DC CAPE SCORES

[Anonymous]

Our charter handed them out on the 18th.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What about an analysis of middle school 5s like Hardy 6th has 2x ELA 5s as Basis? Sure some kids read lots at home for fun….

This is interesting. Our kid just finished a year at BASIS and got his first CAPE scores -- both 4s. But previously at his (pretty mediocre) DCPS school he got 5s and 98th percentile scores. Scores and percentiles on CAPE both dropped after a year at BASIS!


He does extremely well on all the BASIS exams and other standardized tests. So I wonder if BASIS is truly not teaching to CAPE in any way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What about an analysis of middle school 5s like Hardy 6th has 2x ELA 5s as Basis? Sure some kids read lots at home for fun….

This is interesting. Our kid just finished a year at BASIS and got his first CAPE scores -- both 4s. But previously at his (pretty mediocre) DCPS school he got 5s and 98th percentile scores. Scores and percentiles on CAPE both dropped after a year at BASIS!


He does extremely well on all the BASIS exams and other standardized tests. So I wonder if BASIS is truly not teaching to CAPE in any way.

BASIS ignores CAPE. Other than taking time away from class to administer it, totally irrelevant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What about an analysis of middle school 5s like Hardy 6th has 2x ELA 5s as Basis? Sure some kids read lots at home for fun….

This is interesting. Our kid just finished a year at BASIS and got his first CAPE scores -- both 4s. But previously at his (pretty mediocre) DCPS school he got 5s and 98th percentile scores. Scores and percentiles on CAPE both dropped after a year at BASIS!


He does extremely well on all the BASIS exams and other standardized tests. So I wonder if BASIS is truly not teaching to CAPE in any way.

BASIS ignores CAPE. Other than taking time away from class to administer it, totally irrelevant.

BASIS’ whole model is that extensive test and drill is actually teaching kids, not just teaching them to pass BASIS-specific tests. If a kid was getting 5s previously and now isn’t, I would definitely be worried (though I would wait a year to worry too much). The “strategy” of CAPE doesn’t change from year to year, so even if I accept that BASIS doesn’t teach to the test, they shouldn’t need to for kids who have already learned that part. It may be that BASIS’ style of teaching isn’t actually a good match for your kid even if they are performing well of BASIS style exams (very memorization based especially in 6th with little explanation/ extrapolation needed).

[Anonymous]

Thanks to everyone that gave info! Finally got them from our school after bugging based on info here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What about an analysis of middle school 5s like Hardy 6th has 2x ELA 5s as Basis? Sure some kids read lots at home for fun….

This is interesting. Our kid just finished a year at BASIS and got his first CAPE scores -- both 4s. But previously at his (pretty mediocre) DCPS school he got 5s and 98th percentile scores. Scores and percentiles on CAPE both dropped after a year at BASIS!


He does extremely well on all the BASIS exams and other standardized tests. So I wonder if BASIS is truly not teaching to CAPE in any way.

BASIS ignores CAPE. Other than taking time away from class to administer it, totally irrelevant.

BASIS’ whole model is that extensive test and drill is actually teaching kids, not just teaching them to pass BASIS-specific tests. If a kid was getting 5s previously and now isn’t, I would definitely be worried (though I would wait a year to worry too much). The “strategy” of CAPE doesn’t change from year to year, so even if I accept that BASIS doesn’t teach to the test, they shouldn’t need to for kids who have already learned that part. It may be that BASIS’ style of teaching isn’t actually a good match for your kid even if they are performing well of BASIS style exams (very memorization based especially in 6th with little explanation/ extrapolation needed).

+1. This teaching to the test is BS. Either you know the material or not. It is just testing what you should know. It is not designed to trick you or anything.

[Anonymous]

Murch - have not received results.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What about an analysis of middle school 5s like Hardy 6th has 2x ELA 5s as Basis? Sure some kids read lots at home for fun….

This is interesting. Our kid just finished a year at BASIS and got his first CAPE scores -- both 4s. But previously at his (pretty mediocre) DCPS school he got 5s and 98th percentile scores. Scores and percentiles on CAPE both dropped after a year at BASIS!


He does extremely well on all the BASIS exams and other standardized tests. So I wonder if BASIS is truly not teaching to CAPE in any way.

BASIS ignores CAPE. Other than taking time away from class to administer it, totally irrelevant.

BASIS’ whole model is that extensive test and drill is actually teaching kids, not just teaching them to pass BASIS-specific tests. If a kid was getting 5s previously and now isn’t, I would definitely be worried (though I would wait a year to worry too much). The “strategy” of CAPE doesn’t change from year to year, so even if I accept that BASIS doesn’t teach to the test, they shouldn’t need to for kids who have already learned that part. It may be that BASIS’ style of teaching isn’t actually a good match for your kid even if they are performing well of BASIS style exams (very memorization based especially in 6th with little explanation/ extrapolation needed).

+1. This teaching to the test is BS. Either you know the material or not. It is just testing what you should know. It is not designed to trick you or anything.

At my school, school leadership changed the scope and sequence of the curriculum to teach concepts earlier so students would learn them in time for the test. Some teachers felt this was succumbing to test pressure and teaching to the test as those teachers had a specific way they wanted to teach concepts across the year. Not saying that is what BASIS is doing because i don't know. But when parents and others hear "teaching to the test" they should ask what that means. Is it just drill and kill and test strategies or is it that ratios or irrational numbers or whatever are taught earlier in the year so they are covered before the test?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What about an analysis of middle school 5s like Hardy 6th has 2x ELA 5s as Basis? Sure some kids read lots at home for fun….

This is interesting. Our kid just finished a year at BASIS and got his first CAPE scores -- both 4s. But previously at his (pretty mediocre) DCPS school he got 5s and 98th percentile scores. Scores and percentiles on CAPE both dropped after a year at BASIS!


He does extremely well on all the BASIS exams and other standardized tests. So I wonder if BASIS is truly not teaching to CAPE in any way.

BASIS ignores CAPE. Other than taking time away from class to administer it, totally irrelevant.

BASIS’ whole model is that extensive test and drill is actually teaching kids, not just teaching them to pass BASIS-specific tests. If a kid was getting 5s previously and now isn’t, I would definitely be worried (though I would wait a year to worry too much). The “strategy” of CAPE doesn’t change from year to year, so even if I accept that BASIS doesn’t teach to the test, they shouldn’t need to for kids who have already learned that part. It may be that BASIS’ style of teaching isn’t actually a good match for your kid even if they are performing well of BASIS style exams (very memorization based especially in 6th with little explanation/ extrapolation needed).

Yeah, it is notable. BASIS started using MAP this year, so that might be a good additional assessment.

They absolutely do not prep the kids for CAPE in any way, and they kind of rush through it (kids take the 30-question Math test in one day, rather than 10 questions per day over 3 days, which was the case at their DCPS). CAPE doesn't matter to BASIS teachers, but their "comp" scores matter a LOT for their evaluations, so they don't take any time away from the curriculum to teach the kids about CAPE.

We are quite happy there and there is no doubt in my mind that my kid has gotten smarter through the process of learning at BASIS, so CAPE scores wouldn't cause us to leave or anything.

But I wanted to share, bc it might shed light on why there are fewer 5s at BASIS than one might think.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What about an analysis of middle school 5s like Hardy 6th has 2x ELA 5s as Basis? Sure some kids read lots at home for fun….

Doesn’t Hardy 6th grade have double the amount of students as Basis 6th? 200ish students in hardy 6th grade vs 100ish at Basis. So this makes sense to me when talking about raw numbers.

[Anonymous]

its actually the percentage that is twice as high. might be unique to the classes of students who took the test last year

[Anonymous]

I asked my BASIS kid about CAPE and they said that, since it doesn’t count, no one cares and tries.

That said, there is no question that BASIS kids do really well on the test. In fact, they have the top scores of any middle school in DC.

Here are the results for 8th grade for the latest CAPE testing. This is after kids have been at schools such as BASIS, Deal, and Hardy for several years.

ELA

BASIS 84.4
Deal 81
Latin 2nd 72.4
Oyster 69.9
Latin Cooper 66
Hardy 65.9
S-H 63
DCI 58.1

Math

BASIS 78.5
Deal 64
Latin 2nd 63.3
Oyster 63
Hardy 50
Latin Cooper 41.5
DCI 41
S-H 31.3

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I asked my BASIS kid about CAPE and they said that, since it doesn’t count, no one cares and tries.

That said, there is no question that BASIS kids do really well on the test. In fact, they have the top scores of any middle school in DC.

Here are the results for 8th grade for the latest CAPE testing. This is after kids have been at schools such as BASIS, Deal, and Hardy for several years.

ELA

BASIS 84.4
Deal 81
Latin 2nd 72.4
Oyster 69.9
Latin Cooper 66
Hardy 65.9
S-H 63
DCI 58.1

Math

BASIS 78.5
Deal 64
Latin 2nd 63.3
Oyster 63
Hardy 50
Latin Cooper 41.5
DCI 41
S-H 31.3

Makes sense.

Sort of tracks the rankings:

https://www.usnews.com/education/k12/middle-schools/district-of-columbia

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I asked my BASIS kid about CAPE and they said that, since it doesn’t count, no one cares and tries.

That said, there is no question that BASIS kids do really well on the test. In fact, they have the top scores of any middle school in DC.

Here are the results for 8th grade for the latest CAPE testing. This is after kids have been at schools such as BASIS, Deal, and Hardy for several years.

ELA

BASIS 84.4
Deal 81
Latin 2nd 72.4
Oyster 69.9
Latin Cooper 66
Hardy 65.9
S-H 63
DCI 58.1

Math

BASIS 78.5
Deal 64
Latin 2nd 63.3
Oyster 63
Hardy 50
Latin Cooper 41.5
DCI 41
S-H 31.3

I do not believe this for a second given the types of kids and families at BASIS.

Also, you must be new here. The 8th grade math results are the least meaningful. BASIS has 8th graders take 8th grade math even though they're on to more advanced math; other schools don't, so 8th grade CAPE math takers tend to be the 8th graders who are worst at math. Do these numbers exclude the advance math takers? Because, if so, they'd be even less meaningful. Basically it would be every 8th grader at BASIS vs all the kids who were specifically worst at math at the other schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I asked my BASIS kid about CAPE and they said that, since it doesn’t count, no one cares and tries.

That said, there is no question that BASIS kids do really well on the test. In fact, they have the top scores of any middle school in DC.

Here are the results for 8th grade for the latest CAPE testing. This is after kids have been at schools such as BASIS, Deal, and Hardy for several years.

ELA

BASIS 84.4
Deal 81
Latin 2nd 72.4
Oyster 69.9
Latin Cooper 66
Hardy 65.9
S-H 63
DCI 58.1

Math

BASIS 78.5
Deal 64
Latin 2nd 63.3
Oyster 63
Hardy 50
Latin Cooper 41.5
DCI 41
S-H 31.3

I do not believe this for a second given the types of kids and families at BASIS.

Also, you must be new here. The 8th grade math results are the least meaningful. BASIS has 8th graders take 8th grade math even though they're on to more advanced math; other schools don't, so 8th grade CAPE math takers tend to be the 8th graders who are worst at math. Do these numbers exclude the advance math takers? Because, if so, they'd be even less meaningful. Basically it would be every 8th grader at BASIS vs all the kids who were specifically worst at math at the other schools.

I would agree with above. Basis cooks the math scores. You can just take that one out. Not a similar comparison to other schools where kids take the test of whatever corresponding level math they are in that year.