Neighbor News
FCPS School board removes merit and excellence from TJHSST
With the FCPS school board unanimously voting to remove the TJ admission standardized test, families look to private school options.
In the year of COVID when we are all busy and helpless, we do not need any more drama from FCPS school officials. As it is, virtual learning is not working out too well for kids and teachers.
The Virginia Governor's School Program has been designed to assist divisions as they meet the needs of a small population of students whose learning levels are remarkably different from their age-level peers. The above-average academic abilities of these children make them at-risk of being stymied and bored if not nurtured intellectually.
By getting rid of the standardized test to TJ High School for Science and Technology, FCPS Superintendent Scott Brabrand and the FCPS School Board are removing the only real chance a gifted child has of proving himself or herself. By reducing a child to a mere number and subjecting him/her to a lottery, not only are they taking away any semblance of fairness, but they are also teaching them that luck is all it takes! We demand to see the data and analysis behind their proposal.
Find out what's happening in Annandalefor free with the latest updates from Patch.
They should understand that taxpayers will not forgive them and will VOTE THEM OUT. They should REINSTATE the race-blind TJ standardized TEST until they have more data that is provable and peer reviewed.
Dr. Brabrand admitted on Oct 6th that his staff did not study the racial demographics within Fairfax County to determine who would qualify for the Merit Lottery, i.e., those students, by race, that have a GPA of 3.5 or more. Data collected from the TJ Class of 2011 reveals that the average GPA for Black applicants to TJ was 3.35, and for Hispanic applicants 3.49. The average GPAs for White students (the largest demographic in the county) is 3.66 and for Asian students 3.66. The 'revised' requirement for a GPA of 3.5 will deprive qualified Black and Hispanic students of admission to TJ.
Find out what's happening in Annandalefor free with the latest updates from Patch.
The current lottery proposal, with its gerrymandered districts, and arbitrary requirements, would make the white demographic the largest of all applicant pools across all pathway regions, promoting segregation, and denying opportunity to Black and Hispanic students in AAP centers in the northern region of the county.
Children will be punished for living in the wrong region, and eventually taxpayers will learn to game the system and spread out to maximize their chances at gaining admission into TJ.