BASIS attrition after middle school- why?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:(I'll add that I'm a former high school teacher, a to me the number one thing i look for in a school is teacher quality. Even the middling DCPS schools have excellent teachers. I was not impressed with the teaching I saw at Basis.)

That's downright funny.

Is it? Compared the qualifications and years of experience of teachers at a DCPS middle and BASIS teachers. Let's see it side by side.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:(I'll add that I'm a former high school teacher, a to me the number one thing i look for in a school is teacher quality. Even the middling DCPS schools have excellent teachers. I was not impressed with the teaching I saw at Basis.)

That's downright funny.

Is it? Compared the qualifications and years of experience of teachers at a DCPS middle and BASIS teachers. Let's see it side by side.

That's not the same thing as quality and effectiveness.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:(I'll add that I'm a former high school teacher, a to me the number one thing i look for in a school is teacher quality. Even the middling DCPS schools have excellent teachers. I was not impressed with the teaching I saw at Basis.)

That's downright funny.

Is it? Compared the qualifications and years of experience of teachers at a DCPS middle and BASIS teachers. Let's see it side by side.

Only a WTU member would argue with a straight face that the tenured dead weight at failing DCPS schools is evidence of strong teaching. Charters schools may have shorter tenured teachers. They also have the ability to fire bad ones at year end (or mid-year if need be).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:...if your child always received "5"s in DCPS, then you think it will be a good fit. However, it can often become very obvious how little the child actually was taught in DCPS. This is where insecure skills in reading, writing, comprehension, organization and math show up.

Elementary parents: Don't be scared off. Yes, Basis is more challenging than most DCPS schools, but students don't have to be geniuses or even come in above grade level to do well. My child (now in HS at Basis) has found Basis to be generally pretty easy. And yes, they're reasonably smart, but they didn't get a single 5 on a PARCC in elementary school.

Well, I have a kid who got 5s in his first go round on PARCC and we are a mathy family that loves rigor.
but we are not going to lottery for Basis because: the teachers are too inexperienced and there is too much turnover, the middle schoolers all looked depressed, the lack of windows coupled with never leaving the windowless building, the lack of freedom for kids (like no recess when they can do what they want), the "drill and kill" vibe of middle school classwork, and a bad feeling from the HoS (seemed like a bullshitter who is acting smarter than he is)

The high school actually seemed better on all those fronts, but we would not put our kids in the middle school.

I'm a generally satisfied Basis parent who agrees that it would be better to combine the rigor of the curriculum with more experienced teachers, more freedom, and a better campus. I'd also like butterflies to flutter around our kids during the school day.

The question is not whether Basis is imperfect, the question is how it compares to other options. Since you are not planning to lottery for Basis, what are your plans?

A midling DCPS middle school and then hopefully SWW or Banneker. Kid knows he needs to keep his grades up and he is very capable of it.

OK, that's a perfectly reasonable approach. One of the reasons we opted for Basis was to ensure strong MS academics, at the admitted cost of a worse building and fewer extracurricular, and to avoid the stress of the HS application process and the risk of not getting in to a HS school that we like. We're all just trying to make the best choice we can among imperfect but generally decent options.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:...if your child always received "5"s in DCPS, then you think it will be a good fit. However, it can often become very obvious how little the child actually was taught in DCPS. This is where insecure skills in reading, writing, comprehension, organization and math show up.

Elementary parents: Don't be scared off. Yes, Basis is more challenging than most DCPS schools, but students don't have to be geniuses or even come in above grade level to do well. My child (now in HS at Basis) has found Basis to be generally pretty easy. And yes, they're reasonably smart, but they didn't get a single 5 on a PARCC in elementary school.

Well, I have a kid who got 5s in his first go round on PARCC and we are a mathy family that loves rigor.
but we are not going to lottery for Basis because: the teachers are too inexperienced and there is too much turnover, the middle schoolers all looked depressed, the lack of windows coupled with never leaving the windowless building, the lack of freedom for kids (like no recess when they can do what they want), the "drill and kill" vibe of middle school classwork, and a bad feeling from the HoS (seemed like a bullshitter who is acting smarter than he is)

The high school actually seemed better on all those fronts, but we would not put our kids in the middle school.

I'm a generally satisfied Basis parent who agrees that it would be better to combine the rigor of the curriculum with more experienced teachers, more freedom, and a better campus. I'd also like butterflies to flutter around our kids during the school day.

The question is not whether Basis is imperfect, the question is how it compares to other options. Since you are not planning to lottery for Basis, what are your plans?

A midling DCPS middle school and then hopefully SWW or Banneker. Kid knows he needs to keep his grades up and he is very capable of it.

OK, that's a perfectly reasonable approach. One of the reasons we opted for Basis was to ensure strong MS academics, at the admitted cost of a worse building and fewer extracurricular, and to avoid the stress of the HS application process and the risk of not getting in to a HS school that we like. We're all just trying to make the best choice we can among imperfect but generally decent options.

I appreciate that!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:...if your child always received "5"s in DCPS, then you think it will be a good fit. However, it can often become very obvious how little the child actually was taught in DCPS. This is where insecure skills in reading, writing, comprehension, organization and math show up.

Elementary parents: Don't be scared off. Yes, Basis is more challenging than most DCPS schools, but students don't have to be geniuses or even come in above grade level to do well. My child (now in HS at Basis) has found Basis to be generally pretty easy. And yes, they're reasonably smart, but they didn't get a single 5 on a PARCC in elementary school.

Well, I have a kid who got 5s in his first go round on PARCC and we are a mathy family that loves rigor.
but we are not going to lottery for Basis because: the teachers are too inexperienced and there is too much turnover, the middle schoolers all looked depressed, the lack of windows coupled with never leaving the windowless building, the lack of freedom for kids (like no recess when they can do what they want), the "drill and kill" vibe of middle school classwork, and a bad feeling from the HoS (seemed like a bullshitter who is acting smarter than he is)

The high school actually seemed better on all those fronts, but we would not put our kids in the middle school.

I'm a generally satisfied Basis parent who agrees that it would be better to combine the rigor of the curriculum with more experienced teachers, more freedom, and a better campus. I'd also like butterflies to flutter around our kids during the school day.

The question is not whether Basis is imperfect, the question is how it compares to other options. Since you are not planning to lottery for Basis, what are your plans?

A midling DCPS middle school and then hopefully SWW or Banneker. Kid knows he needs to keep his grades up and he is very capable of it.

It’s not surprising that there are families who choose a middling middle school option because they can still figure out a path to a desirable high school. But for some, there isn’t a middling option. There are far worse options and a spot at Basis or Latin is a lifeline.

[Anonymous]

Yes, because these parents didn't plan ahead as well as they could have. If you want to raise your kids East of Rock Creek, you need a MS and HS contingency plan. If you can't afford private or parochial school and don't get into BASIS or one of the Latins, or don't like them, or they don't work out for you, what's the plan?

We hoped for the best at BASIS but youngest, but she miserable there. Academics weren't the problem - she found the work rather easy. There were too many disruptive classmates, too many iffy young teachers, and not nearly enough joy of learning or fun. She missed studying her ES immersion language at school (which we speak at home) and didn't make friends. We've moved to Arlington for the time being, where she enjoys public school again. We've kept our DC place and will return when we can.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That's the thing about charter schools, this vaunted school "choice" has a cost. If your kid isn't succeeding they will be encouraged to leave. That way test scores stay up and kids who need expensive supports are someone else's problem. We didn't lottery into Basis but a few of my kid's classmates did. None lasted more than two years... and they came from precisely the sort of families that schools like Basis were supposedly created to help.

They were the children of the BASIS founder? It’s a for profit organization, it’s. It’s not founded to help anyone else.

[Anonymous]

Relevance? Right, the Blocks founded BASIS in Arizona to give their children a more rigorous public middle school option than was available locally. But that was 30 years ago. The franchise has since morphed into a major charter player in half a dozen states.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, because these parents didn't plan ahead as well as they could have. If you want to raise your kids East of Rock Creek, you need a MS and HS contingency plan. If you can't afford private or parochial school and don't get into BASIS or one of the Latins, or don't like them, or they don't work out for you, what's the plan?

We hoped for the best at BASIS but youngest, but she miserable there. Academics weren't the problem - she found the work rather easy. There were too many disruptive classmates, too many iffy young teachers, and not nearly enough joy of learning or fun. She missed studying her ES immersion language at school (which we speak at home) and didn't make friends. We've moved to Arlington for the time being, where she enjoys public school again. We've kept our DC place and will return when we can.

For all of the things BASIS doesn't offer or could do better, this one doesn't track. It is a pure lottery admission school so of course they will take all comers. Sometimes that means kids with challenges and those who are incapable of doing the work. Those kids will wash out in 6th. But the idea that disruptions at BASIS are severe as compared to other DC school options is empirically laughable. As many BASIS critics frequently observe, the school has a very low at-risk and ESL population. It also enjoys some of the bets test scores in the city.

None of this is to say BASIS doesn't have disruptive kids; it is a public school that can't expel kids except in extreme cases of violence. If you find BASIS's population disruptive then please avoid DCPS and all other charters and just move on to private school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Relevance? Right, the Blocks founded BASIS in Arizona to give their children a more rigorous public middle school option than was available locally. But that was 30 years ago. The franchise has since morphed into a major charter player in half a dozen states.

Oh good, another BASIS thread that gets hijacked into an inane, naval gazing discussion about the Blocks and evil charter industrial complex. NO. ONE. CARES. Parents are trying to get their kids the best education they can. They evaluate schools on the basis of that school and what it offers as against other available options. Please go away.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, because these parents didn't plan ahead as well as they could have. If you want to raise your kids East of Rock Creek, you need a MS and HS contingency plan. If you can't afford private or parochial school and don't get into BASIS or one of the Latins, or don't like them, or they don't work out for you, what's the plan?

We hoped for the best at BASIS but youngest, but she miserable there. Academics weren't the problem - she found the work rather easy. There were too many disruptive classmates, too many iffy young teachers, and not nearly enough joy of learning or fun. She missed studying her ES immersion language at school (which we speak at home) and didn't make friends. We've moved to Arlington for the time being, where she enjoys public school again. We've kept our DC place and will return when we can.

For all of the things BASIS doesn't offer or could do better, this one doesn't track. It is a pure lottery admission school so of course they will take all comers. Sometimes that means kids with challenges and those who are incapable of doing the work. Those kids will wash out in 6th. But the idea that disruptions at BASIS are severe as compared to other DC school options is empirically laughable. As many BASIS critics frequently observe, the school has a very low at-risk and ESL population. It also enjoys some of the bets test scores in the city.

None of this is to say BASIS doesn't have disruptive kids; it is a public school that can't expel kids except in extreme cases of violence. If you find BASIS's population disruptive then please avoid DCPS and all other charters and just move on to private school.

PP didn't compare BASIS disruptions to those at other DC public schools (they moved to VA). Come on, disruptive kids do their thing at BASIS for an obvious reason. Too many of the middle school classes are taught by inexperienced young teachers with poor classroom management skills, due to high turnover, weak training/support and challenging working conditions/pay. This is a common parent complaint about BASIS DC, vs. a "laughable" complaint. Things get much better on the classroom management front as the years go by, but every family isn't going to roll with the problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, because these parents didn't plan ahead as well as they could have. If you want to raise your kids East of Rock Creek, you need a MS and HS contingency plan. If you can't afford private or parochial school and don't get into BASIS or one of the Latins, or don't like them, or they don't work out for you, what's the plan?

We hoped for the best at BASIS but youngest, but she miserable there. Academics weren't the problem - she found the work rather easy. There were too many disruptive classmates, too many iffy young teachers, and not nearly enough joy of learning or fun. She missed studying her ES immersion language at school (which we speak at home) and didn't make friends. We've moved to Arlington for the time being, where she enjoys public school again. We've kept our DC place and will return when we can.

For all of the things BASIS doesn't offer or could do better, this one doesn't track. It is a pure lottery admission school so of course they will take all comers. Sometimes that means kids with challenges and those who are incapable of doing the work. Those kids will wash out in 6th. But the idea that disruptions at BASIS are severe as compared to other DC school options is empirically laughable. As many BASIS critics frequently observe, the school has a very low at-risk and ESL population. It also enjoys some of the bets test scores in the city.

None of this is to say BASIS doesn't have disruptive kids; it is a public school that can't expel kids except in extreme cases of violence. If you find BASIS's population disruptive then please avoid DCPS and all other charters and just move on to private school.

PP didn't compare BASIS disruptions to those at other DC public schools (they moved to VA). Come on, disruptive kids do their thing at BASIS for an obvious reason. Too many of the middle school classes are taught by inexperienced young teachers with poor classroom management skills, due to high turnover, weak training/support and challenging working conditions/pay. This is a common parent complaint about BASIS DC, vs. a "laughable" complaint. Things get much better on the classroom management front as the years go by, but every family isn't going to roll with the problem.

Yawn. Another lazy post about inexperienced teachers. From another poster who doesn't understand that DC residents are choosing between DC school options.

[Anonymous]

Only they’re not because any of us can move to the near DC burbs in a pinch. This means that a good suburban middle school is an option we can in fact choose. Renting in the burbs maybe, but move we can.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Only they’re not because any of us can move to the near DC burbs in a pinch. This means that a good suburban middle school is an option we can in fact choose. Renting in the burbs maybe, but move we can.

Chef's kiss. No notes.