I'd like to see more, but creating selective schools in which some groups are very underrepresented is a tough sell in the current political environment. Thomas Jefferson High School has even been sued by the federal government over diversity.
Demographics shift at Thomas Jefferson High as Asians make up 66 percent of new classBy T. Rees Shapiro
Washington Post
April 8, 2014
The demographic makeup of Fairfax County’s Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology continues to shift. More than 66 percent of the students in next fall’s incoming class are of Asian descent, with just 10 black and eight Hispanic students admitted to the magnet school’s Class of 2018.
The public school, which is open to students in Fairfax and neighboring Northern Virginia jurisdictions, received 2,900 applications for admission in the fall, the lowest number since 2009. The school accepted 487 students, an admission rate of 17 percent, akin to a selective college.
TJ’s student population has shifted significantly in the past decade as rising numbers of immigrants have moved to Northern Virginia. An overwhelming majority of those admitted now are Asian students, and the school accepted the fewest number of white students since at least 2004 — 117 this year — making up 24 percent of the class. In 2004, 54 percent of the admitted students were white and 32 percent were Asian.
Admission rates also vary considerably by race. Asian students had a 23 percent admission rate while 12 percent of white applicants and 6 percent of black applicants gained spots at the school. And this year, male students make up 60 percent of those admitted to TJ, up from 52 percent in 2005.
County school officials have faced criticism in recent years for the lack of diversity at the flagship high school, annually ranked as one of the best in the country. In 2012, the school system faced a complaint, filed with the U.S. Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights, alleging that the school discriminates against minority and poor students.
