With these TJ freshman grades, continue or transfer to base school?
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Anonymous
Because you don't seem to understand that grading is much more difficult at TJ than at any base school in fairfax. I don't know if they wouldl get all A's but a student that was an A student in 8th grade would probably be at least close to an A student at their pyramid high school. |
Anonymous
I guess the new admissions policy is not working as some of the kids are struggling. Old is gold |
Anonymous
This kids isn't getting as 4.4. By definition they were getting mostly A's and A-'s in 8th grade. They are likely to be getting those sort of grades at their pyramid high school. Also I don't think last year's juniors had a 4.4 average GPA. I think last year's seniors might have had that but I think there are a lot of B's and C's in the new cohort. Here is an email sent to the class of 2025 Freshman Year Math 4. The teachers wrote: "These scores are deeply disappointing, and are the lowest scores we’ve ever seen as Math 4 teachers on a Final Exam." The math teachers noted that the final exam was “substantially easier” than final exams given to previous classes. The teachers said the students had “unprecedented supports provided to you this semester, including extra practice quizzes, bonus quizzes, practice worksheets, and a practice final exam, all things that were not given to previous students.” The teachers continued: "We expected to see scores rise, not drop, with our lowering of standards." As a solution, the teachers said: "We will curve the exam by 10 percentage points (which means 7.5 points, out of 75), but you should know that this curve is artificial and not deserved." They also said: "This indicates to us that you either didn’t study, or you studied poorly. Even worse, the preponderance of evidence indicates that many of you weren’t willing to change how you learned or studied since the start of Math 4." They finish with: "We still believe every single one of you belongs at this school and can succeed" |
Anonymous
Yeah sure, the new admission policy seems a bit random and seems to select for writing ability which a bit like selecting your basketball team based on batting average. Perhaps there is some correlation between writing ability and IQ generally? it is certainly the thing that FCPS (and public schools generally) does the least to train up. BUT, wouldn't they still be bigger fish at their native pond? |
Anonymous
| OP, it's not like your kid is going be a Super Star back at their base school. |
Anonymous
Maybe not a super star, but likely not at the bottom of the class. Better to be at a school where student would be in the upper half, than lower half. Less pressure, more confidence, balanced student life |
Anonymous
Which math? Maybe they started at too high a level, and need to back up or take the slower track with Math 2.5. What happened in Biology? Didn't learn all the facts? Couldn't do the analysis of documents? Didn't understand the biological processes? Were these Cs all year, or only one semester? How did the kid feel all year? Overwhelmed? |
Anonymous
| OP, what does your DC's counselor recommend? They should guide you. |
Anonymous
| Counselor doesn't care about student's poor grades or college prospects. They just want student to complete all four years without mental health incident, even it means all Cs and ending up at community college. |
Anonymous
Are you suggesting they are wrong? |
Anonymous
Here is the complete email: Hi Math 4 Students, Congratulations on completing the TJ Math 4 course. We want to be transparent with you about the Final Exam. The average score across the board was in the low 70s with a substantial minority scoring below 50%. These scores are deeply disappointing, and are the lowest scores we’ve ever seen as Math 4 teachers on a Final Exam. The test that you took is substantially easier than the Final Exam given to previous students. Most questions were procedural, and very few were word and application questions. Plus, there was already a built in curve of 3 points. This is in the context of unprecedented supports provided to you this semester, including extra practice quizzes, bonus quizzes, practice worksheets, and a practice final exam, all things that were not given to previous students. We expected to see scores rise, not drop, with our lowering of standards. Furthermore: Less than 10% of you came to an 8th period tutoring session this year. More than 75% of you did not submit test corrections, and lost the opportunity for retake points. Many of you even forgot something as basic as the double angle identity. You just had to memorize it! Most of you struggled on problems that you yourselves created on the Practice Exam. Given you’ve already seen the problem, frankly, there was no excuse for forgetting how to do these questions. This indicates to us that you either didn’t study, or you studied poorly. Even worse, the preponderance of evidence indicates that many of you weren’t willing to change how you learned or studied since the start of Math 4. We know that it is a pastime of students (I know because one of us went to TJ, and one of us went to Stuyvesant HS) to blame external factors like teachers, the exam, the pandemic, etc. for this. But this time, it’s on you. We are not saying that you should spend hours and hours studying. That will not help you. Spending the time better will. If you are putting the work in as the course goes along, and not waiting until the night before the test to try to learn everything, we believe you will be more successful and actually enjoy your math classes more. Here’s some ways you could have spend your time better: Reconsider how you used your homework assignments and the posted keys during this course. Did vou check your work carefully with the key? Did you go back and look at example problems for the problems you do wrong and then do some similar type problems until you felt confident? Did you ask questions about those problems in class? Did you highlight those problems as ones to review before the test? Did you use your tests and quizzes as a study resource? Did you make sure you UNDERSTOOD how to solve the problems that you lost points on? Many of you made the same mistakes on the final that you did on your unit assessments. Did you try reworking the problems you got wrong? This is the point of doing corrections – we don’t just encourage you to do these so that we have more things to grade! How did you use the extra resources posted in Schoology? You had access to videos on every lesson we taught, most of them by a different teacher (who may well say something in a way that clicks for you if you didn’t get it when your teacher explained it.) You had access to EVERY quiz and the cumulative problem sets from our virtual year. These were basically practice tests. Speaking of practice tests, we took an entire class period for you to write questions for a practice final, and then several hours compiling and formatting those questions. Did you use the practice final and the key? Many of you missed questions on the final that looked amazingly similar to questions on the practice final. A curve is usually given when teachers mismatch the levels between what students are expected to master, and what students are capable of. For this final exam, it was simply not the case. We will curve the exam by 10 percentage points (which means 7.5 points, out of 75), but you should know that this curve is artificial and not deserved. Your subscores, and therefore second chance eligibility points, will remain the same. If you scored below a 50%, that curve will be applied to your actual score, not from 50%. Finally, some advice: Pre-Curve, if you scored below a 60%, we strongly suggest that you retake TJ Math 4. You are not ready to move onto TJ 5. Please speak with your teacher about this. Pre-Curve, if you scored between 61% to 80%, you will have a difficult time in TJ 5 unless you change the way you study, and chance the way vou learn. You need to submit test corrections for every exam. You need to sign up for every 8th period with your teacher. Pre-Curve, if you scored above 80%, we are confident that you have the skills to succeed TJ5. If all you’re taking away from this email is “We’re getting a curve!’ and you immediately start calculating your grade, then you should know that you’re taking the wrong experience from TJ. You will not have a happy 4 years. We still believe that every single one of you belongs at this school and can succeed. Our disappointment and doubt lies in your attitude towards learning, not your capability to learn. Attitudes can change, and we expect that they will, in your next math class. ❤️, Your Math 4 Teachers |
Anonymous
| Please stop with the Math 4 email from almost 3 years ago that was primarily addressed to kids in this year’s graduating class admitted under the old system. They were getting back to school from covid and were not at there best. Also, the TJ math department never looks inward when students do poorly. It’s ALWAYS the kids fault. They have been pushing this crap long before admissions change. |
Anonymous
| Hi OP. I’m a two time TJ parent. I would say that you should think hard about whether to transfer. As and Bs are fine, multiple Cs are an indicator that there’s an issue with studying. Especially in Bio. That said, if your kid is much better off in the TJ environment than base school (I have one of these) then you could consider staying and just set sights for college lower. Strongly recommend getting a Math tutor familiar with TJ curriculum if they stay. It’s a hard choice. I’m sorry your kid is facing this. What do they want to do? I wish you both good luck moving forward. There are plenty of paths to a successful and happy life! Plenty of kids leave TJ and are very happy having done so. |
Anonymous
If going back to the base school to get good grades and go to VT is an option, how are they not wrong? |