Reply to Who thinks the new TJ admissions proposal will increase URM enrollment?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I wonder what will happen the first year. If teachers teach at the same level with the same harsh grading methods, and kids don't have the same level of support at home, it's going to be a mess.[/quote]

C'mon, you know what is going to happen.

At first, teachers will largely maintain the same curriculum because of inertia and because they have inherent respect for their students.

Then, data will be gathered that it is primarily the unprepared students who cannot handle the work.  These students will also turn out to be predominantly URMs.  They will be dropping out of TJ to base schools with GPA's that will make them ineligible for competitive college admissions.

Then the curriculum that made TJ what it is will be thrown out, following throwing out the students that made TJ what it is.  I give it 2-3 years.

Done.  ;-)[/quote]

100% agree.  The School Board has ruined TJ for "diversity".[/quote]

There is no more TJ.  It was effectively closed this week.[/quote]

The cutthroat cheating TJ?  Good riddance.  Now it can be an excellent STEM school for excellent students.  [/quote]

I really wouldn't call a 3.5 gpa requirement as "excellent". I might have a different opinion if the requirement for the lottery was more stringent- higher gpa (3.8? 3.9?) with specific course prerequisites and majority yes (out of yes/no) recommendation from 3 teachers of student's choosing for example. [/quote]

I agree that the GPA needs to be higher and there should be a requirement for Honors classes in science and math. I don't have a problem with Algebra being the only math requirement.

Entry into the lottery still requires an application, indicating interest. It also requires meeting specific criteria. The lottery simply increases the chance for kids who come from schools that do not have the same after school options or cultures/opportunities of tutoring or extra STEM classes to be selected. It decreases the need to pad your application to attend. It also will bolster interested kids chances of attending High School with kids from their base school or neighborhood. That should make it a more attractive possibility for kids from schools that are under represented.

I am guessing that they are not going to let lottery spaces go to waste, if there are not 70 kids who meet the requirements from a given region, I would assume that they will have a second lottery for all the applicants who did not get in from across FCPS. I also assume that they will develop a wait list based on the lottery so that if kids who are selected choose not to attend, spots open up for other kids.

I suppose that families who are desperate to increase their odds of attending TJ can move to the school zones where there are fewer kids traditionally applying to TJ in order to increase their chances of attending. That would help improve some of those schools by spreading the uber driven kids from the 2 or 3 schools they are at now and sharing the wealth around the county.  [/quote]

What you are describing here is essentially what they said they will do in the presentation. Best likely example is Prince William. Because of their large population, they have 68 lottery slots. If they don't have 68 kids that qualify for the merit lottery (which I think is probably likely because I think there will be a pretty high bar for entry and I don't think there are a ton of kids interested from PW) then those spots will revert back to the kids at the top of the FCPS Region lotteries.

Additionally, because the barriers for applications are so low, there will be a fair number of families who go ahead and apply but are unsure whether they'll accept an offer - perhaps waiting to hear from the school about concrete changes made to their many cultural issues. There will be a continual rolling admissions process to keep going down the lottery list until I believe the end of the first quarter.[/quote]

regarding Prince William county, if the bar is the same (3.5 GPA/algebra1) there will be zillions of kids that would qualify. I know for my kids school there are about 50 eighth graders taking geometry with a 4.0, so probably many more with only ALgebra1. My younger DD (8th grade) was not planning on applying because she doesn't want the rigor of TJ (from seeing her brother going to TJ), but we are seriously considering it now since a lottery will probably bring in more students of her "level"(bright but not genius). And for the record, she's asian, and I know a lot more asian families are considering TJ now with the lottery. I really don't think a lottery will solve the URM issues. There might be an increase in Black/Hispanic interest but it will be overshadowed by an even sharper increase in Asian interest. Just my 2 cents. And if PW has 68 spots by lottery, trust me they will be taken because when my older son took the TJ entrance test, there were hundreds of kids there.[/quote]

Increasing the number of previously uninterested but qualified Asians is good too.  As I posted elsewhere, this change will benefit all students including Asians.[/quote]

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