TJ Discrimination Case

[Anonymous]

Looks like all counties get the 1.5% starting point.

https://www.fcps.edu/registration/thomas-jefferson-high-school-science-and-technology-admissions/tjhsst-freshman

“ Each public school within Fairfax County and each cooperating school division will be presumptively allocated a number of seats equal to 1.5% of that school’s 8th grade student population (“Allocated Seats”). The remainder of seats will not be allocated to any specific public school (“Unallocated Seats”). In the event a school has fewer eligible applicants than its number of Allocated Seats, the difference will be treated as Unallocated Seats”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Looks like all counties get the 1.5% starting point.

https://www.fcps.edu/registration/thomas-jefferson-high-school-science-and-technology-admissions/tjhsst-freshman

“ Each public school within Fairfax County and each cooperating school division will be presumptively allocated a number of seats equal to 1.5% of that school’s 8th grade student population (“Allocated Seats”). The remainder of seats will not be allocated to any specific public school (“Unallocated Seats”). In the event a school has fewer eligible applicants than its number of Allocated Seats, the difference will be treated as Unallocated Seats”

Will all the unallocated seats be secretly allocated to the rich schools like Longfellow and Cooper?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Looks like all counties get the 1.5% starting point.

https://www.fcps.edu/registration/thomas-jefferson-high-school-science-and-technology-admissions/tjhsst-freshman

“ Each public school within Fairfax County and each cooperating school division will be presumptively allocated a number of seats equal to 1.5% of that school’s 8th grade student population (“Allocated Seats”). The remainder of seats will not be allocated to any specific public school (“Unallocated Seats”). In the event a school has fewer eligible applicants than its number of Allocated Seats, the difference will be treated as Unallocated Seats”

Will all the unallocated seats be secretly allocated to the rich schools like Longfellow and Cooper?

I’m not at either and am at a non-TJ-mania pyramid but come on. The reality is the demand for TJ is super high at certain MSs and that - plus the extra family $ for enrichment - is a big part of their higher numbers. Not a secret plot to only pick rich kids

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
The other counties pay for a number of seats under the new system and have a hard cap. FWIW - Fairfax admits something like 3% of its 8th graders to TJ. Arlington admits about 1%. It is much harder to get in from one of these neighboring counties than it is from Fairfax.

That's fine if it's a hard cap. I read that each Loudoun middle school also gets 1.5% of its eighth graders an automatic seat.

That could be the cap for the Loundoun magnet high schools. I do think Loundoun has a good number of seats at TJ so maybe it is 1.5% for each MS as well.

Loudoun has this minimum for Academies of Loudoun, and also a maximum for each middle school. The top middle schools in Fairfax would have much less admissions to TJ under Loudoun's system.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
The other counties pay for a number of seats under the new system and have a hard cap. FWIW - Fairfax admits something like 3% of its 8th graders to TJ. Arlington admits about 1%. It is much harder to get in from one of these neighboring counties than it is from Fairfax.

That's fine if it's a hard cap. I read that each Loudoun middle school also gets 1.5% of its eighth graders an automatic seat.

That could be the cap for the Loundoun magnet high schools. I do think Loundoun has a good number of seats at TJ so maybe it is 1.5% for each MS as well.

Loudoun has this minimum for Academies of Loudoun, and also a maximum for each middle school. The top middle schools in Fairfax would have much less admissions to TJ under Loudoun's system.

Despite all the complaints Fairfax really does cater to the UMC families to ensure they get the most out of their enrichment $$$.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
The other counties pay for a number of seats under the new system and have a hard cap. FWIW - Fairfax admits something like 3% of its 8th graders to TJ. Arlington admits about 1%. It is much harder to get in from one of these neighboring counties than it is from Fairfax.

That's fine if it's a hard cap. I read that each Loudoun middle school also gets 1.5% of its eighth graders an automatic seat.

That could be the cap for the Loundoun magnet high schools. I do think Loundoun has a good number of seats at TJ so maybe it is 1.5% for each MS as well.

Loudoun has this minimum for Academies of Loudoun, and also a maximum for each middle school. The top middle schools in Fairfax would have much less admissions to TJ under Loudoun's system.

Despite all the complaints Fairfax really does cater to the UMC families to ensure they get the most out of their enrichment $$$.

Lots of $$$ gets spent on special needs and low income families (Title 1). It just doesn’t produce the same results.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
The other counties pay for a number of seats under the new system and have a hard cap. FWIW - Fairfax admits something like 3% of its 8th graders to TJ. Arlington admits about 1%. It is much harder to get in from one of these neighboring counties than it is from Fairfax.

That's fine if it's a hard cap. I read that each Loudoun middle school also gets 1.5% of its eighth graders an automatic seat.

That could be the cap for the Loundoun magnet high schools. I do think Loundoun has a good number of seats at TJ so maybe it is 1.5% for each MS as well.

Loudoun has this minimum for Academies of Loudoun, and also a maximum for each middle school. The top middle schools in Fairfax would have much less admissions to TJ under Loudoun's system.

Despite all the complaints Fairfax really does cater to the UMC families to ensure they get the most out of their enrichment $$$.

Lots of $$$ gets spent on special needs and low income families (Title 1). It just doesn’t produce the same results.

If you looked at the data, even more money being spent on special needs in UMC areas. Almost half the kids in DC's class have some accommodation like extra time for some disability which only a private diagnosis could uncover. In fact, a recent NYT article stated that there's been a 300% increase in these cases in UMC areas over the past decade. Personally, one of DC's friends got this diagnosis just so they could get extra time on their SAT, but as far as I can tell they're a perfectly normal kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
The other counties pay for a number of seats under the new system and have a hard cap. FWIW - Fairfax admits something like 3% of its 8th graders to TJ. Arlington admits about 1%. It is much harder to get in from one of these neighboring counties than it is from Fairfax.

That's fine if it's a hard cap. I read that each Loudoun middle school also gets 1.5% of its eighth graders an automatic seat.

That could be the cap for the Loundoun magnet high schools. I do think Loundoun has a good number of seats at TJ so maybe it is 1.5% for each MS as well.

Loudoun has this minimum for Academies of Loudoun, and also a maximum for each middle school. The top middle schools in Fairfax would have much less admissions to TJ under Loudoun's system.

Despite all the complaints Fairfax really does cater to the UMC families to ensure they get the most out of their enrichment $$$.

Lots of $$$ gets spent on special needs and low income families (Title 1). It just doesn’t produce the same results.

If you looked at the data, even more money being spent on special needs in UMC areas. Almost half the kids in DC's class have some accommodation like extra time for some disability which only a private diagnosis could uncover. In fact, a recent NYT article stated that there's been a 300% increase in these cases in UMC areas over the past decade. Personally, one of DC's friends got this diagnosis just so they could get extra time on their SAT, but as far as I can tell they're a perfectly normal kid.

NP. I have no idea how you'd have access to that kind of information about your child's class. Which data are you referring to? Even if you're correct, accommodations like extended time cost the system very little, especially if the parents paid for private testing and didn't ask the school system to do it. The kids who are Level III in the MTSS system for various reasons are the ones who cost the most because they usually require a lot of services and small group interventions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
The other counties pay for a number of seats under the new system and have a hard cap. FWIW - Fairfax admits something like 3% of its 8th graders to TJ. Arlington admits about 1%. It is much harder to get in from one of these neighboring counties than it is from Fairfax.

That's fine if it's a hard cap. I read that each Loudoun middle school also gets 1.5% of its eighth graders an automatic seat.

That could be the cap for the Loundoun magnet high schools. I do think Loundoun has a good number of seats at TJ so maybe it is 1.5% for each MS as well.

Loudoun has this minimum for Academies of Loudoun, and also a maximum for each middle school. The top middle schools in Fairfax would have much less admissions to TJ under Loudoun's system.

Despite all the complaints Fairfax really does cater to the UMC families to ensure they get the most out of their enrichment $$$.

Lots of $$$ gets spent on special needs and low income families (Title 1). It just doesn’t produce the same results.

If you looked at the data, even more money being spent on special needs in UMC areas. Almost half the kids in DC's class have some accommodation like extra time for some disability which only a private diagnosis could uncover. In fact, a recent NYT article stated that there's been a 300% increase in these cases in UMC areas over the past decade. Personally, one of DC's friends got this diagnosis just so they could get extra time on their SAT, but as far as I can tell they're a perfectly normal kid.

You have no clue how the kid learns or processes. LDs are hidden disabilities that can cause a ton of issues. They are not cheap to have diagnosed, an eval can cost in the thousands of dollars, so I doubt that there are many parents out “buying a diagnosis” so their kid can have more time to do better on the SAT. And kids who receive accommodations for the SATs, or other tests, have it noted on the test so that the Colleges they are applying to are aware that there was a difference in how the kid took the test.

I am an adult with LDs and ADHD who had accommodations for the SAT and the GRE. You would never tell from looking at me that numbers and letters move for me or that my processing requires verbalization. My SATs ended up in the 1300’s and I had a solid GPA from high school but school was work for me. You would have had no way of knowing any of that looking at me.

UMC parents have more resources to do independent testing. The school won’t test unless your child is failing in school, so parents who notice that there is an issue and want to have it checked out can pay for that testing. And UMC parents tend to be more invested in their kids education and more likely to see that there is an issue and have it investigated. Also, UMC parents are more likely to know the law surrounding kids with LDs,ADHD and other issues are pursue help for their kids then poor families or families new to the US who don’t speak English.

I am sure that there are some unethical hacks out there selling diagnoses, I would guess that the schools know who those people are. I would also guess that there are not too many of them because it is a great way to lose your license and all your income if you are busted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
The other counties pay for a number of seats under the new system and have a hard cap. FWIW - Fairfax admits something like 3% of its 8th graders to TJ. Arlington admits about 1%. It is much harder to get in from one of these neighboring counties than it is from Fairfax.

That's fine if it's a hard cap. I read that each Loudoun middle school also gets 1.5% of its eighth graders an automatic seat.

That could be the cap for the Loundoun magnet high schools. I do think Loundoun has a good number of seats at TJ so maybe it is 1.5% for each MS as well.

Loudoun has this minimum for Academies of Loudoun, and also a maximum for each middle school. The top middle schools in Fairfax would have much less admissions to TJ under Loudoun's system.

Despite all the complaints Fairfax really does cater to the UMC families to ensure they get the most out of their enrichment $$$.

Lots of $$$ gets spent on special needs and low income families (Title 1). It just doesn’t produce the same results.

If you looked at the data, even more money being spent on special needs in UMC areas. Almost half the kids in DC's class have some accommodation like extra time for some disability which only a private diagnosis could uncover. In fact, a recent NYT article stated that there's been a 300% increase in these cases in UMC areas over the past decade. Personally, one of DC's friends got this diagnosis just so they could get extra time on their SAT, but as far as I can tell they're a perfectly normal kid.

You have no clue how the kid learns or processes. LDs are hidden disabilities that can cause a ton of issues. They are not cheap to have diagnosed, an eval can cost in the thousands of dollars, so I doubt that there are many parents out “buying a diagnosis” so their kid can have more time to do better on the SAT. And kids who receive accommodations for the SATs, or other tests, have it noted on the test so that the Colleges they are applying to are aware that there was a difference in how the kid took the test.

I am an adult with LDs and ADHD who had accommodations for the SAT and the GRE. You would never tell from looking at me that numbers and letters move for me or that my processing requires verbalization. My SATs ended up in the 1300’s and I had a solid GPA from high school but school was work for me. You would have had no way of knowing any of that looking at me.

UMC parents have more resources to do independent testing. The school won’t test unless your child is failing in school, so parents who notice that there is an issue and want to have it checked out can pay for that testing. And UMC parents tend to be more invested in their kids education and more likely to see that there is an issue and have it investigated. Also, UMC parents are more likely to know the law surrounding kids with LDs,ADHD and other issues are pursue help for their kids then poor families or families new to the US who don’t speak English.

I am sure that there are some unethical hacks out there selling diagnoses, I would guess that the schools know who those people are. I would also guess that there are not too many of them because it is a great way to lose your license and all your income if you are busted.

The cheat is ADHD

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
The other counties pay for a number of seats under the new system and have a hard cap. FWIW - Fairfax admits something like 3% of its 8th graders to TJ. Arlington admits about 1%. It is much harder to get in from one of these neighboring counties than it is from Fairfax.

That's fine if it's a hard cap. I read that each Loudoun middle school also gets 1.5% of its eighth graders an automatic seat.

That could be the cap for the Loundoun magnet high schools. I do think Loundoun has a good number of seats at TJ so maybe it is 1.5% for each MS as well.

Loudoun has this minimum for Academies of Loudoun, and also a maximum for each middle school. The top middle schools in Fairfax would have much less admissions to TJ under Loudoun's system.

Despite all the complaints Fairfax really does cater to the UMC families to ensure they get the most out of their enrichment $$$.

Lots of $$$ gets spent on special needs and low income families (Title 1). It just doesn’t produce the same results.

If you looked at the data, even more money being spent on special needs in UMC areas. Almost half the kids in DC's class have some accommodation like extra time for some disability which only a private diagnosis could uncover. In fact, a recent NYT article stated that there's been a 300% increase in these cases in UMC areas over the past decade. Personally, one of DC's friends got this diagnosis just so they could get extra time on their SAT, but as far as I can tell they're a perfectly normal kid.

You have no clue how the kid learns or processes. LDs are hidden disabilities that can cause a ton of issues. They are not cheap to have diagnosed, an eval can cost in the thousands of dollars, so I doubt that there are many parents out “buying a diagnosis” so their kid can have more time to do better on the SAT. And kids who receive accommodations for the SATs, or other tests, have it noted on the test so that the Colleges they are applying to are aware that there was a difference in how the kid took the test.

I am an adult with LDs and ADHD who had accommodations for the SAT and the GRE. You would never tell from looking at me that numbers and letters move for me or that my processing requires verbalization. My SATs ended up in the 1300’s and I had a solid GPA from high school but school was work for me. You would have had no way of knowing any of that looking at me.

UMC parents have more resources to do independent testing. The school won’t test unless your child is failing in school, so parents who notice that there is an issue and want to have it checked out can pay for that testing. And UMC parents tend to be more invested in their kids education and more likely to see that there is an issue and have it investigated. Also, UMC parents are more likely to know the law surrounding kids with LDs,ADHD and other issues are pursue help for their kids then poor families or families new to the US who don’t speak English.

I am sure that there are some unethical hacks out there selling diagnoses, I would guess that the schools know who those people are. I would also guess that there are not too many of them because it is a great way to lose your license and all your income if you are busted.

The cheat is ADHD

It sounds like anyone who says they have problems focusing sometimes has ADHD and qualifies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Looks like all counties get the 1.5% starting point.

https://www.fcps.edu/registration/thomas-jefferson-high-school-science-and-technology-admissions/tjhsst-freshman

“ Each public school within Fairfax County and each cooperating school division will be presumptively allocated a number of seats equal to 1.5% of that school’s 8th grade student population (“Allocated Seats”). The remainder of seats will not be allocated to any specific public school (“Unallocated Seats”). In the event a school has fewer eligible applicants than its number of Allocated Seats, the difference will be treated as Unallocated Seats”

Will all the unallocated seats be secretly allocated to the rich schools like Longfellow and Cooper?

FCPS was transparent about the middle schools that ended up sending more than 10 kids to TJ in the Class of 2026. Carson, Longfellow, Rocky Run and Frost were the top four. Collectively they accounted for about 25% of the admits last year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Looks like all counties get the 1.5% starting point.

https://www.fcps.edu/registration/thomas-jefferson-high-school-science-and-technology-admissions/tjhsst-freshman

“ Each public school within Fairfax County and each cooperating school division will be presumptively allocated a number of seats equal to 1.5% of that school’s 8th grade student population (“Allocated Seats”). The remainder of seats will not be allocated to any specific public school (“Unallocated Seats”). In the event a school has fewer eligible applicants than its number of Allocated Seats, the difference will be treated as Unallocated Seats”

Will all the unallocated seats be secretly allocated to the rich schools like Longfellow and Cooper?

FCPS was transparent about the middle schools that ended up sending more than 10 kids to TJ in the Class of 2026. Carson, Longfellow, Rocky Run and Frost were the top four. Collectively they accounted for about 25% of the admits last year.

Duh. That's where the smartest STEM students are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Looks like all counties get the 1.5% starting point.

https://www.fcps.edu/registration/thomas-jefferson-high-school-science-and-technology-admissions/tjhsst-freshman

“ Each public school within Fairfax County and each cooperating school division will be presumptively allocated a number of seats equal to 1.5% of that school’s 8th grade student population (“Allocated Seats”). The remainder of seats will not be allocated to any specific public school (“Unallocated Seats”). In the event a school has fewer eligible applicants than its number of Allocated Seats, the difference will be treated as Unallocated Seats”

Will all the unallocated seats be secretly allocated to the rich schools like Longfellow and Cooper?

FCPS was transparent about the middle schools that ended up sending more than 10 kids to TJ in the Class of 2026. Carson, Longfellow, Rocky Run and Frost were the top four. Collectively they accounted for about 25% of the admits last year.

Duh. That's where the smartest STEM students are.

Correction: that is the area with the greatest concentration of families wanting TJ for their kids and investing in STEM extracurriculars at the pre HS level. Plenty of other kids don’t even have internet closure to STEM extracurriculars until HS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
The other counties pay for a number of seats under the new system and have a hard cap. FWIW - Fairfax admits something like 3% of its 8th graders to TJ. Arlington admits about 1%. It is much harder to get in from one of these neighboring counties than it is from Fairfax.

That's fine if it's a hard cap. I read that each Loudoun middle school also gets 1.5% of its eighth graders an automatic seat.

That could be the cap for the Loundoun magnet high schools. I do think Loundoun has a good number of seats at TJ so maybe it is 1.5% for each MS as well.

Loudoun has this minimum for Academies of Loudoun, and also a maximum for each middle school. The top middle schools in Fairfax would have much less admissions to TJ under Loudoun's system.

Despite all the complaints Fairfax really does cater to the UMC families to ensure they get the most out of their enrichment $$$.

Lots of $$$ gets spent on special needs and low income families (Title 1). It just doesn’t produce the same results.

If you looked at the data, even more money being spent on special needs in UMC areas. Almost half the kids in DC's class have some accommodation like extra time for some disability which only a private diagnosis could uncover. In fact, a recent NYT article stated that there's been a 300% increase in these cases in UMC areas over the past decade. Personally, one of DC's friends got this diagnosis just so they could get extra time on their SAT, but as far as I can tell they're a perfectly normal kid.

You have no clue how the kid learns or processes. LDs are hidden disabilities that can cause a ton of issues. They are not cheap to have diagnosed, an eval can cost in the thousands of dollars, so I doubt that there are many parents out “buying a diagnosis” so their kid can have more time to do better on the SAT. And kids who receive accommodations for the SATs, or other tests, have it noted on the test so that the Colleges they are applying to are aware that there was a difference in how the kid took the test.

I am an adult with LDs and ADHD who had accommodations for the SAT and the GRE. You would never tell from looking at me that numbers and letters move for me or that my processing requires verbalization. My SATs ended up in the 1300’s and I had a solid GPA from high school but school was work for me. You would have had no way of knowing any of that looking at me.

UMC parents have more resources to do independent testing. The school won’t test unless your child is failing in school, so parents who notice that there is an issue and want to have it checked out can pay for that testing. And UMC parents tend to be more invested in their kids education and more likely to see that there is an issue and have it investigated. Also, UMC parents are more likely to know the law surrounding kids with LDs,ADHD and other issues are pursue help for their kids then poor families or families new to the US who don’t speak English.

I am sure that there are some unethical hacks out there selling diagnoses, I would guess that the schools know who those people are. I would also guess that there are not too many of them because it is a great way to lose your license and all your income if you are busted.

The cheat is ADHD

It sounds like anyone who says they have problems focusing sometimes has ADHD and qualifies.

My TJ has a disability and has a 504. It does anger me that so many people cheat the system. It makes it harder for kids that need the accommodations to offset the disability.