the Admissions Office for who they select. It’s not your role to have an opinion on who should or should not get into TJ.

As has been mentioned earlier, many of these teams are “coached” by volunteer parents who decide who is and is not selected to be part of these teams based on factors other than skill/intelligence/competence.

The same is true in youth sports. Sometimes a kid who didn’t make the travel team in 8th grade for whatever reason ends up being the star of or a major player for the high school team.

And here’s another factor to consider: Every year, there is a significant number of students who simply write on their Student Portrait Sheet that they don’t want to go to TJ. It is an easy out for students whose parents are obsessed with TJ but who don’t want it themselves.

There is no way for the parent to find out that they did this and it explains more perplexing rejections that you’d think. It’s entirely possible that your kid has told you all along that they want to go but torpedoed themselves without you knowing.

Not talking about my kid here. Other students at the school, the top students were passed over for pretty weak students. Some were waitlisted, others rejected. I doubt the 'write they don't want to go option' but it would explain a rejection. TJ application office is not aware of these extracurriculars and ability level beyond GPA and some essays. It's possible they accepted the kid because they wrote about their passion for stem and being hurt when cut from the team, and rejecting the student that says they qualified for nationals.

Or maybe the kid wrote a compelling essay about STEM that didn’t discuss the activity that you happen to think is important, but that really isn’t all that important. Maybe instead of regurgitating accomplishments the kid wrote about how they solved a particular problem, or approached an interesting issue, or overcame an obstacle, in a manner that suggests they have the potential to not only do well at TJ, but also contribute to the school. Or maybe the kids who you describe as “top students” aren’t particularly good writers—a problem even for a STEM school, as the ability to communicate ideas clearly and effectively is critical regardless of the underlying subject matter. Simply put, unless you have access to the essays that were submitted, you really have no basis to say someone is “pretty weak”—and quite frankly that description is insulting to the talented kids who were accepted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: Significant achievements would mostly be based on extracurriculars. Some middle schools have excellent parental support for teams and clubs and at other middle schools opportunities for clubs are completely non-existent. Not fair to penalize a kid for attending a school that doesn't offer anything. And lastly teacher recommendations are also completely open to bias.

The question is about whether they are taking the top students within a school. All these kids would have the same extracurricular options as they are going to the same school. This year, there were some kids who did very well at a statewide level on some of these activities, who were rejected, while kids who were cut from the team were accepted to TJ.

Unless you know every detail of the applications of all of these kids, you don’t have a leg to stand on in criticizing the Admissions Office for who they select. It’s not your role to have an opinion on who should or should not get into TJ.

As has been mentioned earlier, many of these teams are “coached” by volunteer parents who decide who is and is not selected to be part of these teams based on factors other than skill/intelligence/competence.

The same is true in youth sports. Sometimes a kid who didn’t make the travel team in 8th grade for whatever reason ends up being the star of or a major player for the high school team.

And here’s another factor to consider: Every year, there is a significant number of students who simply write on their Student Portrait Sheet that they don’t want to go to TJ. It is an easy out for students whose parents are obsessed with TJ but who don’t want it themselves.

There is no way for the parent to find out that they did this and it explains more perplexing rejections that you’d think. It’s entirely possible that your kid has told you all along that they want to go but torpedoed themselves without you knowing.

Not talking about my kid here. Other students at the school, the top students were passed over for pretty weak students. Some were waitlisted, others rejected. I doubt the 'write they don't want to go option' but it would explain a rejection. TJ application office is not aware of these extracurriculars and ability level beyond GPA and some essays. It's possible they accepted the kid because they wrote about their passion for stem and being hurt when cut from the team, and rejecting the student that says they qualified for nationals.

Or maybe the kid wrote a compelling essay about STEM that didn’t discuss the activity that you happen to think is important, but that really isn’t all that important. Maybe instead of regurgitating accomplishments the kid wrote about how they solved a particular problem, or approached an interesting issue, or overcame an obstacle, in a manner that suggests they have the potential to not only do well at TJ, but also contribute to the school. Or maybe the kids who you describe as “top students” aren’t particularly good writers—a problem even for a STEM school, as the ability to communicate ideas clearly and effectively is critical regardless of the underlying subject matter. Simply put, unless you have access to the essays that were submitted, you really have no basis to say someone is “pretty weak”—and quite frankly that description is insulting to the talented kids who were accepted.

Access to the essays is irrelevant. I am sure TJ did a good job of applying their scoring methods to the applications they received.
Some of the kids who were accepted at our school recognized the situation and declined admission.

I think someone being a bad writer should not be disqualifying. This is for admission to a high school, and high school is really where they should be learning how to write essays.
That said, the top student who was rejected is a very good writer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: Significant achievements would mostly be based on extracurriculars. Some middle schools have excellent parental support for teams and clubs and at other middle schools opportunities for clubs are completely non-existent. Not fair to penalize a kid for attending a school that doesn't offer anything. And lastly teacher recommendations are also completely open to bias.

The question is about whether they are taking the top students within a school. All these kids would have the same extracurricular options as they are going to the same school. This year, there were some kids who did very well at a statewide level on some of these activities, who were rejected, while kids who were cut from the team were accepted to TJ.

Unless you know every detail of the applications of all of these kids, you don’t have a leg to stand on in criticizing the Admissions Office for who they select. It’s not your role to have an opinion on who should or should not get into TJ.

As has been mentioned earlier, many of these teams are “coached” by volunteer parents who decide who is and is not selected to be part of these teams based on factors other than skill/intelligence/competence.

The same is true in youth sports. Sometimes a kid who didn’t make the travel team in 8th grade for whatever reason ends up being the star of or a major player for the high school team.

And here’s another factor to consider: Every year, there is a significant number of students who simply write on their Student Portrait Sheet that they don’t want to go to TJ. It is an easy out for students whose parents are obsessed with TJ but who don’t want it themselves.

There is no way for the parent to find out that they did this and it explains more perplexing rejections that you’d think. It’s entirely possible that your kid has told you all along that they want to go but torpedoed themselves without you knowing.

Not talking about my kid here. Other students at the school, the top students were passed over for pretty weak students. Some were waitlisted, others rejected. I doubt the 'write they don't want to go option' but it would explain a rejection. TJ application office is not aware of these extracurriculars and ability level beyond GPA and some essays. It's possible they accepted the kid because they wrote about their passion for stem and being hurt when cut from the team, and rejecting the student that says they qualified for nationals.

Or maybe the kid wrote a compelling essay about STEM that didn’t discuss the activity that you happen to think is important, but that really isn’t all that important. Maybe instead of regurgitating accomplishments the kid wrote about how they solved a particular problem, or approached an interesting issue, or overcame an obstacle, in a manner that suggests they have the potential to not only do well at TJ, but also contribute to the school. Or maybe the kids who you describe as “top students” aren’t particularly good writers—a problem even for a STEM school, as the ability to communicate ideas clearly and effectively is critical regardless of the underlying subject matter. Simply put, unless you have access to the essays that were submitted, you really have no basis to say someone is “pretty weak”—and quite frankly that description is insulting to the talented kids who were accepted.

Access to the essays is irrelevant. I am sure TJ did a good job of applying their scoring methods to the applications they received.
Some of the kids who were accepted at our school recognized the situation and declined admission.

I think someone being a bad writer should not be disqualifying. This is for admission to a high school, and high school is really where they should be learning how to write essays.
That said, the top student who was rejected is a very good writer.

What “situation” did those kids “recognize” that caused them to decline admission?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: Significant achievements would mostly be based on extracurriculars. Some middle schools have excellent parental support for teams and clubs and at other middle schools opportunities for clubs are completely non-existent. Not fair to penalize a kid for attending a school that doesn't offer anything. And lastly teacher recommendations are also completely open to bias.

The question is about whether they are taking the top students within a school. All these kids would have the same extracurricular options as they are going to the same school. This year, there were some kids who did very well at a statewide level on some of these activities, who were rejected, while kids who were cut from the team were accepted to TJ.

Unless you know every detail of the applications of all of these kids, you don’t have a leg to stand on in criticizing the Admissions Office for who they select. It’s not your role to have an opinion on who should or should not get into TJ.

As has been mentioned earlier, many of these teams are “coached” by volunteer parents who decide who is and is not selected to be part of these teams based on factors other than skill/intelligence/competence.

The same is true in youth sports. Sometimes a kid who didn’t make the travel team in 8th grade for whatever reason ends up being the star of or a major player for the high school team.

And here’s another factor to consider: Every year, there is a significant number of students who simply write on their Student Portrait Sheet that they don’t want to go to TJ. It is an easy out for students whose parents are obsessed with TJ but who don’t want it themselves.

There is no way for the parent to find out that they did this and it explains more perplexing rejections that you’d think. It’s entirely possible that your kid has told you all along that they want to go but torpedoed themselves without you knowing.

NAILED IT!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: Significant achievements would mostly be based on extracurriculars. Some middle schools have excellent parental support for teams and clubs and at other middle schools opportunities for clubs are completely non-existent. Not fair to penalize a kid for attending a school that doesn't offer anything. And lastly teacher recommendations are also completely open to bias.

The question is about whether they are taking the top students within a school. All these kids would have the same extracurricular options as they are going to the same school. This year, there were some kids who did very well at a statewide level on some of these activities, who were rejected, while kids who were cut from the team were accepted to TJ.

Unless you know every detail of the applications of all of these kids, you don’t have a leg to stand on in criticizing the Admissions Office for who they select. It’s not your role to have an opinion on who should or should not get into TJ.

As has been mentioned earlier, many of these teams are “coached” by volunteer parents who decide who is and is not selected to be part of these teams based on factors other than skill/intelligence/competence.

The same is true in youth sports. Sometimes a kid who didn’t make the travel team in 8th grade for whatever reason ends up being the star of or a major player for the high school team.

And here’s another factor to consider: Every year, there is a significant number of students who simply write on their Student Portrait Sheet that they don’t want to go to TJ. It is an easy out for students whose parents are obsessed with TJ but who don’t want it themselves.

There is no way for the parent to find out that they did this and it explains more perplexing rejections that you’d think. It’s entirely possible that your kid has told you all along that they want to go but torpedoed themselves without you knowing.

Not talking about my kid here. Other students at the school, the top students were passed over for pretty weak students. Some were waitlisted, others rejected. I doubt the 'write they don't want to go option' but it would explain a rejection. TJ application office is not aware of these extracurriculars and ability level beyond GPA and some essays. It's possible they accepted the kid because they wrote about their passion for stem and being hurt when cut from the team, and rejecting the student that says they qualified for nationals.

The kids accepted at DC's school are also a puzzling group - one is barely scraping by in Algebra and another nearly failed the geometry SOL. Meanwhile brilliant kids with a perfect grades and SOL scores were flat out rejected. I know the SOL isn't the be all end all, it's simply one test, just like the TJ exam. I'm sure that TJ is doing everything in their power to select the right group of students, it just seems that under this new system they simply don't have enough data points to make informed choices.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It does support the goal of quality education for all. I wish there was a comparable program for students who want to emphasize the arts and have been cultivating talents in those areas and want that additional level of support that only a program with a focus on those areas can support.

There's nothing wrong with TJ, and there's nothing wasteful about... the only thing wrong and wasteful is some of the parents attitudes and incessant complaining about it, in an effort either to get their particular kid into the program and/or shape things in such a way that elevates their POV of how things "should" be over that of professional educators or the community at large.

Disagree. It continues to take up a disproportionate amount of FCPS’s time, attention, and resources. In a struggling school system that often fails to address the basic needs of students, it’s become an unnecessary luxury item.

Well, it's not going anywhere, so I would argue that the greater waste of time - unless you have a real plan - is to continue to suggest that it should go away.

But no, you continue to insist on clicking on and replying to threads that you could very easily just ignore and waste your time in doing so.

There is nothing that says we have to have a magnet school in perpetuity that chews up an excessive amount of FCPS bandwidth and seats students from other jurisdictions when FCPS is turning other high schools into 3000-student factories. It’s a testimony to your arrogance to suggest otherwise.

Dp.

You sound like a deranged jealous person who has no chance at TJ.

You’re too obtuse to realize that even if you make TJ disappear you will help no one. you're only working to deprive some gifted kids of opportunities.

There would be more opportunities for more students if the School Board and FCPS leadership worked to improve all high/secondary schools and didn’t fetishize a single school. But, sure, let’s pretend the only gifted kids in NoVa are at TJ, regardless of whatever increasingly half-assed approach is employed to select them.

It would be easier for the School Board and FCPS leadership to turn their attention away from TJ if parents and other community members recognized that their role in TJ admissions begins and ends with School Board elections.

It seems like the strategy is to complain a bunch about the new process and then either compain about a) being ignored or b) that too much attention is paid to it. That's.... really something.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: Significant achievements would mostly be based on extracurriculars. Some middle schools have excellent parental support for teams and clubs and at other middle schools opportunities for clubs are completely non-existent. Not fair to penalize a kid for attending a school that doesn't offer anything. And lastly teacher recommendations are also completely open to bias.

The question is about whether they are taking the top students within a school. All these kids would have the same extracurricular options as they are going to the same school. This year, there were some kids who did very well at a statewide level on some of these activities, who were rejected, while kids who were cut from the team were accepted to TJ.

Unless you know every detail of the applications of all of these kids, you don’t have a leg to stand on in criticizing the Admissions Office for who they select. It’s not your role to have an opinion on who should or should not get into TJ.

As has been mentioned earlier, many of these teams are “coached” by volunteer parents who decide who is and is not selected to be part of these teams based on factors other than skill/intelligence/competence.

The same is true in youth sports. Sometimes a kid who didn’t make the travel team in 8th grade for whatever reason ends up being the star of or a major player for the high school team.

And here’s another factor to consider: Every year, there is a significant number of students who simply write on their Student Portrait Sheet that they don’t want to go to TJ. It is an easy out for students whose parents are obsessed with TJ but who don’t want it themselves.

There is no way for the parent to find out that they did this and it explains more perplexing rejections that you’d think. It’s entirely possible that your kid has told you all along that they want to go but torpedoed themselves without you knowing.

Not talking about my kid here. Other students at the school, the top students were passed over for pretty weak students. Some were waitlisted, others rejected. I doubt the 'write they don't want to go option' but it would explain a rejection. TJ application office is not aware of these extracurriculars and ability level beyond GPA and some essays. It's possible they accepted the kid because they wrote about their passion for stem and being hurt when cut from the team, and rejecting the student that says they qualified for nationals.

The kids accepted at DC's school are also a puzzling group - one is barely scraping by in Algebra and another nearly failed the geometry SOL. Meanwhile brilliant kids with a perfect grades and SOL scores were flat out rejected. I know the SOL isn't the be all end all, it's simply one test, just like the TJ exam. I'm sure that TJ is doing everything in their power to select the right group of students, it just seems that under this new system they simply don't have enough data points to make informed choices.

Honest question - how do you know the bolded? Are you a teacher? You mentioned "the kids accepted at DC's school", but parents generally do not have access to the records for other kids of the type you're describing. It doesn't add up.

Of course, there's always the possibility that you're just making sh!t up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: Significant achievements would mostly be based on extracurriculars. Some middle schools have excellent parental support for teams and clubs and at other middle schools opportunities for clubs are completely non-existent. Not fair to penalize a kid for attending a school that doesn't offer anything. And lastly teacher recommendations are also completely open to bias.

The question is about whether they are taking the top students within a school. All these kids would have the same extracurricular options as they are going to the same school. This year, there were some kids who did very well at a statewide level on some of these activities, who were rejected, while kids who were cut from the team were accepted to TJ.

Unless you know every detail of the applications of all of these kids, you don’t have a leg to stand on in criticizing the Admissions Office for who they select. It’s not your role to have an opinion on who should or should not get into TJ.

As has been mentioned earlier, many of these teams are “coached” by volunteer parents who decide who is and is not selected to be part of these teams based on factors other than skill/intelligence/competence.

The same is true in youth sports. Sometimes a kid who didn’t make the travel team in 8th grade for whatever reason ends up being the star of or a major player for the high school team.

And here’s another factor to consider: Every year, there is a significant number of students who simply write on their Student Portrait Sheet that they don’t want to go to TJ. It is an easy out for students whose parents are obsessed with TJ but who don’t want it themselves.

There is no way for the parent to find out that they did this and it explains more perplexing rejections that you’d think. It’s entirely possible that your kid has told you all along that they want to go but torpedoed themselves without you knowing.

Not talking about my kid here. Other students at the school, the top students were passed over for pretty weak students. Some were waitlisted, others rejected. I doubt the 'write they don't want to go option' but it would explain a rejection. TJ application office is not aware of these extracurriculars and ability level beyond GPA and some essays. It's possible they accepted the kid because they wrote about their passion for stem and being hurt when cut from the team, and rejecting the student that says they qualified for nationals.

The kids accepted at DC's school are also a puzzling group - one is barely scraping by in Algebra and another nearly failed the geometry SOL. Meanwhile brilliant kids with a perfect grades and SOL scores were flat out rejected. I know the SOL isn't the be all end all, it's simply one test, just like the TJ exam. I'm sure that TJ is doing everything in their power to select the right group of students, it just seems that under this new system they simply don't have enough data points to make informed choices.

Honest question - how do you know the bolded? Are you a teacher? You mentioned "the kids accepted at DC's school", but parents generally do not have access to the records for other kids of the type you're describing. It doesn't add up.

Of course, there's always the possibility that you're just making sh!t up.

Not making anything up! DC knows all of these kids decently well and kids talk. They are always comparing grades, sharing test scores, etc. In all fairness, the kid who nearly failed the SOL is an amazing student who DC has known since K. Maybe it was just an off day? But beyond that, many of the kids selected were quite a surprise to DC and their classmates.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It does support the goal of quality education for all. I wish there was a comparable program for students who want to emphasize the arts and have been cultivating talents in those areas and want that additional level of support that only a program with a focus on those areas can support.

There's nothing wrong with TJ, and there's nothing wasteful about... the only thing wrong and wasteful is some of the parents attitudes and incessant complaining about it, in an effort either to get their particular kid into the program and/or shape things in such a way that elevates their POV of how things "should" be over that of professional educators or the community at large.

TJ is one of the 19 Governors school in VA. See the list below for the school in arts (and other areas)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Governor%27s_Schools_(Virginia)

That link says that TJ and Maggie Walker in Richmond are the only two regular 4 year high school governor's schools. You made PP's point.

Arts school ... Appomattox Regional Governor's School for the Arts And Technology Grades 9-12 is also on the list. Please take a moment to review the list. there are 7 schools offering 9-12 grades

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: Significant achievements would mostly be based on extracurriculars. Some middle schools have excellent parental support for teams and clubs and at other middle schools opportunities for clubs are completely non-existent. Not fair to penalize a kid for attending a school that doesn't offer anything. And lastly teacher recommendations are also completely open to bias.

The question is about whether they are taking the top students within a school. All these kids would have the same extracurricular options as they are going to the same school. This year, there were some kids who did very well at a statewide level on some of these activities, who were rejected, while kids who were cut from the team were accepted to TJ.

Unless you know every detail of the applications of all of these kids, you don’t have a leg to stand on in criticizing the Admissions Office for who they select. It’s not your role to have an opinion on who should or should not get into TJ.

As has been mentioned earlier, many of these teams are “coached” by volunteer parents who decide who is and is not selected to be part of these teams based on factors other than skill/intelligence/competence.

The same is true in youth sports. Sometimes a kid who didn’t make the travel team in 8th grade for whatever reason ends up being the star of or a major player for the high school team.

And here’s another factor to consider: Every year, there is a significant number of students who simply write on their Student Portrait Sheet that they don’t want to go to TJ. It is an easy out for students whose parents are obsessed with TJ but who don’t want it themselves.

There is no way for the parent to find out that they did this and it explains more perplexing rejections that you’d think. It’s entirely possible that your kid has told you all along that they want to go but torpedoed themselves without you knowing.

Not talking about my kid here. Other students at the school, the top students were passed over for pretty weak students. Some were waitlisted, others rejected. I doubt the 'write they don't want to go option' but it would explain a rejection. TJ application office is not aware of these extracurriculars and ability level beyond GPA and some essays. It's possible they accepted the kid because they wrote about their passion for stem and being hurt when cut from the team, and rejecting the student that says they qualified for nationals.

The kids accepted at DC's school are also a puzzling group - one is barely scraping by in Algebra and another nearly failed the geometry SOL. Meanwhile brilliant kids with a perfect grades and SOL scores were flat out rejected. I know the SOL isn't the be all end all, it's simply one test, just like the TJ exam. I'm sure that TJ is doing everything in their power to select the right group of students, it just seems that under this new system they simply don't have enough data points to make informed choices.

Honest question - how do you know the bolded? Are you a teacher? You mentioned "the kids accepted at DC's school", but parents generally do not have access to the records for other kids of the type you're describing. It doesn't add up.

Of course, there's always the possibility that you're just making sh!t up.

Not making anything up! DC knows all of these kids decently well and kids talk. They are always comparing grades, sharing test scores, etc. In all fairness, the kid who nearly failed the SOL is an amazing student who DC has known since K. Maybe it was just an off day? But beyond that, many of the kids selected were quite a surprise to DC and their classmates.

So it is possible the student(s) had an off day when writing the TJ exam ? Please remember you know this kid from K. Unfortunately the TJ admissions committee does not

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It does support the goal of quality education for all. I wish there was a comparable program for students who want to emphasize the arts and have been cultivating talents in those areas and want that additional level of support that only a program with a focus on those areas can support.

There's nothing wrong with TJ, and there's nothing wasteful about... the only thing wrong and wasteful is some of the parents attitudes and incessant complaining about it, in an effort either to get their particular kid into the program and/or shape things in such a way that elevates their POV of how things "should" be over that of professional educators or the community at large.

TJ is one of the 19 Governors school in VA. See the list below for the school in arts (and other areas)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Governor%27s_Schools_(Virginia)

That link says that TJ and Maggie Walker in Richmond are the only two regular 4 year high school governor's schools. You made PP's point.

Arts school ... Appomattox Regional Governor's School for the Arts And Technology Grades 9-12 is also on the list. Please take a moment to review the list. there are 7 schools offering 9-12 grades

Most of them are not full-time programs and are more similar to the Academies of Loudoun.