https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/02/25/judge-thomas-jefferson-high-admissions/
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50 percent Asian representation isnât enough? LOL Iâm sure theyâre making all kinds of friends with this lawsuit.
The admissions system is described at TJHSST Freshman Application Process | Fairfax County Public Schools .
Which part(s) were new, and which part(s) were controversial?
Not surprised about this lawsuit.
Philadelphia magnet schools did something similar and I know many people who are upset and discussing bringing a similar suit.
Lowell High School in SF facing similar backlash and lawsuits.
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Maybe they prefer a system that doesnât exclude Asian Americans just because you think there are âenoughâ already?
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I donât care what they prefer. It is a public school district that has a 20% Asian student population, but they are fighting to keep TJ at 70% Asian. At some point, something had to be done about: 1) gaming the testing system, and 2) equitable access to the taxpayers supporting the district.
Would you have asked the same question about racial over-representation if it was a sport we were talking about instead of competitive admissions? Sports get tax payer money too. Should there be equitable access there too?
And how exactly are you saying the Asian kids are âgaming the testing systemâ?
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The page you linked to doesnât mention it but the new system effectively allocates most of all available seats to the âtop 1.5%â (holistically defined) of students at each middle school, regardless how well the middle schools perform relative to each other.
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I thought they were fighting to make admissions based on merit only, primarily performance on the entrance exam, not for 70% Asian as you indicate.
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I wonder if VA public colleges use similar new method of holistic admission and could be subject to lawsuit.
So you prefer a flat racial quota for admission to selective schools, does that extend to jobs, sports teams, houses too perhaps? Shall we all retreat to our racial tribes and remain in our assigned bubbles by skin pigment forever? Sounds like a giant step backwards towards the Middle Ages.
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Seems somewhat analogous to Texas public universities and their automatic admission for top 10% (6% at UT Austin) class rank in Texas high schools.
At UT Austin, top 6% automatic admission fills about three quarters of the spaces. However, at many less selective Texas public universities, top 10% automatic admission does not fill much of the spaces, and they may have additional tiers of automatic admission as well as non-automatic reviewed / competitive admission.
Occasionally, some nasty rank-grubbing/competition stories from Texas high schools show up on these forums.
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They are fighting for access based on need.
I guess there needs to be a decision as to whether a school district want to develop specialized educational opportunities for students that donât fit the traditional model. If so, then the selection process should be focused on that characteristic. If not, then donât bother.
It makes we wonder whether the âtraditionalâ special education process in the district also strives to include a racial mix, rather than selecting students that require the special attention.
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U.S. District Judge Claude Hilton concluded that an effort to boost African American and Latino representation at TJ, as the school is known, constitutes an illegal act of âracial balancing.â
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Hilton wrote that âemails and text messages between Board members and high-ranking FCPS officials leave no material dispute that, at least in part, the purpose of the Boardâs admissions overhaul was to change the racial makeup to TJ to the detriment of Asian-Americans."
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The coalition claimed that the TJ admissions changes were specifically designed to drive down the number of Asian American students. As proof, the lawsuit cited presentations, documents and comments given or made by the superintendent and school board in the months leading up to the admissions changes
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Yes, saw that, but what were the specific changes in question?
One of the differences is, as I understand it, that an automatic admit at UT Austin isnât guaranteed to be able to major in some more popular and more quantitative fields. Thereâre plenty of other majors for all the automatic admits. TJ, on the other hand, is a STEM-focused magnet high school and one of the highest performing public high schools in the country.
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â Until last year, getting into TJ was a straightforward process. Admittance was based on passing an extremely rigorous test. Once you pass, youâre inâand itâs free to attend. But passing the test requires an immense dedication on the part of both prospective students and parentsâŠ.â
⊠Despite TJâs #1 ranking in the nation, and despite the fact that 80% of TJâs students are from minority backgrounds, the Fairfax County School Board and superintendent decided to overhaul TJâs admissions process in the name of equity. During a September 2020 session with the school board, Superintendent Dr. Scott Brabrand said TJ âshould reflect the diversity of Fairfax County Public Schools, the community, and of Northern Virginia.â Instead of a race-blind admissions test, they decided students should be admitted to TJ through a complex new âmerit lotteryâ process. Black, Hispanic, and white enrollment was projected to significantly increase under the new processâwhile Asian-American enrollment would be significantly cut.â
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This is such a key point! 
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But the students still have to qualify (through gpa, the essay, the test) to go to TJ. If a school has 100 8th graders it would be allotted 15 spots, but if only 8 kids qualify, the other 7 spots are then put into the unassigned pool.
The cite didnât say how many spots of the 550 the 1.5% is. If it is 300, that still leaves 250 spots for the best and the brightest.
That unassigned pool could all come from one middle school, homeschoolers, or private schools. They could all be Asian or they could bring in other groups the school identified as underrepresented or that the school is required to take - special ed, low income, English language learners, etc.
We have open enrollment here, and the âbestâ school district has a âbestâ high school (6 or 7 other high schools too that are pretty darn good, but everyone wants the best). Itâs pretty easy to choice into one of the middle school feeders to that high school, but it is close to impossible to choice into the high school. A lot of kids do choice into the middle schools but then they have to make another choice for high school. Most go even farther away in that same district or into another district. By high school some kids are making the choice based on an EC, a sport, IB or AP offerings, etc. Most kids are fine with the rule and some of the other schools, which you can choice into, have specialty programs the students really like.
To get into the âbestâ school, you live in that zone or you donât go. Period. And the zone is mostly white, mostly high income (very high income) and amazingly full of top athletes.
They eliminated the standardized test as part of the new Admission process.
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