Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stop trying to make fetch happen, Asra.

(1) hilarious and (2) +1000

I have no idea what that means.

Anonymous wrote:I don’t get it, don’t you know whether you are a nmsf or commended based on your score? Why would you need your school to tell you?

Because the National Merit Scholarship Corporation has a specific algorithm that is state-based. Further, the recognition is from an organization, and the principal does not have a right to withhold that direct information from parents, especially mostly immigrant parents who don't know America's National Merit system.

Anonymous wrote:Status was emailed to kids on their FCPS email that kids literally check multiple times a day.

This is on the kid if they didn’t check it in time.

And regardless, commended is a big nothingburger and no one is getting a different admissions decision based on that one thing.

Should they apologize? I guess, people are upset. Did they do anything wrong? No. If anything, this is proof that college board should be emailing results direct to kids instead of passing the buck to schools that already have 75926485 things to do. There is zero reason why one of the bubble sections on the psat can’t be “email address”

Kids do not check that email multiple times a day. This is not on the kid. The practice is to notify parents in schools in Fairfax County as well as the nation. Why would Ann Bonitatibus not inform parents directly? Because she doesn't care about having them know.

It is actually inaccurate and very irresponsible and misleading information to call the Commended Student award a "nothingburger." First of all, it is not your right or the principal's right to withhold information from a parent.

Further, being a Commended Student makes students eligible for 800 scholarships from corporate sponsors. The list is long of "Special Scholarships," as named by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.

This is the link to 2022 scholarships -- https://www.nationalmerit.org/s/1758/images/gid2/editor_documents/student_guide.pdf?gid=2&pgid=61

Go to page 10. You will see the long list of scholarships that Commended Students are eligible to receive.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t get it, don’t you know whether you are a nmsf or commended based on your score? Why would you need your school to tell you?

Not everyone is jumping on Reddit to find out the relevant cut-offs. It was clearly incumbent on the school to notify the commended students promptly and the school officials failed to do so.

That is correct. I would also like to remind everyone that most of the families at TJ are immigrant parents and having had an immigrant parent for whom I translated everything from slumber parties to proms, I would expect that a school district and school administrators who actually believe in equity -- and access for immigrant families and people who are English as second language learners -- would understand that basic information about awards is a bare minimum for informing parents about their children's progress in school. Bare minimum.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is "city journal. org?" Never heard of it.

She’s a legit author. Google her and TJ. The article is based on facts if she wrote it.

No, she's a Trumphumper who pushing RWNJ propaganda.

I have no clue what "RWNJ" propaganda means, and your little sexist insult is disgusting.

Anonymous wrote:Does the College Board not notify students?

The College Board does not notify students, nor does National Merit Scholarship Corporation, based on comments from both organizations to me.

Link to email exchange: https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/23466082/national-merit-scholarship-corporation-emails.pdf

This is what the National Merit spokeswoman said to me:

MY QUESTION: With this situation as an example, why doesn’t the National Merit Scholarship Corporation send to the College Board the data of students who are commended students? Does it notify the College Board of semi-finalists and finalists?

NATIONAL MERIT ANSWER: – College Board is not involved in the administration of the National Merit Scholarship Program

MY QUESTION: Why doesn’t the National Merit Scholarship Corporation also notify students directly that they are commended students, semi-finalists or finalists?

NATIONAL MERIT ANSWER: – high school officials have consistently requested to be the first to announce and recognize their Semifinalists and Commended Students in the National Merit Scholarship Program