BASIS charter expansion is up for public comment

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have no idea if I want to send my kid to Basis or not (they're still in early elementary).

But I'm genuinely asking...does anyone know why they're asking to start an elementary instead of a second middle/high school? I get that Basis wants to prepare students for its academic approach earlier than grade 5, but DC has a lot of strong elementary schools. There aren't nearly as many strong middle/high schools.

Aren't there more than enough interested families to fill a second Basis middle/high?

No, there aren’t. There are more than enough interested families to fill a third Latin middle/high though.

[Anonymous]

What’s interesting is that I hear many of the same complaints about School Without Walls. Poor facility, poor sports, essential classes not offered, poor admin, etc. So that makes the only good schools worth going to Deal/JR and Latin, unless maybe you are into immersion and go to DCI?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm surprised by the number of people who sent their kid to BASIS and seemingly had no idea what their kid was in for. The building is a prison with no fields. The crazy curriculum is openly shared. The lack of gym, etc., is obvious. Why would you have lotteried there in the first place? Were you dumb? Did you really not have a Plan B if you couldn't get into Latin? What kind of idiots are you people?

They're not effective teachers and can't produce a happy well-balanced successful kid to save their lives, but as a for-profit they know how to market to rubes—and taxpayer pick up the bill!

Found the WTA rep. Maybe move to North Korea--you would be happier there.

USNW&R ranks 11 BASIS schools in the top 100 in the United States out of nearly 25,000 schools, and a BASIS school is ranked #1 in the whole country (with TJ in Fairfax ranked #14). So, yeah, I think that the people running BASIS know a lot more than you than running a school network. But you certainly know how to run your mouth off.

https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/national-rankings

+1. Finally a cogent response.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What’s interesting is that I hear many of the same complaints about School Without Walls. Poor facility, poor sports, essential classes not offered, poor admin, etc. So that makes the only good schools worth going to Deal/JR and Latin, unless maybe you are into immersion and go to DCI?

If you define good this way, sure:

JR=bad academics, many students below grade level, lousy test scores, bad post-graduate outcomes for majority, hard to get into good classes, overcrowded, daily brawls, drug use, bullying, and poor admin

Latin=bad academics, weak curriculum, lousy test scores, bad average post-graduate outcomes, less then stellar students, and poor admin

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am all for this, and if they do open I hope I can get my 3rd grader in from the lottery.

Genuine question to this group, especially those who oppose this. If I have an elementary-age kid who is very advanced, and is struggling with boredom at our DCPS school, where do you think I should send them?

I have asked around and don't get the sense that charter schools are any more advanced, so I haven't really bothered to go that route. It feels like maybe our only option is to move to a Wilson feeder, where it sounds like maybe the classes are a bit more advanced just due to the socio-economics of the students. But I'd love to not have to buy a $2 million house just to give my kid a little extra challenge in elementary school. A BASIS elementary feels like a great alternative, and it offers something new for EOTP families. Happy to be told I'm wrong though! Please do tell me what kind of options you'd recommend.

Honest response is to move to Fairfax. If you want to stay in DC and don't want to move to W3, then you need to supplement on your own.

Never happening. This is why I support a BASIS elementary school. I shouldn't have to move my entire family just to get a little extra challenge in upper elementary + middle schools. The city has great school options for early childhood through 2nd grade; and great high school options. There's a huge hole in the middle that needs to be filled. BASIS elementary would be just the start.

Do you hate your kid? If so, send them to BASIS elementary.

Signed,
Current BASIS parent

What’s bad about basis?
Signed,
Just enrolled off lottery.

NP. Here are the pros and cons.

Pro: Your kid will learn things. You will not be worried that the school they attend is too easy.

Cons: The administration is truly awful. The facilities are truly awful. Some of the teachers are shockingly bad. Sometimes they get fired mid-year because they are so bad that the school can’t justify keeping them on and then they are replaced by a different bad teacher. The teachers who are great usually end up leaving to teach in DCPS, where they get more money and less administrative chaos. Discipline is punitive and your child will be disciplined for other children’s bad behavior. The stress level is high. If your child is doing poorly, everyone will know, because BASIS announces who is doing well three times a year. Parent and student concerns are dismissed.

You sound a bit unhinged. Your child was disciplined for other children's bad behavior? Give me a break.

Here is my take:

1) The administration is fine. Too bad the current HOS is leaving though. We'll see how the new one does. In my experience, the administration has been quite responsive and flexible, and they have assisted us with several issues and implemented one of our suggestions. I highly doubt that you would see that kind of responsiveness and flexibility at a DCPS school. We certainly didn't see that at our DCPS elementary school.

2) Some teachers are bad but that is true for any school. Fortunately, unlike DCPS, bad teachers don't stay and are replaced. Some of the replacements have been excellent. I would say overall that the teaching quality is high.

3) Teachers who have left Basis have have been ill, gone to private school, moved out of the area, etc. I can only think of one who went to a DCPS school. Other than going to Walls, I doubt that any other DCPS school would be alternative. In fact, a couple teachers who left have actually returned to Basis.

4) There are no fights at Basis and bullying is minimal. My kids have never been disciplined, so I can't speak to that.

5) Definitely agree that the curriculum is advanced. My kids learned a lot more in middle school than I ever did.

6) Definitely agree that the the school is rigorous and can be stressful. I wouldn't recommend Basis for kids that are not academically inclined and willing to work hard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have no idea if I want to send my kid to Basis or not (they're still in early elementary).

But I'm genuinely asking...does anyone know why they're asking to start an elementary instead of a second middle/high school? I get that Basis wants to prepare students for its academic approach earlier than grade 5, but DC has a lot of strong elementary schools. There aren't nearly as many strong middle/high schools.

Aren't there more than enough interested families to fill a second Basis middle/high?

because it costs less to educate younger kids but you can collect the high per-student fees from DC taxpayers. Seriously, it's not hard to beat DCPS' efficiency in spending money, so the shareholders get to keep the difference, and with the promise of getting kids set up for the middle high school, they can lure in rubes who might wonder why elementary school is so bare bones.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm surprised by the number of people who sent their kid to BASIS and seemingly had no idea what their kid was in for. The building is a prison with no fields. The crazy curriculum is openly shared. The lack of gym, etc., is obvious. Why would you have lotteried there in the first place? Were you dumb? Did you really not have a Plan B if you couldn't get into Latin? What kind of idiots are you people?

They're not effective teachers and can't produce a happy well-balanced successful kid to save their lives, but as a for-profit they know how to market to rubes—and taxpayer pick up the bill!

Found the WTA rep. Maybe move to North Korea--you would be happier there.

USNW&R ranks 11 BASIS schools in the top 100 in the United States out of nearly 25,000 schools, and a BASIS school is ranked #1 in the whole country (with TJ in Fairfax ranked #14). So, yeah, I think that the people running BASIS know a lot more than you than running a school network. But you certainly know how to run your mouth off.

https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/national-rankings

DP. Couple things about BASIS in the rankings. All other BASIS schools are test-in, so that already makes their situation much different than all other schools except other test ins. But more importantly, BASIS structures their policies to affect their ranking. For example, US News gives a lot of weight to how many seniors have taken and passed at least one AP. BASIS does not allow their students to advance to senior year if they have not met this metric, so they always have 100/100, because they don’t allow kids to get to senior year if they don’t meet this.


Also, from my perspective, the people running *BASIS DC* are the problem. BASIS DC has actually dropped in the rankings year over year. They plummeted another 200 down this year and their PARCC scores have gotten worse. BASIS’s reaction to this was to cancel all electives for two weeks so they could do extensive test prep. This is the kind of thing that people are talking about when they say BASIS cares more about BASIS looking good than they do about student happiness/mental health/well-being.

In the current USN&WR rankings, BASIS DC is currently the #1 public middle school in DC, #1 charter school in DC, and #1 non-selective public high school in DC.

They seem to be doing fine.

https://www.usnews.com/education/k12/middle-schools/district-of-columbia
https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/district-of-columbia/rankings

And, btw, requiring a 3 on a single AP test in high school is not "gaming" the rankings. Any kid that can't pull a 3 on a single AP test shouldn't be there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm surprised by the number of people who sent their kid to BASIS and seemingly had no idea what their kid was in for. The building is a prison with no fields. The crazy curriculum is openly shared. The lack of gym, etc., is obvious. Why would you have lotteried there in the first place? Were you dumb? Did you really not have a Plan B if you couldn't get into Latin? What kind of idiots are you people?

They're not effective teachers and can't produce a happy well-balanced successful kid to save their lives, but as a for-profit they know how to market to rubes—and taxpayer pick up the bill!

Found the WTA rep. Maybe move to North Korea--you would be happier there.

USNW&R ranks 11 BASIS schools in the top 100 in the United States out of nearly 25,000 schools, and a BASIS school is ranked #1 in the whole country (with TJ in Fairfax ranked #14). So, yeah, I think that the people running BASIS know a lot more than you than running a school network. But you certainly know how to run your mouth off.

https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/national-rankings

no, you found opposite of the WTA rep, you found the DC taxpayer who thinks for-profits fleecing the bureaucrats in charge of DC is as gross as teacher unions. It's insane to find a model with less accountability than teacher's unions, but congrats BASIS!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm surprised by the number of people who sent their kid to BASIS and seemingly had no idea what their kid was in for. The building is a prison with no fields. The crazy curriculum is openly shared. The lack of gym, etc., is obvious. Why would you have lotteried there in the first place? Were you dumb? Did you really not have a Plan B if you couldn't get into Latin? What kind of idiots are you people?

They're not effective teachers and can't produce a happy well-balanced successful kid to save their lives, but as a for-profit they know how to market to rubes—and taxpayer pick up the bill!

Found the WTA rep. Maybe move to North Korea--you would be happier there.

USNW&R ranks 11 BASIS schools in the top 100 in the United States out of nearly 25,000 schools, and a BASIS school is ranked #1 in the whole country (with TJ in Fairfax ranked #14). So, yeah, I think that the people running BASIS know a lot more than you than running a school network. But you certainly know how to run your mouth off.

https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/national-rankings

didn't we all determine, like, a decade ago, that USNWR rankings are a scam? It's like your dermatologist one of those fake magazine covers that has her picture and the headline "Bethesda's Top 50 Doctors!"

DP. Couple things about BASIS in the rankings. All other BASIS schools are test-in, so that already makes their situation much different than all other schools except other test ins. But more importantly, BASIS structures their policies to affect their ranking. For example, US News gives a lot of weight to how many seniors have taken and passed at least one AP. BASIS does not allow their students to advance to senior year if they have not met this metric, so they always have 100/100, because they don’t allow kids to get to senior year if they don’t meet this.


Also, from my perspective, the people running *BASIS DC* are the problem. BASIS DC has actually dropped in the rankings year over year. They plummeted another 200 down this year and their PARCC scores have gotten worse. BASIS’s reaction to this was to cancel all electives for two weeks so they could do extensive test prep. This is the kind of thing that people are talking about when they say BASIS cares more about BASIS looking good than they do about student happiness/mental health/well-being.

In the current USN&WR rankings, BASIS DC is currently the #1 public middle school in DC, #1 charter school in DC, and #1 non-selective public high school in DC.

They seem to be doing fine.

https://www.usnews.com/education/k12/middle-schools/district-of-columbia
https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/district-of-columbia/rankings

And, btw, requiring a 3 on a single AP test in high school is not "gaming" the rankings. Any kid that can't pull a 3 on a single AP test shouldn't be there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm surprised by the number of people who sent their kid to BASIS and seemingly had no idea what their kid was in for. The building is a prison with no fields. The crazy curriculum is openly shared. The lack of gym, etc., is obvious. Why would you have lotteried there in the first place? Were you dumb? Did you really not have a Plan B if you couldn't get into Latin? What kind of idiots are you people?

They're not effective teachers and can't produce a happy well-balanced successful kid to save their lives, but as a for-profit they know how to market to rubes—and taxpayer pick up the bill!

Found the WTA rep. Maybe move to North Korea--you would be happier there.

USNW&R ranks 11 BASIS schools in the top 100 in the United States out of nearly 25,000 schools, and a BASIS school is ranked #1 in the whole country (with TJ in Fairfax ranked #14). So, yeah, I think that the people running BASIS know a lot more than you than running a school network. But you certainly know how to run your mouth off.

https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/national-rankings

DP. Couple things about BASIS in the rankings. All other BASIS schools are test-in, so that already makes their situation much different than all other schools except other test ins. But more importantly, BASIS structures their policies to affect their ranking. For example, US News gives a lot of weight to how many seniors have taken and passed at least one AP. BASIS does not allow their students to advance to senior year if they have not met this metric, so they always have 100/100, because they don’t allow kids to get to senior year if they don’t meet this.


Also, from my perspective, the people running *BASIS DC* are the problem. BASIS DC has actually dropped in the rankings year over year. They plummeted another 200 down this year and their PARCC scores have gotten worse. BASIS’s reaction to this was to cancel all electives for two weeks so they could do extensive test prep. This is the kind of thing that people are talking about when they say BASIS cares more about BASIS looking good than they do about student happiness/mental health/well-being.

In the current USN&WR rankings, BASIS DC is currently the #1 public middle school in DC, #1 charter school in DC, and #1 non-selective public high school in DC.

They seem to be doing fine.

https://www.usnews.com/education/k12/middle-schools/district-of-columbia
https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/district-of-columbia/rankings

And, btw, requiring a 3 on a single AP test in high school is not "gaming" the rankings. Any kid that can't pull a 3 on a single AP test shouldn't be there.

Didn't we all decide, like, four years ago that USNWR is a scam? It's like when you go to your dermatologist and she's paid for one of those fake magazine covers with her picture on it and the headline "Bethesda's 50 Best Doctors!"

But if you really want to act like they're real rankings, look at the profile for BASIS and compare it. My favorite part is where it says there were 78 kids in the 9th grade and 42 in the 12th grade.

Now compare that to Banneker: https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/district-of-columbia/districts/district-of-columbia-public-schools/benjamin-banneker-academy-high-school-4650

168 in 9th, and 139 in 12th and 73 percent passed one AP exam.

Look at Walls:https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/district-of-columbia/districts/district-of-columbia-public-schools/school-without-walls-high-school-4648

158 in 9th, 150 in 12th and 99 percent passed at least one AP exam.

The reason they can claim 100 percent passed at least one AP exam is because they washed out the rest. The 100 percent number isn't a sign of excellence, it's a sign of appalling failure. Kids don't stay at BASIS and the for-profit people who run it twist that to look like success.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have no idea if I want to send my kid to Basis or not (they're still in early elementary).

But I'm genuinely asking...does anyone know why they're asking to start an elementary instead of a second middle/high school? I get that Basis wants to prepare students for its academic approach earlier than grade 5, but DC has a lot of strong elementary schools. There aren't nearly as many strong middle/high schools.

Aren't there more than enough interested families to fill a second Basis middle/high?

because it costs less to educate younger kids but you can collect the high per-student fees from DC taxpayers. Seriously, it's not hard to beat DCPS' efficiency in spending money, so the shareholders get to keep the difference, and with the promise of getting kids set up for the middle high school, they can lure in rubes who might wonder why elementary school is so bare bones.

According to charter board reports, BASIS DC pays BASIS national a management fee of 16% of revenue (about 2 million dollars). There doesn't seem to be an arrangement of shareholders keeping any excess. One has to assume that the charter board has examined the management fee contract and finds it to be fair for services provided.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm surprised by the number of people who sent their kid to BASIS and seemingly had no idea what their kid was in for. The building is a prison with no fields. The crazy curriculum is openly shared. The lack of gym, etc., is obvious. Why would you have lotteried there in the first place? Were you dumb? Did you really not have a Plan B if you couldn't get into Latin? What kind of idiots are you people?

They're not effective teachers and can't produce a happy well-balanced successful kid to save their lives, but as a for-profit they know how to market to rubes—and taxpayer pick up the bill!

Found the WTA rep. Maybe move to North Korea--you would be happier there.

USNW&R ranks 11 BASIS schools in the top 100 in the United States out of nearly 25,000 schools, and a BASIS school is ranked #1 in the whole country (with TJ in Fairfax ranked #14). So, yeah, I think that the people running BASIS know a lot more than you than running a school network. But you certainly know how to run your mouth off.

https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/national-rankings

DP. Couple things about BASIS in the rankings. All other BASIS schools are test-in, so that already makes their situation much different than all other schools except other test ins. But more importantly, BASIS structures their policies to affect their ranking. For example, US News gives a lot of weight to how many seniors have taken and passed at least one AP. BASIS does not allow their students to advance to senior year if they have not met this metric, so they always have 100/100, because they don’t allow kids to get to senior year if they don’t meet this.


Also, from my perspective, the people running *BASIS DC* are the problem. BASIS DC has actually dropped in the rankings year over year. They plummeted another 200 down this year and their PARCC scores have gotten worse. BASIS’s reaction to this was to cancel all electives for two weeks so they could do extensive test prep. This is the kind of thing that people are talking about when they say BASIS cares more about BASIS looking good than they do about student happiness/mental health/well-being.

In the current USN&WR rankings, BASIS DC is currently the #1 public middle school in DC, #1 charter school in DC, and #1 non-selective public high school in DC.

They seem to be doing fine.

https://www.usnews.com/education/k12/middle-schools/district-of-columbia
https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/district-of-columbia/rankings

And, btw, requiring a 3 on a single AP test in high school is not "gaming" the rankings. Any kid that can't pull a 3 on a single AP test shouldn't be there.

Didn't we all decide, like, four years ago that USNWR is a scam? It's like when you go to your dermatologist and she's paid for one of those fake magazine covers with her picture on it and the headline "Bethesda's 50 Best Doctors!"

But if you really want to act like they're real rankings, look at the profile for BASIS and compare it. My favorite part is where it says there were 78 kids in the 9th grade and 42 in the 12th grade.

Now compare that to Banneker: https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/district-of-columbia/districts/district-of-columbia-public-schools/benjamin-banneker-academy-high-school-4650

168 in 9th, and 139 in 12th and 73 percent passed one AP exam.

Look at Walls:https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/district-of-columbia/districts/district-of-columbia-public-schools/school-without-walls-high-school-4648

158 in 9th, 150 in 12th and 99 percent passed at least one AP exam.

The reason they can claim 100 percent passed at least one AP exam is because they washed out the rest. The 100 percent number isn't a sign of excellence, it's a sign of appalling failure. Kids don't stay at BASIS and the for-profit people who run it twist that to look like success.

This is certainly the dumbest thing I have read today.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm surprised by the number of people who sent their kid to BASIS and seemingly had no idea what their kid was in for. The building is a prison with no fields. The crazy curriculum is openly shared. The lack of gym, etc., is obvious. Why would you have lotteried there in the first place? Were you dumb? Did you really not have a Plan B if you couldn't get into Latin? What kind of idiots are you people?

They're not effective teachers and can't produce a happy well-balanced successful kid to save their lives, but as a for-profit they know how to market to rubes—and taxpayer pick up the bill!

Found the WTA rep. Maybe move to North Korea--you would be happier there.

USNW&R ranks 11 BASIS schools in the top 100 in the United States out of nearly 25,000 schools, and a BASIS school is ranked #1 in the whole country (with TJ in Fairfax ranked #14). So, yeah, I think that the people running BASIS know a lot more than you than running a school network. But you certainly know how to run your mouth off.

https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/national-rankings

DP. Couple things about BASIS in the rankings. All other BASIS schools are test-in, so that already makes their situation much different than all other schools except other test ins. But more importantly, BASIS structures their policies to affect their ranking. For example, US News gives a lot of weight to how many seniors have taken and passed at least one AP. BASIS does not allow their students to advance to senior year if they have not met this metric, so they always have 100/100, because they don’t allow kids to get to senior year if they don’t meet this.


Also, from my perspective, the people running *BASIS DC* are the problem. BASIS DC has actually dropped in the rankings year over year. They plummeted another 200 down this year and their PARCC scores have gotten worse. BASIS’s reaction to this was to cancel all electives for two weeks so they could do extensive test prep. This is the kind of thing that people are talking about when they say BASIS cares more about BASIS looking good than they do about student happiness/mental health/well-being.

In the current USN&WR rankings, BASIS DC is currently the #1 public middle school in DC, #1 charter school in DC, and #1 non-selective public high school in DC.

They seem to be doing fine.

https://www.usnews.com/education/k12/middle-schools/district-of-columbia
https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/district-of-columbia/rankings

And, btw, requiring a 3 on a single AP test in high school is not "gaming" the rankings. Any kid that can't pull a 3 on a single AP test shouldn't be there.

Didn't we all decide, like, four years ago that USNWR is a scam? It's like when you go to your dermatologist and she's paid for one of those fake magazine covers with her picture on it and the headline "Bethesda's 50 Best Doctors!"

But if you really want to act like they're real rankings, look at the profile for BASIS and compare it. My favorite part is where it says there were 78 kids in the 9th grade and 42 in the 12th grade.

Now compare that to Banneker: https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/district-of-columbia/districts/district-of-columbia-public-schools/benjamin-banneker-academy-high-school-4650

168 in 9th, and 139 in 12th and 73 percent passed one AP exam.

Look at Walls:https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/district-of-columbia/districts/district-of-columbia-public-schools/school-without-walls-high-school-4648

158 in 9th, 150 in 12th and 99 percent passed at least one AP exam.

The reason they can claim 100 percent passed at least one AP exam is because they washed out the rest. The 100 percent number isn't a sign of excellence, it's a sign of appalling failure. Kids don't stay at BASIS and the for-profit people who run it twist that to look like success.

This is certainly the dumbest thing I have read today.

Agreed. Now you see why so many people think basis sucks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have no idea if I want to send my kid to Basis or not (they're still in early elementary).

But I'm genuinely asking...does anyone know why they're asking to start an elementary instead of a second middle/high school? I get that Basis wants to prepare students for its academic approach earlier than grade 5, but DC has a lot of strong elementary schools. There aren't nearly as many strong middle/high schools.

Aren't there more than enough interested families to fill a second Basis middle/high?

because it costs less to educate younger kids but you can collect the high per-student fees from DC taxpayers. Seriously, it's not hard to beat DCPS' efficiency in spending money, so the shareholders get to keep the difference, and with the promise of getting kids set up for the middle high school, they can lure in rubes who might wonder why elementary school is so bare bones.

According to charter board reports, BASIS DC pays BASIS national a management fee of 16% of revenue (about 2 million dollars). There doesn't seem to be an arrangement of shareholders keeping any excess. One has to assume that the charter board has examined the management fee contract and finds it to be fair for services provided.

$2 million!!!!

That all goes to the shareholders! $2 million would buy a helluva outdoor space or some teachers who stay or a very nice art and music program!

Maybe I don’t trust the board of dc bureaucrats who are as heavily invested in the charter school concept as you…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm surprised by the number of people who sent their kid to BASIS and seemingly had no idea what their kid was in for. The building is a prison with no fields. The crazy curriculum is openly shared. The lack of gym, etc., is obvious. Why would you have lotteried there in the first place? Were you dumb? Did you really not have a Plan B if you couldn't get into Latin? What kind of idiots are you people?

They're not effective teachers and can't produce a happy well-balanced successful kid to save their lives, but as a for-profit they know how to market to rubes—and taxpayer pick up the bill!

Found the WTA rep. Maybe move to North Korea--you would be happier there.

USNW&R ranks 11 BASIS schools in the top 100 in the United States out of nearly 25,000 schools, and a BASIS school is ranked #1 in the whole country (with TJ in Fairfax ranked #14). So, yeah, I think that the people running BASIS know a lot more than you than running a school network. But you certainly know how to run your mouth off.

https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/national-rankings

DP. Couple things about BASIS in the rankings. All other BASIS schools are test-in, so that already makes their situation much different than all other schools except other test ins. But more importantly, BASIS structures their policies to affect their ranking. For example, US News gives a lot of weight to how many seniors have taken and passed at least one AP. BASIS does not allow their students to advance to senior year if they have not met this metric, so they always have 100/100, because they don’t allow kids to get to senior year if they don’t meet this.


Also, from my perspective, the people running *BASIS DC* are the problem. BASIS DC has actually dropped in the rankings year over year. They plummeted another 200 down this year and their PARCC scores have gotten worse. BASIS’s reaction to this was to cancel all electives for two weeks so they could do extensive test prep. This is the kind of thing that people are talking about when they say BASIS cares more about BASIS looking good than they do about student happiness/mental health/well-being.

In the current USN&WR rankings, BASIS DC is currently the #1 public middle school in DC, #1 charter school in DC, and #1 non-selective public high school in DC.

They seem to be doing fine.

https://www.usnews.com/education/k12/middle-schools/district-of-columbia
https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/district-of-columbia/rankings

And, btw, requiring a 3 on a single AP test in high school is not "gaming" the rankings. Any kid that can't pull a 3 on a single AP test shouldn't be there.

Requiring a 3 and not allowing a student to advance if they don't achieve it is absolutely "gaming" the rankings. It ensures that on one of the most important metrics, you are guaranteed 100% of the points, not because you actually taught the students to the point that they all got a 3, but because you prevented those who got a 3 from being counted in your stats.

Here, because you love US News so much, the national rankings:

TJ: #14
School Without Walls: #68
Benjamin Banneker: #96
Walt Whitman: #139
Langley: #148
Wootton: #196
Oakton: #199
McLean: #218
...
BASIS DC: #400

Note that none of those other schools are playing games with the US News stats.