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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Has anyone ever done a study of the percentage of blacks and Hispanics who graduated with a full IB diploma in FCPS? This might shed light on whether open access to a challenging program makes a difference in black/Hispanic enrollment. 
Also, is there any study on the percentage of black/Hispanic participation in the STEM academies at Marshall, Chantilly and Edison?

The reason I ask these questions is that no one knows why there is a racial disparity at TJ. There's this assumption that there must be something wrong with the admissions process or school culture, but what if it's another reason? Why is no one doing an objective study on this?[/quote]

We have a very good idea. They do not want to spend time and effort to get in, work like crazy and likely end up with average grades and damage their chanced at good colleges after all that effort even if the percentage of them goes up to ten percent. [/quote]
That's an oversimplified explanation. There's so much more involved but I doubt you'd care to dig deeper into the reasons. [/quote]

Oh I am intimately familiar with TJ and have been for 17 years. [/quote]

Then you know that applications have been declining from non-Asian American students.  And you think you know why and aren't interested in changing that.  [/quote]

DP. Applications have also been declining from Asian students in recent years.

One could reasonably ask why it matters, though.  If students are happy at their base schools and TJ still has an entering class with students who wish to attend TJ, a decline in admissions just means there are fewer disappointed kids.

There is something weird about those on both sides of this issue who center TJ as if everything in FCPS should revolve around one school and FCPS should only be judged based on TJ. 
[/quote]

Agree with PP regarding declining applications.  What has been overlooked is that admission to top colleges in the past few years are getting more random and yet competitive.  It is no longer true that if you do well in school, have high stats, you can get into top colleges.  We have been told repeatedly that colleges judge students against their cohorts from the same school.  It will be easier to standout in base school as a top student than in TJ as a middle of the road student.  That is true for Asians, Whites and URMs.  That itself can explain a lot of the declining in TJ applications.  But why does it matter, as PP nicely put it?  Self selection implies that those that choose to attend will be the most motivated students that are interested in STEM, despite the prospect of a tougher college admission environment.  There are plenty of highly gifted kids, including URMs, Asians and Whites, not in TJ and that is OK.  These highly gifted non-TJ kids are scattered across base schools and private schools.  I know of many of such kids.  Their family prioritize something else which is OK.  Being highly gifted is neither sufficient nor necessary for TJ.[/quote]

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