Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The very bottom kids at TJ are NOT as prepared for college as top kids at base school. These very bottom kids sit in lowest math and science classes and still struggling, masking their struggles year after year because they have no option to drop, wasting their time and accumulating years of not really progressing because they are in over their heads. It is sad, really.

Hot take.

You know that every school has a bottom 50%, right? And that the bottom 50% of TJ kids are still very smart and likely outpacing the bottom 50% at their base schools. Those kids have had to grind and maybe instead of seeing that as "sad," we see it as an opportunity to learn grit and resilience. I also disagree that they aren't ready for college--there is zero grade inflation at TJ and these kids have to work hard. They won't get into T20/Ivys (unless hooked) but my guess is most will be fine long-term.

Also, they can drop or be removed. The new principal sent a slew of sophomores back to base school at the end of last year bc they didn't pass Algebra 2.

Nope. 1) The bottom 20% are not learning grit and resilience. Which each year, they are falling behind more and more. By the time they are seniors, they are 2-3 years behind the level where they could /should have been. By that time, it is almost impossible for these kids to progress in class without a lot of extra support. And that kind of support is non-existent. If they had it, they would not end up in position they are in. 2) There are a lot, and I mean, a lot of kids with Ds and C-s in math and science on TJ, barely passing and moving in. Once again, by the time they get to college they are actually far behind their friends from base school - they used to be at about the same level in 8th grade but they fell behind while struggling this much at TJ.

Anonymous wrote:The very bottom kids at TJ are NOT as prepared for college as top kids at base school. These very bottom kids sit in lowest math and science classes and still struggling, masking their struggles year after year because they have no option to drop, wasting their time and accumulating years of not really progressing because they are in over their heads. It is sad, really.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The very bottom kids at TJ are NOT as prepared for college as top kids at base school. These very bottom kids sit in lowest math and science classes and still struggling, masking their struggles year after year because they have no option to drop, wasting their time and accumulating years of not really progressing because they are in over their heads. It is sad, really.

Hot take.

You know that every school has a bottom 50%, right? And that the bottom 50% of TJ kids are still very smart and likely outpacing the bottom 50% at their base schools. Those kids have had to grind and maybe instead of seeing that as "sad," we see it as an opportunity to learn grit and resilience. I also disagree that they aren't ready for college--there is zero grade inflation at TJ and these kids have to work hard. They won't get into T20/Ivys (unless hooked) but my guess is most will be fine long-term.

Also, they can drop or be removed. The new principal sent a slew of sophomores back to base school at the end of last year bc they didn't pass Algebra 2.

Nope. 1) The bottom 20% are not learning grit and resilience. Which each year, they are falling behind more and more. By the time they are seniors, they are 2-3 years behind the level where they could /should have been. By that time, it is almost impossible for these kids to progress in class without a lot of extra support. And that kind of support is non-existent. If they had it, they would not end up in position they are in. 2) There are a lot, and I mean, a lot of kids with Ds and C-s in math and science on TJ, barely passing and moving in. Once again, by the time they get to college they are actually far behind their friends from base school - they used to be at about the same level in 8th grade but they fell behind while struggling this much at TJ.

Does TJ provide any support to the kids who struggle?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The very bottom kids at TJ are NOT as prepared for college as top kids at base school. These very bottom kids sit in lowest math and science classes and still struggling, masking their struggles year after year because they have no option to drop, wasting their time and accumulating years of not really progressing because they are in over their heads. It is sad, really.

Hot take.

You know that every school has a bottom 50%, right? And that the bottom 50% of TJ kids are still very smart and likely outpacing the bottom 50% at their base schools. Those kids have had to grind and maybe instead of seeing that as "sad," we see it as an opportunity to learn grit and resilience. I also disagree that they aren't ready for college--there is zero grade inflation at TJ and these kids have to work hard. They won't get into T20/Ivys (unless hooked) but my guess is most will be fine long-term.

Also, they can drop or be removed. The new principal sent a slew of sophomores back to base school at the end of last year bc they didn't pass Algebra 2.

Nope. 1) The bottom 20% are not learning grit and resilience. Which each year, they are falling behind more and more. By the time they are seniors, they are 2-3 years behind the level where they could /should have been. By that time, it is almost impossible for these kids to progress in class without a lot of extra support. And that kind of support is non-existent. If they had it, they would not end up in position they are in. 2) There are a lot, and I mean, a lot of kids with Ds and C-s in math and science on TJ, barely passing and moving in. Once again, by the time they get to college they are actually far behind their friends from base school - they used to be at about the same level in 8th grade but they fell behind while struggling this much at TJ.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The very bottom kids at TJ are NOT as prepared for college as top kids at base school. These very bottom kids sit in lowest math and science classes and still struggling, masking their struggles year after year because they have no option to drop, wasting their time and accumulating years of not really progressing because they are in over their heads. It is sad, really.

This may be true at the very bottom (like the 10th or 20th percentile) but the 40th percentile?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The very bottom kids at TJ are NOT as prepared for college as top kids at base school. These very bottom kids sit in lowest math and science classes and still struggling, masking their struggles year after year because they have no option to drop, wasting their time and accumulating years of not really progressing because they are in over their heads. It is sad, really.

Hot take.

You know that every school has a bottom 50%, right? And that the bottom 50% of TJ kids are still very smart and likely outpacing the bottom 50% at their base schools. Those kids have had to grind and maybe instead of seeing that as "sad," we see it as an opportunity to learn grit and resilience. I also disagree that they aren't ready for college--there is zero grade inflation at TJ and these kids have to work hard. They won't get into T20/Ivys (unless hooked) but my guess is most will be fine long-term.

Also, they can drop or be removed. The new principal sent a slew of sophomores back to base school at the end of last year bc they didn't pass Algebra 2.

Anonymous wrote:The very bottom kids at TJ are NOT as prepared for college as top kids at base school. These very bottom kids sit in lowest math and science classes and still struggling, masking their struggles year after year because they have no option to drop, wasting their time and accumulating years of not really progressing because they are in over their heads. It is sad, really.

Anonymous wrote:The very bottom kids at TJ are NOT as prepared for college as top kids at base school. These very bottom kids sit in lowest math and science classes and still struggling, masking their struggles year after year because they have no option to drop, wasting their time and accumulating years of not really progressing because they are in over their heads. It is sad, really.

Anonymous wrote:There are many many variables in college admissions. Time to write and space to write limit the discussion included in this post.

At either magnet school, college admissions is strongly impacted by the student's (approximate) class rank. Even if no official class rank is calculated, colleges will impute an approximate class rank from the school profile.

For college admissions, it is better to be in the top 20%-25% of the graduating class at any magnet (or top 10%-20% of a non-magnet) than it is to be in the bottom 50%.

This is one reason some students will have better college admissions odds from their geographic zoned HS.

Anonymous wrote:I think the answer has to depend to some extent on where you live in Loudoun. I've heard of people who live in western Loudoun -- i.e. Round Hill, Purcellville, etc. -- and the kids commute to TJ. There is no way in my mind that the commute could be worth the compromised quality-of-life when the Academies are an option (and even the commute to the Academies every other day from western Loudoun would be pretty long).