Basis 8th grade to Walls-vent

[Anonymous]

If 4.0 BASIS kids aren’t even being considered for Walls, I’m not sure Walls is as great of a school as people make it seem. It’s a flawed admissions process when it doesn’t account for what it takes to get all As at BASIS, including in class subjects other middle schoolers haven’t even yet taken. It wouldn’t surprise me if the BASIS students who end up at Walls for high school are some of the most prepared students that school has.

[Anonymous]

True.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Last year there were roughly 15 kids interviewed.

Source?

How on earth would you know the total number of Basis kids interviewing?

Emphasis on “roughly” (I.e., I don’t know the exact total number).

But last year all BASIS kids with 4.0s got interviews. My current BASIS 9th grader was one of them. We saw a bunch of BASIS kids at Walls on interview day. And my socially plugged in kid knew of others. Plus there were some parents of accepted students who met up to decide whether to enroll (I was one of them).

Again “roughly” nine BASIS kids were accepted. Five or so enrolled at Walls and four or so stayed at BASIS (including my child, who has no regrets). I can name most of these kids by name but there are likely others I don’t know of, thus my rough numbers.

This year they changed the process in a way that hurt BASIS. That said, I don’t think there was a huge conspiracy from the Administration. Just a couple of clueless teachers who didn’t understand the consequences. The longterm English sub (who also taught 9th grade) in particular was likely unhelpful, since I know at one point this winter she was pretty much failing every 9th grader. But who knows.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Last year there were roughly 15 kids interviewed.

Source?

How on earth would you know the total number of Basis kids interviewing?

Emphasis on “roughly” (I.e., I don’t know the exact total number).

But last year all BASIS kids with 4.0s got interviews. My current BASIS 9th grader was one of them. We saw a bunch of BASIS kids at Walls on interview day. And my socially plugged in kid knew of others. Plus there were some parents of accepted students who met up to decide whether to enroll (I was one of them).

Again “roughly” nine BASIS kids were accepted. Five or so enrolled at Walls and four or so stayed at BASIS (including my child, who has no regrets). I can name most of these kids by name but there are likely others I don’t know of, thus my rough numbers.

This year they changed the process in a way that hurt BASIS. That said, I don’t think there was a huge conspiracy from the Administration. Just a couple of clueless teachers who didn’t understand the consequences. The longterm English sub (who also taught 9th grade) in particular was likely unhelpful, since I know at one point this winter she was pretty much failing every 9th grader. But who knows.

I have no dog in this game, but I'm a Basis parent who could *totally* see this happening.

My family is considering this scenario as we think of colleges, and grades are As except for the 89 that DC has gotten in two of this man's classes. Funny how that math works out to exactly 89 over several trimesters in several classes. He likes to think of himself as some kind of hard a$$ teacher who doesn't give As. Ugh.

[Anonymous]

Getting teacher recs that were low enough that my kid's score was lower than 500 other kids did make me worry about teacher recs for college. I hadn't even thought about teachers being harsh graders. Ugh. Makes me even more upset about this whole thing.

I'm so upset with these so-called clueless teachers.

Did only 1 BASIS kid get an interview?

[Anonymous]

Truly, do not be upset with the teachers this year. No one knew that this was how the process was going to play out, least of all the schools and teachers writing the recs. It sucks. Be upset at Walls and DCPS and their lack of transparency.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Truly, do not be upset with the teachers this year. No one knew that this was how the process was going to play out, least of all the schools and teachers writing the recs. It sucks. Be upset at Walls and DCPS and their lack of transparency.

No, I’m definitely upset with a teacher who doesn’t want to give A’s. I find it impossible to believe no one did A level work in this guy’s class. This sounds like a power trip that should have been reigned on by the administration. Did any parents complain?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Truly, do not be upset with the teachers this year. No one knew that this was how the process was going to play out, least of all the schools and teachers writing the recs. It sucks. Be upset at Walls and DCPS and their lack of transparency.

No, I’m definitely upset with a teacher who doesn’t want to give A’s. I find it impossible to believe no one did A level work in this guy’s class. This sounds like a power trip that should have been reigned on by the administration. Did any parents complain?

Reigned in

[Anonymous]

Anybody know of more than 1 BASIS kid who was interviewed?

[Anonymous]

Reined in

[Anonymous]

I’m sorry for those kids who want out of BASIS but feel stuck. We were worried about this scenario and left early. I hope the new HOS creates a culture of support and makes it easier for 8th graders who want to leave.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Truly, do not be upset with the teachers this year. No one knew that this was how the process was going to play out, least of all the schools and teachers writing the recs. It sucks. Be upset at Walls and DCPS and their lack of transparency.

No, I’m definitely upset with a teacher who doesn’t want to give A’s. I find it impossible to believe no one did A level work in this guy’s class. This sounds like a power trip that should have been reigned on by the administration. Did any parents complain?

As a BASIS HS parent I think it is funny that you think some teacher is gaming the system and not giving As. You know a bulk of your kids grades come down to precomp and comp scores. If your kid doesn’t score high on those, they are not getting As. And I can assure you that kids are getting As in that class.

BASIS probably grades harder than any other non-private school in DC. If you want to be mad about anything, be mad a how lenient DCPS when it comes to grading.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Truly, do not be upset with the teachers this year. No one knew that this was how the process was going to play out, least of all the schools and teachers writing the recs. It sucks. Be upset at Walls and DCPS and their lack of transparency.

No, I’m definitely upset with a teacher who doesn’t want to give A’s. I find it impossible to believe no one did A level work in this guy’s class. This sounds like a power trip that should have been reigned on by the administration. Did any parents complain?

As a BASIS HS parent I think it is funny that you think some teacher is gaming the system and not giving As. You know a bulk of your kids grades come down to precomp and comp scores. If your kid doesn’t score high on those, they are not getting As. And I can assure you that kids are getting As in that class.

BASIS probably grades harder than any other non-private school in DC. If you want to be mad about anything, be mad a how lenient DCPS when it comes to grading.

"I don't want people to do too well" {on a quiz}
Direct quote from the teacher
Take it how you will

[Anonymous]

I know of 3 BASIS kids who got into Walls this year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If 4.0 BASIS kids aren’t even being considered for Walls, I’m not sure Walls is as great of a school as people make it seem. It’s a flawed admissions process when it doesn’t account for what it takes to get all As at BASIS, including in class subjects other middle schoolers haven’t even yet taken. It wouldn’t surprise me if the BASIS students who end up at Walls for high school are some of the most prepared students that school has.

As a parent of a former BASIS kid who switched to Walls (mainly for social reasons) I just want to tell any disappointed BASIS parents that IMO academics are much stronger at BASIS than they are at Walls (so far). My guess is that because BASIS has a relatively uniform curriculum that must be taught across the network, this keeps the academics/material learned at a high level. Many (not all!) Walls/DCPS teachers just seem to phone it in/do whatever they want (in some cases not much!) with no oversight. (I am still generally happy with switch given kid's overall happiness, but do lament the loss of rigor - which is somewhat made up for by the fact that the Walls cohort is almost uniformly diligent and high performing)