BASIS head of school steps down

[Anonymous]

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

8% and a city the size of New York which can support many magnet schools is just a different beast. Also are you breaking out South Asians for both DC and NYC? Asian compromises many different cultures.

[Anonymous]

OK, so compare DC's test-in magnet programs to Boston's instead. Boston has just three "Exam High Schools" in MA-speak, all of which are roughly 1/3 Asian in a City whose population is only around 6% Asian. The difference is that Boston's magnets don't use an admissions interview and do use a tough admissions test. SWW goes with an interview and an easy test. Arguably, the Walls interview is use to identify and offer preferential treatment in admissions to "underserved minorities" (read applicants who are low SES and brown or black but not Asian). I won't be surprised if Walls is sued by a white or Asian family, or a group of them, over discriminatory admissions in the coming years, like Boston Latin was 20 years ago, when the program still had an admissions interview. The program no longer does.

One big reason some BASIS MS families stay for HS is because their no-excuses curriculum weeds out weaker students, and dissuades their families from enrolling, in a way that no DCPS MS or HS does.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OK, so compare DC's test-in magnet programs to Boston's instead. Boston has just three "Exam High Schools" in MA-speak, all of which are roughly 1/3 Asian in a City whose population is only around 6% Asian. The difference is that Boston's magnets don't use an admissions interview and do use a tough admissions test. SWW goes with an interview and an easy test. Arguably, the Walls interview is use to identify and offer preferential treatment in admissions to "underserved minorities" (read applicants who are low SES and brown or black but not Asian). I won't be surprised if Walls is sued by a white or Asian family, or a group of them, over discriminatory admissions in the coming years, like Boston Latin was 20 years ago, when the program still had an admissions interview. The program no longer does.

One big reason some BASIS MS families stay for HS is because their no-excuses curriculum weeds out weaker students, and dissuades their families from enrolling, in a way that no DCPS MS or HS does.

You have literally no evidence for this -- and your theory does not explain why there are Asian students at Wilson, and none at Banneker which also weeds out weaker students. BTW SWW counsels students out every year.

[Anonymous]

^^ Sorry - no evidence that the SWW interview disadvantages anyone. You can hypothesize all day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^^ Sorry - no evidence that the SWW interview disadvantages anyone. You can hypothesize all day.

If it advantages someone — which DCPS aims to do at SWW — then it disadvantages someone else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^ Sorry - no evidence that the SWW interview disadvantages anyone. You can hypothesize all day.

If it advantages someone — which DCPS aims to do at SWW — then it disadvantages someone else.

Evidence of this? Are you the DCPS administrator with oversight of SWW? The principal?

There is an effort to allow more students to SIT for the exam, but you must be one of the high scorers on the exam to advance. Whether the test is "easy" as you assert or not, only 200 or so students will advance to the next stage, and virtually all are admitted or put on the wait list (which generally clears).

[Anonymous]

NP who agrees that the Walls interview is pretty darn suspect. DCPS should dare to ditch the interview, as Boston Latin had to as part of a lawsuit settlement in the early 2000s. I just looked it up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^ Sorry - no evidence that the SWW interview disadvantages anyone. You can hypothesize all day.

If it advantages someone — which DCPS aims to do at SWW — then it disadvantages someone else.

Come on, the percentage of white and Asian students admitted to Walls magically mirrors the percentages living in the City closely year after year. Total joke. Go drink more Kool-aid and stop the BS.

[Anonymous]

Have they named a new head of school yet at least?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have they named a new head of school yet at least?

No; there was a recent email with general "lots of good candidates" type information. I'd actually be worried if they announced too quickly, as this really deserves a thorough search. I'd rather have a few weeks (or even months) without a head than a quick appointment of a subpar person.

[Anonymous]

Well, in the past, delays didn't prevent BASIS from being landed with several subpar heads.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OK, so compare DC's test-in magnet programs to Boston's instead. Boston has just three "Exam High Schools" in MA-speak, all of which are roughly 1/3 Asian in a City whose population is only around 6% Asian. The difference is that Boston's magnets don't use an admissions interview and do use a tough admissions test. SWW goes with an interview and an easy test. Arguably, the Walls interview is use to identify and offer preferential treatment in admissions to "underserved minorities" (read applicants who are low SES and brown or black but not Asian). I won't be surprised if Walls is sued by a white or Asian family, or a group of them, over discriminatory admissions in the coming years, like Boston Latin was 20 years ago, when the program still had an admissions interview. The program no longer does.

One big reason some BASIS MS families stay for HS is because their no-excuses curriculum weeds out weaker students, and dissuades their families from enrolling, in a way that no DCPS MS or HS does.

You have literally no evidence for this -- and your theory does not explain why there are Asian students at Wilson, and none at Banneker which also weeds out weaker students. BTW SWW counsels students out every year.

Anybody with half a brain can figure this one out.

There are hardly any Asian students at Banneker ("none" is too strong), as well as whites, for the simple reason that Banneker is the high school version of an historically black college.

There are at least 100 Asian students at Wilson, mainly because there are more Asian-Americans living in Upper NW than in any other major DC neighborhood.

There are four dozen Asian students at BASIS for the same reasons that there are other races there, namely that there is no by-right MS or HS appealing to a good-sized UMC cohort EotP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OK, so compare DC's test-in magnet programs to Boston's instead. Boston has just three "Exam High Schools" in MA-speak, all of which are roughly 1/3 Asian in a City whose population is only around 6% Asian. The difference is that Boston's magnets don't use an admissions interview and do use a tough admissions test. SWW goes with an interview and an easy test. Arguably, the Walls interview is use to identify and offer preferential treatment in admissions to "underserved minorities" (read applicants who are low SES and brown or black but not Asian). I won't be surprised if Walls is sued by a white or Asian family, or a group of them, over discriminatory admissions in the coming years, like Boston Latin was 20 years ago, when the program still had an admissions interview. The program no longer does.

One big reason some BASIS MS families stay for HS is because their no-excuses curriculum weeds out weaker students, and dissuades their families from enrolling, in a way that no DCPS MS or HS does.

You have literally no evidence for this -- and your theory does not explain why there are Asian students at Wilson, and none at Banneker which also weeds out weaker students. BTW SWW counsels students out every year.

Anybody with half a brain can figure this one out.

There are hardly any Asian students at Banneker ("none" is too strong), as well as whites, for the simple reason that Banneker is the high school version of an historically black college.

There are at least 100 Asian students at Wilson, mainly because there are more Asian-Americans living in Upper NW than in any other major DC neighborhood.

There are four dozen Asian students at BASIS for the same reasons that there are other races there, namely that there is no by-right MS or HS appealing to a good-sized UMC cohort EotP.

Top post totally hit it on the nail. Very succinct summary of where Asians go. It’s also true about the no excuses curriculum at Basis esp STEM in weeding out the students. In Asians cultures the kids are taught this no excuse mentality from an early age. That is why they are so driven and hard working. There is no excuse for failure and it’s not an option. They do well in this type of environment because they grew up in such an environment.

Those that disagree can delude themselves but getting into SWW is not as hard for minorities. The admission process is not transparent. DC wants kids to sit who can’t even score grade level on the PARCC.

Why? If they can’t even do that, what makes you think they will do well on a SWW exam? Why doesn’t SWW post all their test scores by a random number assigned to each student online and the cut off number? What criteria determines how well a student does on an interview? The transparency for selection at SWW is terrible. SWW is not a test in magnet, far from it because of all the above. It will never be like the schools in NY.

[Anonymous]

+100 PP. Delude themselves is right.

I come from Chicago. In my city, admission to high-powered test-in magnet high schools (e.g. the Lab School, Michelle Obama's alma mater)is supported by a thoughtful comprehensive application, but no interview. Applicants are ranked in a transparent fashion, with the ranking system transparently giving poor kids of all races a little preferential treatment.

DCPS clearly shields AA and Latino students coming out of DCPS middle schools from the academic competition provided by other applicants (including BASIS students) in their Walls applications. It's a well-meaning but misguided and outmoded approach that needs to go. A lawsuit settled in a way that beats back affirmative action-based admissions to Walls wouldn't surprise me either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:+100 PP. Delude themselves is right.

I come from Chicago. In my city, admission to high-powered test-in magnet high schools (e.g. the Lab School, Michelle Obama's alma mater)is supported by a thoughtful comprehensive application, but no interview. Applicants are ranked in a transparent fashion, with the ranking system transparently giving poor kids of all races a little preferential treatment.

DCPS clearly shields AA and Latino students coming out of DCPS middle schools from the academic competition provided by other applicants (including BASIS students) in their Walls applications. It's a well-meaning but misguided and outmoded approach that needs to go. A lawsuit settled in a way that beats back affirmative action-based admissions to Walls wouldn't surprise me either.

Did you know that Chicago has added an SES/geographical weight to its magnet application system? All neighborhoods are given a tier (1-4) and seats are set aside for students from each tier. So you could be admitted to a magnet high with a lower score if you are from a Tier 1 neighborhood (lower income/lower educational attainment) than a Tier 4. You are essentially competing against students from similar neighborhoods to yours, not against every student in the city.

Tiers are redefined frequently to account for rapid gentrification in parts of the city. https://chalkbeat.org/posts/chicago/2018/10/25/chicago-school-application-tier-system-explained/