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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]

"Remedial math" means reviewing subjects that at 2 years ahead instead of 3 years.  :lol:

[/quote]

If even a TJ faculty member uses the term "remedial" then it's awfully pedantic to quibble with it. You can insist on whatever terminology you like, but the point is clear enough: if TJ is supposed to serve those exceptional students who wouldn't be well-served at their base schools (as per the Governor's School charter), then students who do well in more advanced math classes should be admitted rather than students who need review of lower levels of math.

The FCPS school board is essentially doing an ed-around on the state Dept. of Education by reconceiving the purpose of TJ (i.e. to mirror the population of the county as a whole rather than to serve the top students), and that cannot stand.[/quote]

You want to talk "pedantic"... a good definition would be asserting that math advancement should determine TJ Admissions outcomes.

At least 75% of the Class of 2025 is entering at least in Alg II. [b]That's a huge number. Granted, it used to be higher, but it's still enormous[/b] and way ahead of where the numbers were 10 years ago. [/quote]

It really isn't a huge number.  It might have been a huge number before FCPS greatly expanded access to Algebra I in 7th.  Nowadays, the kids in 8th grade Algebra I aren't even in the top 10-15% of FCPS kids.  There is no reason to select so many kids for TJ who are at pretty pedestrian levels of math achievement and will not surpass the offerings at every single FCPS high school.  The expressly stated mission for governor's schools is serving the kids who are so academically advanced that they can't be served in their normal schools.  TJ's purpose is not to grab a diverse group of somewhat above average kids.

Yes, the old system was flawed, but surely the school board could have come up with a happy medium between the old system and what they're currently using.  They could keep the 1.5% allocations, but also keep lists of achievements, teacher recommendations, and more substantial essays. [/quote]

But the flaws were a huge deal. The fact that SO many kids were coming from a single prep center for instance is a huge indication it was not finding the tippy top kids that could not be served at home schools but rather those that invested in working the system.

I agree though that they should have kept teacher recommendations [/quote]

Meh.  In the past, the 50 or so kids who were outliers and who needed TJ got in.  The top 3/4 of the class was solid, and the bottom 1/4 may have had too many prep kids.  Now, the outliers often aren't getting in, a large portion of the prep kids are still getting in, and at the higher SES schools, the mediocre kids are getting picked over the outliers, since there's insufficient info to distinguish between a 4.0 heavily tutored, barely above average kid and a 4.0 highly gifted kid with numerous accolades.

I guess if your main concern is adding diversity to the bottom of TJ rather than serving the kids at the top who truly can't have their needs met at the base school, then the reforms are working.  [/quote]

The reform enlarged the bottom tier and blocked the real top students. Is there any effective measure in the admission process that could help to find the real top student?[/quote]

An objective admissions test is a good start.[/quote]

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