Reply to TJ admissions: Top 1.5% means what exactly?

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Reply to "TJ admissions: Top 1.5% means what exactly?"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]It guarantees spots to kids at every Middle School who has an interest and meets the general requirements. It makes TJ representative of all of FCPS by insuring that qualified kids from each MS have an opportunity to attend.

That 1.5% has to have met the basic criteria

1) 3.5 GPA (The average GPA last year was a 3.98)
2) Completed or taking Algebra Honors and at least one other Honors Math class (7th Grade Honors or Geometry Honors)
3) Completed 2 years of Honors Science
4) Completed at least 2 other Honors classes (History, English)
5) Successfully completed the math essay

[/quote]
And what happens if some schools have more kids meeting the basic criteria? How are they going to select 1.5% then?[/quote]

So in a high income neighborhood, 1.5% will be easily filled by top 2% kids with very high GPA and other criteria. In another neighborhood, where there are many Farms 1.5% will be filled by kids who barely fulfill the criteria. It will be easier to get in TJ from those schools. This is called Equity and another kind of racism. [/quote]

No, the real answer is:

Kids who meet the base criteria will do well at TJ. These are the requirements that are stringent and stick to classes and requirements that can be achieved at every Middle School and do not require kids to participate in outside activities that they cannot afford or get to or even know about.

The 1.5% leaves plenty of extra seats that are filled by the regular admissions practices. Schools like Carson and Rocky Run and Longfellow still had 50 or so kids admitted, which is well above their alloted 1.5%.

The reality is that less then 10% of the kids in the Country will take Algebra Honors in 7th grade. I get this number by looking at the 20% of the kids in AAP and reports that only half of those kids will qualify for Algebra Honors in 7th and not all of the kids who qualify will take Algebra Honors in 7th. There are also kids in Advanced Math so I am sort of filling the gaps with the Advanced Math only kids. I am not sure what the percentage of kids take Algebra Honors in 8th grade but I would guess it is about the same number who took Algebra Honors in 7th. I understand that people on this board think that the math sequence is too easy but there are lots of kids who struggle with math and most will

Plenty of kids take Honors classes and don't get a 3.5. You all seem to think that these are easy targets to hit but they are not.

With so few kids qualifying for Algebra Honors in 7th and needing a 3.5 the standard is rigorous enough.

Your issue is that FCPS is trying to spread the seats throughout the county instead of concentrating the seats in 4-5 schools that happen to have a higher SES and more Asian and White kids. I am fine with the standard and with the seats being distributed so that access is available across the county.

And no, electing Youngkin isn't going to change a damn thing because TJ is still administered by FCPS and the Republican Party has not been traditionally a bastion of Public School, education loving individuals. [/quote]

I wouldn’t be so sure about that. TJ only exists because a Republican Board of Supervisors in Fairfax County wanted a STEM magnet years ago, and Youngkin is very close with the Coalition for TJ folks like Harry Jackson and Asra Nomani.  He was at an awards banquet getting his picture taken with Nomani a few days ago. They helped get him elected by cutting into the Democratic margins in NoVa and he won’t quickly forget them. [/quote]

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