Anonymous wrote:Has anyone bothered to write to NM to protest or to explain DC's cutoff?

Yes. Below are two articles. I suspect they've received many complaints.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/college-admissions/if-you-live-in-west.html
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/dc-schools/poor-washington-dc-not-only.html

Has anyone bothered to write to NM to protest or to explain DC's cutoff?

(My DC is still in K, so a long ways off, but it seems that this is the sort of thing that parents and high school administrators in DC really ought to be pestering NM people about.)

Anonymous wrote:I'm sorry but aren't the demographics of DC PSAT testtakers comparable to other lower scoring states?

This is hurting DC students, in my humble opinion -- public and private.

I don't think so. I suspect they would have a bell curve but just one with a lower median point. I think dc would not look like a bell curve. Would be interesting to actually see though.

I don't think it's the cut-off that's hurting them then -- it's the existence of/preference for private schools (given the culture of DCPS) on the part of many parents.

All that said, colleges get the individual scores and can compare across states. They also have experience with the various HSs, public and private, in DC and know what kind of preparation and what kind of success can be expected from applicants from different schools.

I have a vague recollection of the qualifying score being changed to be DC based at some point in the 80s, which happened to be when my brother was a junior. The result was as pp noted - he and half his sidwell class were nmsf. Or at least that's the legend.

The DC cutoff is really hurting kids at DC public schools, who are likely receiving educations more congruent with lower cutoff states than higher cutoff states. I understand the philosophy of having different cutoffs, I guess, so that there are not zero NM semifinalists from many states and hundreds from others, however, I don't think any other place has the problem that DC does, even with a high cutoff there are lots of private school kids as semifinalists and incredibly few public school kids (I believe the list shows just one from Wilson and none from anywhere else, last year there were I think a few more including some from Walls). It would be interesting to know how many there would be if the cutoff were say just the median cutoff for all the states, I suspect a lot more, which would help the cachet of the public schools, and seems more fair. However that would result in likely a huge percentage of privates like Sidwell, GDS and St Albans being semifinalists, already some years 10-15% of their classes are above the cutoff, and loads more are just below.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can someone please explain the DC cutoff?

It's always equal to the highest state score (usually Massachusetts).

I think it is because there is such a small sample of PSAT takers in DC and the scores are more skewed because of the deomographics of the test takers (likely skewed to the top and bottom rather than a normal bell curve.)

This -- plus I'd throw in the fact that its population is 100% urban (not like any state) and the private schools import affluent and/or smart kids from other states (MD, VA). Makes sense for me to look elsewhere for a standard and I wouldn't be surprised if DC does better with the highest state standard than it would if the cut-off were based on its own 2%.

Should be easy enough to look up if anyone's interested -- how many kids at DC HSs took the PSAT last year?

I'm sorry but aren't the demographics of DC PSAT testtakers comparable to other lower scoring states?

This is hurting DC students, in my humble opinion -- public and private.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can someone please explain the DC cutoff?

It's always equal to the highest state score (usually Massachusetts).

I think it is because there is such a small sample of PSAT takers in DC and the scores are more skewed because of the deomographics of the test takers (likely skewed to the top and bottom rather than a normal bell curve.)

Anonymous wrote:Can someone please explain the DC cutoff?

It's always equal to the highest state score (usually Massachusetts).

Can someone please explain the DC cutoff?

The cutoff scores are based on where the student goes to school, not where the student lives. Makes it easier for kids enrolled in VA schools as compared to the other locaL jurisdictions

Does the cut off apply to the student's school or residence? E.g., kid goes to school in DC or MD but lives in VA? Just curious......

Why is that?

DC automatically gets assigned the same cutoff as the highest state.