Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It will be hard for FCPS to maintain its reputation, whether at TJ or elsewhere, when they've so clearly indicated they don't believe in merit any longer.

It seems like the new admission standards will greatly improve the caliber of student by better identifying aptitude instead of over prepped students. This should improve TJ's reputation.

What!?!? It's the number 1 high school in the country right now! You must be joking.

Two things:

1) It's the number 1 high school in the country because publications like USNWR and Newsweek judge "college readiness" based on - you guessed it - standardized exam performance

2) While TJ still enjoys a strong reputation nationally, all you need to look at to see how its reputation has been damaged locally is the fact that applications have droppped 20% since 2000 while the population of their draw districts has exploded.

If TJ was that great it wouldn't be losing Its Academic to Blair. These US News rankings aren't that meaningful, but if you want to kid yourself by all means.

Because they have 15 teams - as opposed to just putting the best kids on a single team. They kicked the crap out of Blair btw last time they competed: http://www.fairfaxtimes.com/articles/tjhsst-students-make-national-quiz-bowl-championships/article_1055ccd2-83d7-11e9-9970-ebf31f3b3d3b.html

You would know that It’s Academic is a joke if you know anything about the Quiz Bowl. TJ is considered one of the best high school quiz bowl power house.

Then how come it always looses to these "lesser" schools?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most in the industry actually consider this high school to be the top school in the nation. 31% economically disadvantaged, 33% black/Hispanic. Oh and 55% female.

TJ is not actually good at educating children. It’s just that it’s become hard to get into and is selecting for overly-prepped (with a large percentage cheating) to gain entrance.

https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/illinois/districts/chicago-public-schools/payton-college-preparatory-high-school-6604

Agree that's why I think the admission changes are a big step in the right direction.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It will be hard for FCPS to maintain its reputation, whether at TJ or elsewhere, when they've so clearly indicated they don't believe in merit any longer.

It seems like the new admission standards will greatly improve the caliber of student by better identifying aptitude instead of over prepped students. This should improve TJ's reputation.

What!?!? It's the number 1 high school in the country right now! You must be joking.

Two things:

1) It's the number 1 high school in the country because publications like USNWR and Newsweek judge "college readiness" based on - you guessed it - standardized exam performance

2) While TJ still enjoys a strong reputation nationally, all you need to look at to see how its reputation has been damaged locally is the fact that applications have droppped 20% since 2000 while the population of their draw districts has exploded.

If TJ was that great it wouldn't be losing Its Academic to Blair. These US News rankings aren't that meaningful, but if you want to kid yourself by all means.

Because they have 15 teams - as opposed to just putting the best kids on a single team. They kicked the crap out of Blair btw last time they competed: http://www.fairfaxtimes.com/articles/tjhsst-students-make-national-quiz-bowl-championships/article_1055ccd2-83d7-11e9-9970-ebf31f3b3d3b.html

You would know that It’s Academic is a joke if you know anything about the Quiz Bowl. TJ is considered one of the best high school quiz bowl power house.

Then how come it always looses to these "lesser" schools?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
TJ teachers say the same things, mostly about their students who are entering in Pre-Calc or above in the 9th grade. There are exceptions, of course, but it doesn't take them long to separate the "gifted" from the "advanced" - the latter of which is not really a compliment.

Sure, but why is that necessarily the school's problem to solve? I'd rather leave the system as is, so the gifted kids can get much needed advancement, even if one side effect is that kids who chose to push ahead end up struggling. For TJ kids, I bet the majority of kids who enter in pre-Calc and then struggle are the ones who did summer geometry to get ahead. For the most part, these are kids who were not smart or advanced enough to be skipped ahead to 6th grade Algebra, and then massively shortchanged their understanding of geometry.

It's the school's problem to solve in part because the solution is to take those kids and move them back to a level that's more appropriate, but they get strong parental resistance - and sometimes resistance from the kid who hasn't yet learned how to fail publicly and has a large part of their identity wrapped up in their math advancement. It can be a huge shot to the ego, but the alternative is advanced classes where you have students who are both younger from an age and maturity perspective and also have massive gaps in their comprehension.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most in the industry actually consider this high school to be the top school in the nation. 31% economically disadvantaged, 33% black/Hispanic. Oh and 55% female.

TJ is not actually good at educating children. It’s just that it’s become hard to get into and is selecting for overly-prepped (with a large percentage cheating) to gain entrance.

https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/illinois/districts/chicago-public-schools/payton-college-preparatory-high-school-6604

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most in the industry actually consider this high school to be the top school in the nation. 31% economically disadvantaged, 33% black/Hispanic. Oh and 55% female.

TJ is not actually good at educating children. It’s just that it’s become hard to get into and is selecting for overly-prepped (with a large percentage cheating) to gain entrance.

https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/illinois/districts/chicago-public-schools/payton-college-preparatory-high-school-6604

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It will be hard for FCPS to maintain its reputation, whether at TJ or elsewhere, when they've so clearly indicated they don't believe in merit any longer.

It seems like the new admission standards will greatly improve the caliber of student by better identifying aptitude instead of over prepped students. This should improve TJ's reputation.

What!?!? It's the number 1 high school in the country right now! You must be joking.

Two things:

1) It's the number 1 high school in the country because publications like USNWR and Newsweek judge "college readiness" based on - you guessed it - standardized exam performance

2) While TJ still enjoys a strong reputation nationally, all you need to look at to see how its reputation has been damaged locally is the fact that applications have droppped 20% since 2000 while the population of their draw districts has exploded.

If TJ was that great it wouldn't be losing Its Academic to Blair. These US News rankings aren't that meaningful, but if you want to kid yourself by all means.

You would know that It’s Academic is a joke if you know anything about the Quiz Bowl. TJ is considered one of the best high school quiz bowl power house.

Anonymous wrote:Most in the industry actually consider this high school to be the top school in the nation. 31% economically disadvantaged, 33% black/Hispanic. Oh and 55% female.

TJ is not actually good at educating children. It’s just that it’s become hard to get into and is selecting for overly-prepped (with a large percentage cheating) to gain entrance.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It will be hard for FCPS to maintain its reputation, whether at TJ or elsewhere, when they've so clearly indicated they don't believe in merit any longer.

It seems like the new admission standards will greatly improve the caliber of student by better identifying aptitude instead of over prepped students. This should improve TJ's reputation.

What!?!? It's the number 1 high school in the country right now! You must be joking.

Two things:

1) It's the number 1 high school in the country because publications like USNWR and Newsweek judge "college readiness" based on - you guessed it - standardized exam performance

2) While TJ still enjoys a strong reputation nationally, all you need to look at to see how its reputation has been damaged locally is the fact that applications have droppped 20% since 2000 while the population of their draw districts has exploded.

If TJ was that great it wouldn't be losing Its Academic to Blair. These US News rankings aren't that meaningful, but if you want to kid yourself by all means.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It will be hard for FCPS to maintain its reputation, whether at TJ or elsewhere, when they've so clearly indicated they don't believe in merit any longer.

It seems like the new admission standards will greatly improve the caliber of student by better identifying aptitude instead of over prepped students. This should improve TJ's reputation.

What!?!? It's the number 1 high school in the country right now! You must be joking.

Two things:

1) It's the number 1 high school in the country because publications like USNWR and Newsweek judge "college readiness" based on - you guessed it - standardized exam performance

2) While TJ still enjoys a strong reputation nationally, all you need to look at to see how its reputation has been damaged locally is the fact that applications have droppped 20% since 2000 while the population of their draw districts has exploded.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It will be hard for FCPS to maintain its reputation, whether at TJ or elsewhere, when they've so clearly indicated they don't believe in merit any longer.

It seems like the new admission standards will greatly improve the caliber of student by better identifying aptitude instead of over prepped students. This should improve TJ's reputation.

What!?!? It's the number 1 high school in the country right now! You must be joking.

Really? Then why does a school like Blair blow TJ away at every head-to-head comparison with their magnet? TJ is mostly slightly above average over prepped kids with pushy parents and that is the problem.

Most people disagree completely. Completely with what you are alleging here.

Anonymous wrote:

The SIS was supposed to be reworked on some level - granted, I haven't seen it - to allow for some latitude for kids to talk about themselves more broadly.

The hope is that with these writing samples, there is no correct answer and the admissions committee is looking for kids from different perspectives and with different goals and ambitions. The hope is that the only prep is just for kids to be the best versions of themselves and let the chips fall where they may.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It will be hard for FCPS to maintain its reputation, whether at TJ or elsewhere, when they've so clearly indicated they don't believe in merit any longer.

It seems like the new admission standards will greatly improve the caliber of student by better identifying aptitude instead of over prepped students. This should improve TJ's reputation.

What!?!? It's the number 1 high school in the country right now! You must be joking.

Really? Then why does a school like Blair blow TJ away at every head-to-head comparison with their magnet? TJ is mostly slightly above average over prepped kids with pushy parents and that is the problem.