Reply to TJ - admissions: GPA and essays vulnerable to prep and affluence

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[quote=Anonymous]Yes, grades and essays are influenced through enrichment, tutoring, and other mechanisms. That is why I like the 1.5% distribution to each school. The kids are taking the same curriculum across the schools and have the same basic opportunity to succeed. We can compare the classwork and the grade outcome.  At some point in time, every kid learns the same material for Algebra. Maybe there are kids at Carson who take the Algebra  prep class in the summer so that they learn some of the material in advance and the A that they get at school is easier for them then the kid who is taking Algebra for the first time at Poe but they have both earned an A in Algebra. The A is what matters.

The issue with the Quant test was that there were test banks that some kids had access to that others did not. The test that the kids were taking was not accurately comparing the ability of the kids to answer the questions equally because some kids had exposure to the types of questions being asked while others didn’t. That would be the same for something like the PSAT. It isn’t that the kids have the exact questions but that they have exposure to the types of questions and are more comfortable answering them in advance.

The metrics that we have that can be compared across the schools equally are grades. The math essay seems to be something that could be prepped for but the scoring seems to be more on how the kids explain why they answered the way the did and less the answer that they gave. That allows for a kid who is strong at math but maybe has not prepped for the essay to provide their process in a way that allows the grader to understand how well they understood the problem and explained their solution vs checking for answers only.

TJ is a public school that should be accessible to everyone in the county and not just those who can afford enrichment, test prep and outside activities. I would guess that a good percentage of the Algebra 1 only kids are from those schools but not all of them. I don’t think that kids with Algebra 1 only should be coming out of schools where there are kids in Algebra 2 and Geometry. I have no problem with kids from schools that have fewer kids available to take Geometry or higher getting into TJ with only Algebra 1.

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