Admissions to change at Thomas Jefferson High, and others

[Anonymous]

Girls are being disadvantaged because they aren’t getting extra points for being female? Please explain your logic.

If the admissions process is race and sex-blind but results in 100% Asian males, so be it. That means they are the best students for the school. Period.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The bottom line is simple: FCPS has no obligation to operate a magnet and should not be allowed to do so unless it has a student body representative of the county’s students.

That was true when TJ was majority white, and it is even more true today, when the school is less representative of the county’s population than at any time in its history.

School Board members who allow this to continue should be replaced, just as Ilryong Moon was last year.

So you want to get rid of the best high school in the country?

other than drain resources from elsewhere, what does having the best school in the country accomplish?

Any high school can be the best in the country when you test out the poors.

+1

Nailed it.

There are dozens if not hundreds of public test in schools in the country that are nowhere close to being the number one high school in the country.

But they’re not high ses

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:So people who think that TJ needs to have a different method of admitting students so that the student body is more diverse = Anti TJ? Gotcha.

Or, people appreciate TJ and what it offers and would like to see it include more people who are Black, Hispanic, and more Girls.

I like the idea of the lottery from Middle Schools. Everyone who is qualified, passes the exams and normal review process, is entered into the lottery. A certain number of spots are set aside for each Middle School. Names of qualified candidates are drawn from each Middle School pool. If a Middle School does not have enough qualified students who applied, those slots are placed into a general pool. Anyone who is not selected in their Middle School lottery is entered into the general pool lottery.

This way the kids are all qualified and we remove some of the pressure to pad a resume, which benefits kids from MS with more extra curricular activities or parents who can afford participation in different clubs. Qualification is based on the exams, essays, and letters of recommendation. Maybe more kids at Title 1 schools who are qualified will be more willing to apply because they know that the distribution of seats more evenly distributed.

It might also benefit everyone by decreasing the race to pad the resume for the Middle School kids at the better off Middle Schools. If you have the grades and the tests scores, you have a shot. You don't have to do 5 clubs. That reduced pressure would probably benefit the 11 and 12 year olds in Middle School.

TJ ends up with a more diverse student body and there is still a qualification process that insures that kids are STEM focused/interested and can handle the more rigorous course load.

Let's institute the same "Lottery System" for UVA and William and Mary.

There is a world of difference between a 17-19 year old and an 11-12 year old. Kids in Middle School are in a very different place in terms of their needs then a High School senior and there is nothing wrong with a process that reflects that. And Colleges are a very different business then a Public High School.

The lottery system already exists

there is a baseline and if you are special (legacy, URM, certain geographic region, special talent, i'm sure I'm missing some you get the picture) you can get in as long as you meet the baseline above folks with "higher scores"

everyone knows this is how it works. Colleges never just take the people with the best scores.

TJ doesn’t just take applicants with the highest test scores. The subjective part is much more important than grades or scores. The admission process is holistic.

The subjective portion matters a lot less than you would think. There are NO extra points for girls for example. The Admissions Office has confirmed that they do not attempt to balance gender whatsoever. Girls are being disadvantaged by the current admissions policies.

Girls should not get extra points for being girls. Girls have advantage over boys just like blacks and Hispanics have advantage over whites and Asian applicants. The whole subjective portion was introduced along with the holistic process to increase girls, blacks and Hispanics.

[Anonymous]

How are girls disadvantaged? They have the same opportunity to perform on the exams, get positive letters of recommendations, and write good essays. I suspect that there are fewer girls because girls are less likely to apply, which is a known problem in all the STEM fields. More needs to be done to encourage girls to want to apply. I suspect that part of the problem is the existing ratios are not attractive to most girls, just like the existing ratios are not attractive to most Black and Hispanic kids.

Part of the problem for Black and Hispanic kids is that they are more likely to be at lower performing ES, with fewer services for bright kids, and fewer extra curricular activities to engage them in wanting to learn and apply what they are learning. This provides a disadvantage when they apply because they are likely to have lower test scores and fewer extracurriculars to demonstrate their interest in STEM then kids coming from better off schools.

Girls are evenly distributed at the different schools so the issue holding girls back is more a desire to apply then anything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Girls are being disadvantaged because they aren’t getting extra points for being female? Please explain your logic.

If the admissions process is race and sex-blind but results in 100% Asian males, so be it. That means they are the best students for the school. Period.

right up until the title IX suit and settlement

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The bottom line is simple: FCPS has no obligation to operate a magnet and should not be allowed to do so unless it has a student body representative of the county’s students.

That was true when TJ was majority white, and it is even more true today, when the school is less representative of the county’s population than at any time in its history.

School Board members who allow this to continue should be replaced, just as Ilryong Moon was last year.

So you want to get rid of the best high school in the country?

other than drain resources from elsewhere, what does having the best school in the country accomplish?

Any high school can be the best in the country when you test out the poors.

+1

Nailed it.

There are dozens if not hundreds of public test in schools in the country that are nowhere close to being the number one high school in the country.

But they’re not high ses

Many of them are.

[Anonymous]

If disparate impact still mattered, TJ would have been subject to a court order years ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If disparate impact still mattered, TJ would have been subject to a court order years ago.

UCLA is almost 50% Asians so that school should be closed down as well?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If disparate impact still mattered, TJ would have been subject to a court order years ago.

it takes someone caring enough to take it to court. the local NAACP seems to be close to that point

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If disparate impact still mattered, TJ would have been subject to a court order years ago.

it takes someone caring enough to take it to court. the local NAACP seems to be close to that point

Langley and McLean do not represent the county demographics so they should be closed down or busing should be instituted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If disparate impact still mattered, TJ would have been subject to a court order years ago.

it takes someone caring enough to take it to court. the local NAACP seems to be close to that point

Langley and McLean do not represent the county demographics so they should be closed down or busing should be instituted.

good story. draft your complaint, pay your filing fee and make it happen

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If disparate impact still mattered, TJ would have been subject to a court order years ago.

it takes someone caring enough to take it to court. the local NAACP seems to be close to that point

Langley and McLean do not represent the county demographics so they should be closed down or busing should be instituted.

lol yes because black and hispanic people are barred from buying homes in those districts

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If disparate impact still mattered, TJ would have been subject to a court order years ago.

it takes someone caring enough to take it to court. the local NAACP seems to be close to that point

Langley and McLean do not represent the county demographics so they should be closed down or busing should be instituted.

McLean’s boundaries are gerrymandered to include a Title I feeder closer to Falls Church and Marshall than McLean.

What has FCPS done to ensure diversity at TJ?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If disparate impact still mattered, TJ would have been subject to a court order years ago.

it takes someone caring enough to take it to court. the local NAACP seems to be close to that point

Langley and McLean do not represent the county demographics so they should be closed down or busing should be instituted.

McLean’s boundaries are gerrymandered to include a Title I feeder closer to Falls Church and Marshall than McLean.

What has FCPS done to ensure diversity at TJ?

Hired a full time black TJ outreach staff member to reach out and recruit black applicants;

Started a test prep/tutoring programs geared towards black/Hispanic middle school students;

Revamped the admissions system to include subjective portions/holistic review to reduce Asian students and increase black/Hispanic students;

Visits predominately black/Hispanic middle schools to encourage students to apply to TJ;

Tried to change the admission system to take a certain number of students from each middle school in the past but was stopped by a legal action. There may be other actions I am leaving out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If disparate impact still mattered, TJ would have been subject to a court order years ago.

it takes someone caring enough to take it to court. the local NAACP seems to be close to that point

Langley and McLean do not represent the county demographics so they should be closed down or busing should be instituted.

McLean’s boundaries are gerrymandered to include a Title I feeder closer to Falls Church and Marshall than McLean.

What has FCPS done to ensure diversity at TJ?

Why can’t the black and Hispanic kids just study harder?