New BASIS discussion

[Anonymous]

Love the school or hate it, a 41 pg thread is ridiculous. A fresh start is in order. I'll begin:

I love the idea of the school. I'm deeply sceptical though, as the population they're used to educating skews wealthier, with more safe and stable home lives, and more homogeneous than Alice Deal and Washington Latin (nearly identical test scores: one better here, the other better there). At least, their flagship school does.

That, however, isn't the population that will walk through their doors at the end of August. Between the process of getting their "feet wet" in general as a charter school, and figuring out what they are doing specifically to transfer their model from Tucson to DC will consume a lot of energy and be a bumpy ride. (Using the same cookie cutter on two different cookie doughs will yield two very different batches of cookies - like it or not.)

Having said that, I think we need all the high quality MS options we can get, and especially for Capitol Hill families for whom this is easily the most hopeful option. (Waiting for DCPS to provide one is only realistic for those whose future middle-schooler is presently a fetus.) There are a lot of bright and dedicated families that have to seriously consider leaving the District because of the sorry MS situation. Therefore, I'll cheer for them, even though I wouldn't choose them. I'll also cheer for this DCI school/plan/rumor. Of course, I'll reliably cheer for Latin; and am thrilled it was (finally) awarded a DCPS facility. It's depressingly overdue for high-performing charter schools to be given the resources of the facilities and physical plants that privilege DCPS.

Anyway, having said my piece, please go ahead about the business of arguing both points of view. Discussion is healthy, and it's not as though BASIS is creeping in to undermine a successful, traditional district-type school system. I want to listen to what you have to say, but I'm not willing to wade through 41 pages to do so.

[Anonymous]

What a waste of time - a new thread when you're not asking or saying anything new

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Love the school or hate it, a 41 pg thread is ridiculous. A fresh start is in order. I'll begin:

I love the idea of the school. I'm deeply sceptical though, as the population they're used to educating skews wealthier, with more safe and stable home lives, and more homogeneous than Alice Deal and Washington Latin (nearly identical test scores: one better here, the other better there). At least, their flagship school does.

That, however, isn't the population that will walk through their doors at the end of August. Between the process of getting their "feet wet" in general as a charter school, and figuring out what they are doing specifically to transfer their model from Tucson to DC will consume a lot of energy and be a bumpy ride. (Using the same cookie cutter on two different cookie doughs will yield two very different batches of cookies - like it or not.)

Having said that, I think we need all the high quality MS options we can get, and especially for Capitol Hill families for whom this is easily the most hopeful option. (Waiting for DCPS to provide one is only realistic for those whose future middle-schooler is presently a fetus.) There are a lot of bright and dedicated families that have to seriously consider leaving the District because of the sorry MS situation. Therefore, I'll cheer for them, even though I wouldn't choose them. I'll also cheer for this DCI school/plan/rumor. Of course, I'll reliably cheer for Latin; and am thrilled it was (finally) awarded a DCPS facility. It's depressingly overdue for high-performing charter schools to be given the resources of the facilities and physical plants that privilege DCPS.

Anyway, having said my piece, please go ahead about the business of arguing both points of view. Discussion is healthy, and it's not as though BASIS is creeping in to undermine a successful, traditional district-type school system. I want to listen to what you have to say, but I'm not willing to wade through 41 pages to do so.

Two Rivers PCS Middle School had an overall proficiency score of 69.2%, which was a 13.1% increase. Why is this school, with it's new facility located within striking distance of Capitol Hill, not one of your "hopeful" options? In my mind they are poised for greater success than schools that haven't even opened their doors. And didn't they get this score without high-income white kids from the Hill or upper NW? It's not the 78% that Latin MS scored or the 83% that Deal scored, but clearly Two Rivers MS is on the move, yes? Shouldn't it be part of this conversation when talking about high-performing schools?

[Anonymous]

^ should be "its new facility..."^

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What a waste of time - a new thread when you're not asking or saying anything new

You're slow. I believe the point is to move the discussion to a more manageable size - one that's less than 41 pages long.

[Anonymous]

I'm not sure why Capitol Hill families need a good middle school option any more than other families in the District? What an odd thing to say.

[Anonymous]

21:43 - I thought the same thing.

[Anonymous]

OP: Loved your opening, and most level headed people get it. Only time will tell how the school will fare. Thus far they have proven to be not exactly transparent on matters local: i.e., sending out one person to promote and engage the DC communities on the program, same person having fought to land it's charter right in DC only to dispense with said person and no mention or follow up publicly ever made. That's a little troubling. However, reading the profiles of the teachers that are now in place is a great distraction, and, hopefully, a good sign of things to come. Like OP, I also cheer on the other MS's, and we in DC are sadly lacking. PS Kaya Henderson is nothing special.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm not sure why Capitol Hill families need a good middle school option any more than other families in the District? What an odd thing to say.

All families need and deserve a good MS option/options, that should go without saying.

Unfortunately, some neighborhoods are catered to, others are not. Michelle Rhee's entire DC experience is proof of that. I don't think it's about "deserve" as opposed to "can expect to be heard."

Sorry to be so cynical, but it's not as if DCPS has a history of splendid efforts, and I'm just not giving them a fair shake.

[Anonymous]

I get that the poster doesn't want to read through the entire thread. But that is the point. There are a lot of opinions, hence the many postings. And now s/he wants a re-do. Whatever. I posted a few times on the original thread and will not do so again. I read the entire thread as well as other long threads and am amazed by other people's "summaries" of them. Complete misrepresentations. Judge for yourself by reading in entirety. With any research, it takes time and it really doesn't take that long, esp if you are truly interested in what is being discussed. There is a lot of junk but reading it all gives one a sense of perspective that these new requests for info do not. Similar to the "rave about your school" thread. Plenty of info from previous threads (with serious pros and cons) but the poster wants to distill it down to a quick online popularity contest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm not sure why Capitol Hill families need a good middle school option any more than other families in the District? What an odd thing to say.

Why is that odd when NW has Deal and the Hill has Stuart-Hobson and Eliot-Hine? SH is shunned by 3/4 of the middle-class families whose elementary schools feed into it (leaving it 15% white), while EH is shunned by virtually all (no white kids), for good reason. E.g. SH just started teaching 8th grade algebra, which Deal teaches in 7th for students who can handle it.

[Anonymous]

Basis has also hired a real ELL specialist who is also a special education teacher.

That itself is a huge plus.
There are high functioing ELL students with few years in the USA ( ie Stoddert ES) who can score low proficient in English and Math, but need an individualized curriculum to improve their language skills.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm not sure why Capitol Hill families need a good middle school option any more than other families in the District? What an odd thing to say.

Why is that odd when NW has Deal and the Hill has Stuart-Hobson and Eliot-Hine? SH is shunned by 3/4 of the middle-class families whose elementary schools feed into it (leaving it 15% white), while EH is shunned by virtually all (no white kids), for good reason. E.g. SH just started teaching 8th grade algebra, which Deal teaches in 7th for students who can handle it.

So we're only worried about middle schools in white neighborhoods? You do realize that BASIS is a charter school and they take from all wards, right? Even the ones that don't have rich white kids?

Upper NW and Capitol Hill are the only neighborhoods that matter?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Basis has also hired a real ELL specialist who is also a special education teacher.

That itself is a huge plus.
There are high functioing ELL students with few years in the USA ( ie Stoddert ES) who can score low proficient in English and Math, but need an individualized curriculum to improve their language skills.

uh, a REALLY good school would have at least one of each....

[Anonymous]

05:18 - It is an odd thing to say especially Capitol Hill families when likely all families who are not zoned for Deal are stressing about middle school. Get it now?