TJ admissions now verifying free and reduced price meal status for successful 2026 applicants

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:With the same logic, it's also unfair that some kids have higher IQ than others. Eventually the only solution that can make you satisfied is to make TJ admission a lottery.

Better nobody studies and nobody works. We all stay at home waiting for the god send us food. As long we study and work, there will be differences. Somebody who's smarter and works harder will have a better performance and therefore it is unfair.

No. Just don’t prep for certain tests that you shouldn’t prep for.

It’s not that hard.

It actually is that hard. You can't force other people to refrain from prepping. Even if the test is supposed to be secure, people will find a way to prep. Your only choices are
1. Bury your head in the sand and keep insisting that people just shouldn't prep. Wring your hands when half of them ignore you and prep anyway.
2. Help everyone prep, so everyone is on a more equal footing. Recognize that the absolute scores are not valid, but the scores relative to the other preppers are useful.
3. Eliminate standardized testing and instead rely on more subjective, more easily gamed, and/or more random selection criteria.

Option 2 is the best to me.

Yes, obviously some parents will cheat no matter what.

Just because people are doing it doesn’t mean that prepping for cognitive tests is ok.

Go ask any gifted coordinator/education psychologist and see what they say about prepping.

Well, duh. The norming group for the tests is formed of kids who didn't prep. Your solution, though, is to keep wagging your finger and tsk-ing at people who are going to ignore you and continue prepping? That's going to work.

Any gifted coordinator or education psychologist would be annoyed that some people prep, but would prefer drawing conclusions from a group where everyone prepped than one where half the kids did, half didn't, and the psychologist isn't being told which kids are which.

No, the solution is FCPS drops the tests if too many people are cheating.

Quant-Q is gone. Is CogAT next? Or maybe they just won’t value it as much.

Cheaters ruining it for the rest of us.

[Anonymous]

Back to the title of the post. Does anyone have any intel on what happens after tomorrow?

[Anonymous]

My understanding is that it will be about a week and a half before they finalize admissions to the Class of 2026.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Back to the title of the post. Does anyone have any intel on what happens after tomorrow?

The next lawsuit . . .

[Anonymous]

Losers consider all the tests as cheats because they are not willing to spend efforts to get good test results. This is their way to excuse themselves.
Winners always work hard to get themself prepared. They may not be able to get into TJ because of the ugly tricks but they’ll have success one after another in their life.
Good luck! You’ll get what you pay for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Back to the title of the post. Does anyone have any intel on what happens after tomorrow?

The next lawsuit . . .

They’ll waste tax payer’s money again. Can we turn over the current school board?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Losers consider all the tests as cheats because they are not willing to spend efforts to get good test results. This is their way to excuse themselves.
Winners always work hard to get themself prepared. They may not be able to get into TJ because of the ugly tricks but they’ll have success one after another in their life.
Good luck! You’ll get what you pay for.

Maybe Curie will give you a refund.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Back to the title of the post. Does anyone have any intel on what happens after tomorrow?

The next lawsuit . . .

They’ll waste tax payer’s money again. Can we turn over the current school board?

I’m sorry, but the problem of lawsuits and TJ Admissions is not going away by replacing the school board. Period. The way FCPS has set up TJ, it’s a zero sum game and there are far more kids interested and qualified than there is space for.

A brilliant and charismatic leader needs to help rethink the school entirely and bring some level of consensus. I would offer that there should be an honest discussion around transforming it to an Academy.

At the end of the day, we all want our children to the best possible version of themselves. For TJ, that requires on some level elbowing someone else’s kid out of the way.

We are better than that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Back to the title of the post. Does anyone have any intel on what happens after tomorrow?

The next lawsuit . . .

They’ll waste tax payer’s money again. Can we turn over the current school board?

I’m sorry, but the problem of lawsuits and TJ Admissions is not going away by replacing the school board. Period. The way FCPS has set up TJ, it’s a zero sum game and there are far more kids interested and qualified than there is space for.

A brilliant and charismatic leader needs to help rethink the school entirely and bring some level of consensus. I would offer that there should be an honest discussion around transforming it to an Academy.

At the end of the day, we all want our children to the best possible version of themselves. For TJ, that requires on some level elbowing someone else’s kid out of the way.

We are better than that.

You hit the nail on the head. In some asian countries your life is literally based on a test from high school to college to even employment. That's not how things operate in the United States and you are seeing the cultural clash fall out in real time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Back to the title of the post. Does anyone have any intel on what happens after tomorrow?

The next lawsuit . . .

They’ll waste tax payer’s money again. Can we turn over the current school board?

I’m sorry, but the problem of lawsuits and TJ Admissions is not going away by replacing the school board. Period. The way FCPS has set up TJ, it’s a zero sum game and there are far more kids interested and qualified than there is space for.

A brilliant and charismatic leader needs to help rethink the school entirely and bring some level of consensus. I would offer that there should be an honest discussion around transforming it to an Academy.

At the end of the day, we all want our children to the best possible version of themselves. For TJ, that requires on some level elbowing someone else’s kid out of the way.

We are better than that.

This is such a stupid post. It is clear you know nothing about TJ or gifted education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Back to the title of the post. Does anyone have any intel on what happens after tomorrow?

The next lawsuit . . .

They’ll waste tax payer’s money again. Can we turn over the current school board?

I’m sorry, but the problem of lawsuits and TJ Admissions is not going away by replacing the school board. Period. The way FCPS has set up TJ, it’s a zero sum game and there are far more kids interested and qualified than there is space for.

A brilliant and charismatic leader needs to help rethink the school entirely and bring some level of consensus. I would offer that there should be an honest discussion around transforming it to an Academy.

At the end of the day, we all want our children to the best possible version of themselves. For TJ, that requires on some level elbowing someone else’s kid out of the way.

We are better than that.

How about the government sets up another School. one school adopts merit-based admission. The other school adopts the geographic quota admission. Students apply for whichever one they like. If the geographic quota admission is better, I believe there will be a lot of students
happily apply for this school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:With the same logic, it's also unfair that some kids have higher IQ than others. Eventually the only solution that can make you satisfied is to make TJ admission a lottery.

Better nobody studies and nobody works. We all stay at home waiting for the god send us food. As long we study and work, there will be differences. Somebody who's smarter and works harder will have a better performance and therefore it is unfair.

No. Just don’t prep for certain tests that you shouldn’t prep for.

It’s not that hard.

It actually is that hard. You can't force other people to refrain from prepping. Even if the test is supposed to be secure, people will find a way to prep. Your only choices are
1. Bury your head in the sand and keep insisting that people just shouldn't prep. Wring your hands when half of them ignore you and prep anyway.
2. Help everyone prep, so everyone is on a more equal footing. Recognize that the absolute scores are not valid, but the scores relative to the other preppers are useful.
3. Eliminate standardized testing and instead rely on more subjective, more easily gamed, and/or more random selection criteria.

Option 2 is the best to me.

Yes, obviously some parents will cheat no matter what.

Just because people are doing it doesn’t mean that prepping for cognitive tests is ok.

Go ask any gifted coordinator/education psychologist and see what they say about prepping.

Well, duh. The norming group for the tests is formed of kids who didn't prep. Your solution, though, is to keep wagging your finger and tsk-ing at people who are going to ignore you and continue prepping? That's going to work.

Any gifted coordinator or education psychologist would be annoyed that some people prep, but would prefer drawing conclusions from a group where everyone prepped than one where half the kids did, half didn't, and the psychologist isn't being told which kids are which.

No, the solution is FCPS drops the tests if too many people are cheating.

Quant-Q is gone. Is CogAT next? Or maybe they just won’t value it as much.

Cheaters ruining it for the rest of us.

Dropping all tests means that the selection would become fairly random and would likely over-select for privileged people with tutors while under identifying kids who are actually gifted. Keep in mind that a gifted but poor kid will likely score 98th or 99th percentile on a test that is normed for un-prepped kids, while a non-gifted, highly prepped kid can still only increase his score so much. By eliminating tests, they're cutting off an avenue for gifted lower and middle class kids who were previously flying under the radar to be identified.

The best practices in gifted education are to holistically consider aptitude tests, achievement tests, teacher recommendations, work samples, accomplishments, and extensive essays. TJ instead has a couple trivial essays, mildly weighted GPA, and bonus points based on politics rather than aptitude. They're not even close to best practices for identifying kids who need a more rigorous environment than what is provided at their zoned school.

If the TJ admissions panels are supposed to somehow ferret out the hidden gems from rather vague essays, they surely could do an even better job by holistically reviewing a much more comprehensive application.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Back to the title of the post. Does anyone have any intel on what happens after tomorrow?

The next lawsuit . . .

They’ll waste tax payer’s money again. Can we turn over the current school board?

I’m sorry, but the problem of lawsuits and TJ Admissions is not going away by replacing the school board. Period. The way FCPS has set up TJ, it’s a zero sum game and there are far more kids interested and qualified than there is space for.

A brilliant and charismatic leader needs to help rethink the school entirely and bring some level of consensus. I would offer that there should be an honest discussion around transforming it to an Academy.

At the end of the day, we all want our children to the best possible version of themselves. For TJ, that requires on some level elbowing someone else’s kid out of the way.

We are better than that.

This is such a stupid post. It is clear you know nothing about TJ or gifted education.

I thought PP’s post was spot-on and constructive. It’s people like you who’ve turned FCPS into a miserable Titanic with one life boat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Back to the title of the post. Does anyone have any intel on what happens after tomorrow?

The next lawsuit . . .

They’ll waste tax payer’s money again. Can we turn over the current school board?

I’m sorry, but the problem of lawsuits and TJ Admissions is not going away by replacing the school board. Period. The way FCPS has set up TJ, it’s a zero sum game and there are far more kids interested and qualified than there is space for.

A brilliant and charismatic leader needs to help rethink the school entirely and bring some level of consensus. I would offer that there should be an honest discussion around transforming it to an Academy.

At the end of the day, we all want our children to the best possible version of themselves. For TJ, that requires on some level elbowing someone else’s kid out of the way.

We are better than that.

Well said.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:With the same logic, it's also unfair that some kids have higher IQ than others. Eventually the only solution that can make you satisfied is to make TJ admission a lottery.

Better nobody studies and nobody works. We all stay at home waiting for the god send us food. As long we study and work, there will be differences. Somebody who's smarter and works harder will have a better performance and therefore it is unfair.

No. Just don’t prep for certain tests that you shouldn’t prep for.

It’s not that hard.

It actually is that hard. You can't force other people to refrain from prepping. Even if the test is supposed to be secure, people will find a way to prep. Your only choices are
1. Bury your head in the sand and keep insisting that people just shouldn't prep. Wring your hands when half of them ignore you and prep anyway.
2. Help everyone prep, so everyone is on a more equal footing. Recognize that the absolute scores are not valid, but the scores relative to the other preppers are useful.
3. Eliminate standardized testing and instead rely on more subjective, more easily gamed, and/or more random selection criteria.

Option 2 is the best to me.

Yes, obviously some parents will cheat no matter what.

Just because people are doing it doesn’t mean that prepping for cognitive tests is ok.

Go ask any gifted coordinator/education psychologist and see what they say about prepping.

Well, duh. The norming group for the tests is formed of kids who didn't prep. Your solution, though, is to keep wagging your finger and tsk-ing at people who are going to ignore you and continue prepping? That's going to work.

Any gifted coordinator or education psychologist would be annoyed that some people prep, but would prefer drawing conclusions from a group where everyone prepped than one where half the kids did, half didn't, and the psychologist isn't being told which kids are which.

No, the solution is FCPS drops the tests if too many people are cheating.

Quant-Q is gone. Is CogAT next? Or maybe they just won’t value it as much.

Cheaters ruining it for the rest of us.

Dropping all tests means that the selection would become fairly random and would likely over-select for privileged people with tutors while under identifying kids who are actually gifted. Keep in mind that a gifted but poor kid will likely score 98th or 99th percentile on a test that is normed for un-prepped kids, while a non-gifted, highly prepped kid can still only increase his score so much. By eliminating tests, they're cutting off an avenue for gifted lower and middle class kids who were previously flying under the radar to be identified.

The best practices in gifted education are to holistically consider aptitude tests, achievement tests, teacher recommendations, work samples, accomplishments, and extensive essays. TJ instead has a couple trivial essays, mildly weighted GPA, and bonus points based on politics rather than aptitude. They're not even close to best practices for identifying kids who need a more rigorous environment than what is provided at their zoned school.

If the TJ admissions panels are supposed to somehow ferret out the hidden gems from rather vague essays, they surely could do an even better job by holistically reviewing a much more comprehensive application.

Honestly, I like the idea of a lottery with an allotment from each MS. Maybe give each center a few extra seats.