BASIS head of school steps down

[Anonymous]

The better question is why do so few Asian families with school-age children live in the District and enroll in our public schools, when MoCo communities just a few miles from the DC line are is home to around 30,000 Asians, mostly Chinese immigrants.

Asian immigrant parents (like my own) are rarely fired up about school diversity. They simply want high-performing schools, particularly for STEM subjects. It's an obvious chicken-and-egg dilemma. Honors for All at Wilson and the chance to lottery into charters like BASIS just don't attract many Asian families.

At our DCPS, where we've had children for 7 years now, we've seen the Asian student percentage rise from less than 1% to around 5% in the last five years. When by-right schools reach a critical mass of performance, the Asian parents come.

[Anonymous]

Just tossing in some data from the latest report cards.

2% of all DCPS and public charter students are Asian.

Percentage of Asian students at the MS/HSs that are mentioned most frequently on DCUM.

Banneker 3%
BASIS 8%
Deal 5%
DCI 3%
Hardy 9%
SWW HS 8%
SH 0%
Wilson 7%

[Anonymous]

OK, very interesting but those stats are a little out of date, I'm guessing from SY 2018-2019, maybe even SY 2017-18.

The DCI percentage is clearly higher than 3% this year and there are a few Asian students at Stuart Hobson - we know the families.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m a product of NYC public schools, including one of its test-in magnet programs. Looking back, I remember a series of horrible buildings, no green space, little if any sports (unless you count ping-pong, which was very big at my high school), and only rare field trips (which I usually hated — despite “the wonders of NYC”).

I also remember a lot of brilliant kids, huge numbers of whom went onto Ivy League or equivalent colleges, oftentimes as first generation college students.

Coming from this experience, the lack of green fields or a nice building doesn’t really bother me. And thus far it hasn’t bothered my nerdy, non-athletic child.

It’s what happens inside the classroom that counts. And thus far my child (who has never struggled academically; always gotten 5s on PAARC, etc) really loves the teachers, curriculum and peers—amazingly, even the homework.

If for some reason in the future Basis fails to be a good option, we’ll figure out a plan B. But right now we’re not looking, though I guess we’ll continue to keep Walls in the mix as we approach high school.

I'm also a product of NYC public schools, Hunter College MS/HS. We had a decent facility, but not much in the way of sports. The main difference between my NYC test-in magnet program and BASIS was that the administrator and teaching corps of the former was high caliber across the board and stable. At BASIS, not so much. Good teachers often leave after a year or two, and weak ones often stay. Teachers' working conditions aren't the best, with the HOS changing so often, and not-so-great pay and facilities. The current HOS has made major inroads in improving working conditions for teachers, her greatest contribution. Older, long-term, highly experienced teachers are in short supply at BASIS, though there certainly are some.

Another problem is that BASIS HQ in AZ won't tolerate PTAs or parent organizations with any say in the running of the campuses. All you can do as a parent is fund raise for the school through the booster club, then hand over what funds/grant money you draw in for admins to spend. This is one reasons we left, for a private - we tired of the lack of parent input and involvement. For example, at one point, I proposed to admins that departing families, particularly those of strong students, be encouraged to go through exit interviews before disappearing, explaining exactly why they were leaving to help inform admins' decision making. I was ignored.

I'm not convinced that BASIS actually works very well for most of its families. More like its tolerated by many parents because the academics are solid, the college advising is good, kids tend to form strong friendships in a small and intense program, and participating families really don't want to leave DC over school issues.

As a New Yorker, I think that our DC public middle and high schools can do a lot better by families, including BASIS families. If you disagree, I respect your views.

Those NYC test in schools have a serious diversity problem. Top schools are 2/3 asian and the remainder white. The number of black and latino students are grossly under-represented at test-in NYC magnets when looking at 5 Boroughs as a whole. BASIS is Disney It's a Small World by comparison.

The NYC test-in schools have nowhere near the serious diversity problem of the great majority of DC public schools. There is only one school in the entire City--Deal--without enough Asian students to pull out their test scores by subgroup (25 students+). Of the 9 Capitol Hill DCPS elementary schools, there is only one--Brent--with more than half a dozen Asian students from K-5th grade. If you're white or black, you think that BASIS and Washington Latin are highly diverse. If you're Asian, not so much.

So with an overall demographic of 3% in DC, just what kind of numbers for Asian students would be acceptable for DC public schools?

[Anonymous]

Who knows, but the stats are bleak because Asian parents aren't drinking the Kool-aid about the benefits of diversity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The better question is why do so few Asian families with school-age children live in the District and enroll in our public schools, when MoCo communities just a few miles from the DC line are is home to around 30,000 Asians, mostly Chinese immigrants.

Asian immigrant parents (like my own) are rarely fired up about school diversity. They simply want high-performing schools, particularly for STEM subjects. It's an obvious chicken-and-egg dilemma. Honors for All at Wilson and the chance to lottery into charters like BASIS just don't attract many Asian families.

At our DCPS, where we've had children for 7 years now, we've seen the Asian student percentage rise from less than 1% to around 5% in the last five years. When by-right schools reach a critical mass of performance, the Asian parents come.

+1. Why live in DC when VA and MD have some of the best public schools in the country? Only way this makes sense is if you send your kids to private school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Who knows, but the stats are bleak because Asian parents aren't drinking the Kool-aid about the benefits of diversity.

Usually Asian families *are* the diversity, and that isn't so fun after awhile.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The better question is why do so few Asian families with school-age children live in the District and enroll in our public schools, when MoCo communities just a few miles from the DC line are is home to around 30,000 Asians, mostly Chinese immigrants.

Asian immigrant parents (like my own) are rarely fired up about school diversity. They simply want high-performing schools, particularly for STEM subjects. It's an obvious chicken-and-egg dilemma. Honors for All at Wilson and the chance to lottery into charters like BASIS just don't attract many Asian families.

At our DCPS, where we've had children for 7 years now, we've seen the Asian student percentage rise from less than 1% to around 5% in the last five years. When by-right schools reach a critical mass of performance, the Asian parents come.

It's easier to live in a place where the Asian community is established than where it isn't. Living in MoCo means you also have easy access to Asian grocery stores, Asian language classes/cultural events, etc. All extremely important.

[Anonymous]

And you're telling us this as an...Asian immigrant parent?

We think it's easier to live within a short walk of Metro stations serving various lines, as well as Union Station, than in MoCo. The location of my office has shifted from VA, to MD, to DC and back to VA since I started with my Federal agency. If I didn't live downtown, my headaches (for commute and career) would have been far greater than those associated with having to drive to Rockville on a weekend afternoon to shop at my favorite Asian grocery store and send my children to a heritage language school. My children speak my Asian language well, in large part because it's easy to attract au pairs who speak it to our lively urban neighborhood (unlike drawing them to blah suburban MoCo). Plus, we can easily hop on buses and trains to travel to the nation's largest Chinatowns, in NYC, where some of our relatives reside, unlike our MoCo brethren.

Can't see us in DC public HS. We're not OK with Honors for All, schools that force a dead Romance language (Latin) on all the students and only teach Asian languages at a beginner level, and any program where Asian participation is in the single digits. We're hardly alone on all these "extremely important" issues.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Who knows, but the stats are bleak because Asian parents aren't drinking the Kool-aid about the benefits of diversity.

Usually Asian families *are* the diversity, and that isn't so fun after awhile.

Very true.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The better question is why do so few Asian families with school-age children live in the District and enroll in our public schools, when MoCo communities just a few miles from the DC line are is home to around 30,000 Asians, mostly Chinese immigrants.

Asian immigrant parents (like my own) are rarely fired up about school diversity. They simply want high-performing schools, particularly for STEM subjects. It's an obvious chicken-and-egg dilemma. Honors for All at Wilson and the chance to lottery into charters like BASIS just don't attract many Asian families.

At our DCPS, where we've had children for 7 years now, we've seen the Asian student percentage rise from less than 1% to around 5% in the last five years. When by-right schools reach a critical mass of performance, the Asian parents come.

It's easier to live in a place where the Asian community is established than where it isn't. Living in MoCo means you also have easy access to Asian grocery stores, Asian language classes/cultural events, etc. All extremely important.

PR, Kaplan, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And you're telling us this as an...Asian immigrant parent?

We think it's easier to live within a short walk of Metro stations serving various lines, as well as Union Station, than in MoCo. The location of my office has shifted from VA, to MD, to DC and back to VA since I started with my Federal agency. If I didn't live downtown, my headaches (for commute and career) would have been far greater than those associated with having to drive to Rockville on a weekend afternoon to shop at my favorite Asian grocery store and send my children to a heritage language school. My children speak my Asian language well, in large part because it's easy to attract au pairs who speak it to our lively urban neighborhood (unlike drawing them to blah suburban MoCo). Plus, we can easily hop on buses and trains to travel to the nation's largest Chinatowns, in NYC, where some of our relatives reside, unlike our MoCo brethren.

Can't see us in DC public HS. We're not OK with Honors for All, schools that force a dead Romance language (Latin) on all the students and only teach Asian languages at a beginner level, and any program where Asian participation is in the single digits. We're hardly alone on all these "extremely important" issues.

It's true that DCPS and DCPCS leaders don't tend to think about what Asian parents are looking for in public schools, other than maybe STEM at BASIS. Not yet anyway.

[Anonymous]

2018

Stuyvesant 72% Asian
Bronx Science 64% Asian
Boston Latin 35% Asian
Banneker 3%
BASIS 8%
Wilson 7%

Therein lies the difference.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:2018

Stuyvesant 72% Asian
Bronx Science 64% Asian
Boston Latin 35% Asian
Banneker 3%
BASIS 8%
Wilson 7%

Therein lies the difference.

What is the percentage of Asian students in the NYC public school system or NYC itself? I am pretty certain it is larger than 2% — or a total of 1800 Asian students from PK3-12. It isn’t a valid comparison.

[Anonymous]

Around 8%. NYC doesn't support affirmative action admissions to its test-in magnet HS programs. There are no interviews, like at SWW.