Thomas Jefferson HS National Merit Semifinalist decrease

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm very surprised at the constant threads on TJ, trying to cut it down. It's a high school, a good one. Can't everyone just leave it at that and move on?

Because the new admissions process was borne of racism and has had racist effects.

Please try again...

* Selection is race blind
* Asian enrollment is currently at an all time historic high
* Largest beneficiary of selection changes were low-income Asians

* selection is supposed to be race blind, but it is clearly race-aware. Applicant is required to provide race information, when it is not needed until student registration. FCPS TJ admissions news release touts race based distribution of offers, with merit selection criteria removed.
* Asian enrollment has been brought down from historic high of 73.4% for 2024 class to now 57.27% for 2028 class, with no participation in expanded class size.
* Among the low-income applicants, the essay lottery selection process unfairly excludes those who may have stronger merit qualification.

Stop spreading misinformation.

The admissions team does NOT have race info.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm very surprised at the constant threads on TJ, trying to cut it down. It's a high school, a good one. Can't everyone just leave it at that and move on?

Because the new admissions process was borne of racism and has had racist effects.

Please try again...

* Selection is race blind
* Asian enrollment is currently at an all time historic high
* Largest beneficiary of selection changes were low-income Asians

* selection is supposed to be race blind, but it is clearly race-aware. Applicant is required to provide race information, when it is not needed until student registration. FCPS TJ admissions news release touts race based distribution of offers, with merit selection criteria removed.
* Asian enrollment has been brought down from historic high of 73.4% for 2024 class to now 57.27% for 2028 class, with no participation in expanded class size.
* Among the low-income applicants, the essay lottery selection process unfairly excludes those who may have stronger merit qualification.

Stop spreading misinformation.

The admissions team does NOT have race info.

ask yourself: how does FCPS consistently achieve a reduced and restricted representation of the one race group over the last four years, especially when the thirty years prior to change has shown steady organic growth of that group when merit instead of racial proxies was used?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:BREAKING: School that no longer overselects for test-taking ability suddenly performs worse than before but still better than everyone else at test-taking contest

Story at 11

Once again, the phrase "test taking ability" can really be shortened to "ability"
Once you understand things like process of elmination and time management, there is no special "test taking ability" it's simply "ability"

Ability is broader than test taking ability. Further, they only did well on these tests because of excessive amounts of outside enrichment or early access to tests.

But it is still measuring their cognitive ability. Sure their cognitive ability might be higher as a result of outside enrichment but the notion that there is such a thing as excessive enrichment is a pretty clear look into how you feel about education compared to how they feel about education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:https://defendinged.org/incidents/thomas-jefferson-high-schools-number-of-students-named-national-merit-semifinalists-decreases-by-over-half-year-to-year/

There were 165 semifinalists in 2024. That number decreased to 81 for 2025 merit semifinalists. While increasing enrollment from 450 to 550.

Result from going merit based admissions to equity based in 2021.

So? Who cares?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm very surprised at the constant threads on TJ, trying to cut it down. It's a high school, a good one. Can't everyone just leave it at that and move on?

Because the new admissions process was borne of racism and has had racist effects.

Please try again...

* Selection is race blind
* Asian enrollment is currently at an all time historic high
* Largest beneficiary of selection changes were low-income Asians

Literacy exams and poll taxes were also race blind.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Not really. You can replicate the curriculum anywhere. There isn't really that big of a difference between TJ course offerings and McLean course offerings.

This is absolutely nuts. Look at what happens in the labs at TJ. And every one of the seniors ends up in one of them, save for the mentorship kids that use the TJ connection to actually work in a professional facility.

Comments like that are literally insane.

And what exactly prevents doing that everywhere?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:BREAKING: School that no longer overselects for test-taking ability suddenly performs worse than before but still better than everyone else at test-taking contest

Story at 11

Once again, the phrase "test taking ability" can really be shortened to "ability"
Once you understand things like process of elmination and time management, there is no special "test taking ability" it's simply "ability"

False. It's a snapshot of what you've been exposed to at any given moment.

And I'll clarify, I think there could absolutely be a place for a standardized exam as part of the TJ admissions process. I think the process as it exists right now is too thin. But too often the data that comes from the test is misused, and it adds a massive additional cost to the endeavor. FCPS was able to eliminate the application fee because it eliminated the standardized test component, and that was a huge and necessary win.

Eliminating the application fee was not dependent on eliminating the test.

If you admitted based purely on standardized exams prior to the change, there would be fewer students from places like carson and more kids from places like twain.
The holistic part is where the carson kids pull ahead of twain kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm very surprised at the constant threads on TJ, trying to cut it down. It's a high school, a good one. Can't everyone just leave it at that and move on?

Because the new admissions process was borne of racism and has had racist effects.

Please try again...

* Selection is race blind
* Asian enrollment is currently at an all time historic high
* Largest beneficiary of selection changes were low-income Asians

* selection is supposed to be race blind, but it is clearly race-aware. Applicant is required to provide race information, when it is not needed until student registration. FCPS TJ admissions news release touts race based distribution of offers, with merit selection criteria removed.
* Asian enrollment has been brought down from historic high of 73.4% for 2024 class to now 57.27% for 2028 class, with no participation in expanded class size.
* Among the low-income applicants, the essay lottery selection process unfairly excludes those who may have stronger merit qualification.

Stop spreading misinformation.

The admissions team does NOT have race info.

ask yourself: how does FCPS consistently achieve a reduced and restricted representation of the one race group over the last four years, especially when the thirty years prior to change has shown steady organic growth of that group when merit instead of racial proxies was used?

For crying out loud, before the changes TJ was a whopping 72% (!) Asian despite Asians being only: 19% of FCPS, 25% of LCPS, 9% of Arlington, and 10% of PWCS. How much higher do you think it needed to be - 100%??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm very surprised at the constant threads on TJ, trying to cut it down. It's a high school, a good one. Can't everyone just leave it at that and move on?

They won’t stop until TJ is one race only, they believe their race/ethnic superiority.

And what makes you say that?
We may think we value education more than other cultures but the advantage is not racial or ethnic, it is cultural.
Asian kids study harder than white kids. And it's no wonder when white people think studying is a form of cheating.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Applicant needs to provide the race for the admission process, it doesn’t mean the scoring team know their race, it can be two different process by different team.
If you can proof it you should sue them, you’ll get rich!

No you won't. Nobody got rich on the sffa v harvard litigation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm very surprised at the constant threads on TJ, trying to cut it down. It's a high school, a good one. Can't everyone just leave it at that and move on?

Because the new admissions process was borne of racism and has had racist effects.

The court found there was no discrimination.

It’s an election year so Rs will whine about anything they can.

Pretty sure the complaints have been going on since the racists changed the admissions policy in 2020.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm very surprised at the constant threads on TJ, trying to cut it down. It's a high school, a good one. Can't everyone just leave it at that and move on?

They won’t stop until TJ is one race only, they believe their race/ethnic superiority.

And what makes you say that?
We may think we value education more than other cultures but the advantage is not racial or ethnic, it is cultural.
Asian kids study harder than white kids. And it's no wonder when white people think studying is a form of cheating.

Studying isn't cheating. Cheating is cheating. Conflating the two doesn't help anyone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm very surprised at the constant threads on TJ, trying to cut it down. It's a high school, a good one. Can't everyone just leave it at that and move on?

Because the new admissions process was borne of racism and has had racist effects.

Please try again...

* Selection is race blind
* Asian enrollment is currently at an all time historic high
* Largest beneficiary of selection changes were low-income Asians

* selection is supposed to be race blind, but it is clearly race-aware. Applicant is required to provide race information, when it is not needed until student registration. FCPS TJ admissions news release touts race based distribution of offers, with merit selection criteria removed.
* Asian enrollment has been brought down from historic high of 73.4% for 2024 class to now 57.27% for 2028 class, with no participation in expanded class size.
* Among the low-income applicants, the essay lottery selection process unfairly excludes those who may have stronger merit qualification.

Ability to write coherently and well is a measure of academic merit. An applicant who can’t write well does not actually have stronger merit qualification and is missing a crucial ability for those who want careers in STEM fields.

TJ is looking for kids who have the whole package. Lots of kids have math and science skills; TJ wants kids who have math, science, and writing abilities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm very surprised at the constant threads on TJ, trying to cut it down. It's a high school, a good one. Can't everyone just leave it at that and move on?

Because the new admissions process was borne of racism and has had racist effects.

Please try again...

* Selection is race blind
* Asian enrollment is currently at an all time historic high
* Largest beneficiary of selection changes were low-income Asians

* selection is supposed to be race blind, but it is clearly race-aware. Applicant is required to provide race information, when it is not needed until student registration. FCPS TJ admissions news release touts race based distribution of offers, with merit selection criteria removed.
* Asian enrollment has been brought down from historic high of 73.4% for 2024 class to now 57.27% for 2028 class, with no participation in expanded class size.
* Among the low-income applicants, the essay lottery selection process unfairly excludes those who may have stronger merit qualification.

Stop spreading misinformation.

The admissions team does NOT have race info.

ask yourself: how does FCPS consistently achieve a reduced and restricted representation of the one race group over the last four years, especially when the thirty years prior to change has shown steady organic growth of that group when merit instead of racial proxies was used?

I'm on your side but you're barking up the wrong tree. They rigged the admissions process to select from the pool almost at random and that means the selected students are going to look like a cross section of the applicant pool with a few preferences for poor kids, etc. The pool is only like 55% asian. In the past the pool would be 55% asian and end up with an entering class that was 70% asian. Now it more closely reflects the applicant pool.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://defendinged.org/incidents/thomas-jefferson-high-schools-number-of-students-named-national-merit-semifinalists-decreases-by-over-half-year-to-year/

There were 165 semifinalists in 2024. That number decreased to 81 for 2025 merit semifinalists. While increasing enrollment from 450 to 550.

Result from going merit based admissions to equity based in 2021.

So? Who cares?

Anyone that thinks education is important.