FCPS Mistake: Publishes Completely Erroneous National Merit Commended Students missing several High Schools

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is a huge deal, given all the bad national press FCPS received in past years for botching National Merit Scholarship finalists:

https://www.fox5dc.com/news/eight-fcps-schools-failed-to-notify-students-of-national-merit-recognition-per-third-party-investigation

But if the notification comes from the school to the student (as this article states), I guess I’m really confused about how the lists could be so messed up.

[Anonymous]

So looks like we have two options here:

1. Gatehouse’s usual dysfunction and incompetence, or
2. Intentional to support some nefarious plot related to the boundary study by the queen and her court.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: What else? "What else" = Your imflammatory title and attitude are very off-putting.

Yes, they made a mistake. They will fix it. Story over.

Are they going to fix it? I don’t think they’re going to bother.

And fwiw, I don’t care that my kid’s name is missing, but I do care that the list as published makes her school (Woodson) look bad unfairly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FWIW: Many of you do not understand the selection process.

The semi-finalist cutoff is by state. The commended cutoff is the top 3% nationally. Many of the commended listed could be semi-finalists in another state.

But, as to the list being incorrect and leaving students out.

It is just an example of the lack of attention by our staff in FCPS headquarters. If they are going to put out a list, it should be correct and complete. It is not that hard to check it twice. If a high school is left off the list, it would seem someone would check to be sure it was correctly left off.

Many of us just *don't care* about scores for a meaningless pre-SAT. Its not even the actual SAT. The kids who prepped for PSAT can get that level score. And why would I care what other people's kids scored on a pre-SAT? Let me know if your kid actually achieves something difficult or interesting. Test prep? Meh.

Scholarship money?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: What else? "What else" = Your imflammatory title and attitude are very off-putting.

Yes, they made a mistake. They will fix it. Story over.

Are they going to fix it? I don’t think they’re going to bother.

And fwiw, I don’t care that my kid’s name is missing, but I do care that the list as published makes her school (Woodson) look bad unfairly.

Interesting take. I struggle to understand why this is so worthy of the "the sky is falling" histrionics, but you do you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think giving praise to the top 3% is good.

As a PP said, we give praise to athletes who place.

But, the topic of this is that FCPS put out a poorly researched and checked list. Leaving some schools off entirely is beyond incompetent.

Right, but this is like honoring the teams that didn’t win. My kids are athletes and they will tell you, they don’t want the medals or trophies or acknowledgement when they didn’t come on first. They don’t want the congratulations. The coaches in club and travel have drilled in them forever that second place means they lost.

I don’t necessarily agree with that and am still proud of a second place finish but don’t think we need to celebrate every little thing. And yes, my kids also take advanced academic classes before you go there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think giving praise to the top 3% is good.

As a PP said, we give praise to athletes who place.

But, the topic of this is that FCPS put out a poorly researched and checked list. Leaving some schools off entirely is beyond incompetent.

Right, but this is like honoring the teams that didn’t win. My kids are athletes and they will tell you, they don’t want the medals or trophies or acknowledgement when they didn’t come on first. They don’t want the congratulations. The coaches in club and travel have drilled in them forever that second place means they lost.

I don’t necessarily agree with that and am still proud of a second place finish but don’t think we need to celebrate every little thing. And yes, my kids also take advanced academic classes before you go there.

Yeah, those silly Olympics. Who do they think they are fooling with those silver and bronze medals?

I mean, sure, those athletes may be among the top in their sports, but they didn't get first place. They have zero business on a podium, right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think giving praise to the top 3% is good.

As a PP said, we give praise to athletes who place.

But, the topic of this is that FCPS put out a poorly researched and checked list. Leaving some schools off entirely is beyond incompetent.

Right, but this is like honoring the teams that didn’t win. My kids are athletes and they will tell you, they don’t want the medals or trophies or acknowledgement when they didn’t come on first. They don’t want the congratulations. The coaches in club and travel have drilled in them forever that second place means they lost.

I don’t necessarily agree with that and am still proud of a second place finish but don’t think we need to celebrate every little thing. And yes, my kids also take advanced academic classes before you go there.

Do you also complain about the honorable mention and second team all district sports announcements that go out every season? Why include them if they didnt make the first team, or even better, all-state??

[Anonymous]

They just did one update and it's up to 806 names from 770.

[Anonymous]

Some people just want drama. Mistakes happen, OP. You need to get a life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They just did one update and it's up to 806 names from 770.

Really? I didn’t look at all schools but see the Woodson number stayed the same while some
Parents said kids weren’t all included.

[Anonymous]

I've always found this process strange. My kid got a 1560 on the SAT as a sophomore taking it as a benchmark - yes, we knew he was smart but we were like wow, that is pretty good. Meanwhile there are all these awards and full scholarships for PSATs 1-2 years later and its so bizarre. Our kid did not take it again - because why bother but kids getting 1500 on the PSAT a year later were written up like prodigies. He also graduated with a 4.6 and 34 college credits and was denied at I think around 75% of the schools he applied to (white male). He was also an athlete and president of engineering related clubs. This is to remind historians of how monumentally f-up life was back then. Things are a little different now (he graduated from his "safety" and is going to a top 3 grad school after great internships and research assignments at college, but make no mistake, that DEI era was as toxic as it gets. Absolute rot. This is to say anyone hanging their hat on PSAT score should really rethink making a big deal of it. Probably tons of kids blew away your kid on the actual SAT score but college board is too stupid to equate it.

[Anonymous]

Knew something went wrong with Woodson because there isn't a single Asian name on the list!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They just did one update and it's up to 806 names from 770.

Really? I didn’t look at all schools but see the Woodson number stayed the same while some
Parents said kids weren’t all included.

Pp is correct. Not sure about the accuracy of Woodson, but names have been generally added. South Lakes is now listed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think giving praise to the top 3% is good.

As a PP said, we give praise to athletes who place.

But, the topic of this is that FCPS put out a poorly researched and checked list. Leaving some schools off entirely is beyond incompetent.

Right, but this is like honoring the teams that didn’t win. My kids are athletes and they will tell you, they don’t want the medals or trophies or acknowledgement when they didn’t come on first. They don’t want the congratulations. The coaches in club and travel have drilled in them forever that second place means they lost.

I don’t necessarily agree with that and am still proud of a second place finish but don’t think we need to celebrate every little thing. And yes, my kids also take advanced academic classes before you go there.

Yeah, those silly Olympics. Who do they think they are fooling with those silver and bronze medals?

I mean, sure, those athletes may be among the top in their sports, but they didn't get first place. They have zero business on a podium, right?

Don’t compare this to the Olympics. Compare it to the Olympic trials. This is the psats. Not the SATs. No, no one care about those.