Agree, PP. It's weird that people are. so wrapped up about Commended when Finalist and Semi were announced. It makes no sense. BTW< they can reach out to the colleges and add the award to their application. No big deal.

Congrats to the kids, though.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I really do not understand the argument, what is equitable about not providing the certificates.

I totally get that this is stupid, that all students knew their scores and it was easy to determine whether your child was commended. My child was commended and I knew months before she got the certificate (or whatever it was). My child is at a DCPS school, so not familiar with the FCPS specific issues.

I really don't understand the argument that not handing them out ws some sort of effort to promote equity.

Could someone please explain the theory of how handing them out could/would have been inequitable?

Asra Nomani found that FCPS paid a contractor $455k to push an "equity imperative" that seeks "equal outcomes for every student".

Obviously, if some kids get "commended" and some do not, that was not an equal outcome for every student, and thus it is an offense against equity.



(If you're thinking that "equity" is just a kinder, gentler way of saying "communism" you are absolutely correct.)

There are Finalists, Semifinalists and Commended students, in descending order. TJ had 132 semifinalists as listed in the FCPS media release in September. Your argument is that the 3rd runner ups (who already knew where they landed) weren’t given their official letters in their homeroom classes because it would be seen as inequitable to hand them an envelope in front of their peers? In a school that already had 132 publicly announced semifinalists?

Asra Nomani might end up taking down TJ and I’m here for it. That school takes too much time, energy and resources away from the rest of the county.

Anonymous wrote:Of course put it down. For MIT or anywhere else. While the help might be negligible, it will not hurt, and costs nothing if you have an empty award slot.

I cannot fathom the agenda of people acting like commended is some kind of yellow participation ribbon.

Because it is. There is literally no college that cares about this. It’s an “award” for a third tier score on a test they took as sophomores. Big whoop.

I'm pretty sure that every school that gets that call will know that the kid in question is the son of this batshit crazy woman. There is no way that kid is getting into any kind of selective school now because everyone will know to stay away.

Why would a parent hate their kid enough to do that? Is she ashamed he didn't get NMSF? I don't understand at all. Is it subconscious?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our school just now told us that our child received the Commended award. How much do you think it helps to have it listed in an application?

Little to none...your SAT score is most important. Nice you also did well on the PSAT, but who cares.

Hello TJ's attorney!

Just stating an obvious fact. The PSAT scores are important for various scholarships tied to those scores, but little else. Confusing or surprising to you?

It would be odd, but do you think a college cares that your PSAT score was a 1500 yet your SAT score was a 1400 (this would be quite strange admittedly). Conversely, do you think they care your PSAT score was 1300 if your SAT score is 1580?

Some schools give $$ for these awards. The kids did not know this and therefore did not apply. The chance for a family with limited means to save $10,000's or more is hardly "dumb."

Literally no school gives money for this. No, it is essentially meaningless. If schools have your SAT scores, they hardly care about your PSAT

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid wasn’t even commended. Perhaps an off day bc was focused on a school activity that afternoon or maybe not as smart as other kids. Whatever.

Kid did get a 1540 on SAT in 1 sitting (common app shows how many tries it takes to get score). Also had all 5s on AP exams and took a high number of AP exams compared to school peers. Had 2 B pluses in high school - including 1 junior year - so not valedictorian but higher GPA than many and high rigor (calc BC, all lab sciences, 4 years foreign language, wants to be Humanities major). Solid but regular high school activities (varsity letter winner in multiple sports, club officer, team captain etc). Known as a “nice” kid.

Was accepted REA to first choice school this fall.

All that is to say commended doesn’t make a kid or break an applicant.

So some kids do get commended, but maybe didn't have one of the things YOUR kid has. Why is it ok to take that away from them?
What if your kid had been forced to intentionally hide one of the things you mentioned above? You'd be ok with that?

What was taken away from them? Did they fail to check their own score? My kid never got a 'certificate' or 'ceremony' from his school, but knew right away when he logged in and saw his score that he made the cut and put it on the common app. I haven't read all of this stuff, so maybe I'm missing facts, but what exactly is the argument people are making that these kids were prevented from knowing they were commended? Did they restrict access to their College Board accounts somehow? Or are we talking about high achieving kids who didn't know that commended was a possibility or that they could amend their Common App with supplemental information?

+1. Much Ado about Nothing.

So it's perfectly okay for the schools to have made the decision to withhold these notifications? It wasn't an administrative oversight, or some other type of error, it was done deliberately.

No it's not. However, the impact is infinitesimal that it's indeed Much Ado about Nothing. BTW, I'm not a fan of the TJ admissions process change, the focus on "Asian dilution" and other wokeisms, but this is stupid.

No, it's a very big deal and now three schools have been caught doing it in the name of "equity" so the AG is doing a full check on all the FCPS schools. So continue to be an apologist for TJ but you are wrong. Parents are very angry and they are also angry that FCPS installed teh $425K diversity person. Enough is enough!

This makes no sense and just because people keep screeching it doesn't make it true. Literally makes 0.0 sense.

What doesn’t make any sense?

This award is based on the PSAT taken in 10th and 11th grade. As far as we know, 3 schools in the county screwed up (and while I don’t believe it should be the school’s job to carry water for the NMF organization, if it’s been the norm then it’s a screw up) and didn’t pass on the commended letters either in a timely fashion or at all. It’s a maybe problem for kids brand new to the area who have no idea what a NMF is, just happen to find themselves at TJ, and kill the PSAT (what’s the overlap on that?) b/c any other kid educated in this area with an in-range PSAT score 100% knew where to find out if they were a NMF without the school telling them. It’s all online and these aren’t kids who tend to trip into their successes.

That doesn’t excuse the clerical issue of getting the official letters to the kids (no ceremony required - which is what I think some of the TJ parents are actually mad about), but it makes no sense to cry conspiracy when the vast majority of people in the NMF potential group know the information is available online.

Anonymous wrote:I really do not understand the argument, what is equitable about not providing the certificates.

I totally get that this is stupid, that all students knew their scores and it was easy to determine whether your child was commended. My child was commended and I knew months before she got the certificate (or whatever it was). My child is at a DCPS school, so not familiar with the FCPS specific issues.

I really don't understand the argument that not handing them out ws some sort of effort to promote equity.

Could someone please explain the theory of how handing them out could/would have been inequitable?

Asra Nomani found that FCPS paid a contractor $455k to push an "equity imperative" that seeks "equal outcomes for every student".

Obviously, if some kids get "commended" and some do not, that was not an equal outcome for every student, and thus it is an offense against equity.



(If you're thinking that "equity" is just a kinder, gentler way of saying "communism" you are absolutely correct.)

I really do not understand the argument, what is equitable about not providing the certificates.

I totally get that this is stupid, that all students knew their scores and it was easy to determine whether your child was commended. My child was commended and I knew months before she got the certificate (or whatever it was). My child is at a DCPS school, so not familiar with the FCPS specific issues.

I really don't understand the argument that not handing them out ws some sort of effort to promote equity.

Could someone please explain the theory of how handing them out could/would have been inequitable?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

That said, any student or parent that was paying attention would know whether that student was NMSF or commended. The cut scores are a simple google search and all the students have their scores. It is not rocket science.

Well said.

YES. That's why I do not get why the TJ thing is a thing worth a government inquiry over.

Are they perhaps first generation students (I've read many are Asian) and their parents aren't as aware of NMSF qualifications?

Possible, but you are crazy if you don’t think every kid at TJ knows the cut off. Kids talk, especially high achieving stats driven kids like TJ kids. I would be shocked if the kids did not know they were commended.

Parents are mad that their kids don’t tell them things.

Why? TJ parents know their kid's status before the kids do.

Watching the news and seeing a Langley dad ask if they were getting reimbursed for the scholarship their kids didn't win reminded me that we are still waiting for the link to the scholarships for commended students.

Seriously, don't you remember how no cared about commended? At my school you got called down to take a picture if you made semi-finalist. Commended meant you were the first looser

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

That said, any student or parent that was paying attention would know whether that student was NMSF or commended. The cut scores are a simple google search and all the students have their scores. It is not rocket science.

Well said.

YES. That's why I do not get why the TJ thing is a thing worth a government inquiry over.

Are they perhaps first generation students (I've read many are Asian) and their parents aren't as aware of NMSF qualifications?

Possible, but you are crazy if you don’t think every kid at TJ knows the cut off. Kids talk, especially high achieving stats driven kids like TJ kids. I would be shocked if the kids did not know they were commended.

Parents are mad that their kids don’t tell them things.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

That said, any student or parent that was paying attention would know whether that student was NMSF or commended. The cut scores are a simple google search and all the students have their scores. It is not rocket science.

Well said.

YES. That's why I do not get why the TJ thing is a thing worth a government inquiry over.

Are they perhaps first generation students (I've read many are Asian) and their parents aren't as aware of NMSF qualifications?

Possible, but you are crazy if you don’t think every kid at TJ knows the cut off. Kids talk, especially high achieving stats driven kids like TJ kids. I would be shocked if the kids did not know they were commended.

TJ didn’t do anything “in the name of equity” - they did distribute the certificates.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid wasn’t even commended. Perhaps an off day bc was focused on a school activity that afternoon or maybe not as smart as other kids. Whatever.

Kid did get a 1540 on SAT in 1 sitting (common app shows how many tries it takes to get score). Also had all 5s on AP exams and took a high number of AP exams compared to school peers. Had 2 B pluses in high school - including 1 junior year - so not valedictorian but higher GPA than many and high rigor (calc BC, all lab sciences, 4 years foreign language, wants to be Humanities major). Solid but regular high school activities (varsity letter winner in multiple sports, club officer, team captain etc). Known as a “nice” kid.

Was accepted REA to first choice school this fall.

All that is to say commended doesn’t make a kid or break an applicant.

So some kids do get commended, but maybe didn't have one of the things YOUR kid has. Why is it ok to take that away from them?
What if your kid had been forced to intentionally hide one of the things you mentioned above? You'd be ok with that?

What was taken away from them? Did they fail to check their own score? My kid never got a 'certificate' or 'ceremony' from his school, but knew right away when he logged in and saw his score that he made the cut and put it on the common app. I haven't read all of this stuff, so maybe I'm missing facts, but what exactly is the argument people are making that these kids were prevented from knowing they were commended? Did they restrict access to their College Board accounts somehow? Or are we talking about high achieving kids who didn't know that commended was a possibility or that they could amend their Common App with supplemental information?

+1. Much Ado about Nothing.

So it's perfectly okay for the schools to have made the decision to withhold these notifications? It wasn't an administrative oversight, or some other type of error, it was done deliberately.

No it's not. However, the impact is infinitesimal that it's indeed Much Ado about Nothing. BTW, I'm not a fan of the TJ admissions process change, the focus on "Asian dilution" and other wokeisms, but this is stupid.

No, it's a very big deal and now three schools have been caught doing it in the name of "equity" so the AG is doing a full check on all the FCPS schools. So continue to be an apologist for TJ but you are wrong. Parents are very angry and they are also angry that FCPS installed teh $425K diversity person. Enough is enough!

This makes no sense and just because people keep screeching it doesn't make it true. Literally makes 0.0 sense.

What doesn’t make any sense?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid wasn’t even commended. Perhaps an off day bc was focused on a school activity that afternoon or maybe not as smart as other kids. Whatever.

Kid did get a 1540 on SAT in 1 sitting (common app shows how many tries it takes to get score). Also had all 5s on AP exams and took a high number of AP exams compared to school peers. Had 2 B pluses in high school - including 1 junior year - so not valedictorian but higher GPA than many and high rigor (calc BC, all lab sciences, 4 years foreign language, wants to be Humanities major). Solid but regular high school activities (varsity letter winner in multiple sports, club officer, team captain etc). Known as a “nice” kid.

Was accepted REA to first choice school this fall.

All that is to say commended doesn’t make a kid or break an applicant.

So some kids do get commended, but maybe didn't have one of the things YOUR kid has. Why is it ok to take that away from them?
What if your kid had been forced to intentionally hide one of the things you mentioned above? You'd be ok with that?

What was taken away from them? Did they fail to check their own score? My kid never got a 'certificate' or 'ceremony' from his school, but knew right away when he logged in and saw his score that he made the cut and put it on the common app. I haven't read all of this stuff, so maybe I'm missing facts, but what exactly is the argument people are making that these kids were prevented from knowing they were commended? Did they restrict access to their College Board accounts somehow? Or are we talking about high achieving kids who didn't know that commended was a possibility or that they could amend their Common App with supplemental information?

+1. Much Ado about Nothing.

So it's perfectly okay for the schools to have made the decision to withhold these notifications? It wasn't an administrative oversight, or some other type of error, it was done deliberately.

No it's not. However, the impact is infinitesimal that it's indeed Much Ado about Nothing. BTW, I'm not a fan of the TJ admissions process change, the focus on "Asian dilution" and other wokeisms, but this is stupid.

No, it's a very big deal and now three schools have been caught doing it in the name of "equity" so the AG is doing a full check on all the FCPS schools. So continue to be an apologist for TJ but you are wrong. Parents are very angry and they are also angry that FCPS installed teh $425K diversity person. Enough is enough!

This makes no sense and just because people keep screeching it doesn't make it true. Literally makes 0.0 sense.