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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]improve the qualification bar then:

minimum requirement: Geometry HN, weighted GPA 3.8+
give extra credits for national awards, state awards and regional awards
use teacher's recommendation (better let the teacher mark a recommendation score to make it easier for calculation)
remove geographic quota. let's be fair. It's all about academic merit.

[/quote]
Even better

HN Geometry req
Use Unweighted GPA from STEM classes
Do Not use teacher recs they are unreliable and have shown to be racially biased
Add hard geographic quotas proportional to the region's population[/quote]

I like this.

If there aren’t enough qualified applicants then put those spots into pool for remaining applicants.

I’m torn on Geometry though. I know great STEM kids who ended up in Alg I honors in 8th. And by requiring Geometry we’ll get parents pushing more kids to take it too soon. Bad consequence. 
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Maybe this will help you.  If you take Algebra I in 8th the base school can generally meet all the math needs.  TJ should be for the most advanced students who have a harder time getting their needs met at a base school.[/quote]

Not universally true. There are various reasons why kids may end up in Alg I. I wouldn’t want to eliminate 100% of those kids.

And do we want parents to push their kids into geometry any more than they already do? As we’ve seen, they will do anything to get their kids in. We already have way more kids in Geometry than should be there.

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DP, you can't obtain perfect. Requiring that we sacrifice the 99% so that we chase after that 1% is irrational foolishness. [/quote]

I also don’t like encouraging parents to push their kids into geometry prematurely. 
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I don't like encouraging parents to push their kids who aren't smart at STEM into schools like TJ.  
Algebra I in 7th is NOT a high bar.  Smart kids all over the world do fine with it.  If a kid can't hack algebra in 7th, that kid is at best somewhat above average.  About 10% of FCPS kids take Algebra in 7th and are fine with it.  There is no reason to dip down into the pool of kids who are slightly above average in math for a magnet STEM school.

I'd rather see kids get pushed into geometry prematurely, struggle, and get bad grades in their middle schools than see them pushed into TJ, where they will struggle and wash out of the school.  Overaccelerated kids who get bad grades in middle school can expunge the grade and retake the class the following year.  Kids who wash out of TJ can't really recover from that.[/quote]

One of my kids friends who was actually from AAP, couldn't qualify for Algebra I 7th grade and got a B+ in 8th grade Algebra I in 8th grade along with couple of other B+/A- etc, made it to TJ. I presume the kid had impressive and creative essays. There are several other kids perfect GPAs, stem electives, plenty of after school activities, some of those who took Algebra 2 or even Pre-cal in 8th, couldn't get into TJ. May be their essays weren't as impressive, but is it fair? Not sure, but I am sure some of you think that its perfectly fair and every smart kid should be able to write stellar essays and do not accept that stem smartness doesn't always translate into creating writing abilities. Anyways! 
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