Remember when we considered what the elite school, the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, was planning to do? (You do recall this is often considered the #1 high school in the US- and that it fails to attract significant numbers of Black and Hispanic students. Which is exactly why changes to the admission system are being proposed.)
Superintendent Scott Braband had proposed that TJ drop its admission test, drop its $100 admission fee, and then use a lottery to choose who gets to matriculate. All in an attempt to increase minority (Black and Latino) participation in the programs.
I was surprised to learn that there was an entry fee- and thought its elimination was a smart idea. But a lottery? That’s not how we can help educate our best and brightest, to guide them along the path so they can create great things for America (and themselves).
Well, last month ( 21 October- this has been moved around the queue for a long time!), the Fairfax County School Board met and discussed the Superintendent’s proposal.
The first issue addressed was to examine the Advanced Academic Program (this is the name for the gifted and talented track that many a TJ student follows on the way to their acceptance into the school). The issue is that only 18% of the students in these program are Black and Latino. (At TJ, Blacks and Latinos comprise less than 10% of the overall TJ population.) (Hmm. I wonder if this will now follow a lottery system…)
But one thing is certain. At least for now, the lottery system is not the prime choice. But it isn’t dead.
That’s because the Superintendent hasn’t given up on the lottery. But, it can’t be the only idea- because the School Board directed Braband to find other alternatives to the lottery.
It looks like this will not go quietly into the night.
Which is a good thing for those students looking to obtain a world-class STEM education.
What’s your local school system doing to engage its best and brightest?
We don’t have any type of school like this where I live in the Southern Tier of New York. It’s really the luck of the drawer – my local area the “Triple Cities” has multiple school districts and you can’t attend a school outside your district. On the other hand (as I’ve written before) I did graduate a science oriented school with an entrance exam in New York City. No lottery that I was aware of. No entrance fee. It’s true, you have to bring students in elementary and middle school “up to speed” by exposing them to STEM in the early grades. I totally oppose lotteries.
Alana recently posted..Sustainable Saturday – Theft in the Garden
Thanks for adding to the conversation- as one who went through the system.
I’m not sure I understand the idea of a lottery and am disappointed that it seems like the shell games continue…
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Me, too, Barb. We need to get folks to participate- but we also need them to want to and be able to excel.
A lottery is a game of chance. Not skill.