Anonymous wrote:I dont know if this has been insinuated but I'm pretty sure this is happening now because of the college bribery scandal. I dont think it's a coincidence. I think anybody with any common. Sense would agree kids should not be penalized or given advantages for where they live. The college board desperately wants to manufacture the society that they want. What a pathetic society we live in.

Anonymous wrote:I dont know if this has been insinuated but I'm pretty sure this is happening now because of the college bribery scandal. I dont think it's a coincidence. I think anybody with any common. Sense would agree kids should not be penalized or given advantages for where they live. The college board desperately wants to manufacture the society that they want. What a pathetic society we live in.

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Anonymous wrote:No matter where you are on the political spectrum—you can be a heart-bleeding liberal, but the simple fact that you live in Fairfax, Arlington, or Montgomery County makes your child’s adversity score very low. If you believe that adversity scoring is wrong, do something. Please sign the petition at http://chng.it/QJqtJgq2

Your assumptions are incorrect. There are schools in Montgomery County that are 90% FARMS and ESOL, and many schools with majority poor kids. Of course those kids will have high adversity scores.

Not necessarily. I read it's nationally normed. My local school is about 60% FARMS and about 30% ESOL. In Maryland, we're in the bottom 25% of the state. But nationally, we're middle 50%. Poor MD kids may be privileged compared to poor Appalachian kids.

But the poor MoCo students will have higher adversity index than others in Montgomery County, such as Whitman or Walter Johnson. And since admissions at selective colleges works by region (x many from DMV, x many from Illinois, etc) Appalachia is pretty irrelevant to a student from Montgomery County.

Except before that poor MoCo student might have benefited from being in an environment where some of the college basics were understood. Colleges have always been able to fill their "Maryland quota" with wealthy, privileged Maryland students. Now, they'll have an easier time seeing that those disadvantaged Maryland students are less disadvantaged than those kids from Appalachia. Where's the benefit in picking up a couple disadvantaged Maryland students, since they're not disadvantaged compared to others nationally?

This isn't an issue for us. Because we live in a disadvantaged neighborhood, by Maryland's standards, my kids will show up as more disadvantaged than they are economically. Because our kids got scholarships to private schools, they will show up as more advantaged than they are economically. It's likely to all be a wash.

But my neighbors who were not fortunate enough to get their kids into private schools with scholarships are going to show up as middle of the road. No reason for a college to "reach down" to lift them up, without other hooks such as being first generation college (which many of them are, given the neighborhood). I think a nationally normed adversity score is going to miss the boat in a number of ways, and one of them is potentially missing the challenges of poor folks in generally wealthy areas because they're surrounded by wealth.

So you think Harvard will have a hard time figuring out that the cost of living is higher in the DC Metro area than in Appalachia? They will compare the adversity scores by region, not nationally--even if the adversity scores are nationally normed. People who work for these Universities do this for a living. If you can figure it out, so can they

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Anonymous wrote:No matter where you are on the political spectrum—you can be a heart-bleeding liberal, but the simple fact that you live in Fairfax, Arlington, or Montgomery County makes your child’s adversity score very low. If you believe that adversity scoring is wrong, do something. Please sign the petition at http://chng.it/QJqtJgq2

Your assumptions are incorrect. There are schools in Montgomery County that are 90% FARMS and ESOL, and many schools with majority poor kids. Of course those kids will have high adversity scores.

Not necessarily. I read it's nationally normed. My local school is about 60% FARMS and about 30% ESOL. In Maryland, we're in the bottom 25% of the state. But nationally, we're middle 50%. Poor MD kids may be privileged compared to poor Appalachian kids.

But the poor MoCo students will have higher adversity index than others in Montgomery County, such as Whitman or Walter Johnson. And since admissions at selective colleges works by region (x many from DMV, x many from Illinois, etc) Appalachia is pretty irrelevant to a student from Montgomery County.

Except before that poor MoCo student might have benefited from being in an environment where some of the college basics were understood. Colleges have always been able to fill their "Maryland quota" with wealthy, privileged Maryland students. Now, they'll have an easier time seeing that those disadvantaged Maryland students are less disadvantaged than those kids from Appalachia. Where's the benefit in picking up a couple disadvantaged Maryland students, since they're not disadvantaged compared to others nationally?

This isn't an issue for us. Because we live in a disadvantaged neighborhood, by Maryland's standards, my kids will show up as more disadvantaged than they are economically. Because our kids got scholarships to private schools, they will show up as more advantaged than they are economically. It's likely to all be a wash.

But my neighbors who were not fortunate enough to get their kids into private schools with scholarships are going to show up as middle of the road. No reason for a college to "reach down" to lift them up, without other hooks such as being first generation college (which many of them are, given the neighborhood). I think a nationally normed adversity score is going to miss the boat in a number of ways, and one of them is potentially missing the challenges of poor folks in generally wealthy areas because they're surrounded by wealth.

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:No matter where you are on the political spectrum—you can be a heart-bleeding liberal, but the simple fact that you live in Fairfax, Arlington, or Montgomery County makes your child’s adversity score very low. If you believe that adversity scoring is wrong, do something. Please sign the petition at http://chng.it/QJqtJgq2

Your assumptions are incorrect. There are schools in Montgomery County that are 90% FARMS and ESOL, and many schools with majority poor kids. Of course those kids will have high adversity scores.

Not necessarily. I read it's nationally normed. My local school is about 60% FARMS and about 30% ESOL. In Maryland, we're in the bottom 25% of the state. But nationally, we're middle 50%. Poor MD kids may be privileged compared to poor Appalachian kids.

But the poor MoCo students will have higher adversity index than others in Montgomery County, such as Whitman or Walter Johnson. And since admissions at selective colleges works by region (x many from DMV, x many from Illinois, etc) Appalachia is pretty irrelevant to a student from Montgomery County.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No matter where you are on the political spectrum—you can be a heart-bleeding liberal, but the simple fact that you live in Fairfax, Arlington, or Montgomery County makes your child’s adversity score very low. If you believe that adversity scoring is wrong, do something. Please sign the petition at http://chng.it/QJqtJgq2

Your assumptions are incorrect. There are schools in Montgomery County that are 90% FARMS and ESOL, and many schools with majority poor kids. Of course those kids will have high adversity scores.

Not necessarily. I read it's nationally normed. My local school is about 60% FARMS and about 30% ESOL. In Maryland, we're in the bottom 25% of the state. But nationally, we're middle 50%. Poor MD kids may be privileged compared to poor Appalachian kids.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No matter where you are on the political spectrum—you can be a heart-bleeding liberal, but the simple fact that you live in Fairfax, Arlington, or Montgomery County makes your child’s adversity score very low. If you believe that adversity scoring is wrong, do something. Please sign the petition at http://chng.it/QJqtJgq2

Your assumptions are incorrect. There are schools in Montgomery County that are 90% FARMS and ESOL, and many schools with majority poor kids. Of course those kids will have high adversity scores.

Anonymous wrote:This is a terrible idea. They already have the quotas from each good high school, so that already limits how many kids from a certain high school that a college will take.

Anonymous wrote:Might not be great for the rich URM kid living in McLean or some place like that.

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Anonymous wrote:I can not believe how many of you affluent advantaged people are now online rallying against this. Have you no shame? As you no empathy? Have you no understanding? This is not designed to hurt your kids, but to help other kids.

+1 it’s like oh I’m so sad I can afford to have a nice house and neighborhood why are these poor students who are dealing with violence and poverty taking our deserved spots?? LOL. Don’t worry your kids will be just fine with all the social capital you have given them by living in your “nice” homogenous neighborhood.

I honestly can see arguments on both sides of this issue, and I see the benefits of providing some context for scores that are based on a multitude of factors. I am a believer in the premise that underprivileged/first generation college students can benefit more from a prestigious education than a more advantaged student.

However, every time this type of discussion comes up, someone makes this argument, and it I think it's the worst possible argument you could make to advance your cause. You're saying, "We're holding your kid back because it allows other kids to catch up. But its ok that your kid won't reach their full potential -- they'll be FINE." This makes it clear that the goal isn't to help the poor students do better; the goal is to prevent advantaged students from succeeding. The best they can do is "fine." (The "LOL" really helps, too. /sarc)

This argument doesn't sound like someone making a case for understanding. What it really sounds like is someone who has achieved a position of privilege (albeit not by the traditional definition) and doesn't want to give it up. Sounds like the flip side of "My kid is advantaged by an expensive private school, tutors, etc., but it doesn't matter -- your kid will be just fine."

In a way, I think this could make things more difficult for the schools. They used to just be able to cite to the racial diversity of their students. Now, the question will be "how many of the students were 50+ (or whatever) on the "disadvantage scale?" I suspect that Harvard's entering class will not look as good when viewed through this lens. I do think the students who have the most to lose are middle to upper class URMs whose parents sacrificed to send them to a "Big 3."

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can not believe how many of you affluent advantaged people are now online rallying against this. Have you no shame? As you no empathy? Have you no understanding? This is not designed to hurt your kids, but to help other kids.

+1 it’s like oh I’m so sad I can afford to have a nice house and neighborhood why are these poor students who are dealing with violence and poverty taking our deserved spots?? LOL. Don’t worry your kids will be just fine with all the social capital you have given them by living in your “nice” homogenous neighborhood.

Anonymous wrote:No matter where you are on the political spectrum—you can be a heart-bleeding liberal, but the simple fact that you live in Fairfax, Arlington, or Montgomery County makes your child’s adversity score very low. If you believe that adversity scoring is wrong, do something. Please sign the petition at http://chng.it/QJqtJgq2