TJ - which middle schools had students accepted in 2017

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's inevitable that FCPS will pull the plug on TJ within the next 5-6 years. County residents will not continue to support a magnet that opens its doors to only a handful of non-Asians. This is the final nail in the coffin.

How many Asians are in NBA, or any team / school sports at HS level that can result in scholarships / admissions to top colleges? OMG, this is totally unacceptable and unrepresentative!!! non-asians cheat by prepping in sports and get better. This has to stop.

That is how the argument goes on against the one thing that Asian kids try to focus on, academic, so let's stop it and dumb it down.

Except high SES white kids are every bit as prepared to succeed at TJ. Asian kids do not have some superior intellect. A kid who is super prepped for one specific test is not necessarily prepared for all of the TJ classes. And there are plenty of non-Asian kids who applied and were not accepted. Asian kids measure success by one high test score. But there is more to success at TJ than being able to get one high test score. -- TJ parent.

[Anonymous]

My issue is with the math part of the test. Some of the questions were things that were not taught in algebra or geometry. some were doable with general knowledge and math ability, but many seem to be the types of questions that require a strategy you would practice at either a math team or a prep center. My child does very well at math in school 99% every quarter but chose other extracurricular activities, some STE but no M, and lots of sports and music. There are a lot of talented kids who get semi-finals but cannot get in due to the sheer numbers. Something is going wrong when selecting the finalists. The admissions committee needs to make public the test scores broken down by demographics. I suspect it is not as holistic a review as we have been promised.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's inevitable that FCPS will pull the plug on TJ within the next 5-6 years. County residents will not continue to support a magnet that opens its doors to only a handful of non-Asians. This is the final nail in the coffin.

How many Asians are in NBA, or any team / school sports at HS level that can result in scholarships / admissions to top colleges? OMG, this is totally unacceptable and unrepresentative!!! non-asians cheat by prepping in sports and get better. This has to stop.

That is how the argument goes on against the one thing that Asian kids try to focus on, academic, so let's stop it and dumb it down.

Except high SES white kids are every bit as prepared to succeed at TJ. Asian kids do not have some superior intellect. A kid who is super prepped for one specific test is not necessarily prepared for all of the TJ classes. And there are plenty of non-Asian kids who applied and were not accepted. Asian kids measure success by one high test score. But there is more to success at TJ than being able to get one high test score. -- TJ parent.

Except TJ is one one high test score based admission. It is a combination of math+verbal scores, TR, SIS+Essay, and school GPA. My point, no one is stopping white kids from prepping for the test portion of the application, just like no one is stopping Asian kids from prepping for sports. Why aren't they doing so, if it is important for them? Can I argue that no one should prepare for sports either and entry to HS sports teams should be more open to Asian kids.

[Anonymous]

PP here. I meant to say, TJ is not one test based admission proccess. Also, I know of Asian kids who got scores in 99th percentile in the semi-final round but were rejected in final round. So, that means TJ admission is not all test score based, but other factors count. Asian kids are every bit talented in sports as white kids, I could argue, howevver when team selection comes they are disproportionately excluded.

[Anonymous]

Are people really defending these numbers? Much can be argued about the merits of individual students and how the process works, but these numbers, this outcome, is appalling

[Anonymous]

Anonymous

Anonymous wrote:
Why so few from Longfellow? It is a power AAP center like Carson. Lots of semi finalists but only a third make the final cut...

It kind of depends on what you mean by "power AAP center." Longfellow is one of the main feeders to TJ after Carson, but it doesn't have students from as many ES AAP programs feeding into it as Carson, much less Rocky Run. The AAP program there basically consists of students from the McLean HS pyramid, plus some of the AAP students from the Langley pyramid who aren't at Kilmer or Cooper.

When you look where students at TJ live in terms of the various HS pyramids, rather than in terms of the MS AAP programs, which differ in size, the top five HS pyramids and their associated AAP MSs are:

1. Oakton (Carson/Jackson) (156)
2. McLean (Longfellow) (150)
3. Chantilly (Carson/Rocky Run) (147)
4. Langley (Cooper/Kilmer/Longfellow) (147)
5. Westfield (Carson/Rocky Run) (105)

This statistic is misleading, because Jackson is also the AAP center for Madison HS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are people really defending these numbers? Much can be argued about the merits of individual students and how the process works, but these numbers, this outcome, is appalling

The only people defending these numbers are those that think a prepped to death kid is a superior kid. Everyone else knows that this is nuts. Including FCPS, which didn't release the numbers 6 weeks ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think TJ has reached the tipping point where white, hispanic and AA applicants have less interest in even applying or going to TJ. I know I feel that way -- the cheating, the pressure -- who wants it? Granted, I don't have a kid there, but it just seems like a giant freak show that has a good chance of causing my kid anxiety and the need for therapy.

The tipping point happened a couple of years ago. Can you really blame people when the numbers of some groups are extremely low or getting quite low? You can't help but think "my kid won't fit in here" or "my kid doesn't know the cultural 'rules' that will dominate this school."

I don't think it is entirely correct to just compare admitted numbers to applicant numbers b/c there is a chilling effect on who even applies. I think the AAP stats probably are a better representation -- but even those have problems. Shouldn't the AAP demographics mirror the county as a whole? (I know they don't -- but they should.)

You're right and School Board candidates running in 2019 can expect to receive very pointed questions as to why FCPS continues to allow this facility to be used for the near-exclusive benefit of Asian kids, 1/3 of whom live outside the county, when other county schools are overcrowded. It's a travesty.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anonymous

Anonymous wrote:
Why so few from Longfellow? It is a power AAP center like Carson. Lots of semi finalists but only a third make the final cut...

It kind of depends on what you mean by "power AAP center." Longfellow is one of the main feeders to TJ after Carson, but it doesn't have students from as many ES AAP programs feeding into it as Carson, much less Rocky Run. The AAP program there basically consists of students from the McLean HS pyramid, plus some of the AAP students from the Langley pyramid who aren't at Kilmer or Cooper.

When you look where students at TJ live in terms of the various HS pyramids, rather than in terms of the MS AAP programs, which differ in size, the top five HS pyramids and their associated AAP MSs are:

1. Oakton (Carson/Jackson) (156)
2. McLean (Longfellow) (150)
3. Chantilly (Carson/Rocky Run) (147)
4. Langley (Cooper/Kilmer/Longfellow) (147)
5. Westfield (Carson/Rocky Run) (105)

This statistic is misleading, because Jackson is also the AAP center for Madison HS.

No, this is just the number of students at TJ whose base high school is Oakton. It is not the number of TJ kids who attended both Carson and Jackson.

[Anonymous]

In ten years, percentage of Asians admitted went from 38% to 75%
http://www.fcag.org/tjadmits2007.html

[Anonymous]

Stop feeding the troll. It leads the discussion to nowhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Stop feeding the troll. It leads the discussion to nowhere.

If you have a kid at TJ, you know this is killing the school. Pressure, stress, an impossibly heavy workload because PARENTS demand it (if the kid isn't working 24/7, it's not hard enough) and rampant cheating with zero consequences. It isn't good for the students or the school.

Look at the TJ student survey. The percentage of kids reporting parental physical and emotional abuse and a number of other stress and MH related problems is significantly higher at TJ than FCPS as a whole.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stop feeding the troll. It leads the discussion to nowhere.

If you have a kid at TJ, you know this is killing the school. Pressure, stress, an impossibly heavy workload because PARENTS demand it (if the kid isn't working 24/7, it's not hard enough) and rampant cheating with zero consequences. It isn't good for the students or the school.

Look at the TJ student survey. The percentage of kids reporting parental physical and emotional abuse and a number of other stress and MH related problems is significantly higher at TJ than FCPS as a whole.

Where is this survey? can you provide a link.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In ten years, percentage of Asians admitted went from 38% to 75%
http://www.fcag.org/tjadmits2007.html

Something to do with demographics change. Number of Asians with HS age children are higher in 2017 than 2007.

[Anonymous]

Can't you people see this troll has an agenda? She isn't here to have a discussion.