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

NP. I am not in the know about TJ so I'm reading these posts and wondering what the truth is. I assumed that prior to recent changes the top performers are admitted from the pool of applicants? Is that a naive assumption? What is the earlier poster talking about when they say a random probability out of X? And what do you mean when you say TJ doesn't aim to admit the top performing/advanced students? I'm thoroughly confused. [/quote]

The admissions process aims to allocate seats based on students' race, using an arbitrary non-merit process for final selection within the race category.

Initially, all applicants are grouped according to their racial backgrounds. Within each racial group, since most applicants have similar GPAs, the selection process primarily relies on the applicant's personal essay. There is no evidence of this essay getting scored, nothing is disclosed about how this essay proves students advanced academic abilities. There isn't a standardized test to assess an applicant's proficiency in math, reading, and science. Consequently, an applicant's likelihood of being admitted becomes subject to somewhat arbitrary probability, based on the predetermined seat allocation for each racial group and the number of applicants within each group.

For instance, there were 160 African American applicants, and 37 of them were admitted. But were they the most qualified in STEM subjects? No one knows because the test that evaluated students' in-depth knowledge of math, reading, and science was removed. Using the principles of probability theory, even a highly qualified African American applicant had only a random chance of 37 out of 160, roughly a 1/4 chance of being selected. This probability also applied to mediocre African American students and even less qualified African American students. This means that all three calibers of African American students are being admitted. It's not until their freshman year grades that the mediocre and less qualified students may realize they cannot handle the rigor of TJ.

In essence, two problems exist here. First, they're admitting students who aren't prepared for high-rigor TJ classes, which isn't fair to them. Second, they eliminated a STEM test, so smart African American students can't demonstrate their proficiency in advanced subjects like math, reading, and science, which is also unfair.

This unfair treatment applies to all student race groups, including latino, asian american, whites, etc.  The stem exam was eliminated to limit the number of asian american students, but now students of all races are paying the price.

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Agree 100%. This is so obvious. Experience factors, eliminating teacher recommendation letters, etc. all are driven to balance the student body by race by increasing randomness into the process.

Parent of a child who did not get in the freshmen year and got in the sophomore year. [/quote]

Targeting hardworking Asian Americans by authoritative entities is not a new phenomenon. The FCPS board's actions against Asian American students bear similarities to what happened to Chinese immigrants running laundries in San Francisco in 1880. At that time, an ordinance made it illegal to operate a laundry in a wooden building without a permit from the Board of Supervisors. The Board kept reiterating the law was never meant to target Chinese immigrants, when majority of city's laundries in wooden buildings were owned by Chinese individuals.

Back then Supreme Court had to declare that while the law wasn't discriminatory, it had been applied with "an evil eye and an unequal hand" in singling out Asian American laundry business owners.

Same here, FCPS board removed the objective STEM test to reduce the strength of Asian American students representation from historical 72% of the admissions to 53% in just one admissions cycle. Now we wait for Supreme Court to decide on this suppression.  
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