450 of the 550 are allocated to the 1.5% of each middle school.
The policy change moved the Asian over representation from 3.5x to 2.5x. That doesnât seem like a flat quota.
The racial balancing of sports vs academic institutions is a topic that has been beaten to death over the years. I wonât go there.
Some back-of-the-napkin calculations suggest athletic expenditures to be 1% for that district. Hardly anything to get worked up over, especially when the most racially imbalanced sport (basketball) tends to be mostly self supportive.
The Fairfax admin got rid of the admissions test due to concern over gaming the test by Asians. This is hardly a foreign concept. An elite college coaching firm in CA, for example, says 99% of its 3000 clients are Asian.
âMeritâ has always been arbitrary. The admin moved to make the admissions process more fair by eliminating the test.
Looking at the substack of the leader of the TJ lawsuit, Asra Nomani, reveals what the true fight is for. She repeatedly claims TJ to be âAmericaâs No. 1 high schoolâ (as though any high school can make such a claim). She is in it for status, not education. She wants more Asians to be able to claim that status, and is afraid admitting more black and Hispanic students will threaten the No. 1 rank.
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Perhaps youâre referring to a particular school district. I was asking in general - are you concerned about racial over representation in any sport? If not then why are you holding different standards for an academic pursuit?
So going to a college coaching firm to improve test taking skills is gaming the system? But going to a basketball coaching academy to improve oneâs basketball skills isnât? 
Can you point us to evidence of this claim?
What is your basis for suggesting this racial intent?
Anyway, I donât have skin in this game. I donât live in VA and I donât have any aspiring high schoolers. It just irks me when people get worked up about Asians doing well in competitive admissions but view other competitive endeavors (where other racial groups may hold an advantage) differently.
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Her son graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in 2021 and attends Pennsylvania State University (University Park).
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Comparing sports to admissions to TJ are a false analogy. In sports there is a clear, objective way to determine who is the better player. For admission to TJ they are looking for students who have the aptitude and potential to be successful. That is a much more subjective evaluation. Itâs been shown that performance on standardized tests (eg SAT) is not the best indicator of success in college. Grades performance, GPA, class rank, are more correlated with success in college than SAT scores. And even then, good grades are not always a predictor of future success. How to identify those late bloomers and hidden gems in the admissions process. Standardized testing is just not a good way to determine which middle schoolers would be successful at TJ. It can be a signal but shouldnât be the main determinant
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The tests that TJ used to administer, or schools like Stuyvesant in NYC still do, arenât like SAT, which has a ceiling so low that reasonably good students are indistinguishable from one another. These tests are much better indicators of studentsâ academic readiness for a school like TJ.
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And you have evidence of this? Until another mechanism of admission is used, and progress of students is tracked over years, we donât have a very good way to know if the tests are good indicators or not.
Whereas for college you are looking to some extent for potential to succeed, cutting across multiple abilities/aptitudes/circumstances, Iâd think for a STEM magnet you do need a measure indicating whether the child is ready on day one for the specific curriculum offered.
AlsoâŠMany sports have a judged subjective component.
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If you take a close look at these tests and the curricula offered at these schools, you may come to the same conclusion.
I should add that we live in TJâs district. I know many kids who have attended TJ. I know the preparation that is done beginning in grade school to try to get admitted. The process selects for those students with the means and know how and desire (from the parents) to commit to this process very early on. The real filtering of students is done in grade school according to means and parents. To the point where TJ is mostly selecting from this pre-filtered pool of students. There is not a simple solution but the admission process needs changing.
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Just wondering how we can help black and Latino students do better on the TJ admission test. Also, why donât white students do (proportionately) better? Itâs not like the test is culturally-biased in favor of Asians (contrary to the SAT of the past, which was found to favor the elites of the dominant cultural group).
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The point of the judgeâs decision was not that tests should be used but that the evidence showed that the school administration was focused on racial balance as its primary goal in making its decision.
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Thatâs correct. The issue of testing is separate.
Itâs cultural in that Asian culture places high value on education. In grade and middle school, white kids after school and on weekends are involved in things like travel sports and Girl Scouts. Asian kids are in math enrichment classes and robotics competitions and spelling bees. Iâm not making a judgement here, just giving my experience having seen it.
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Isnât this a good thing, something that we should encourage for all students, regardless of ethnicity?
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From living in the district, do you feel there are equally qualified kids that would be able to succeed at TJ and help push their peers, that wanted to attend, but could not score highly enough? From my limited exposure, the types of kids that used to be getting into TJ are very accelerated and while there are some âlate bloomersâ out there, I think there are very few of themâŠ
Why can there not be a few schools where the most academically advanced are allowed to be challenged? In our experience with DS, he was much more engaged in situations where he was around academic equals.
Everyone singles out academics for some reason, but some kids enjoy math and are not challenged and go beyond the standard curriculum. It is mind numbing for them to have to sit through material they have known for 5 yearsâŠ
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and if you look at the results of the Putnam that came out this week you can see that working on academics in math circles is working for the Asian kids
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I just donât get why academic excellence and its pursuit gets dinged so much.
When middle school kids spend hours each weekend honing their soccer skills itâs laudable. But kids who spend their time honing their academic skills are âgaming the systemâ.
You canât get into a specialized quarterback coaching academy unless you demonstrate your skills and aptitude for football. Theyâre not looking for late bloomers.
But when it comes to getting into a specialized STEM school, demonstrating your academic skills is considered ânot the right approachâ
Exactly! Whatâs wrong with that?
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Absolutely Iâve seen kids smart enough to succeed at TJ but they didnât score high enough on the test because they didnât start as early to prepare.
When I say late bloomers, Iâm not meaning people who are bad students and then buckle down. I mean they started learning the material later.
Most of these kids that start learning advanced math sooner arenât any smarter or more capable than the ones who donât. They just have learned more because they started earlier and take Algebra over the summer so they can start geometry in 7th grade instead of 8th. Their parents have put them in that position.
Shouldnât TJ be seeking the most capable and gifted kids? Not the ones whose parents just signed them up for math classes earlier? There is a difference between âhaving more experienceâ and being capable of advanced stem.
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Fairfax county has plenty of great schools. According to the usnews site 9 out of the top 10 high schools in VA are in Fairfax county.
I grew up in the area and actually tested into one of the first classes. I didnât go. But Iâve always called it MIT for high schoolers. However, if you donât make it into TJ, your school is the equivalent of W&M, UVA, or Virginia Tech. Hardly a bad consolation prize.
That being said, after raising my kids in a VA school district at the other end of the spectrum, there is something to be said for taking a closer look at the top kids in those schools to see if they have what it takes even if they donât pass the test. And if not TJ, perhaps they could attend one of the better HSs.