BASIS high school versus middle school

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You do realize that if “a dozen” BASIS students are admitted into top schools that’s roughly 30% of the graduating class, right?! Don’t compare the number of students going to top colleges, but rather the percentage of the graduating class…In any event, BASIS is supposedly looking to revamp is college counseling process, recognizing the extreme competitiveness for top college admissions these days.

What BASIS needs to revamp is the pay and working conditions for top teachers.

As a HS family, you get fed up with some of the best teachers leaving for better pay at Walls and JR and better working conditions (training, facilities, hours) in the burbs.

We're not happy that a star math teacher left for Walls in the spring.

They can revamp the college counseling process all they want without fixing high teacher turnover. I don't know what the solution is knowing that charters don't get the same per student allocations as DCPS. Arizona needs to fundraise more for the DC campus.

You have every right to be upset when teachers leave, but not the right to employ hyperbole and to just make things up. This has been covered elsewhere on DCUM. There has not been an exodus of teachers leaving for JR and Walls. One person does not an exodus make. Do better.

The hyperbole is yours to own. BASIS loses much more than one good HS teacher over poor pay every summer. You cover what you want on DCUM; let others cover what they want. Revamping college admissions to improve outcomes will be yet another exercise in papering over the cracks, bandaid treatment, whitewashing. If you have a kid in the HS above 9th grade, you know this as well as I do.

We're waiting for fi aid offers from privates, hoping that we won't be back to BASIS for 11th grade. We're not alone.

Can't help but notice you can't name the huge number of teachers who departed BASIS for Walls and JR, as you said in your original post. You think we didn't notice you morphed from that specific assertion to a broader indictment related to money?

New poster. You're twisting posts. Nobody on this thread has argued that BASIS teachers only leave for better pay at Walls + JR. PPs mention teachers leaving for better working conditions, facilities and pay at a variety of schools, which is factually correct.

BASIS doesn't pay well relative to many other DC Metro area schools and doesn't seem to put much into supporting its teachers (via training). The facilities at BASIS obviously aren't good.

In short, too many BASIS teachers leave for better JOBS. This is a valid criticism and a real concern.

I'm going to argue that parents put up with chronically high teacher turnover at BASIS relative to top privates and public schools in VA and MD because their DC public HS options just aren't great. Slam me now.

Couple things:

1. Private schools pay squadoosh. Shocking you don't know that. People don't work at privates for money. DCPS pays more than every elite private in DC.
2. You are comparing BASIS to private schools and those not in DC. Do you not see how odd that is?
3. The person to whom I responded stated outright that BASIS was losing lots of teachers to Walls and JR. I called BS because that is not true. Teacher retention is bad everywhere. It is surely an issue at BASIS as it is everywhere. What I object to is people making sh*t up.
4. Every person who leaves a job does so for a better job. That's true at BASIS, every other school in DC and every job everywhere in any field. Why do you think that's some revolutionary insight?

[Anonymous]

do they let new kids into the high school or do they maintain the same class... just less as some may leave to other options?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You do realize that if “a dozen” BASIS students are admitted into top schools that’s roughly 30% of the graduating class, right?! Don’t compare the number of students going to top colleges, but rather the percentage of the graduating class…In any event, BASIS is supposedly looking to revamp is college counseling process, recognizing the extreme competitiveness for top college admissions these days.

What BASIS needs to revamp is the pay and working conditions for top teachers.

As a HS family, you get fed up with some of the best teachers leaving for better pay at Walls and JR and better working conditions (training, facilities, hours) in the burbs.

We're not happy that a star math teacher left for Walls in the spring.

They can revamp the college counseling process all they want without fixing high teacher turnover. I don't know what the solution is knowing that charters don't get the same per student allocations as DCPS. Arizona needs to fundraise more for the DC campus.

You have every right to be upset when teachers leave, but not the right to employ hyperbole and to just make things up. This has been covered elsewhere on DCUM. There has not been an exodus of teachers leaving for JR and Walls. One person does not an exodus make. Do better.

The hyperbole is yours to own. BASIS loses much more than one good HS teacher over poor pay every summer. You cover what you want on DCUM; let others cover what they want. Revamping college admissions to improve outcomes will be yet another exercise in papering over the cracks, bandaid treatment, whitewashing. If you have a kid in the HS above 9th grade, you know this as well as I do.

We're waiting for fi aid offers from privates, hoping that we won't be back to BASIS for 11th grade. We're not alone.

Can't help but notice you can't name the huge number of teachers who departed BASIS for Walls and JR, as you said in your original post. You think we didn't notice you morphed from that specific assertion to a broader indictment related to money?

I don’t know why you are being so weird about this topic. New poster and current BASIS family, and the Head of School has said himself in town halls this year that teacher retention is a major issue the school is working on, that they are trying to reduce the number of top teachers who leave every year. The school is aiming to get the percentage of top performing teachers who leave each year below 10% as part of their 5 year plan - meaning that more than 10% leave now (and probably substantially more if they think they need 5 years to meet this goal).

Teacher turnover is a problem everywhere. The only way teachers can get jobs at JR and Walls is if teachers have left those schools in the first place.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You do realize that if “a dozen” BASIS students are admitted into top schools that’s roughly 30% of the graduating class, right?! Don’t compare the number of students going to top colleges, but rather the percentage of the graduating class…In any event, BASIS is supposedly looking to revamp is college counseling process, recognizing the extreme competitiveness for top college admissions these days.

What BASIS needs to revamp is the pay and working conditions for top teachers.

As a HS family, you get fed up with some of the best teachers leaving for better pay at Walls and JR and better working conditions (training, facilities, hours) in the burbs.

We're not happy that a star math teacher left for Walls in the spring.

They can revamp the college counseling process all they want without fixing high teacher turnover. I don't know what the solution is knowing that charters don't get the same per student allocations as DCPS. Arizona needs to fundraise more for the DC campus.

You have every right to be upset when teachers leave, but not the right to employ hyperbole and to just make things up. This has been covered elsewhere on DCUM. There has not been an exodus of teachers leaving for JR and Walls. One person does not an exodus make. Do better.

The hyperbole is yours to own. BASIS loses much more than one good HS teacher over poor pay every summer. You cover what you want on DCUM; let others cover what they want. Revamping college admissions to improve outcomes will be yet another exercise in papering over the cracks, bandaid treatment, whitewashing. If you have a kid in the HS above 9th grade, you know this as well as I do.

We're waiting for fi aid offers from privates, hoping that we won't be back to BASIS for 11th grade. We're not alone.

Can't help but notice you can't name the huge number of teachers who departed BASIS for Walls and JR, as you said in your original post. You think we didn't notice you morphed from that specific assertion to a broader indictment related to money?

I don’t know why you are being so weird about this topic. New poster and current BASIS family, and the Head of School has said himself in town halls this year that teacher retention is a major issue the school is working on, that they are trying to reduce the number of top teachers who leave every year. The school is aiming to get the percentage of top performing teachers who leave each year below 10% as part of their 5 year plan - meaning that more than 10% leave now (and probably substantially more if they think they need 5 years to meet this goal).

Teacher turnover is a problem everywhere. The only way teachers can get jobs at JR and Walls is if teachers have left those schools in the first place.

Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Don't bring "logic" and "reason" into the discussion. Let these people with their axe to grind believe their made up facts about teachers fleeing BASIS en masse to go to Walls and JR without having to think for even a moment about why those alleged openings were there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:do they let new kids into the high school or do they maintain the same class... just less as some may leave to other options?

BASIS does not fill after 5th. On rare occasion if there are a TON of kids leaving they might fill a spot or two in 6th. The HS class is kids from 8th who remain.

[Anonymous]

Not true. They take 6, 8, even 10 or 12 sixth graders every fall, mostly siblings. Some of the 5th graders don’t return.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not true. They take 6, 8, even 10 or 12 sixth graders every fall, mostly siblings. Some of the 5th graders don’t return.

Please don’t make things up. This is not true. For example, last year they took ZERO 6th graders.

And whether they take kids into 6th is determined by attrition throughout the school, not just returning 5th graders.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not true. They take 6, 8, even 10 or 12 sixth graders every fall, mostly siblings. Some of the 5th graders don’t return.

This is false. BASIS does not admit after 6th (and 6th grade spots are very rare).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You do realize that if “a dozen” BASIS students are admitted into top schools that’s roughly 30% of the graduating class, right?! Don’t compare the number of students going to top colleges, but rather the percentage of the graduating class…In any event, BASIS is supposedly looking to revamp is college counseling process, recognizing the extreme competitiveness for top college admissions these days.

What BASIS needs to revamp is the pay and working conditions for top teachers.

As a HS family, you get fed up with some of the best teachers leaving for better pay at Walls and JR and better working conditions (training, facilities, hours) in the burbs.

We're not happy that a star math teacher left for Walls in the spring.

They can revamp the college counseling process all they want without fixing high teacher turnover. I don't know what the solution is knowing that charters don't get the same per student allocations as DCPS. Arizona needs to fundraise more for the DC campus.

You have every right to be upset when teachers leave, but not the right to employ hyperbole and to just make things up. This has been covered elsewhere on DCUM. There has not been an exodus of teachers leaving for JR and Walls. One person does not an exodus make. Do better.

The hyperbole is yours to own. BASIS loses much more than one good HS teacher over poor pay every summer. You cover what you want on DCUM; let others cover what they want. Revamping college admissions to improve outcomes will be yet another exercise in papering over the cracks, bandaid treatment, whitewashing. If you have a kid in the HS above 9th grade, you know this as well as I do.

We're waiting for fi aid offers from privates, hoping that we won't be back to BASIS for 11th grade. We're not alone.

Can't help but notice you can't name the huge number of teachers who departed BASIS for Walls and JR, as you said in your original post. You think we didn't notice you morphed from that specific assertion to a broader indictment related to money?

New poster. You're twisting posts. Nobody on this thread has argued that BASIS teachers only leave for better pay at Walls + JR. PPs mention teachers leaving for better working conditions, facilities and pay at a variety of schools, which is factually correct.

BASIS doesn't pay well relative to many other DC Metro area schools and doesn't seem to put much into supporting its teachers (via training). The facilities at BASIS obviously aren't good.

In short, too many BASIS teachers leave for better JOBS. This is a valid criticism and a real concern.

I'm going to argue that parents put up with chronically high teacher turnover at BASIS relative to top privates and public schools in VA and MD because their DC public HS options just aren't great. Slam me now.

Couple things:

1. Private schools pay squadoosh. Shocking you don't know that. People don't work at privates for money. DCPS pays more than every elite private in DC.
2. You are comparing BASIS to private schools and those not in DC. Do you not see how odd that is?
3. The person to whom I responded stated outright that BASIS was losing lots of teachers to Walls and JR. I called BS because that is not true. Teacher retention is bad everywhere. It is surely an issue at BASIS as it is everywhere. What I object to is people making sh*t up.
4. Every person who leaves a job does so for a better job. That's true at BASIS, every other school in DC and every job everywhere in any field. Why do you think that's some revolutionary insight?

St. Albans pays the best of the privates and also has mortgage assistance. They have almost zero turnover in teaching staff--most will stay there for an entire career. They may have one position open every 5 years.
If teachers are treated well and paid well they will stay.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not true. They take 6, 8, even 10 or 12 sixth graders every fall, mostly siblings. Some of the 5th graders don’t return.

Welcome to the forum, George Santos!

No, they don't. The last time they opened up any 6th grade slots was SY 18-19 - there were 2 of them. In two years since they've added a kid in 6th after school began. They have never taken "6,'8 or 12 sixth graders".

I would seriously love to know why people like you behave this way. What is inside your head that you wake up in the morning and think to yourself, "I'm gonna go make stuff about on DCUM today."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You do realize that if “a dozen” BASIS students are admitted into top schools that’s roughly 30% of the graduating class, right?! Don’t compare the number of students going to top colleges, but rather the percentage of the graduating class…In any event, BASIS is supposedly looking to revamp is college counseling process, recognizing the extreme competitiveness for top college admissions these days.

What BASIS needs to revamp is the pay and working conditions for top teachers.

As a HS family, you get fed up with some of the best teachers leaving for better pay at Walls and JR and better working conditions (training, facilities, hours) in the burbs.

We're not happy that a star math teacher left for Walls in the spring.

They can revamp the college counseling process all they want without fixing high teacher turnover. I don't know what the solution is knowing that charters don't get the same per student allocations as DCPS. Arizona needs to fundraise more for the DC campus.

You have every right to be upset when teachers leave, but not the right to employ hyperbole and to just make things up. This has been covered elsewhere on DCUM. There has not been an exodus of teachers leaving for JR and Walls. One person does not an exodus make. Do better.

The hyperbole is yours to own. BASIS loses much more than one good HS teacher over poor pay every summer. You cover what you want on DCUM; let others cover what they want. Revamping college admissions to improve outcomes will be yet another exercise in papering over the cracks, bandaid treatment, whitewashing. If you have a kid in the HS above 9th grade, you know this as well as I do.

We're waiting for fi aid offers from privates, hoping that we won't be back to BASIS for 11th grade. We're not alone.

Can't help but notice you can't name the huge number of teachers who departed BASIS for Walls and JR, as you said in your original post. You think we didn't notice you morphed from that specific assertion to a broader indictment related to money?

New poster. You're twisting posts. Nobody on this thread has argued that BASIS teachers only leave for better pay at Walls + JR. PPs mention teachers leaving for better working conditions, facilities and pay at a variety of schools, which is factually correct.

BASIS doesn't pay well relative to many other DC Metro area schools and doesn't seem to put much into supporting its teachers (via training). The facilities at BASIS obviously aren't good.

In short, too many BASIS teachers leave for better JOBS. This is a valid criticism and a real concern.

I'm going to argue that parents put up with chronically high teacher turnover at BASIS relative to top privates and public schools in VA and MD because their DC public HS options just aren't great. Slam me now.

Couple things:

1. Private schools pay squadoosh. Shocking you don't know that. People don't work at privates for money. DCPS pays more than every elite private in DC.
2. You are comparing BASIS to private schools and those not in DC. Do you not see how odd that is?
3. The person to whom I responded stated outright that BASIS was losing lots of teachers to Walls and JR. I called BS because that is not true. Teacher retention is bad everywhere. It is surely an issue at BASIS as it is everywhere. What I object to is people making sh*t up.
4. Every person who leaves a job does so for a better job. That's true at BASIS, every other school in DC and every job everywhere in any field. Why do you think that's some revolutionary insight?

St. Albans pays the best of the privates and also has mortgage assistance. They have almost zero turnover in teaching staff--most will stay there for an entire career. They may have one position open every 5 years.
If teachers are treated well and paid well they will stay.

I don't think you are making the point you think you are making. St. Albans pays less than DCPS and yet teachers love it there. Which goes to show that money alone is not the only or major driver of these career decisions. I am sure St. Albans is a lovely place. I went to a boarding school with some amazing teachers, all of whom made WAYYYYY less money than they would have in a public system. They like teaching motivated, smart kids at grade level. They liked that parents were engaged and had skin in the game.

You've unintentionally agreed with my post.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not true. They take 6, 8, even 10 or 12 sixth graders every fall, mostly siblings. Some of the 5th graders don’t return.

Welcome to the forum, George Santos!

No, they don't. The last time they opened up any 6th grade slots was SY 18-19 - there were 2 of them. In two years since they've added a kid in 6th after school began. They have never taken "6,'8 or 12 sixth graders".

I would seriously love to know why people like you behave this way. What is inside your head that you wake up in the morning and think to yourself, "I'm gonna go make stuff about on DCUM today."

You’re wrong. We have a younger sibling who stayed at our DCPS ES for 5th grade. Basis admins assured us that this would be fine if we didn’t want him to start until 6th. They had a spot for him in this past Sept. There were other spots as well. Your dismissive BS isn’t welcome here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not true. They take 6, 8, even 10 or 12 sixth graders every fall, mostly siblings. Some of the 5th graders don’t return.

Welcome to the forum, George Santos!

No, they don't. The last time they opened up any 6th grade slots was SY 18-19 - there were 2 of them. In two years since they've added a kid in 6th after school began. They have never taken "6,'8 or 12 sixth graders".

I would seriously love to know why people like you behave this way. What is inside your head that you wake up in the morning and think to yourself, "I'm gonna go make stuff about on DCUM today."

You’re wrong. We have a younger sibling who stayed at our DCPS ES for 5th grade. Basis admins assured us that this would be fine if we didn’t want him to start until 6th. They had a spot for him in this past Sept. There were other spots as well. Your dismissive BS isn’t welcome here.

NP. In *6th* for a *sibling* which is exactly what everyone has been saying. BASIS does not admit after 6th.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not true. They take 6, 8, even 10 or 12 sixth graders every fall, mostly siblings. Some of the 5th graders don’t return.

Welcome to the forum, George Santos!

No, they don't. The last time they opened up any 6th grade slots was SY 18-19 - there were 2 of them. In two years since they've added a kid in 6th after school began. They have never taken "6,'8 or 12 sixth graders".

I would seriously love to know why people like you behave this way. What is inside your head that you wake up in the morning and think to yourself, "I'm gonna go make stuff about on DCUM today."

You’re wrong. We have a younger sibling who stayed at our DCPS ES for 5th grade. Basis admins assured us that this would be fine if we didn’t want him to start until 6th. They had a spot for him in this past Sept. There were other spots as well. Your dismissive BS isn’t welcome here.

NP. In *6th* for a *sibling* which is exactly what everyone has been saying. BASIS does not admit after 6th.

FWIW in a recent town hall the head of school said that BASIS would only consider admitting outside 5th if more than 135 kids left in a single year, including graduating seniors. (Siblings may be a different story - this seemed to be more of a general policy, but I can see how exceptions might be made.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not true. They take 6, 8, even 10 or 12 sixth graders every fall, mostly siblings. Some of the 5th graders don’t return.

Welcome to the forum, George Santos!

No, they don't. The last time they opened up any 6th grade slots was SY 18-19 - there were 2 of them. In two years since they've added a kid in 6th after school began. They have never taken "6,'8 or 12 sixth graders".

I would seriously love to know why people like you behave this way. What is inside your head that you wake up in the morning and think to yourself, "I'm gonna go make stuff about on DCUM today."

You’re wrong. We have a younger sibling who stayed at our DCPS ES for 5th grade. Basis admins assured us that this would be fine if we didn’t want him to start until 6th. They had a spot for him in this past Sept. There were other spots as well. Your dismissive BS isn’t welcome here.

Either you are full of it or BASIS and My School DC falsified data. I wonder which one it could be...

https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/aaron2446/viz/MSDCSeatsandWaitlistOfferData_draft/MSDCPublicDisplay