Supreme Court Refuses to Take Up TJ Admissions

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My mother used to teach at a similar school in the Midwest, which takes students from all over the state — some of the rural kids had far less math and/or resources than the city or wealthy kids and thus less “qualified” by DCUM standards; however, they excelled once in that rigorous environment. One year (this was 30 years ago), 11 kids got into MIT. Many more got into Cal Tech, Harvard, and the like. I applaud FCPS for making TK more accessible to the county. FWIW, I read that while they did away with standardized tests for admissions, they raised the GPA and other standards.

Not really. It’s just more accessible to different people.

It used to be that the odds of getting in were mostly determined by a test score. Now the odds are mostly determined by which area the kid lives in.

Since we are in Carson, we are at a disadvantage due to the number of kids vying for spots. The top 1.5% at Carson isn’t comparable to top 1.5% at some other schools. If we lived somewhere else, my daughter would have an excellent shot at getting in.

We all know why this was done, and it stinks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My mother used to teach at a similar school in the Midwest, which takes students from all over the state — some of the rural kids had far less math and/or resources than the city or wealthy kids and thus less “qualified” by DCUM standards; however, they excelled once in that rigorous environment. One year (this was 30 years ago), 11 kids got into MIT. Many more got into Cal Tech, Harvard, and the like. I applaud FCPS for making TK more accessible to the county. FWIW, I read that while they did away with standardized tests for admissions, they raised the GPA and other standards.

Not really. It’s just more accessible to different people.

It used to be that the odds of getting in were mostly determined by a test score. Now the odds are mostly determined by which area the kid lives in.

Since we are in Carson, we are at a disadvantage due to the number of kids vying for spots. The top 1.5% at Carson isn’t comparable to top 1.5% at some other schools. If we lived somewhere else, my daughter would have an excellent shot at getting in.

We all know why this was done, and it stinks.

Carson still gets a large number of students into TJ. Most schools are guaranteed 6-8 seats and those are not all used, the number of kids that declined due to the geographic allotment is pretty small.

There are two tweaks I would make to the current admissions standards, the minimum GPA should be a 3.75 in all Honors or AAP classes. And students should have completed Geometry in 8th grade. I think that a higher GPA, honors in every class, and Geometry points to a student that is more prepared for TJ then the current standard. Keep the student essay and the math problem because I am guessing that there are kids whose parents make them apply who can write that they have no interest on those tests and make sure that they are not considered without their parents knowing.

In my dream world, the AAP Centers go away and kids attend their base MS but that has nothing to do with TJ.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I hope the board will at least release Information about how those classes are doing now, survey teachers about preparedness and readiness and more now that they’re not locked into silence because of lawsuits. Anecdata is not good and it would be good to explore to see if there are concerns and figure out how to fix them (rather than the smug, self-congratulatory email I just received from the board).

From TJ teachers — https://fairfaxgop.org/tj-math-teachers-note-lowering-of-standards/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can anyone provide a one sentence summary of the current, existing policy (left unchanged by the SCt I assume)?

All students will have a shot at enrichment like TJ, not just those from wealthy schools where parents can afford outside enrichment.

What kind of outside enrichment?

The kind that offers weekend test prep for the old TJ admissions test

you mean regular math, science and english? Isnt that's what was on the old test?

yes, but new one assesses math with an english essay.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hope the board will at least release Information about how those classes are doing now, survey teachers about preparedness and readiness and more now that they’re not locked into silence because of lawsuits. Anecdata is not good and it would be good to explore to see if there are concerns and figure out how to fix them (rather than the smug, self-congratulatory email I just received from the board).

From TJ teachers — https://fairfaxgop.org/tj-math-teachers-note-lowering-of-standards/

Yeah, this is directed to the last year of the students admitted under the old admissions. IOW, not responsive.

But it is indicative of the problems in the math department at TJ.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hope the board will at least release Information about how those classes are doing now, survey teachers about preparedness and readiness and more now that they’re not locked into silence because of lawsuits. Anecdata is not good and it would be good to explore to see if there are concerns and figure out how to fix them (rather than the smug, self-congratulatory email I just received from the board).

From TJ teachers — https://fairfaxgop.org/tj-math-teachers-note-lowering-of-standards/

Yeah, this is directed to the last year of the students admitted under the old admissions. IOW, not responsive.

But it is indicative of the problems in the math department at TJ.

No. Read it carefully. The email is to those those admitted by the current senseless process.

The students admitted in the last batch of the rigorous process (class of 2024) would not have been taking TJ4 in 2023. The Class of 2024 and earlier never received an email like this (I have DC’s in those classes)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hope the board will at least release Information about how those classes are doing now, survey teachers about preparedness and readiness and more now that they’re not locked into silence because of lawsuits. Anecdata is not good and it would be good to explore to see if there are concerns and figure out how to fix them (rather than the smug, self-congratulatory email I just received from the board).

From TJ teachers — https://fairfaxgop.org/tj-math-teachers-note-lowering-of-standards/

No one cares about old, recycled Asra crap.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hope the board will at least release Information about how those classes are doing now, survey teachers about preparedness and readiness and more now that they’re not locked into silence because of lawsuits. Anecdata is not good and it would be good to explore to see if there are concerns and figure out how to fix them (rather than the smug, self-congratulatory email I just received from the board).

From TJ teachers — https://fairfaxgop.org/tj-math-teachers-note-lowering-of-standards/

No one cares about old, recycled Asra crap.

Why not? Because it is an inconvenient fact?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hope the board will at least release Information about how those classes are doing now, survey teachers about preparedness and readiness and more now that they’re not locked into silence because of lawsuits. Anecdata is not good and it would be good to explore to see if there are concerns and figure out how to fix them (rather than the smug, self-congratulatory email I just received from the board).

From TJ teachers — https://fairfaxgop.org/tj-math-teachers-note-lowering-of-standards/

No one cares about old, recycled Asra crap.

Why not? Because it is an inconvenient fact?

Because it’s two years old and anecdotal. Again, hashed out years ago.

Anything new you can bring to the discussion?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hope the board will at least release Information about how those classes are doing now, survey teachers about preparedness and readiness and more now that they’re not locked into silence because of lawsuits. Anecdata is not good and it would be good to explore to see if there are concerns and figure out how to fix them (rather than the smug, self-congratulatory email I just received from the board).

From TJ teachers — https://fairfaxgop.org/tj-math-teachers-note-lowering-of-standards/

Yeah, this is directed to the last year of the students admitted under the old admissions. IOW, not responsive.

But it is indicative of the problems in the math department at TJ.

No. Read it carefully. The email is to those those admitted by the current senseless process.

The students admitted in the last batch of the rigorous process (class of 2024) would not have been taking TJ4 in 2023. The Class of 2024 and earlier never received an email like this (I have DC’s in those classes)

I read it carefully. It says: "The students in the spring semester course of Math 4, which the email is about, include Class of 2024 students, the last class admitted through the merit-based admissions tests that the school board eliminated in December 2020, and students from the Class of 2025, admitted through the new race-based admissions process." That last part is inaccurate, fwiw. The new admissions process is race-neutral.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hope the board will at least release Information about how those classes are doing now, survey teachers about preparedness and readiness and more now that they’re not locked into silence because of lawsuits. Anecdata is not good and it would be good to explore to see if there are concerns and figure out how to fix them (rather than the smug, self-congratulatory email I just received from the board).

From TJ teachers — https://fairfaxgop.org/tj-math-teachers-note-lowering-of-standards/

Yeah, this is directed to the last year of the students admitted under the old admissions. IOW, not responsive.

But it is indicative of the problems in the math department at TJ.

No. Read it carefully. The email is to those those admitted by the current senseless process.

The students admitted in the last batch of the rigorous process (class of 2024) would not have been taking TJ4 in 2023. The Class of 2024 and earlier never received an email like this (I have DC’s in those classes)

I read it carefully. It says: "The students in the spring semester course of Math 4, which the email is about, include Class of 2024 students, the last class admitted through the merit-based admissions tests that the school board eliminated in December 2020, and students from the Class of 2025, admitted through the new race-based admissions process." That last part is inaccurate, fwiw. The new admissions process is race-neutral.

Asra loves to push MAGA lies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hope the board will at least release Information about how those classes are doing now, survey teachers about preparedness and readiness and more now that they’re not locked into silence because of lawsuits. Anecdata is not good and it would be good to explore to see if there are concerns and figure out how to fix them (rather than the smug, self-congratulatory email I just received from the board).

From TJ teachers — https://fairfaxgop.org/tj-math-teachers-note-lowering-of-standards/

Yeah, this is directed to the last year of the students admitted under the old admissions. IOW, not responsive.

But it is indicative of the problems in the math department at TJ.

No. Read it carefully. The email is to those those admitted by the current senseless process.

The students admitted in the last batch of the rigorous process (class of 2024) would not have been taking TJ4 in 2023. The Class of 2024 and earlier never received an email like this (I have DC’s in those classes)

I read it carefully. It says: "The students in the spring semester course of Math 4, which the email is about, include Class of 2024 students, the last class admitted through the merit-based admissions tests that the school board eliminated in December 2020, and students from the Class of 2025, admitted through the new race-based admissions process." That last part is inaccurate, fwiw. The new admissions process is race-neutral.

Asra loves to push MAGA lies.

Take the MAGA junk to the politics forum. No one wants to see it here

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hope the board will at least release Information about how those classes are doing now, survey teachers about preparedness and readiness and more now that they’re not locked into silence because of lawsuits. Anecdata is not good and it would be good to explore to see if there are concerns and figure out how to fix them (rather than the smug, self-congratulatory email I just received from the board).

From TJ teachers — https://fairfaxgop.org/tj-math-teachers-note-lowering-of-standards/

Yeah, this is directed to the last year of the students admitted under the old admissions. IOW, not responsive.

But it is indicative of the problems in the math department at TJ.

No. Read it carefully. The email is to those those admitted by the current senseless process.

The students admitted in the last batch of the rigorous process (class of 2024) would not have been taking TJ4 in 2023. The Class of 2024 and earlier never received an email like this (I have DC’s in those classes)

I read it carefully. It says: "The students in the spring semester course of Math 4, which the email is about, include Class of 2024 students, the last class admitted through the merit-based admissions tests that the school board eliminated in December 2020, and students from the Class of 2025, admitted through the new race-based admissions process." That last part is inaccurate, fwiw. The new admissions process is race-neutral.

Asra loves to push MAGA lies.

Take the MAGA junk to the politics forum. No one wants to see it here

Exactly. Stop posting Asra crap. No one wants to see it here. She’s a MAGA who has caused so much harm to this community.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The "Parents Defending Education” claim that it’s a “grassroots” organization is total BS - they are part of a larger orchestrated effort to drive wedge issues for the GOP. It’s just another astroturfing scam to get suburban moms worked up into a frenzy with OUTRAGE after OUTRAGE.

They have ties to the Koch Bros.
https://defendinged.org/about/

https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Speech_First
Speech First's president and only listed employee, Nicole Neily has worked for many Koch-affiliated groups. Neily was the president of the Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity, the Cato Institute’s manager of external relations, the coalition relations manager for FreedomWorks’ Center for Global Economic Growth, and a "Koch summer fellow for both the Center for Financial Privacy and Human Rights and the Competitive Enterprise Institute."[7]

The Nation, characterized Speech First as "a highly professional astro-turfing campaign, with a board of former Bush Administration lawyers and longtime affiliates of the Koch family...Speech First’s board of directors includes a former head of a Koch-backed trust and two conservative attorneys from Koch-funded programs."[2]

The people involved are anti-“CRT”, anti-trans, anti-education.

https://www.fairfaxtimes.com/articles/yes-virginia-there-is-critical-race-theory-in-our-schools/article_ba449c18-cf99-11eb-a719-4bfc9103236c.html

https://www.masspoliticsprofs.org/2021/04/12/koch-connections-and-sham-grassroots-of-parents-defending-education/.
Parents Defending Education is corporate school privatizers going hard right to attack school boards, superintendents, principals, and teachers. It’s a dirty game and it’s about as grassroots as say, a Koch political operation.

Mercedes Schneider has figured out the grassroots angle in Parents Defending Education: Prefab “Grassroots”—PDE needs local connections to claim standing in law suits to chill the free speech of any educator who questions white supremacy. Peter Greene minces no words in Parents Defending Education: Astroturf Goes Hard Right:

PDE is particularly odious because of its whole “turn in any teacher or school that offends you” approach to chilling conversation and teaching. This is not just astrotyurf (sic), but astroturf with its brown shirt on.

Again, I acknowledged they have a biased perspective. However, they also have the evidence exhibits, which you can interpret. No need to read their interpretation, just draw your own conclusions from the evidence.

Are you new here? We hashed this all out years ago.

Thank god this is finally over. Leave the kids alone, Republicans. Stop using them as pawns.

Democrats are the ones using us as pawns to achieve their idea of "racial diversity", treating us as groups rather than individuals

It was not about racial diversity. It was about destroying academic excellence as a concept. The number of Asian students didn't decline much, but many top Asian students were denied admission while mediocre ones were admitted. The number of students taking algebra 1 in 8th grade went from single digits to triple digits.
Students who were top in MathCounts, Science Olympiad, or qualified for USAJMO(a handful in the whole country) were rejected.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hope the board will at least release Information about how those classes are doing now, survey teachers about preparedness and readiness and more now that they’re not locked into silence because of lawsuits. Anecdata is not good and it would be good to explore to see if there are concerns and figure out how to fix them (rather than the smug, self-congratulatory email I just received from the board).

From TJ teachers — https://fairfaxgop.org/tj-math-teachers-note-lowering-of-standards/

Yeah, this is directed to the last year of the students admitted under the old admissions. IOW, not responsive.

But it is indicative of the problems in the math department at TJ.

No. Read it carefully. The email is to those those admitted by the current senseless process.

The students admitted in the last batch of the rigorous process (class of 2024) would not have been taking TJ4 in 2023. The Class of 2024 and earlier never received an email like this (I have DC’s in those classes)

This e-mail is from spring semester 2022. Students admitted under the new system would have been freshman that year. The freshmen who likely would not have been admitted under the old system would not have been taking math 4 in spring of 2022. They would have been in math 2.