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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I personally think having different cutoffs for different states is bogus.  Why should one kid be a NMSF with a 212 while a kid with a 222 in another state is not?[/quote]

Because some states/school districts have a lot more resources. I personally think the current approach is fair. [/quote]
Last year, students from Title 1 schools in Massachusetts had to score 222 to be semifinalists, and private school students in the wealthiest Mississippi enclaves only had to score 209. [/quote]

My kid in public school in NJ got a 219 and won't qualify for SF, but if she instead had gone to the private high school in TN that I attended, she would have.  How is that right?[/quote]

Your kid is not in top 1% in NJ but would be in top 1% in TN. Why is that wrong? [/quote]

Because state cutoffs are inherently arbitrary.  [/quote]

it's not. top 1%. nothing arbitrary about it. you are just upset b/c your kid didn't make the cut and i can understand that[/quote]
The wealthiest kids in Charleston, who benefit from every advantage, can score lower than a large majority of semifinalists from other states and still make the semifinalist cutoff; meanwhile, kids growing up in poverty in Baltimore can achieve excellence against all odds, score higher than 99.5% of all test takers, and still not get semifinalist status. Pretending that everyone in the same state has a level playing field is ridiculous.[/quote]

I agree.  Acting like states are homogenous are ridiculous.  Every state has richer areas/schools and poorer areas.  Some kids growing up in depressed Canada border upstate NY is not more advantaged than a kid in Shaker Heights or Scottsdale.  I was a NM Scholar from a crap state, but my school was high enough to quality in any state.  I bought a prep book from a store in the mall and studied my butt off all summer.  The state cutoff variations are dumb--it's like we want to avoid hurting the feelings of states with crap educational systems.  Maybe if it was more obbious how bad their educational systems are, they would do more to raise standards there?  [/quote]

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