BASIS charter expansion is up for public comment

[Anonymous]

I can see how having an elementary school would make the middle school experience at BASIS much easier. My kid had to make quite a big adjustment to legitimate homework and studying because our elementary school had no rigor at all. I think having families get a sense of BASIS earlier (to better determine if the learning model is a good fit for their child) would really help to reduce the attrition later both because they can pull their kid sooner and still have other middle school options and because the kids who remain will be more prepared and struggle less to adapt to middle school. BASIS doesn’t work for most people but only some people know and understand that early enough to avoid having a kid struggle through it. I would love to see more students reach middle school at BASIS and see it as a place they know they will stay, at least for middle school. I can understand having more choices and wanting different experiences for high school, even if a kid was excelling at BASIS. That’s not meant to be a knock against the school at all.

[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.

How do you know that the reason people left is because they didn't pass an AP exam?

[Anonymous]

USN&WR is a magazine that no one buys or pays attention to. Why are you people obsessed with its rankings?? No one takes them seriously.

[Anonymous]

No one at Basis fails to graduate because they didn’t get a 3 on an AP exam.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:USN&WR is a magazine that no one buys or pays attention to. Why are you people obsessed with its rankings?? No one takes them seriously.

You realize that USNWR rankings are based on actual data, right?

Maybe get off DCUM and learn something.

GMAFB

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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…

Wouldn't they be providing some services for that $2 million? Curriculum, professional development, coaching, purchasing, accounting, operational support?

Trust the board of DC bureaucrats or not, it just doesn't seem reasonable that they would allow 2 million to be siphoned out of a DC public school and nothing would be provided in return.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:USN&WR is a magazine that no one buys or pays attention to. Why are you people obsessed with its rankings?? No one takes them seriously.

You realize that USNWR rankings are based on actual data, right?

Maybe get off DCUM and learn something.

GMAFB

Data that is meaningless. Look at the "State Assessment Performance Rank" and tell me how that is calculated.

[Anonymous]

All this ranting and raving . .. In the end, you need to compare BASIS DC to your alternatives. Are you going to move to MD or VA? If not, it is a pretty damn good (free) public education that blows (DCPS middle school) competition out of the water, IMO. (Note -this comment is for those NOT zoned for Deal - which, a lot of families like, but I do not know much about). My kid was there for middle school and I was thoroughly impressed with the curriculum - much better than kid's current high school And - for that one mom who keeps commenting thank goodness for her divorce so her kids can now go to some much better school in VA . . . hmmm. Really? BASIS curriculum is certainly better than the classes I took at that age (and I ended up attaining several undergrad/grad schools degrees and a great career). So if BASIS is the low bar, I guess it should work out okay . .. . .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:USN&WR is a magazine that no one buys or pays attention to. Why are you people obsessed with its rankings?? No one takes them seriously.

You realize that USNWR rankings are based on actual data, right?

Maybe get off DCUM and learn something.

GMAFB

Data that is meaningless. Look at the "State Assessment Performance Rank" and tell me how that is calculated.

Dumb.

You think mathematics and reading proficiency test data is meaningless? You are truly an idiot.

Learn how to google, pal:

https://www.usnews.com/education/k12/articles/how-us-news-calculated-the-rankings
https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/articles/rankings-faq#3

[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.

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.

I’m certainly not invested in defending the merits/utility of USNWR rankings, but this isn’t an apples-to-apples comparison. Basis DC is open to anyone through the lottery, which means its population looks a lot different than selective schools like TJ and SWW and Banneker and also a lot different than uber wealthy districts like those listed here.

I think it makes more sense to have a test or something to select for academically advanced students at the outset, but failing that wholeheartedly support whatever measures they want to use to maintain some minimum academic standard (and a 3 on a single AP test is an extremely low bar).

[Anonymous]

I'm not buying that the BASIS population looks a lot different than that of selective schools and upscale suburban districts, or that tests are needed to select academically advanced students for certain classes. BASIS attracts mostly UMC families, primarily from Ward 6. The crux of the problem is that both DCPS and DCPC reject academic tracking across the board in core middle school subjects.

In Arlington, public school families can opt for students to take "intensified" science, English, social studies, along with math taught one or two years ahead of grade level, in 7th and 8th grades. Any student can take intensified classes, but content won't be dumbed down for academic stragglers. If we had the same system in DC, we'd be a lot better off.

[Anonymous]

A no-brainer. The high octane BASIS middle school curriculum is nothing more than what's offered in the burbs in standard honors classes pitched above grade level.

The only exception is for science, which is more advanced at BASIS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A no-brainer. The high octane BASIS middle school curriculum is nothing more than what's offered in the burbs in standard honors classes pitched above grade level.

The only exception is for science, which is more advanced at BASIS.

We are not finding this to be the case. The science is pretty repetitive. Our child is learning the same things over and over again year over year. The science you can take in high school is also not as diverse as what you can get in the burbs.

[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.

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.

I’m certainly not invested in defending the merits/utility of USNWR rankings, but this isn’t an apples-to-apples comparison. Basis DC is open to anyone through the lottery, which means its population looks a lot different than selective schools like TJ and SWW and Banneker and also a lot different than uber wealthy districts like those listed here.

I think it makes more sense to have a test or something to select for academically advanced students at the outset, but failing that wholeheartedly support whatever measures they want to use to maintain some minimum academic standard (and a 3 on a single AP test is an extremely low bar).

Wrong. BASIS (like the suburban schools on that list) has single digit at-risk numbers, which are mostly from the lower grades before at-risk kids drop out. Both SWW and Banneker have higher at-risk numbers - with Banneker having almost triple the number of at-risk kids that BASIS does.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm not buying that the BASIS population looks a lot different than that of selective schools and upscale suburban districts, or that tests are needed to select academically advanced students for certain classes. BASIS attracts mostly UMC families, primarily from Ward 6. The crux of the problem is that both DCPS and DCPC reject academic tracking across the board in core middle school subjects.

You sound like one of those Trump supporters who, when faced with facts, reverts to "I'm not buying it." BASIS is an open lottery. Selective schools are test-in. There is no point in trying to have a reasonable conversation with someone who refuses to acknowledge basic grounding facts. You may go.