Asian-American students are now the largest incoming group
Asian-American students make up 46 percent of this year’s freshman class at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, making their demographic, for the first time, the largest group of incoming students.
Throughout the school, they make up 41 percent; white students account for 48 percent; mixed-race students are 6 percent; and black and Hispanic students account for 2 and 3 percent, respectively.
The numbers aren’t representative of Fairfax County schools, where Asian-American high schoolers make up only 19 percent of the population, whites 52 percent, blacks 11 percent and Hispanics 14 percent. But they do reflect the growing numbers of Asian-Americans in the Ivy League and at other elite colleges and universities.
In 2004, slight changes were made to TJ’s admissions policy to cast a wider net for semifinalists based solely on test scores and grade point averages. Then, during the final selection process, the admissions committee was given license to look more broadly at applicants’ backgrounds, in order to encourage a diverse student body.
Black and Hispanic admissions rose the first year, then fell off slightly. Asian-American admissions rose in relation to white admissions and surpassed them this year.
“In recent years, we haven’t had any particular issues to face at TJ,” said Johnny Nelson, president of the Chantilly Pyramid Minority Student Achievement Committee, adding that closing the district’s achievement gap “is an ongoing concern.”
A recent review of the school’s merit-based admissions process by the School Board resulted in no changes to the system, save for a realigning of the admissions test with the SAT college entrance exam.
“It’s a merit-based policy,” said School Board Member Jane Strauss, explaining attention is needed at early grades to adequately prepare all interested students. “Students work very hard to go here, they’re accepted and this is their choice.”
