Will basis move their waitlist this week or are they done?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Relevant to this discussion, US News computes a figure they call “state assessment performance” which measures proficiency relative to what US News would predict based on demographics. On this measure BASIS DC ranks outside the top 8,000 schools in the country, which is worse than peer schools in DC like Latin, CHEC, Banneker, Walls, McKinley, and Duke. Perhaps more troubling, it’s quite bad compared to the BASIS schools in Arizona, all of which are ranked in the top 500 nationally. I don’t know why BASIS DC is so weak compared to both peer groups, but it certainly seems like something is wrong.

There are some great kids at BASIS DC, and I get that it’s the best option available for some families, but it really doesn’t seem like a model to be emulated.

Meh. I’ll take a high performing peer group that US News thinks should be even more high performing over a mediocre or low performing peer group that US News thinks is doing better than they should be. Thanks.

I think you mean that mediocre is a group with all the advantages performing lower than they should. But I agree that families with kids who best fit at BASIS should have BASIS as an option.

No, that's not what I mean. I mean a group of kids whose parents are engaged and interested in them having a good education, who are not going to be throwing things at the teacher or cussing them out, because they care about doing well. Peer group matters, and I have seen firsthand how badly a class can be affected by kids and families who DNGAF. If US News thinks that the highest performing school in DC should be even higher performing based on demographics at that school, I'm not going to get my panties in a wad over that.

So if BASIS has a low at-risk and SPED population, and willingly kicks out kids with behavioral difficulties, and doesn't backfill, then why does it still have such unimpressive test scores relative to demographics? It seems like it should be doing better with all of those advantages.

No one cares. You should seek professional help for your BASIS psychosis. You have created in your head some rubric/formula about what a school's test scores should be based on a hypothetical population of students. Other than replying to your insane posts to amuse ourselves no one cares what you think. We're actually at the point where we don't even bother pointing out that lie and make up facts (kicks kids out is not a thing). If you actually cared about public education in DC you'd focus your energy on the 50,000 students in DCPS schools who attend failing schools. But you don't really care about educating kids. You don't care were those poor marginal kids go or what kind of education they get as long as you get to whine about BASIS.

As I said, seek help.

+1000

These posts read like someone who didn't get into BASIS in the lottery, is mad about the school their kids are going to, and is trying to make themselves feel better by inventing ways that BASIS is not that good. Nobody cares.

On the contrary, my kids did not and will not lottery for BASIS at all. Because it isn't that good a school. And I think calling out BASIS-boosters and asking them to question their data and their assumptions is important and worthwhile.

Does anyone think an at-risk percentage of 10% would ruin BASIS? No more "rigor" if that were the goal? What if the lottery naturally produced that percentage-- would BASIS fall apart?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Relevant to this discussion, US News computes a figure they call “state assessment performance” which measures proficiency relative to what US News would predict based on demographics. On this measure BASIS DC ranks outside the top 8,000 schools in the country, which is worse than peer schools in DC like Latin, CHEC, Banneker, Walls, McKinley, and Duke. Perhaps more troubling, it’s quite bad compared to the BASIS schools in Arizona, all of which are ranked in the top 500 nationally. I don’t know why BASIS DC is so weak compared to both peer groups, but it certainly seems like something is wrong.

There are some great kids at BASIS DC, and I get that it’s the best option available for some families, but it really doesn’t seem like a model to be emulated.

Meh. I’ll take a high performing peer group that US News thinks should be even more high performing over a mediocre or low performing peer group that US News thinks is doing better than they should be. Thanks.

I think you mean that mediocre is a group with all the advantages performing lower than they should. But I agree that families with kids who best fit at BASIS should have BASIS as an option.

No, that's not what I mean. I mean a group of kids whose parents are engaged and interested in them having a good education, who are not going to be throwing things at the teacher or cussing them out, because they care about doing well. Peer group matters, and I have seen firsthand how badly a class can be affected by kids and families who DNGAF. If US News thinks that the highest performing school in DC should be even higher performing based on demographics at that school, I'm not going to get my panties in a wad over that.

So if BASIS has a low at-risk and SPED population, and willingly kicks out kids with behavioral difficulties, and doesn't backfill, then why does it still have such unimpressive test scores relative to demographics? It seems like it should be doing better with all of those advantages.

No one cares. You should seek professional help for your BASIS psychosis. You have created in your head some rubric/formula about what a school's test scores should be based on a hypothetical population of students. Other than replying to your insane posts to amuse ourselves no one cares what you think. We're actually at the point where we don't even bother pointing out that lie and make up facts (kicks kids out is not a thing). If you actually cared about public education in DC you'd focus your energy on the 50,000 students in DCPS schools who attend failing schools. But you don't really care about educating kids. You don't care were those poor marginal kids go or what kind of education they get as long as you get to whine about BASIS.

As I said, seek help.

+1000

These posts read like someone who didn't get into BASIS in the lottery, is mad about the school their kids are going to, and is trying to make themselves feel better by inventing ways that BASIS is not that good. Nobody cares.

On the contrary, my kids did not and will not lottery for BASIS at all. Because it isn't that good a school. And I think calling out BASIS-boosters and asking them to question their data and their assumptions is important and worthwhile.

Does anyone think an at-risk percentage of 10% would ruin BASIS? No more "rigor" if that were the goal? What if the lottery naturally produced that percentage-- would BASIS fall apart?

So you have zero experience with the school. How unsurprising.

[Anonymous]

To the PP caught up in the at-risk percentage at BASIS: Ask yourself why you care so much that BASIS has a low at-risk population if you don’t have students there and never will.
There are so many schools that prioritize the at-risk population and you can probably get your child into one of them. So why does BASIS’s existence bother you so much? Nobody at BASIS thinks a higher at-risk population would ruin the school. At-risk students are just the least likely to succeed at the school because they tend to lack families who care a lot about their education and those students would not be socially promoted (just like anyone else). So even a preference that initially gets them in (should BASIS ever decide to have one) would certainly not guarantee that they actually stay. BASIS has invested money and energy into advertising in different communities to attract students from all over the city and seems to have attracted a truly diverse student body in many ways as opposed to a student body that is “diverse” because it has some minimum percentage of an at-risk population which is all you seem to care about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To the PP caught up in the at-risk percentage at BASIS: Ask yourself why you care so much that BASIS has a low at-risk population if you don’t have students there and never will.
There are so many schools that prioritize the at-risk population and you can probably get your child into one of them. So why does BASIS’s existence bother you so much? Nobody at BASIS thinks a higher at-risk population would ruin the school. At-risk students are just the least likely to succeed at the school because they tend to lack families who care a lot about their education and those students would not be socially promoted (just like anyone else). So even a preference that initially gets them in (should BASIS ever decide to have one) would certainly not guarantee that they actually stay. BASIS has invested money and energy into advertising in different communities to attract students from all over the city and seems to have attracted a truly diverse student body in many ways as opposed to a student body that is “diverse” because it has some minimum percentage of an at-risk population which is all you seem to care about.

Except economic diversity, which BASIS lacks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To the PP caught up in the at-risk percentage at BASIS: Ask yourself why you care so much that BASIS has a low at-risk population if you don’t have students there and never will.
There are so many schools that prioritize the at-risk population and you can probably get your child into one of them. So why does BASIS’s existence bother you so much? Nobody at BASIS thinks a higher at-risk population would ruin the school. At-risk students are just the least likely to succeed at the school because they tend to lack families who care a lot about their education and those students would not be socially promoted (just like anyone else). So even a preference that initially gets them in (should BASIS ever decide to have one) would certainly not guarantee that they actually stay. BASIS has invested money and energy into advertising in different communities to attract students from all over the city and seems to have attracted a truly diverse student body in many ways as opposed to a student body that is “diverse” because it has some minimum percentage of an at-risk population which is all you seem to care about.

Tough diversity talk for a high-income school with such a low AA retention rate.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Relevant to this discussion, US News computes a figure they call “state assessment performance” which measures proficiency relative to what US News would predict based on demographics. On this measure BASIS DC ranks outside the top 8,000 schools in the country, which is worse than peer schools in DC like Latin, CHEC, Banneker, Walls, McKinley, and Duke. Perhaps more troubling, it’s quite bad compared to the BASIS schools in Arizona, all of which are ranked in the top 500 nationally. I don’t know why BASIS DC is so weak compared to both peer groups, but it certainly seems like something is wrong.

There are some great kids at BASIS DC, and I get that it’s the best option available for some families, but it really doesn’t seem like a model to be emulated.

Meh. I’ll take a high performing peer group that US News thinks should be even more high performing over a mediocre or low performing peer group that US News thinks is doing better than they should be. Thanks.

I think you mean that mediocre is a group with all the advantages performing lower than they should. But I agree that families with kids who best fit at BASIS should have BASIS as an option.

No, that's not what I mean. I mean a group of kids whose parents are engaged and interested in them having a good education, who are not going to be throwing things at the teacher or cussing them out, because they care about doing well. Peer group matters, and I have seen firsthand how badly a class can be affected by kids and families who DNGAF. If US News thinks that the highest performing school in DC should be even higher performing based on demographics at that school, I'm not going to get my panties in a wad over that.

So if BASIS has a low at-risk and SPED population, and willingly kicks out kids with behavioral difficulties, and doesn't backfill, then why does it still have such unimpressive test scores relative to demographics? It seems like it should be doing better with all of those advantages.

No one cares. You should seek professional help for your BASIS psychosis. You have created in your head some rubric/formula about what a school's test scores should be based on a hypothetical population of students. Other than replying to your insane posts to amuse ourselves no one cares what you think. We're actually at the point where we don't even bother pointing out that lie and make up facts (kicks kids out is not a thing). If you actually cared about public education in DC you'd focus your energy on the 50,000 students in DCPS schools who attend failing schools. But you don't really care about educating kids. You don't care were those poor marginal kids go or what kind of education they get as long as you get to whine about BASIS.

As I said, seek help.

+1000

These posts read like someone who didn't get into BASIS in the lottery, is mad about the school their kids are going to, and is trying to make themselves feel better by inventing ways that BASIS is not that good. Nobody cares.

I would truly love to speak with the insane person and try and get them to help me to understand what they think they want and are arguing for (or against). The sound like the loser kid who got rejected by the cute girl and now spends all day and night telling anyone who will listen how she wasn't that pretty/smart/nice anyway. I feel genuine pity for this person. If they spent 1/100th of their time and energy trying to make their kid's schools better that they expend on BASIS they, their kid and their kid's school would be much better off.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:To the PP caught up in the at-risk percentage at BASIS: Ask yourself why you care so much that BASIS has a low at-risk population if you don’t have students there and never will.
There are so many schools that prioritize the at-risk population and you can probably get your child into one of them. So why does BASIS’s existence bother you so much? Nobody at BASIS thinks a higher at-risk population would ruin the school. At-risk students are just the least likely to succeed at the school because they tend to lack families who care a lot about their education and those students would not be socially promoted (just like anyone else). So even a preference that initially gets them in (should BASIS ever decide to have one) would certainly not guarantee that they actually stay. BASIS has invested money and energy into advertising in different communities to attract students from all over the city and seems to have attracted a truly diverse student body in many ways as opposed to a student body that is “diverse” because it has some minimum percentage of an at-risk population which is all you seem to care about.

Tough diversity talk for a high-income school with such a low AA retention rate.

You have tried to get someone to bite on that data for 4 pages. No one has because it is meaningless. What does 77% mean? How does that compare to overall retention rates at BASIS? Over what period? How does that 77% compare to other schools? How does that compare to other schools as measured against overall and other demos?

My favorite part of that number on which you fixate (besides the fact that you are a white person) is that BASIS promotes or doesn't based solely on grades. No social promotion. No subjective measures. Kids either pass to the next grade or they don't. Even by BASIS-fixated hater standards, arguing some racist conspiracy is insane.

I feel sincerely sorry for your kids.

[Anonymous]

Without more info, it’s hard for folks to respond to this repeated claim of “low AA retention rate.” What is the rate of retention for each racial category at the school? Doesn’t the school have retention issues, generally, which is why the high school is much smaller than the middle school? What role does Banneker play in the retention of Black/AA students at BASIS HS? Statistics mean nothing without context so why don’t you give us the statistics and context you want folks to even attempt to respond to?

[Anonymous]

And yes the poster so concerned about the “AA” population is absolutely white. They might even be one of those people who, because they are white, usually thinks their child can go to any DC school with terrible scores and be “just fine.” Only they are now second-guessing their choice not to even consider BASIS or their choice to turn down a BASIS spot and need to make themselves feel better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And yes the poster so concerned about the “AA” population is absolutely white. They might even be one of those people who, because they are white, usually thinks their child can go to any DC school with terrible scores and be “just fine.” Only they are now second-guessing their choice not to even consider BASIS or their choice to turn down a BASIS spot and need to make themselves feel better.

Yes and they are also white folks who seem VERY concerned about black students in DC but their concern seems to extend only as far as the kids who aren't at these schools (or who depart). They seem unconcerned about the kids who are secure an excellent education at these schools. It is almost as though the concern for black kids is insincere...

[Anonymous]

Re-enrollment breakdown can be found here: https://stossepublicdocsprod.blob.core.windows.net/public-docs/dc-school-report-card/2021-22/profiles/168-3068(BASIS%20DC%20PCS).pdf

It's interesting how the rate for English Language Learners and Hispanic/Latino students is pretty high-- 92% and 100%. Black/AA is an outlier at 77% and SPED at 76%.

As to the Banneker question, use this resource:
https://edscape.dc.gov/page/student-enrollment-pathways Scroll down to the second display. Set it to Forward-looking, both sectors. For the year displayed, BASIS 8th graders went to Ellington, Walls, Coolidge, and "not in audit" i.e. private or our of state. Nobody to Banneker at all. So this year of data does not support the hypothesis that AA kids choosing Banneker is the reason for the poor retention stats. If AA kids are more likely to leave BASIS for Walls, Ellington, and Coolidge, that's an interesting idea.

BASIS does seem to lose a bunch of kids to other schools throughout middle school, but the data for n less than 10 makes it hard to say how many. So I'm not sure if it's fair to say BASIS has a "retention problem" or does it just have differently sized cohorts.

[Anonymous]

The school typically starts every year with approximately 150 5th graders. It then does not backfill with new students.

[Anonymous]

BASIS always starts with 135 5th grade students. They had 150 lottery seats knowing not everyone would accept. By offering more initial seats, they expected to not have to go as deep into the waitlist and fill the class seats faster.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To the PP caught up in the at-risk percentage at BASIS: Ask yourself why you care so much that BASIS has a low at-risk population if you don’t have students there and never will.
There are so many schools that prioritize the at-risk population and you can probably get your child into one of them. So why does BASIS’s existence bother you so much? Nobody at BASIS thinks a higher at-risk population would ruin the school. At-risk students are just the least likely to succeed at the school because they tend to lack families who care a lot about their education and those students would not be socially promoted (just like anyone else). So even a preference that initially gets them in (should BASIS ever decide to have one) would certainly not guarantee that they actually stay. BASIS has invested money and energy into advertising in different communities to attract students from all over the city and seems to have attracted a truly diverse student body in many ways as opposed to a student body that is “diverse” because it has some minimum percentage of an at-risk population which is all you seem to care about.

Thank you for posting exactly what I am feeling. The constant comments about the at-risk % are misdirected as lottery is random. Maybe if the poster had attended a school like BASIS they might understand what random means? Or they could ask their children?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:They don't let in anyone after 5th grade. Even siblings

Per the head of school last year, they will offer seats in older grades if and only if the total number of students not returning (seniors plus attrition) exceeds something like 135 students.

I didn’t realize they offer any seats. Isn’t their position the curriculum is so advanced that they can’t backfill seats?

It's that their teachers aren't up to the challenge. Because it's soooo haaaaaard to do what most schools in this country do routinely.

At this point the BASIS Haterade club can't even figure out what they are mad at. Why do you care if BASIS adds 6th 7th 8th or no graders above 5th? This isn't about your kid not getting a slot because you seem angry at BASIS so obviously you wouldn't take it if offered. So what's your deal? Is it jealousy? You and yours spend a LOT of time on DCUM trying to convince parents who are at BASIS that what they know and think about the school doesn't matter. Based on the WL data, BASIS is getting harder to get into over time, not easier, so other than howling at the moon, what's in it for you? Why do you spend more time thinking and caring about BASIS than those who have kids there?

Because I call out BS when I see it. BASIS doesn't backfill because it's hard and they don't want to. That's the real reason. Plenty of schools across the country do it just fine, but not BASIS.

You didn't answer the question. Why are you so invested here? Why do you care where they get their 650 seats from? This angers you why?

Because I think letting one school shirk the harder stuff is bad for the system as a whole, and I think parents should know that BASIS' so-called "success" is founded on taking the easy path when they can get away with it.

Parents whose kids are at the school sent them there to be challenged and get them the heck away from virtue signalers like you who care more about the press release and faux "equity" than a quality education. No on at BASIS or Latin sits around and laments the lack of socially promoted, grade levels behind, disruptive kids in their classes. Give it a break.

I just don't think serving the easiest kids is a mark of quality, but you do you.

You are totally right. BASIS is a terrible school that doesn't provide rigor. Everyone who is there and happy just doesn't understand the school as well as you do. Good point. Thank the lord you are on the case.

I understand that people choose BASIS anyway. And I don't think it's a terrible school. But I do think its stats are not especially impressive in the context of its low at-risk percentage, high-SES student body, and shirking service of students with special needs and new arrivals. It's not that great, but has certain demographic manipulation policies that make it look better compared to schools that are serving different kids. That's not the same thing as quality or good teaching.

But hey why don't you go ahead and explain why the math PARCC scores are so low. And why re-enrollment of African-American students is only 77%. We're all ears.

Best scores in city at non-test in school. You would prefer...higher?

Yes, given that it is a high-SES school with very few at-risk kids and is constantly patting itself on the back for "rigor". BASIS' push-out policy (which you will deny exists) makes it functionally a test-in school after 5th grade, and a high-income one at that.

Why don't you tell us again why so many kids at BASIS do poorly on the math PARCC.

Are you lying or just misinformed?

Here are 9th grade math proficiency scores after kids have been at Basis (a 100% lottery school) for a few years. They are the highest in DC--even higher than selective schools such as Walls and Banneker. that cherry pick their students.

Basis: 77.36
Banneker: 66.56
Walls: 55.4
Latin: 30.11
DCI: 21.37

Wow, those are great numbers for Basis.

These numbers also carry across for African-Americans as well (after kids have been at Basis for a few years). Basis beats every public school in DC for African-American scores including schools such as Walls and Banneker that get to select their student body. In contrast, Basis is 100% lottery.

Basis is obviously a great choice for any academically motivated student.

Walls not so much, at least for math. And Latin and DCI definitely not so much.

9th grade PARCC proficiency (Black/African-American only):

Basis

ELA >=90%
Math 61.54

Banneker

ELA 86.41
Math 54.37

Walls

ELA 84.21
Math 29.41

Latin

ELA 43.59
Math 5.13

DCI

ELA 42.19
Math 15.38