BASIS DCPCSB to open two PK3-5 campuses

[Anonymous]

18 years, not 25. The Wikipedia entry is actually pretty fair and accurate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Different poster than the one telling the story. BASIS makes no secret about weeding more than half of the middle schoolers out, including very hard workers performing at or above grade level, which IMHO is cruel and unnecessary. They enroll more than 100 5th graders with the goal of retaining two or three dozen fairly docile elite-college bound 12th graders - that's their model. They've been doing this in Arizona for 25 years. To thrive at BASIS, a kid needs to have a great memory (the focus is on learning facts, not reflection) and strong work ethic. But the sad truth is that a student can get by without strong analytical skills, writing skills or indeed a strong love of learning. It's a narrow education with a lot of shady salesmanship in the mix, but some families really like it and many parents stay in the city for it.

You can suck it up at Hardy or Hobson and hire your tutors, pray for lottery luck at Latin, embrace language instruction and tablet high jinks at DCI, move to the burbs, fork out for privates, or take the plunge at BASIS hoping your kids has the stamina, thick skin and memory to cope. We pick our poison in this city outside the Deal District.

But again, this rationale would still only support weeding out kids who did badly on comps or were otherwise problematic. Like, at most, it would mean grading comps so that scores clustered at A/B or F (so that Cs and Ds got pushed to the F range), so they could force out "F" kids with As and Bs throughout the year. It wouldn't explain the PP's claim that her kid got As and Bs and then got Fs on the comps despite doing well on them. The school has literally no motivation to take A/B kids with A/B comp grades and force them out. None.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Different poster than the one telling the story. BASIS makes no secret about weeding more than half of the middle schoolers out, including very hard workers performing at or above grade level, which IMHO is cruel and unnecessary. They enroll more than 100 5th graders with the goal of retaining two or three dozen fairly docile elite-college bound 12th graders - that's their model. They've been doing this in Arizona for 25 years. To thrive at BASIS, a kid needs to have a great memory (the focus is on learning facts, not reflection) and strong work ethic. But the sad truth is that a student can get by without strong analytical skills, writing skills or indeed a strong love of learning. It's a narrow education with a lot of shady salesmanship in the mix, but some families really like it and many parents stay in the city for it.

You can suck it up at Hardy or Hobson and hire your tutors, pray for lottery luck at Latin, embrace language instruction and tablet high jinks at DCI, move to the burbs, fork out for privates, or take the plunge at BASIS hoping your kids has the stamina, thick skin and memory to cope. We pick our poison in this city outside the Deal District.

But again, this rationale would still only support weeding out kids who did badly on comps or were otherwise problematic. Like, at most, it would mean grading comps so that scores clustered at A/B or F (so that Cs and Ds got pushed to the F range), so they could force out "F" kids with As and Bs throughout the year. It wouldn't explain the PP's claim that her kid got As and Bs and then got Fs on the comps despite doing well on them. The school has literally no motivation to take A/B kids with A/B comp grades and force them out. None.

They do not force out kids who get As/Bs/Cs and pass the comps. They can't and don't.

But there are kids who get As/Bs/Cs in their classes who fail one or more comps 9<60%). It comes as a huge shock to the families and the students given the fact that they think they've done well all year and the lottery is over and they may not have any good options. The students can retake the exams at the end of the summer and if they get a 60% go on to the next grade. I was told by a BASIS DC administrator that most don't bother to sit for the retake, although some do and pass the second time around.

There are plenty of other students who leave simply because they have other options and choose to exercise them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So if I understand correctly, elite colleges do not want or appreciate students with good analytical or writing skills and they prefer that the students do not love learning?

And my DC would be better off at the largest comprehensive school on the city, hands down?

The bitterness and weirdness towards BASIS is limitless!

I'd go with infinite. But then the weirdness can come in the form of whom BASIS DC considers elite college material.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Different poster than the one telling the story. BASIS makes no secret about weeding more than half of the middle schoolers out, including very hard workers performing at or above grade level, which IMHO is cruel and unnecessary. They enroll more than 100 5th graders with the goal of retaining two or three dozen fairly docile elite-college bound 12th graders - that's their model. They've been doing this in Arizona for 25 years. To thrive at BASIS, a kid needs to have a great memory (the focus is on learning facts, not reflection) and strong work ethic. But the sad truth is that a student can get by without strong analytical skills, writing skills or indeed a strong love of learning. It's a narrow education with a lot of shady salesmanship in the mix, but some families really like it and many parents stay in the city for it.

You can suck it up at Hardy or Hobson and hire your tutors, pray for lottery luck at Latin, embrace language instruction and tablet high jinks at DCI, move to the burbs, fork out for privates, or take the plunge at BASIS hoping your kids has the stamina, thick skin and memory to cope. We pick our poison in this city outside the Deal District.

But again, this rationale would still only support weeding out kids who did badly on comps or were otherwise problematic. Like, at most, it would mean grading comps so that scores clustered at A/B or F (so that Cs and Ds got pushed to the F range), so they could force out "F" kids with As and Bs throughout the year. It wouldn't explain the PP's claim that her kid got As and Bs and then got Fs on the comps despite doing well on them. The school has literally no motivation to take A/B kids with A/B comp grades and force them out. None.

They do not force out kids who get As/Bs/Cs and pass the comps. They can't and don't.

But there are kids who get As/Bs/Cs in their classes who fail one or more comps 9<60%). It comes as a huge shock to the families and the students given the fact that they think they've done well all year and the lottery is over and they may not have any good options. The students can retake the exams at the end of the summer and if they get a 60% go on to the next grade. I was told by a BASIS DC administrator that most don't bother to sit for the retake, although some do and pass the second time around.

There are plenty of other students who leave simply because they have other options and choose to exercise them.

The system should be tweaked. Kids shouldn't mysteriously sail into comps with good grades then fail. Students clearly need more support in preparing for comps. Moreover, kids should be able to retake comps at any time, as many times as they like. What difference does it make when they retake a comp as long as they can pass?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Different poster than the one telling the story. BASIS makes no secret about weeding more than half of the middle schoolers out, including very hard workers performing at or above grade level, which IMHO is cruel and unnecessary. They enroll more than 100 5th graders with the goal of retaining two or three dozen fairly docile elite-college bound 12th graders - that's their model. They've been doing this in Arizona for 25 years. To thrive at BASIS, a kid needs to have a great memory (the focus is on learning facts, not reflection) and strong work ethic. But the sad truth is that a student can get by without strong analytical skills, writing skills or indeed a strong love of learning. It's a narrow education with a lot of shady salesmanship in the mix, but some families really like it and many parents stay in the city for it.

You can suck it up at Hardy or Hobson and hire your tutors, pray for lottery luck at Latin, embrace language instruction and tablet high jinks at DCI, move to the burbs, fork out for privates, or take the plunge at BASIS hoping your kids has the stamina, thick skin and memory to cope. We pick our poison in this city outside the Deal District.

But again, this rationale would still only support weeding out kids who did badly on comps or were otherwise problematic. Like, at most, it would mean grading comps so that scores clustered at A/B or F (so that Cs and Ds got pushed to the F range), so they could force out "F" kids with As and Bs throughout the year. It wouldn't explain the PP's claim that her kid got As and Bs and then got Fs on the comps despite doing well on them. The school has literally no motivation to take A/B kids with A/B comp grades and force them out. None.

They do not force out kids who get As/Bs/Cs and pass the comps. They can't and don't.

But there are kids who get As/Bs/Cs in their classes who fail one or more comps 9<60%). It comes as a huge shock to the families and the students given the fact that they think they've done well all year and the lottery is over and they may not have any good options. The students can retake the exams at the end of the summer and if they get a 60% go on to the next grade. I was told by a BASIS DC administrator that most don't bother to sit for the retake, although some do and pass the second time around.

There are plenty of other students who leave simply because they have other options and choose to exercise them.

The system should be tweaked. Kids shouldn't mysteriously sail into comps with good grades then fail. Students clearly need more support in preparing for comps. Moreover, kids should be able to retake comps at any time, as many times as they like. What difference does it make when they retake a comp as long as they can pass?

Agree about support for comps ahead of time There's always about 10 days of review in class but that may not be enough for all kids.

As for when? Comps are taken the second to last week of the school year. The retakes are typically given at the end of the summer - the two students I know who had to retake one spent the summer with a tutor to go over material they struggled with. Then they took the test in August to see what grade they'd be in for the fall.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Different poster than the one telling the story. BASIS makes no secret about weeding more than half of the middle schoolers out, including very hard workers performing at or above grade level, which IMHO is cruel and unnecessary. They enroll more than 100 5th graders with the goal of retaining two or three dozen fairly docile elite-college bound 12th graders - that's their model. They've been doing this in Arizona for 25 years. To thrive at BASIS, a kid needs to have a great memory (the focus is on learning facts, not reflection) and strong work ethic. But the sad truth is that a student can get by without strong analytical skills, writing skills or indeed a strong love of learning. It's a narrow education with a lot of shady salesmanship in the mix, but some families really like it and many parents stay in the city for it.

You can suck it up at Hardy or Hobson and hire your tutors, pray for lottery luck at Latin, embrace language instruction and tablet high jinks at DCI, move to the burbs, fork out for privates, or take the plunge at BASIS hoping your kids has the stamina, thick skin and memory to cope. We pick our poison in this city outside the Deal District.

But again, this rationale would still only support weeding out kids who did badly on comps or were otherwise problematic. Like, at most, it would mean grading comps so that scores clustered at A/B or F (so that Cs and Ds got pushed to the F range), so they could force out "F" kids with As and Bs throughout the year. It wouldn't explain the PP's claim that her kid got As and Bs and then got Fs on the comps despite doing well on them. The school has literally no motivation to take A/B kids with A/B comp grades and force them out. None.

Actually, the school does. BASIS.ed is a business. It's goal is to maximize profits. Since revenue is capped, unlike the case with private schools, the BASIS.ed approach is to reduce expenses. Kids who do well without additional support are welcome to stay. Kids who do poorly are pushed out. They require remediation. Kids who do well but have specially needs are also pushed out, but not as quickly as kids who do poorly. The require additional services. A small number are allowed to stay to so that the special ed staff has something to do and so that the PCSB doesn't yank their charter.

Take a look at the PCSB's reports on BASIS. Note the special ed rates of less than 5% and the re-enrollment rates of 80 - 85%. Compare those numbers to Latin's, where the special ed rates are 8.7 and 10.5%, and the re-enrollment rates are 100 and 96.4%:

http://www.dcpcsb.org/sites/default/files/report/2016-10-11%20PMF%20Score%20Card%20SY15-16_BASIS%20DC%20PCS%20%28Middle%20School%29_EC_K-8_2016.pdf
http://www.dcpcsb.org/sites/default/files/BASIS_DC_PCS_High_School_HS_2014-15.pdf

http://www.dcpcsb.org/sites/default/files/Washington%20Latin%20PCS%20%E2%80%93%20Middle%20School_EC_K-8_2016.pdf
http://www.dcpcsb.org/sites/default/files/Washington_Latin_PCS_Upper_School_HS_2014-15.pdf

The vast majority of families that enroll in BASIS come to the conclusion that it is not the right school for their kids. Some come to this realization quickly. For others, it takes years.

[Anonymous]

Sort of. Many BASIS DC families feel that the program is the best they can do in a public MS before their children clear the admissions bars at Walls or Banneker. They can't use their failing neighborhood DCPS middle schools, strike out at Latin, and do not plan to stay at BASIS for HS. The "we'll tough it out at BASIS out for MS" mentality is prevalent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:BASIS should be held accountable for a lot of things, as a franchise and a DC branch. These include purposely rehabbing a building without creating a library, stage, or any outdoor space (even my equally cramped Manhattan school installed a basketball court on the roof), offering what's surely the weakest MS PE program in the DC public system,

I think BASIS is pretty creepy, but in this case you need to put the blame where it's due, which is at the foot of the DC Council which continues to flout the law. The per pupil allotment at charters is about half that of DCPS, to the tune of a few thousand dollars per students.

IF the Council truly cared about providing more excellent educations for DC schoolchildren, it would close Coolidge at the end of this year, and allow several charters to have access. We don't need another $150 million dollar facility for 300 students, half of whom won't graduate anyway.

Wrong! The per pupil allotment is the same amount for DCPS students as DCPCS ones. Teachers in DCPCS, however, are definitely paid less than DCPS ones.

Per pupil allocatio is supposedly, but there are many things that DCPS pays for out of separate accounts that charters don't have - most notably facilities and maintenance costs for those facilities. Charters get just ~$3K per student per year to pay rent, construction loans, janitorial staff.

Exactly. Facilities spending per pupil in DCPS averages over $5K per student. Charters get nowhere near that.

[Anonymous]

Basis Ed keeps 20% of the $15k per student allocation right off the bat. There are no fields, no libraries, no nurse, and very few textbooks. They pay their teachers less than any other charter in DC, then ask their families EVERY WEEK in a newsletter to donate to a fund for their salaries. meanwhile, the Blocks are disgustingly wealthy.

[Anonymous]

How do you know that BASIS pays its teachers less than ALL the other charters in DC? Where are charter salaries published?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Basis Ed keeps 20% of the $15k per student allocation right off the bat. There are no fields, no libraries, no nurse, and very few textbooks. They pay their teachers less than any other charter in DC, then ask their families EVERY WEEK in a newsletter to donate to a fund for their salaries. meanwhile, the Blocks are disgustingly wealthy.

If I am not mistaken, there are a number of staff members and other services provided with that 20%.

As for books, there are quite a lot of books and often a classroom set and a set given to students to keep at home for the school year to use. As for the classes with out books, they are essentially given a text book and more via about a couple hundred of pages of handouts for each class without textbooks over the course of the school year. These handouts cost money since they print them out for each student. We have found the handouts to be very thorough and comprehensive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Basis Ed keeps 20% of the $15k per student allocation right off the bat. There are no fields, no libraries, no nurse, and very few textbooks. They pay their teachers less than any other charter in DC, then ask their families EVERY WEEK in a newsletter to donate to a fund for their salaries. meanwhile, the Blocks are disgustingly wealthy.

If I am not mistaken, there are a number of staff members and other services provided with that 20%.

As for books, there are quite a lot of books and often a classroom set and a set given to students to keep at home for the school year to use. As for the classes with out books, they are essentially given a text book and more via about a couple hundred of pages of handouts for each class without textbooks over the course of the school year. These handouts cost money since they print them out for each student. We have found the handouts to be very thorough and comprehensive.

Here is the budget in 2014, as well as the salaries. If you see how many FT employees ar paid by the $2.9 m, you can do the math. http://www.dcpcsb.org/sites/default/files/2014-2015%20Annual%20Budget(0T6M)(BASISDC).pdf

[Anonymous]

So what is the likelihood that there will actually be a Basis K-4 next year? When does the charter school board need to sign off to make it happen? Can the Basis elementary go into the lottery system (opening up soon) even if it's not approved? Or can they get applicants later on a first-come, first-served basis (poor choice of word, I know)?

And will sibling preference be in play between the elementary-middle-high school? Do people think that will make it pretty hard to get into if the child you're trying to lottery in isn't a sibling?

[Anonymous]

The vote is 21-November. The MSDC deadline won't be until March.