New TJ Lawsuit Filed 3/10/21 by Pacific Legal Foundation

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:This country and society are rooted in racism, so to fix the problems we now have, we can’t be race neutral or race blind. I think a lot of the people who have problems with the admissions changes don’t even really understand the history of systemic racism in the US. You can’t treat an entire group of humans as less than for centuries and then say “oh, the system is fair.” No, it’s not fair. Literally nothing in this country is fair for Black people who have to overcome far more obstacles than others. They are not starting from the same starting line; it’s as if everyone else has a head start in a race. And it doesn’t matter if you don’t consider yourself to be affluent; if you are not Black, you will not face the same obstacles.

You are then stigmatizing the blacks who get in as less qualified, plus putting in less qualified people and having them try and perform in a harder setting. Harvard can get all the top blacks. Then the rest of the colleges are dealing with students who should be in a lower tier. And the tier below that like UNC has people who should be in an even lower tier college.

The above commenter has absolutely no idea how anything works and is babbling incoherently while spewing deep racism. -1000

'Deep racism'? Look up college mismatch thesis to learn more. Asking colleges to fix problems of lower level education systems which have their own problems with this systemic racism, inevitably leads to the same results.

1) I would imagine that we are in agreement that working to help fix these issues at the high school level is better than working to fix them at the college level

2) No one who is pro-reform is arguing that we should abandon working to solve issues at the PreK-8 level as well. But leaving generations of students behind while we wait for results doesn't work either and serves to deepen the status quo.

the anti-reform want to focus to be on solving issues prek-8 because that leaves the status quo intact indefinitely.

Exactly. It's so disingenuous when you hear "we need to be fixing these issues at the younger levels and bring these kids up to speed before we start looking at TJ admissions".

These people feign concern for what's going on in those grade levels when they haven't lifted one finger - in 99% of all cases - to actually support issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion.

No matter what changes are made at the younger levels, they will continue to demand that metrics are used which will allow them to leverage their resources to get their kids to the front of the line.

It's an addiction to feeling like a superior parent. It strives to make the admissions process about the efforts and priorities of the parents rather than that of the students.

- So you are advocating not doing anything at lower levels of education but step in to find and promote URM kids into TJ even if they are ill-prepared for the experience? If that is done, and the kids struggle at TJ, the next call will be to reduce standards at TJ. Not implying ALL of them will struggle, but some will and I know you are not asking for a "dumbing down" yet, but you will. Soon.

- What have YOU done "to actually support issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion" other than prattle away on anonymous boards? Please be specific. We are waiting to hear.

One of the commencement speakers at the TJ graduation was a Black kid (not sure if she was native-AA or recent immigrant) going to Harvard. She was talking about how she felt that her accomplishments were considered "suspect" and feared that it will continue to be so in the future as well. This is sad given how smart she is. However, this will ALWAYS be the case as long as someone like her is getting in through a preferential process (which it is regardless of how y'all want to sugarcoat it). How are you going to fix that? Believe me, it won't take care of itself.

In time this will stop too. It just takes time and patience, further saying this is no reason not to level the playing field.

It will not as long as "leveling the playing the field" is code for preferential treatment for a few. I guess I will never understand the resistance to teaching younger kids how to be competitive so they don't need these crutches.

Actually, that's not true. What we have now is preferential treatment where 28% of the accepted students simply bought the test from a prep center. Let's make sure all kids get a fair chance.

My kid is finishing 7th grade. Has straight A's in all his courses (including electives + honors Algebra). A-grade cutoff is 93. He works hard and actually averages 97 across all his courses. He does sports, a few more extracurriculars, and does not play video games. We are not wealthy. Although I tell him he has a good chance at TJ, he says the new system is rigged and really doesn't help people like him. You can talk amongst yourselves all you want, but there will be a substantial portion of the students like him who think they will not be given a fair chance with the new system.

My personal view as an adult is that the old system had its flaws and the new system will also have its flaws. Don't pretend that the new system is far superior to the old when basically it is based on a very low bar (3.5 GPA) and a few paragraphs of writing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

The great thing about essays is, if you ask the right types of questions and are seeking diverse answers, there is no perfect essay.

I honestly think that this commenter has their heart in the right place, but doesn't really understand the complexity of admissions processes.

PP here. I agree that essays can be wonderful if they ask the right types of questions. Why not expand the essays, then? If they had essays that covered

Otherwise, if it's so infeasible to create new exams, here are a few other ideas that would be better than what FCPS is planning to do:
1. Only allow kids to apply in 9th grade for a Froshmore type admission. That way, they'd have some solid high school grades to use for evaluation, rather than inflated middle school grades. Also, every kid applying would at least have grades for a full year of algebra and half of a year of geometry. This would additionally create extra seats per grade level, if they no longer need to have any 9th graders.

2. Turn TJ into a full academy offering their specialized classes to any kid who meets the pre-reqs and wants to bus there for the classes.

I don't think it's really feasible to change the fundamental nature of what TJ is, which is a full-service high school from 9th-12th grade. The 9th grade as it's currently constructed with the IBET program is incredibly important to laying the foundation of the research-based study in the rest of the program.

I WHOLEHEARTEDLY agree that the essay format could be WAY more robust, with the ability to create separation between students and develop opportunities to identify different types of exceptional students with STEM aptitude. And quite frankly I think they made a mistake in eliminating the teacher recommendations - one that will hopefully be rectified next year with a more streamlined recommendation form that allows teachers to evaluate without feeling like they have to write a book about each kid.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:This country and society are rooted in racism, so to fix the problems we now have, we can’t be race neutral or race blind. I think a lot of the people who have problems with the admissions changes don’t even really understand the history of systemic racism in the US. You can’t treat an entire group of humans as less than for centuries and then say “oh, the system is fair.” No, it’s not fair. Literally nothing in this country is fair for Black people who have to overcome far more obstacles than others. They are not starting from the same starting line; it’s as if everyone else has a head start in a race. And it doesn’t matter if you don’t consider yourself to be affluent; if you are not Black, you will not face the same obstacles.

You are then stigmatizing the blacks who get in as less qualified, plus putting in less qualified people and having them try and perform in a harder setting. Harvard can get all the top blacks. Then the rest of the colleges are dealing with students who should be in a lower tier. And the tier below that like UNC has people who should be in an even lower tier college.

The above commenter has absolutely no idea how anything works and is babbling incoherently while spewing deep racism. -1000

'Deep racism'? Look up college mismatch thesis to learn more. Asking colleges to fix problems of lower level education systems which have their own problems with this systemic racism, inevitably leads to the same results.

1) I would imagine that we are in agreement that working to help fix these issues at the high school level is better than working to fix them at the college level

2) No one who is pro-reform is arguing that we should abandon working to solve issues at the PreK-8 level as well. But leaving generations of students behind while we wait for results doesn't work either and serves to deepen the status quo.

the anti-reform want to focus to be on solving issues prek-8 because that leaves the status quo intact indefinitely.

Exactly. It's so disingenuous when you hear "we need to be fixing these issues at the younger levels and bring these kids up to speed before we start looking at TJ admissions".

These people feign concern for what's going on in those grade levels when they haven't lifted one finger - in 99% of all cases - to actually support issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion.

No matter what changes are made at the younger levels, they will continue to demand that metrics are used which will allow them to leverage their resources to get their kids to the front of the line.

It's an addiction to feeling like a superior parent. It strives to make the admissions process about the efforts and priorities of the parents rather than that of the students.

- So you are advocating not doing anything at lower levels of education but step in to find and promote URM kids into TJ even if they are ill-prepared for the experience? If that is done, and the kids struggle at TJ, the next call will be to reduce standards at TJ. Not implying ALL of them will struggle, but some will and I know you are not asking for a "dumbing down" yet, but you will. Soon.

- What have YOU done "to actually support issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion" other than prattle away on anonymous boards? Please be specific. We are waiting to hear.

One of the commencement speakers at the TJ graduation was a Black kid (not sure if she was native-AA or recent immigrant) going to Harvard. She was talking about how she felt that her accomplishments were considered "suspect" and feared that it will continue to be so in the future as well. This is sad given how smart she is. However, this will ALWAYS be the case as long as someone like her is getting in through a preferential process (which it is regardless of how y'all want to sugarcoat it). How are you going to fix that? Believe me, it won't take care of itself.

In time this will stop too. It just takes time and patience, further saying this is no reason not to level the playing field.

It will not as long as "leveling the playing the field" is code for preferential treatment for a few. I guess I will never understand the resistance to teaching younger kids how to be competitive so they don't need these crutches.

Actually, that's not true. What we have now is preferential treatment where 28% of the accepted students simply bought the test from a prep center. Let's make sure all kids get a fair chance.

My kid is finishing 7th grade. Has straight A's in all his courses (including electives + honors Algebra). A-grade cutoff is 93. He works hard and actually averages 97 across all his courses. He does sports, a few more extracurriculars, and does not play video games. We are not wealthy. Although I tell him he has a good chance at TJ, he says the new system is rigged and really doesn't help people like him. You can talk amongst yourselves all you want, but there will be a substantial portion of the students like him who think they will not be given a fair chance with the new system.

My personal view as an adult is that the old system had its flaws and the new system will also have its flaws. Don't pretend that the new system is far superior to the old when basically it is based on a very low bar (3.5 GPA) and a few paragraphs of writing.

Students like your kid have a better chance under the new system than they did under the old system because there won't be any advantage at all for those families who ARE wealthy who chose to pay through the nose for privileged prep courses. Remember, the old exams were graded on a curve, and were not straight math exams. They favored processing speed OR (moreso) familiarity with the question types.

Video games are fine in moderation, by the way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This country and society are rooted in racism, so to fix the problems we now have, we can’t be race neutral or race blind. I think a lot of the people who have problems with the admissions changes don’t even really understand the history of systemic racism in the US. You can’t treat an entire group of humans as less than for centuries and then say “oh, the system is fair.” No, it’s not fair. Literally nothing in this country is fair for Black people who have to overcome far more obstacles than others. They are not starting from the same starting line; it’s as if everyone else has a head start in a race. And it doesn’t matter if you don’t consider yourself to be affluent; if you are not Black, you will not face the same obstacles.

You are then stigmatizing the blacks who get in as less qualified, plus putting in less qualified people and having them try and perform in a harder setting. Harvard can get all the top blacks. Then the rest of the colleges are dealing with students who should be in a lower tier. And the tier below that like UNC has people who should be in an even lower tier college.

The above commenter has absolutely no idea how anything works and is babbling incoherently while spewing deep racism. -1000

'Deep racism'? Look up college mismatch thesis to learn more. Asking colleges to fix problems of lower level education systems which have their own problems with this systemic racism, inevitably leads to the same results.

1) I would imagine that we are in agreement that working to help fix these issues at the high school level is better than working to fix them at the college level

2) No one who is pro-reform is arguing that we should abandon working to solve issues at the PreK-8 level as well. But leaving generations of students behind while we wait for results doesn't work either and serves to deepen the status quo.

the anti-reform want to focus to be on solving issues prek-8 because that leaves the status quo intact indefinitely.

Exactly. It's so disingenuous when you hear "we need to be fixing these issues at the younger levels and bring these kids up to speed before we start looking at TJ admissions".

These people feign concern for what's going on in those grade levels when they haven't lifted one finger - in 99% of all cases - to actually support issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion.

No matter what changes are made at the younger levels, they will continue to demand that metrics are used which will allow them to leverage their resources to get their kids to the front of the line.

It's an addiction to feeling like a superior parent. It strives to make the admissions process about the efforts and priorities of the parents rather than that of the students.

- So you are advocating not doing anything at lower levels of education but step in to find and promote URM kids into TJ even if they are ill-prepared for the experience? If that is done, and the kids struggle at TJ, the next call will be to reduce standards at TJ. Not implying ALL of them will struggle, but some will and I know you are not asking for a "dumbing down" yet, but you will. Soon.

- What have YOU done "to actually support issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion" other than prattle away on anonymous boards? Please be specific. We are waiting to hear.

One of the commencement speakers at the TJ graduation was a Black kid (not sure if she was native-AA or recent immigrant) going to Harvard. She was talking about how she felt that her accomplishments were considered "suspect" and feared that it will continue to be so in the future as well. This is sad given how smart she is. However, this will ALWAYS be the case as long as someone like her is getting in through a preferential process (which it is regardless of how y'all want to sugarcoat it). How are you going to fix that? Believe me, it won't take care of itself.

In time this will stop too. It just takes time and patience, further saying this is no reason not to level the playing field.

It will not as long as "leveling the playing the field" is code for preferential treatment for a few. I guess I will never understand the resistance to teaching younger kids how to be competitive so they don't need these crutches.

Actually, that's not true. What we have now is preferential treatment where 28% of the accepted students simply bought the test from a prep center. Let's make sure all kids get a fair chance.

My kid is finishing 7th grade. Has straight A's in all his courses (including electives + honors Algebra). A-grade cutoff is 93. He works hard and actually averages 97 across all his courses. He does sports, a few more extracurriculars, and does not play video games. We are not wealthy. Although I tell him he has a good chance at TJ, he says the new system is rigged and really doesn't help people like him. You can talk amongst yourselves all you want, but there will be a substantial portion of the students like him who think they will not be given a fair chance with the new system.

My personal view as an adult is that the old system had its flaws and the new system will also have its flaws. Don't pretend that the new system is far superior to the old when basically it is based on a very low bar (3.5 GPA) and a few paragraphs of writing.

My situation is almost identical to yours except we believe the new process gives our children a much better chance since we can't afford the expensive prep classes that most kids take.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This country and society are rooted in racism, so to fix the problems we now have, we can’t be race neutral or race blind. I think a lot of the people who have problems with the admissions changes don’t even really understand the history of systemic racism in the US. You can’t treat an entire group of humans as less than for centuries and then say “oh, the system is fair.” No, it’s not fair. Literally nothing in this country is fair for Black people who have to overcome far more obstacles than others. They are not starting from the same starting line; it’s as if everyone else has a head start in a race. And it doesn’t matter if you don’t consider yourself to be affluent; if you are not Black, you will not face the same obstacles.

You are then stigmatizing the blacks who get in as less qualified, plus putting in less qualified people and having them try and perform in a harder setting. Harvard can get all the top blacks. Then the rest of the colleges are dealing with students who should be in a lower tier. And the tier below that like UNC has people who should be in an even lower tier college.

The above commenter has absolutely no idea how anything works and is babbling incoherently while spewing deep racism. -1000

'Deep racism'? Look up college mismatch thesis to learn more. Asking colleges to fix problems of lower level education systems which have their own problems with this systemic racism, inevitably leads to the same results.

1) I would imagine that we are in agreement that working to help fix these issues at the high school level is better than working to fix them at the college level

2) No one who is pro-reform is arguing that we should abandon working to solve issues at the PreK-8 level as well. But leaving generations of students behind while we wait for results doesn't work either and serves to deepen the status quo.

the anti-reform want to focus to be on solving issues prek-8 because that leaves the status quo intact indefinitely.

Exactly. It's so disingenuous when you hear "we need to be fixing these issues at the younger levels and bring these kids up to speed before we start looking at TJ admissions".

These people feign concern for what's going on in those grade levels when they haven't lifted one finger - in 99% of all cases - to actually support issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion.

No matter what changes are made at the younger levels, they will continue to demand that metrics are used which will allow them to leverage their resources to get their kids to the front of the line.

It's an addiction to feeling like a superior parent. It strives to make the admissions process about the efforts and priorities of the parents rather than that of the students.

- So you are advocating not doing anything at lower levels of education but step in to find and promote URM kids into TJ even if they are ill-prepared for the experience? If that is done, and the kids struggle at TJ, the next call will be to reduce standards at TJ. Not implying ALL of them will struggle, but some will and I know you are not asking for a "dumbing down" yet, but you will. Soon.

- What have YOU done "to actually support issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion" other than prattle away on anonymous boards? Please be specific. We are waiting to hear.

One of the commencement speakers at the TJ graduation was a Black kid (not sure if she was native-AA or recent immigrant) going to Harvard. She was talking about how she felt that her accomplishments were considered "suspect" and feared that it will continue to be so in the future as well. This is sad given how smart she is. However, this will ALWAYS be the case as long as someone like her is getting in through a preferential process (which it is regardless of how y'all want to sugarcoat it). How are you going to fix that? Believe me, it won't take care of itself.

In time this will stop too. It just takes time and patience, further saying this is no reason not to level the playing field.

It will not as long as "leveling the playing the field" is code for preferential treatment for a few. I guess I will never understand the resistance to teaching younger kids how to be competitive so they don't need these crutches.

Actually, that's not true. What we have now is preferential treatment where 28% of the accepted students simply bought the test from a prep center. Let's make sure all kids get a fair chance.

My kid is finishing 7th grade. Has straight A's in all his courses (including electives + honors Algebra). A-grade cutoff is 93. He works hard and actually averages 97 across all his courses. He does sports, a few more extracurriculars, and does not play video games. We are not wealthy. Although I tell him he has a good chance at TJ, he says the new system is rigged and really doesn't help people like him. You can talk amongst yourselves all you want, but there will be a substantial portion of the students like him who think they will not be given a fair chance with the new system.

My personal view as an adult is that the old system had its flaws and the new system will also have its flaws. Don't pretend that the new system is far superior to the old when basically it is based on a very low bar (3.5 GPA) and a few paragraphs of writing.

My situation is almost identical to yours except we believe the new process gives our children a much better chance since we can't afford the expensive prep classes that most kids take.

+10000. Teach your kids to write effusively and honestly about their passions, whatever they may be, and why they're excited about a rigorous STEM-focused curriculum. The kids who write dishonestly about these things are the kids who will wind up miserable at TJ - there are hundreds of them every year.

[Anonymous]

anyone else love the irony of a STEM focused magnet premising admission on overall GPA and and essay writing ability?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:anyone else love the irony of a STEM focused magnet premising admission on overall GPA and and essay writing ability?

It's not.... about.... essay-writing ability..... it's about what the essays say about you as a contributor to the school environment.....

*headdesk*

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
28% if the class of 2024 came from one prep company. Multiple TJ students stated in public forums that they had an advance copy of the test. This prep center served almost exclusively children of recent and relatively wealthy Indian immigrants.

If this were true, it would be a cheating scandal. Is there any objective proof that is not hearsay? Perhaps provide links or screenshots of the "public forums" in which this was stated. Which teachers were indicated in this leak? Please provide details, don't just make this a blanket insult to the ethnic group of which PoCs such as our VP are a member.

The poster you are responding to is a coward, hiding behind anonymity to say what they want without any evidence. I already challenged them to put their name behind these claims. Of course, they didn't want to. Until evidence is presented, this all BS.

what's your name? see, it works both ways

If you haven't seen it yet, just go look on the FB Group TJ Vents. I know having access to the admissions test was discussed there last summer. Only current TJ students are allowed to post in TJ Vents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:anyone else love the irony of a STEM focused magnet premising admission on overall GPA and and essay writing ability?

If you knew about TJ then you would know that the system being replaced is primarily subjective evaluations. The test score seem to matter more in determining who passes the first round, and it is not particularly stringent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:anyone else love the irony of a STEM focused magnet premising admission on overall GPA and and essay writing ability?

If you knew about TJ then you would know that the system being replaced is primarily subjective evaluations. The test score seem to matter more in determining who passes the first round, and it is not particularly stringent.

and now that initial cut won't even exist. If anything, places will go to the better writers who may or may not actually be good at math

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:anyone else love the irony of a STEM focused magnet premising admission on overall GPA and and essay writing ability?

If you knew about TJ then you would know that the system being replaced is primarily subjective evaluations. The test score seem to matter more in determining who passes the first round, and it is not particularly stringent.

and now that initial cut won't even exist. If anything, places will go to the better writers who may or may not actually be good at math

*whispers* it's not that big a deal if a few kids at TJ aren't great at math if they have other attributes to bring to the table

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
If you haven't seen it yet, just go look on the FB Group TJ Vents. I know having access to the admissions test was discussed there last summer. Only current TJ students are allowed to post in TJ Vents.

Please elaborate. There's a TJ student only FB group (to which presumably all TJ students have access?) where admitted students discussed that they cheated on the admissions test? Or what specifically does "have access to the admissions test" mean? That copies of it were circulated? That it used material/problems that were identical to those they'd seen in practice (which would make sense as it is the goal of practice)? Or were the problems similar? Why would TJ use materials that's in circulation? Was there a leak?

Again, these are serious allegations that should either be substantiated or dropped.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
If you haven't seen it yet, just go look on the FB Group TJ Vents. I know having access to the admissions test was discussed there last summer. Only current TJ students are allowed to post in TJ Vents.

Please elaborate. There's a TJ student only FB group (to which presumably all TJ students have access?) where admitted students discussed that they cheated on the admissions test? Or what specifically does "have access to the admissions test" mean? That copies of it were circulated? That it used material/problems that were identical to those they'd seen in practice (which would make sense as it is the goal of practice)? Or were the problems similar? Why would TJ use materials that's in circulation? Was there a leak?

Again, these are serious allegations that should either be substantiated or dropped.

I'll try to make this as clean and simple as possible....

A student on TJ Vents posted anonymously (as part of a general rant about pressures at TJ) that when they took the Quant-Q as part of their admissions process for the Class of 2023, they were stunned to realize that they had seen some of the questions before in their time at "a prep center".

Other TJ students (not anonymously) ran in after the fact to comment that they had also and that the center was Curie.

This was problematic because the Quant-Q is supposed to be a secured exam and anyone who sees it is supposed to sign a document saying that they will not release any materials from it. It does change every year, but invariably there are some questions on different forms that are repeated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
If you haven't seen it yet, just go look on the FB Group TJ Vents. I know having access to the admissions test was discussed there last summer. Only current TJ students are allowed to post in TJ Vents.

Please elaborate. There's a TJ student only FB group (to which presumably all TJ students have access?) where admitted students discussed that they cheated on the admissions test? Or what specifically does "have access to the admissions test" mean? That copies of it were circulated? That it used material/problems that were identical to those they'd seen in practice (which would make sense as it is the goal of practice)? Or were the problems similar? Why would TJ use materials that's in circulation? Was there a leak?

Again, these are serious allegations that should either be substantiated or dropped.

No, they're not. They are data points that are currently being used to justify the removal of the Quant-Q and other standardized exams from the TJ admissions process. No one is or should be going to jail or getting removed from TJ because of this. All it is is a gap in the system that a lot of kids and families ran through (and more power to them) in order to raise their probability of an offer of admission. That gap has been closed, and as a result, TJ will no longer overselect for test-taking ability and targeted preparation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
If you haven't seen it yet, just go look on the FB Group TJ Vents. I know having access to the admissions test was discussed there last summer. Only current TJ students are allowed to post in TJ Vents.

Please elaborate. There's a TJ student only FB group (to which presumably all TJ students have access?) where admitted students discussed that they cheated on the admissions test? Or what specifically does "have access to the admissions test" mean? That copies of it were circulated? That it used material/problems that were identical to those they'd seen in practice (which would make sense as it is the goal of practice)? Or were the problems similar? Why would TJ use materials that's in circulation? Was there a leak?

Again, these are serious allegations that should either be substantiated or dropped.

I'll try to make this as clean and simple as possible....

A student on TJ Vents posted anonymously (as part of a general rant about pressures at TJ) that when they took the Quant-Q as part of their admissions process for the Class of 2023, they were stunned to realize that they had seen some of the questions before in their time at "a prep center".

Other TJ students (not anonymously) ran in after the fact to comment that they had also and that the center was Curie.

This was problematic because the Quant-Q is supposed to be a secured exam and anyone who sees it is supposed to sign a document saying that they will not release any materials from it. It does change every year, but invariably there are some questions on different forms that are repeated.

What we don't know is how Curie got the secured materials to be able to transmit to their students.

The most obvious answer - and the prevailing theory among most who are aware of this issue - is that former students who had taken the Quant-Q had memorized some of the questions and had brought them back to Curie after the exam.

This is the simplest explanation, and also pretty much eliminates the possibility of an investigation because there is no way to know which students brought the materials back inappropriately. Indeed, it could have easily been students who were not admitted.

But it's easy to understand why they might have done it - many TJ applicants have younger siblings who would benefit from Curie having this information in sizeable quantities.

A couple of pieces of corroborating evidence:

1) Curie publicly claimed ~50 TJ admits in the Class of 2022, ~95 in the Class of 2023, and 133 in the Class of 2024. Because they published first and last names of the admits, it is a matter of public record that substantially ALL of those admits are of South Asian descent, as are the owners and most of the faculty.
2) After reaching a record high of 74.9% in the Class of 2021 with over a decade of steady gains, Asian students comprised only 65.2% of admits in the Class of 2022 (the first year of the Quant-Q) before returning to 72% in 2023 and 73% in 2024.

The pieces of evidence and testimony fit together too perfectly for there to not be a story here. It's hard to understand how one could look at all of that evidence and not conclude that something was going on. Not something illegal, but ABSOLUTELY something that compromised the admissions process in ways that were problematic.

But they also pretty much preclude the possibility of any investigation, and there's really no need for one because the problem has been addressed moving forward.