PARCC results: how will they be communicated to families?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I view ITS’s policy of not adding kids after Count Day much differently than any school that simply does not allow new students after initial grades. I agree both are bad in a public school— and charters ARE publics, even though they sometimes like to pretend they aren’t. But this ITS policy isn’t nearly as egregious to me. I get the rationale (it really can be tough on classrooms to add new students after the kids have finally settled in, as I know well as a DCPS parent). It’s a reality of school, but it’s tough on everyone.

But schools like BASIS or Latin refusing to backfill in subsequent years is really craven. Even private schools take kids mid-MS or mid-HS! A good school would not struggle to incorporate them. It really looks like an obvious grab for higher test scores. It’s gross. The ITS thing is annoying but doesn’t offend me in the same way.

We have been through this before, people. BASIS is unique in DC because it does not do social promotion. Kids don't have to leave, but they will be required to repeat a grade if they do not pass the comprehensive exam. No exceptions. BASIS wanted to accept kids after 5th. They do at other BASIS schools. But DCPCSB won't allow them to administer a test to put the kids in the proper grade level (without regard to age). It would make no sense to have a school that tells kids that are not meeting the standard they have to repeat a grade but let new kids enter into that higher grade even if they can't show mastery of the material.

You can disagree with whether BASIS should socially promote. But that's the argument/policy disagreement. "Backfilling" is a red herring to avoid talking about BASIS's social promotion policy.

Neighborhood schools have to take kids who are below grade. Even those who speak literally no English at all. They have to suck it up and deal with it as best they can. But wah, BASIS couldn't possibly cope without an entrance test. Even though other schools have to.

The idea with backfilling is that we don't want to create a system where if your 5th grade lottery number is bad, you have no hope for getting into a good school. What would the school system be like if every school allowed itself to do what BASIS is doing? Do we want to live like that? BASIS is free-riding on other schools' willingness to handle the tougher kids and do the hardest educational work. But feel free to pat yourself on the back for those great test scores!

Your response is all over the map and internally inconsistent. At one point you ask, what would it be like if every school stopped social promotion and required kids to actual master material before moving to the next grade - PERISH THE THOUGHT and clutching my pearls. You aren't even making the case you think you are. If BASIS was allowed to administer the test and put kids in appropriate grades they'd take backfills and then there would be hope of getting in after 5th - problem solved! Neighborhood schools have to take kids who enroll and are forced by DC policies to put them in their grade level by age, regardless of whet they actually know. And then DC makes it impossible to hold a kid back so they get moved along and graduate with a useless degree.

BASIS has higher standards than all other schools. I'm ok with that .

Because people don't want over-age kids in their classes! Do you want your 5th grader to be with 15 and 16 year olds who aren't doing well? Come on. Think about what you are saying. And because repeating grades doesn't actually solve anything. If the kid was going to learn the material in a regular classroom setting, they would have learned it the first time.

"Higher standards" my foot, they're just running off the kids who are harder to educate.

And because in a system without social promotion kids would simply drop out. They would grow up into uneducated adults. See, this is a school *system*. The goal isn't just to operate one school and pat yourself on the back for great test scores without any caring for the kids who start but don't finish. The idea is to educate the residents of the jurisdiction, thinking of *all of them* including those who drop out. And all schools should be good citizens of the school system and take a fair share of the more difficult educational work. If BASIS's attitude towards its strugging students is basically "f*ck'em", then yes, people are not going to think well of your school despite its cherry-picked test scores.

Two things:

1. The test scores aren't "cherry picked". We just have a ton of highly qualified kids who take the test. You seem not to understand what "cherry picked" means.
2. The vast majority of BASIS families don't care what you think. Too busy helping our kids with advanced work to worry about your jealousy.

The cherry picking is in creating a school that's poorly suited to serve any struggling student, and intentionally refusing social promotion because it's a way of getting rid of them. Yes, most of the kids do sit for the PARCC, the cherry picking happens before that.

I'm not at all jealous, my kids are doing great, thanks.

That's not "cherry picking" scores. Again, you don't understand what the term means. Everyone there takes the test and the published scores are for all kids. The kids who repeat also take the PARCC test and their scores count ,too.

A world gone mad where you speak about "intentionally refusing social promotion" like that's something to be embarrassed about.

If you are so happy and not at all jealous, why are you more interested and invested in what is happening at BASIS than most BASIS families? The lady doth protest too much, methinks.

Because I think it's selfish and poor citizenship to operate a school that shirks the harder work of educating the students of DC. It's in really poor taste to talk about how great your school is, how happy you are with it, when it comes at this kind of cost to others. I don't believe for a second that BASIS is actually against social promotion for principled reasons. I think they know perfectly well it's a way of getting rid of the kids who struggle.

Try to put yourself in the shoes of a parent of a child who struggled academically. Would you want them to repeat and repeat and repeat, growing older and more embarrassed and friendless? Or would you want them to have services and an age-appropriate setting? If BASIS didn't work out, would you want them to be shut out of other schools because it's 5th grade or never?

Try to think about the functioning of the school system as a whole, including for kids who aren't academically gifted or who don't speak good English yet. Try to think beyond your own family.

I think if we demanded excellence instead of allowing mediocrity to be the standard everyone would be better off. I think it is racist to assume black and brown and poor kids can't achieve when demands are made for achievement. I think your approach is condescending to those groups.

We have choice. Charters are their own LEAs. Plus, I call BS on your moral argument about a system. JKLM doesn't give a damn what happens in Ward 8. The noise from Deal and JR about ending OOB enrollment tells us a lot.

"One system". Puhleeze.

Pushing kids out with socially inappropriate placements is not "demanding excellence"! It's just running people off FFS. If BASIS were particularly great at serving at-risk, SPED, and ELL kids then you might get more traction. But it isn't. And getting good results takes a lot more than demanding it.

Is BASIS owned by a Chinese hedge fund?

What? I guess you want to talk about that, totally different topic. BASIS doesn't do those things well. And...? Only you seem to think that's an issue. I just want a kick a** academic program.

Traction with what? Bleeding heart, performative white folks who think that black and brown kids should be held to a lower standard...and somehow think that's progressive? Yeah, not looking for validation from that population

BTW, what school does your kid go to? I assume Eastern? [giggles]

None of your business where my kid goes, but it isn't a school owned by a Chinese hedge fund.

You can call me whatever you like. I consider myself a person who cares about the functioning of the school system as a whole, and who cares about children who aren't academically gifted equally as much as I care for those who are. Maybe some day you will see that BASIS' supposedly good results are due to avoiding the most difficult work, and that those choices are poor citizenship of the school system.

Where your kid goes is very much relevant if you want to be holier than thou. If your kid goes to JR or Deal then you can sit down and stop lecturing us about "one system". You got a bit defensive there, huh?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I view ITS’s policy of not adding kids after Count Day much differently than any school that simply does not allow new students after initial grades. I agree both are bad in a public school— and charters ARE publics, even though they sometimes like to pretend they aren’t. But this ITS policy isn’t nearly as egregious to me. I get the rationale (it really can be tough on classrooms to add new students after the kids have finally settled in, as I know well as a DCPS parent). It’s a reality of school, but it’s tough on everyone.

But schools like BASIS or Latin refusing to backfill in subsequent years is really craven. Even private schools take kids mid-MS or mid-HS! A good school would not struggle to incorporate them. It really looks like an obvious grab for higher test scores. It’s gross. The ITS thing is annoying but doesn’t offend me in the same way.

We have been through this before, people. BASIS is unique in DC because it does not do social promotion. Kids don't have to leave, but they will be required to repeat a grade if they do not pass the comprehensive exam. No exceptions. BASIS wanted to accept kids after 5th. They do at other BASIS schools. But DCPCSB won't allow them to administer a test to put the kids in the proper grade level (without regard to age). It would make no sense to have a school that tells kids that are not meeting the standard they have to repeat a grade but let new kids enter into that higher grade even if they can't show mastery of the material.

You can disagree with whether BASIS should socially promote. But that's the argument/policy disagreement. "Backfilling" is a red herring to avoid talking about BASIS's social promotion policy.

Neighborhood schools have to take kids who are below grade. Even those who speak literally no English at all. They have to suck it up and deal with it as best they can. But wah, BASIS couldn't possibly cope without an entrance test. Even though other schools have to.

The idea with backfilling is that we don't want to create a system where if your 5th grade lottery number is bad, you have no hope for getting into a good school. What would the school system be like if every school allowed itself to do what BASIS is doing? Do we want to live like that? BASIS is free-riding on other schools' willingness to handle the tougher kids and do the hardest educational work. But feel free to pat yourself on the back for those great test scores!

Your response is all over the map and internally inconsistent. At one point you ask, what would it be like if every school stopped social promotion and required kids to actual master material before moving to the next grade - PERISH THE THOUGHT and clutching my pearls. You aren't even making the case you think you are. If BASIS was allowed to administer the test and put kids in appropriate grades they'd take backfills and then there would be hope of getting in after 5th - problem solved! Neighborhood schools have to take kids who enroll and are forced by DC policies to put them in their grade level by age, regardless of whet they actually know. And then DC makes it impossible to hold a kid back so they get moved along and graduate with a useless degree.

BASIS has higher standards than all other schools. I'm ok with that .

Because people don't want over-age kids in their classes! Do you want your 5th grader to be with 15 and 16 year olds who aren't doing well? Come on. Think about what you are saying. And because repeating grades doesn't actually solve anything. If the kid was going to learn the material in a regular classroom setting, they would have learned it the first time.

"Higher standards" my foot, they're just running off the kids who are harder to educate.

And because in a system without social promotion kids would simply drop out. They would grow up into uneducated adults. See, this is a school *system*. The goal isn't just to operate one school and pat yourself on the back for great test scores without any caring for the kids who start but don't finish. The idea is to educate the residents of the jurisdiction, thinking of *all of them* including those who drop out. And all schools should be good citizens of the school system and take a fair share of the more difficult educational work. If BASIS's attitude towards its strugging students is basically "f*ck'em", then yes, people are not going to think well of your school despite its cherry-picked test scores.

Two things:

1. The test scores aren't "cherry picked". We just have a ton of highly qualified kids who take the test. You seem not to understand what "cherry picked" means.
2. The vast majority of BASIS families don't care what you think. Too busy helping our kids with advanced work to worry about your jealousy.

The cherry picking is in creating a school that's poorly suited to serve any struggling student, and intentionally refusing social promotion because it's a way of getting rid of them. Yes, most of the kids do sit for the PARCC, the cherry picking happens before that.

I'm not at all jealous, my kids are doing great, thanks.

That's not "cherry picking" scores. Again, you don't understand what the term means. Everyone there takes the test and the published scores are for all kids. The kids who repeat also take the PARCC test and their scores count ,too.

A world gone mad where you speak about "intentionally refusing social promotion" like that's something to be embarrassed about.

If you are so happy and not at all jealous, why are you more interested and invested in what is happening at BASIS than most BASIS families? The lady doth protest too much, methinks.

Because I think it's selfish and poor citizenship to operate a school that shirks the harder work of educating the students of DC. It's in really poor taste to talk about how great your school is, how happy you are with it, when it comes at this kind of cost to others. I don't believe for a second that BASIS is actually against social promotion for principled reasons. I think they know perfectly well it's a way of getting rid of the kids who struggle.

Try to put yourself in the shoes of a parent of a child who struggled academically. Would you want them to repeat and repeat and repeat, growing older and more embarrassed and friendless? Or would you want them to have services and an age-appropriate setting? If BASIS didn't work out, would you want them to be shut out of other schools because it's 5th grade or never?

Try to think about the functioning of the school system as a whole, including for kids who aren't academically gifted or who don't speak good English yet. Try to think beyond your own family.

DCPS is hostile to the idea of providing an appropriate education to kids who are above grade level. There are many schools where if you are not academically gifted, you will have a peer group and a level of instruction which are appropriate for you. For advanced kids, it's bleak outside of a few schools where you have to be lucky or rich to get to attend. Having one charter that's committed to this group is a good thing. It would be better if they could test kids as part of the admissions process and suggest that the school won't be a good fit. But obviously they're not allowed to do that.

Is that why JR, Hardy, Deal, and other schools have various actual honors classes, despite their "honors for all" BS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I view ITS’s policy of not adding kids after Count Day much differently than any school that simply does not allow new students after initial grades. I agree both are bad in a public school— and charters ARE publics, even though they sometimes like to pretend they aren’t. But this ITS policy isn’t nearly as egregious to me. I get the rationale (it really can be tough on classrooms to add new students after the kids have finally settled in, as I know well as a DCPS parent). It’s a reality of school, but it’s tough on everyone.

But schools like BASIS or Latin refusing to backfill in subsequent years is really craven. Even private schools take kids mid-MS or mid-HS! A good school would not struggle to incorporate them. It really looks like an obvious grab for higher test scores. It’s gross. The ITS thing is annoying but doesn’t offend me in the same way.

We have been through this before, people. BASIS is unique in DC because it does not do social promotion. Kids don't have to leave, but they will be required to repeat a grade if they do not pass the comprehensive exam. No exceptions. BASIS wanted to accept kids after 5th. They do at other BASIS schools. But DCPCSB won't allow them to administer a test to put the kids in the proper grade level (without regard to age). It would make no sense to have a school that tells kids that are not meeting the standard they have to repeat a grade but let new kids enter into that higher grade even if they can't show mastery of the material.

You can disagree with whether BASIS should socially promote. But that's the argument/policy disagreement. "Backfilling" is a red herring to avoid talking about BASIS's social promotion policy.

Neighborhood schools have to take kids who are below grade. Even those who speak literally no English at all. They have to suck it up and deal with it as best they can. But wah, BASIS couldn't possibly cope without an entrance test. Even though other schools have to.

The idea with backfilling is that we don't want to create a system where if your 5th grade lottery number is bad, you have no hope for getting into a good school. What would the school system be like if every school allowed itself to do what BASIS is doing? Do we want to live like that? BASIS is free-riding on other schools' willingness to handle the tougher kids and do the hardest educational work. But feel free to pat yourself on the back for those great test scores!

Your response is all over the map and internally inconsistent. At one point you ask, what would it be like if every school stopped social promotion and required kids to actual master material before moving to the next grade - PERISH THE THOUGHT and clutching my pearls. You aren't even making the case you think you are. If BASIS was allowed to administer the test and put kids in appropriate grades they'd take backfills and then there would be hope of getting in after 5th - problem solved! Neighborhood schools have to take kids who enroll and are forced by DC policies to put them in their grade level by age, regardless of whet they actually know. And then DC makes it impossible to hold a kid back so they get moved along and graduate with a useless degree.

BASIS has higher standards than all other schools. I'm ok with that .

Because people don't want over-age kids in their classes! Do you want your 5th grader to be with 15 and 16 year olds who aren't doing well? Come on. Think about what you are saying. And because repeating grades doesn't actually solve anything. If the kid was going to learn the material in a regular classroom setting, they would have learned it the first time.

"Higher standards" my foot, they're just running off the kids who are harder to educate.

That's a red herring that frequently gets trotted out. And it is BS. First, it is unlikely that a kid would be 5 or 6 grade levels down. If they are there are serious issues that require heavy remediation that a traditional school cannot address is a traditional classroom setting. So if a 16 year old was at 5th grade level then for damn sure I hope we're not just putting kids in the same grade year after year.

Once a kid is 2 grades behind they have needs a traditional classroom cannot address.

So do tell, what does BASIS offer for such a student? Or is it just byeeeee, someone else's problem?

It is not byeeee. BASIS has a ton of supports in place. Every BASIS teacher has student hours once a week after school for 2 hours. Any kid can drop in and ask for help, supplements support or advice at will. The also do serious interventions. Your question tells me you know nothing about BASIS.

Also, if you repeat a grade and still can't hack it at BASIS then it is not a good fit for you. It needn't be. My kid has would bomb out of a technical HS. That's ok. Bad fit for them.

Maybe the supports aren't so great if kids are still failing out, hmmmmm? Sorry but a good school actually gets the job done for its more challenging students.

Everyone does not get a trophy at BASIS. Some kids will fail out because the rigor is beyond their cpability. Not every kids is an academic rock star. You don't do a kid any favors by forcing them to operate above their capability. All the intervention in the world won't get some kids to the standard. There are better fits for them.

Life is like that, too. We do performance reviews at work. You could argue that people on PIPs have bad managers who failed to get them to where they need to be. But ultimately it is on them to perform to the standard or find a job that is a better fit for their skills. And that is OK. It doesn't make them bad people. Just bad fits for the the job.

You seem not to understand the concept here. I bet you love the idea of "honors for all" at JR. Newsflash, the parents who want true honors classes don't want kids behind their advanced kids in their class. Same concept. Get it?

It just seems like if BASIS' supports aren't good enough to get children to pass grade level, then maybe BASIS isn't such a great school after all. Or maybe it isn't IDEA compliant.

I do not love "honors for all", I think it's BS, and I'm not a JR parent anyway. But JR has to take kids by address, regardless of their ability or disabilities, and doesn't get to just wash its hands of them when they don't want the humiliation and ineffectiveness of a socially inappropriate retention. JR doesn't get to say "to each their own, we're the school for the really smart kids only!" and not care what happens to the kids who fail out. DCPS has to manage a whole system, not just a set of isolated schools, and has to care about all the kids, not just the smart ones. Try it, you might find it feels good.

Is BASIS owned by a Chinese hedge fund or not?

Don't know, don't care. You are some sort of Socratic genius, huh?

It's just kind of yucky to be asked to donate money to what's essentially a for-profit endeavor.

Red herring. Are you against waster or some for profit principle or the Chines? DCPS wastes more money on Central and inefficient procurement than BASIS or other well run Charters. Those are also your tax dollars. And the quality of my kid's education is top notch so I have no concerns about funds being diverted. I assume your car in American made, as are all the appliances in your house...because of your outsized focus on China. (they made the chip in the device you're on right now, btw).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I view ITS’s policy of not adding kids after Count Day much differently than any school that simply does not allow new students after initial grades. I agree both are bad in a public school— and charters ARE publics, even though they sometimes like to pretend they aren’t. But this ITS policy isn’t nearly as egregious to me. I get the rationale (it really can be tough on classrooms to add new students after the kids have finally settled in, as I know well as a DCPS parent). It’s a reality of school, but it’s tough on everyone.

But schools like BASIS or Latin refusing to backfill in subsequent years is really craven. Even private schools take kids mid-MS or mid-HS! A good school would not struggle to incorporate them. It really looks like an obvious grab for higher test scores. It’s gross. The ITS thing is annoying but doesn’t offend me in the same way.

We have been through this before, people. BASIS is unique in DC because it does not do social promotion. Kids don't have to leave, but they will be required to repeat a grade if they do not pass the comprehensive exam. No exceptions. BASIS wanted to accept kids after 5th. They do at other BASIS schools. But DCPCSB won't allow them to administer a test to put the kids in the proper grade level (without regard to age). It would make no sense to have a school that tells kids that are not meeting the standard they have to repeat a grade but let new kids enter into that higher grade even if they can't show mastery of the material.

You can disagree with whether BASIS should socially promote. But that's the argument/policy disagreement. "Backfilling" is a red herring to avoid talking about BASIS's social promotion policy.

Neighborhood schools have to take kids who are below grade. Even those who speak literally no English at all. They have to suck it up and deal with it as best they can. But wah, BASIS couldn't possibly cope without an entrance test. Even though other schools have to.

The idea with backfilling is that we don't want to create a system where if your 5th grade lottery number is bad, you have no hope for getting into a good school. What would the school system be like if every school allowed itself to do what BASIS is doing? Do we want to live like that? BASIS is free-riding on other schools' willingness to handle the tougher kids and do the hardest educational work. But feel free to pat yourself on the back for those great test scores!

Your response is all over the map and internally inconsistent. At one point you ask, what would it be like if every school stopped social promotion and required kids to actual master material before moving to the next grade - PERISH THE THOUGHT and clutching my pearls. You aren't even making the case you think you are. If BASIS was allowed to administer the test and put kids in appropriate grades they'd take backfills and then there would be hope of getting in after 5th - problem solved! Neighborhood schools have to take kids who enroll and are forced by DC policies to put them in their grade level by age, regardless of whet they actually know. And then DC makes it impossible to hold a kid back so they get moved along and graduate with a useless degree.

BASIS has higher standards than all other schools. I'm ok with that .

Because people don't want over-age kids in their classes! Do you want your 5th grader to be with 15 and 16 year olds who aren't doing well? Come on. Think about what you are saying. And because repeating grades doesn't actually solve anything. If the kid was going to learn the material in a regular classroom setting, they would have learned it the first time.

"Higher standards" my foot, they're just running off the kids who are harder to educate.

And because in a system without social promotion kids would simply drop out. They would grow up into uneducated adults. See, this is a school *system*. The goal isn't just to operate one school and pat yourself on the back for great test scores without any caring for the kids who start but don't finish. The idea is to educate the residents of the jurisdiction, thinking of *all of them* including those who drop out. And all schools should be good citizens of the school system and take a fair share of the more difficult educational work. If BASIS's attitude towards its strugging students is basically "f*ck'em", then yes, people are not going to think well of your school despite its cherry-picked test scores.

Two things:

1. The test scores aren't "cherry picked". We just have a ton of highly qualified kids who take the test. You seem not to understand what "cherry picked" means.
2. The vast majority of BASIS families don't care what you think. Too busy helping our kids with advanced work to worry about your jealousy.

The cherry picking is in creating a school that's poorly suited to serve any struggling student, and intentionally refusing social promotion because it's a way of getting rid of them. Yes, most of the kids do sit for the PARCC, the cherry picking happens before that.

I'm not at all jealous, my kids are doing great, thanks.

That's not "cherry picking" scores. Again, you don't understand what the term means. Everyone there takes the test and the published scores are for all kids. The kids who repeat also take the PARCC test and their scores count ,too.

A world gone mad where you speak about "intentionally refusing social promotion" like that's something to be embarrassed about.

If you are so happy and not at all jealous, why are you more interested and invested in what is happening at BASIS than most BASIS families? The lady doth protest too much, methinks.

Because I think it's selfish and poor citizenship to operate a school that shirks the harder work of educating the students of DC. It's in really poor taste to talk about how great your school is, how happy you are with it, when it comes at this kind of cost to others. I don't believe for a second that BASIS is actually against social promotion for principled reasons. I think they know perfectly well it's a way of getting rid of the kids who struggle.

Try to put yourself in the shoes of a parent of a child who struggled academically. Would you want them to repeat and repeat and repeat, growing older and more embarrassed and friendless? Or would you want them to have services and an age-appropriate setting? If BASIS didn't work out, would you want them to be shut out of other schools because it's 5th grade or never?

Try to think about the functioning of the school system as a whole, including for kids who aren't academically gifted or who don't speak good English yet. Try to think beyond your own family.

DCPS is hostile to the idea of providing an appropriate education to kids who are above grade level. There are many schools where if you are not academically gifted, you will have a peer group and a level of instruction which are appropriate for you. For advanced kids, it's bleak outside of a few schools where you have to be lucky or rich to get to attend. Having one charter that's committed to this group is a good thing. It would be better if they could test kids as part of the admissions process and suggest that the school won't be a good fit. But obviously they're not allowed to do that.

Is that why JR, Hardy, Deal, and other schools have various actual honors classes, despite their "honors for all" BS?

LOL. You named the NW rich DCPS schools as evidence of "one system"???!!!! People who can't afford to live IB for those schools don't have access to those things. Performative nonsense, as usual.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I view ITS’s policy of not adding kids after Count Day much differently than any school that simply does not allow new students after initial grades. I agree both are bad in a public school— and charters ARE publics, even though they sometimes like to pretend they aren’t. But this ITS policy isn’t nearly as egregious to me. I get the rationale (it really can be tough on classrooms to add new students after the kids have finally settled in, as I know well as a DCPS parent). It’s a reality of school, but it’s tough on everyone.

But schools like BASIS or Latin refusing to backfill in subsequent years is really craven. Even private schools take kids mid-MS or mid-HS! A good school would not struggle to incorporate them. It really looks like an obvious grab for higher test scores. It’s gross. The ITS thing is annoying but doesn’t offend me in the same way.

We have been through this before, people. BASIS is unique in DC because it does not do social promotion. Kids don't have to leave, but they will be required to repeat a grade if they do not pass the comprehensive exam. No exceptions. BASIS wanted to accept kids after 5th. They do at other BASIS schools. But DCPCSB won't allow them to administer a test to put the kids in the proper grade level (without regard to age). It would make no sense to have a school that tells kids that are not meeting the standard they have to repeat a grade but let new kids enter into that higher grade even if they can't show mastery of the material.

You can disagree with whether BASIS should socially promote. But that's the argument/policy disagreement. "Backfilling" is a red herring to avoid talking about BASIS's social promotion policy.

Neighborhood schools have to take kids who are below grade. Even those who speak literally no English at all. They have to suck it up and deal with it as best they can. But wah, BASIS couldn't possibly cope without an entrance test. Even though other schools have to.

The idea with backfilling is that we don't want to create a system where if your 5th grade lottery number is bad, you have no hope for getting into a good school. What would the school system be like if every school allowed itself to do what BASIS is doing? Do we want to live like that? BASIS is free-riding on other schools' willingness to handle the tougher kids and do the hardest educational work. But feel free to pat yourself on the back for those great test scores!

Your response is all over the map and internally inconsistent. At one point you ask, what would it be like if every school stopped social promotion and required kids to actual master material before moving to the next grade - PERISH THE THOUGHT and clutching my pearls. You aren't even making the case you think you are. If BASIS was allowed to administer the test and put kids in appropriate grades they'd take backfills and then there would be hope of getting in after 5th - problem solved! Neighborhood schools have to take kids who enroll and are forced by DC policies to put them in their grade level by age, regardless of whet they actually know. And then DC makes it impossible to hold a kid back so they get moved along and graduate with a useless degree.

BASIS has higher standards than all other schools. I'm ok with that .

Because people don't want over-age kids in their classes! Do you want your 5th grader to be with 15 and 16 year olds who aren't doing well? Come on. Think about what you are saying. And because repeating grades doesn't actually solve anything. If the kid was going to learn the material in a regular classroom setting, they would have learned it the first time.

"Higher standards" my foot, they're just running off the kids who are harder to educate.

And because in a system without social promotion kids would simply drop out. They would grow up into uneducated adults. See, this is a school *system*. The goal isn't just to operate one school and pat yourself on the back for great test scores without any caring for the kids who start but don't finish. The idea is to educate the residents of the jurisdiction, thinking of *all of them* including those who drop out. And all schools should be good citizens of the school system and take a fair share of the more difficult educational work. If BASIS's attitude towards its strugging students is basically "f*ck'em", then yes, people are not going to think well of your school despite its cherry-picked test scores.

Two things:

1. The test scores aren't "cherry picked". We just have a ton of highly qualified kids who take the test. You seem not to understand what "cherry picked" means.
2. The vast majority of BASIS families don't care what you think. Too busy helping our kids with advanced work to worry about your jealousy.

The cherry picking is in creating a school that's poorly suited to serve any struggling student, and intentionally refusing social promotion because it's a way of getting rid of them. Yes, most of the kids do sit for the PARCC, the cherry picking happens before that.

I'm not at all jealous, my kids are doing great, thanks.

That's not "cherry picking" scores. Again, you don't understand what the term means. Everyone there takes the test and the published scores are for all kids. The kids who repeat also take the PARCC test and their scores count ,too.

A world gone mad where you speak about "intentionally refusing social promotion" like that's something to be embarrassed about.

If you are so happy and not at all jealous, why are you more interested and invested in what is happening at BASIS than most BASIS families? The lady doth protest too much, methinks.

Because I think it's selfish and poor citizenship to operate a school that shirks the harder work of educating the students of DC. It's in really poor taste to talk about how great your school is, how happy you are with it, when it comes at this kind of cost to others. I don't believe for a second that BASIS is actually against social promotion for principled reasons. I think they know perfectly well it's a way of getting rid of the kids who struggle.

Try to put yourself in the shoes of a parent of a child who struggled academically. Would you want them to repeat and repeat and repeat, growing older and more embarrassed and friendless? Or would you want them to have services and an age-appropriate setting? If BASIS didn't work out, would you want them to be shut out of other schools because it's 5th grade or never?

Try to think about the functioning of the school system as a whole, including for kids who aren't academically gifted or who don't speak good English yet. Try to think beyond your own family.

DCPS is hostile to the idea of providing an appropriate education to kids who are above grade level. There are many schools where if you are not academically gifted, you will have a peer group and a level of instruction which are appropriate for you. For advanced kids, it's bleak outside of a few schools where you have to be lucky or rich to get to attend. Having one charter that's committed to this group is a good thing. It would be better if they could test kids as part of the admissions process and suggest that the school won't be a good fit. But obviously they're not allowed to do that.

Is that why JR, Hardy, Deal, and other schools have various actual honors classes, despite their "honors for all" BS?

LOL. You named the NW rich DCPS schools as evidence of "one system"???!!!! People who can't afford to live IB for those schools don't have access to those things. Performative nonsense, as usual.

I'm not sure how you could say DCPS is hostile to it when they are currently doing it at some schools. I know it mostly sucks EOTP, but it's more complicated.

If BASIS had a great track record with at-risk kids your arguments would be stronger, but it doesn't. Pretty much a high income school.

[Anonymous]

What would BASIS do if regular DCPS schools weren’t there to take the kids they can’t educate? Why don’t they take new kids at ninth grade? Why so very few seniors?

[Anonymous]

Food for thought: is there a school in DC that does a good job of educating all types of students, including the most advanced and the “hardest work”?

It’s virtuous to ask that all schools welcome everyone, but DC schools — with maybe a very few exceptions — aren’t wildly successful at their mission. Maybe BASIS’s specialization is an instructive tale rather than a cautionary one?

Is there a way to creatively and equitably get more students exactly the program that they, as individuals, need?

[Anonymous]

It’s been said before and worth repeating: Not everything is for everyone. There is so much outrage that BASIS sets such high standards and refuses to yield them. Well there’s equal outrage that DCPS and many other charters fail to provide anything close to those high standards (particularly at the MS and HS levels) so that capable students feel like their needs are also being met. Should every school only be concerned with the lowest common denominator?? The goal is to educate everyone. Raising up the bottom and taking care of the harder to educate kids does not have to be done at the expense of challenging the capable students but unfortunately it is almost always done that way around here. Teachers cannot teach several levels at once without a lot of help that is never given to them. Every student deserves to meet their own potential and BASIS professes to provide whatever support it can to students who are struggling there. At the end of the day, some students there realize they are just not as academically inclined and leave the school (or leave the school for a variety of non-academic reasons) and THAT IS OKAY. It’s also okay for high achieving students to have a public school in DC which meets their academic needs, too. If you feel it’s not fair to compare BASIS PARCC scores to other DC schools for whatever reason then just don’t. Ironically, few people think twice before comparing LAMB to the other Spanish immersion charter schools which take new students at every grade level even though LAMB does not and has a much smaller number of students in the upper grades taking PARCC. There are many reasons to avoid making comparisons between schools because there are so many nuances. The more useful comparisons right now is to look at a single school’s own history and get a sense for the trajectory.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Food for thought: is there a school in DC that does a good job of educating all types of students, including the most advanced and the “hardest work”?

It’s virtuous to ask that all schools welcome everyone, but DC schools — with maybe a very few exceptions — aren’t wildly successful at their mission. Maybe BASIS’s specialization is an instructive tale rather than a cautionary one?

Is there a way to creatively and equitably get more students exactly the program that they, as individuals, need?

An interesting question. Another good question is whether there are schools at the MS and HS level that do a good job of addressing the needs of the kids who struggle the most. There are schools that DCUM never discusses that are focused on these students. Coolidge and Bard, the Early College Academies. McKinley Tech. Perhaps these schools snd their teachers have insight into what could help other schools address the needs of these students. Maybe we need more such schools. Maybe some of our neighborhood schools could j look warm sonething.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Food for thought: is there a school in DC that does a good job of educating all types of students, including the most advanced and the “hardest work”?

It’s virtuous to ask that all schools welcome everyone, but DC schools — with maybe a very few exceptions — aren’t wildly successful at their mission. Maybe BASIS’s specialization is an instructive tale rather than a cautionary one?

Is there a way to creatively and equitably get more students exactly the program that they, as individuals, need?

Yeah, I think this is what charters were meant to do, in theory. Allow for more customization of a program and let families choose which "fit" best. Unfortunately we end up with a lottery where very free get lucky and your entire school pathway may be set on what your child was like at 2.5 or 3 years old.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:I view ITS’s policy of not adding kids after Count Day much differently than any school that simply does not allow new students after initial grades. I agree both are bad in a public school— and charters ARE publics, even though they sometimes like to pretend they aren’t. But this ITS policy isn’t nearly as egregious to me. I get the rationale (it really can be tough on classrooms to add new students after the kids have finally settled in, as I know well as a DCPS parent). It’s a reality of school, but it’s tough on everyone.

But schools like BASIS or Latin refusing to backfill in subsequent years is really craven. Even private schools take kids mid-MS or mid-HS! A good school would not struggle to incorporate them. It really looks like an obvious grab for higher test scores. It’s gross. The ITS thing is annoying but doesn’t offend me in the same way.

We have been through this before, people. BASIS is unique in DC because it does not do social promotion. Kids don't have to leave, but they will be required to repeat a grade if they do not pass the comprehensive exam. No exceptions. BASIS wanted to accept kids after 5th. They do at other BASIS schools. But DCPCSB won't allow them to administer a test to put the kids in the proper grade level (without regard to age). It would make no sense to have a school that tells kids that are not meeting the standard they have to repeat a grade but let new kids enter into that higher grade even if they can't show mastery of the material.

You can disagree with whether BASIS should socially promote. But that's the argument/policy disagreement. "Backfilling" is a red herring to avoid talking about BASIS's social promotion policy.

Neighborhood schools have to take kids who are below grade. Even those who speak literally no English at all. They have to suck it up and deal with it as best they can. But wah, BASIS couldn't possibly cope without an entrance test. Even though other schools have to.

The idea with backfilling is that we don't want to create a system where if your 5th grade lottery number is bad, you have no hope for getting into a good school. What would the school system be like if every school allowed itself to do what BASIS is doing? Do we want to live like that? BASIS is free-riding on other schools' willingness to handle the tougher kids and do the hardest educational work. But feel free to pat yourself on the back for those great test scores!

Your response is all over the map and internally inconsistent. At one point you ask, what would it be like if every school stopped social promotion and required kids to actual master material before moving to the next grade - PERISH THE THOUGHT and clutching my pearls. You aren't even making the case you think you are. If BASIS was allowed to administer the test and put kids in appropriate grades they'd take backfills and then there would be hope of getting in after 5th - problem solved! Neighborhood schools have to take kids who enroll and are forced by DC policies to put them in their grade level by age, regardless of whet they actually know. And then DC makes it impossible to hold a kid back so they get moved along and graduate with a useless degree.

BASIS has higher standards than all other schools. I'm ok with that .

Because people don't want over-age kids in their classes! Do you want your 5th grader to be with 15 and 16 year olds who aren't doing well? Come on. Think about what you are saying. And because repeating grades doesn't actually solve anything. If the kid was going to learn the material in a regular classroom setting, they would have learned it the first time.

"Higher standards" my foot, they're just running off the kids who are harder to educate.

And because in a system without social promotion kids would simply drop out. They would grow up into uneducated adults. See, this is a school *system*. The goal isn't just to operate one school and pat yourself on the back for great test scores without any caring for the kids who start but don't finish. The idea is to educate the residents of the jurisdiction, thinking of *all of them* including those who drop out. And all schools should be good citizens of the school system and take a fair share of the more difficult educational work. If BASIS's attitude towards its strugging students is basically "f*ck'em", then yes, people are not going to think well of your school despite its cherry-picked test scores.

Two things:

1. The test scores aren't "cherry picked". We just have a ton of highly qualified kids who take the test. You seem not to understand what "cherry picked" means.
2. The vast majority of BASIS families don't care what you think. Too busy helping our kids with advanced work to worry about your jealousy.

The cherry picking is in creating a school that's poorly suited to serve any struggling student, and intentionally refusing social promotion because it's a way of getting rid of them. Yes, most of the kids do sit for the PARCC, the cherry picking happens before that.

I'm not at all jealous, my kids are doing great, thanks.

That's not "cherry picking" scores. Again, you don't understand what the term means. Everyone there takes the test and the published scores are for all kids. The kids who repeat also take the PARCC test and their scores count ,too.

A world gone mad where you speak about "intentionally refusing social promotion" like that's something to be embarrassed about.

If you are so happy and not at all jealous, why are you more interested and invested in what is happening at BASIS than most BASIS families? The lady doth protest too much, methinks.

Because I think it's selfish and poor citizenship to operate a school that shirks the harder work of educating the students of DC. It's in really poor taste to talk about how great your school is, how happy you are with it, when it comes at this kind of cost to others. I don't believe for a second that BASIS is actually against social promotion for principled reasons. I think they know perfectly well it's a way of getting rid of the kids who struggle.

Try to put yourself in the shoes of a parent of a child who struggled academically. Would you want them to repeat and repeat and repeat, growing older and more embarrassed and friendless? Or would you want them to have services and an age-appropriate setting? If BASIS didn't work out, would you want them to be shut out of other schools because it's 5th grade or never?

Try to think about the functioning of the school system as a whole, including for kids who aren't academically gifted or who don't speak good English yet. Try to think beyond your own family.

DCPS is hostile to the idea of providing an appropriate education to kids who are above grade level. There are many schools where if you are not academically gifted, you will have a peer group and a level of instruction which are appropriate for you. For advanced kids, it's bleak outside of a few schools where you have to be lucky or rich to get to attend. Having one charter that's committed to this group is a good thing. It would be better if they could test kids as part of the admissions process and suggest that the school won't be a good fit. But obviously they're not allowed to do that.

Is that why JR, Hardy, Deal, and other schools have various actual honors classes, despite their "honors for all" BS?

LOL. You named the NW rich DCPS schools as evidence of "one system"???!!!! People who can't afford to live IB for those schools don't have access to those things. Performative nonsense, as usual.

I'm not sure how you could say DCPS is hostile to it when they are currently doing it at some schools. I know it mostly sucks EOTP, but it's more complicated.

If BASIS had a great track record with at-risk kids your arguments would be stronger, but it doesn't. Pretty much a high income school.

High income in DC doesn't mean you can afford to live in boundary for Deal or Hardy. Basis is providing an option for a lot of kids DC has zero interest in providing an appropriate education for in their neighborhood schools. And that they currently cannot kill tracking everywhere does not mean they're not hostile to it. Honors for all and the movement away from even the minimal use of test scores for selective admissions high schools shows that. The direction DCPS is moving is toward less differentiation, not more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I view ITS’s policy of not adding kids after Count Day much differently than any school that simply does not allow new students after initial grades. I agree both are bad in a public school— and charters ARE publics, even though they sometimes like to pretend they aren’t. But this ITS policy isn’t nearly as egregious to me. I get the rationale (it really can be tough on classrooms to add new students after the kids have finally settled in, as I know well as a DCPS parent). It’s a reality of school, but it’s tough on everyone.

But schools like BASIS or Latin refusing to backfill in subsequent years is really craven. Even private schools take kids mid-MS or mid-HS! A good school would not struggle to incorporate them. It really looks like an obvious grab for higher test scores. It’s gross. The ITS thing is annoying but doesn’t offend me in the same way.

We have been through this before, people. BASIS is unique in DC because it does not do social promotion. Kids don't have to leave, but they will be required to repeat a grade if they do not pass the comprehensive exam. No exceptions. BASIS wanted to accept kids after 5th. They do at other BASIS schools. But DCPCSB won't allow them to administer a test to put the kids in the proper grade level (without regard to age). It would make no sense to have a school that tells kids that are not meeting the standard they have to repeat a grade but let new kids enter into that higher grade even if they can't show mastery of the material.

You can disagree with whether BASIS should socially promote. But that's the argument/policy disagreement. "Backfilling" is a red herring to avoid talking about BASIS's social promotion policy.

Neighborhood schools have to take kids who are below grade. Even those who speak literally no English at all. They have to suck it up and deal with it as best they can. But wah, BASIS couldn't possibly cope without an entrance test. Even though other schools have to.

The idea with backfilling is that we don't want to create a system where if your 5th grade lottery number is bad, you have no hope for getting into a good school. What would the school system be like if every school allowed itself to do what BASIS is doing? Do we want to live like that? BASIS is free-riding on other schools' willingness to handle the tougher kids and do the hardest educational work. But feel free to pat yourself on the back for those great test scores!

Your response is all over the map and internally inconsistent. At one point you ask, what would it be like if every school stopped social promotion and required kids to actual master material before moving to the next grade - PERISH THE THOUGHT and clutching my pearls. You aren't even making the case you think you are. If BASIS was allowed to administer the test and put kids in appropriate grades they'd take backfills and then there would be hope of getting in after 5th - problem solved! Neighborhood schools have to take kids who enroll and are forced by DC policies to put them in their grade level by age, regardless of whet they actually know. And then DC makes it impossible to hold a kid back so they get moved along and graduate with a useless degree.

BASIS has higher standards than all other schools. I'm ok with that .

Because people don't want over-age kids in their classes! Do you want your 5th grader to be with 15 and 16 year olds who aren't doing well? Come on. Think about what you are saying. And because repeating grades doesn't actually solve anything. If the kid was going to learn the material in a regular classroom setting, they would have learned it the first time.

"Higher standards" my foot, they're just running off the kids who are harder to educate.

And because in a system without social promotion kids would simply drop out. They would grow up into uneducated adults. See, this is a school *system*. The goal isn't just to operate one school and pat yourself on the back for great test scores without any caring for the kids who start but don't finish. The idea is to educate the residents of the jurisdiction, thinking of *all of them* including those who drop out. And all schools should be good citizens of the school system and take a fair share of the more difficult educational work. If BASIS's attitude towards its strugging students is basically "f*ck'em", then yes, people are not going to think well of your school despite its cherry-picked test scores.

Two things:

1. The test scores aren't "cherry picked". We just have a ton of highly qualified kids who take the test. You seem not to understand what "cherry picked" means.
2. The vast majority of BASIS families don't care what you think. Too busy helping our kids with advanced work to worry about your jealousy.

The cherry picking is in creating a school that's poorly suited to serve any struggling student, and intentionally refusing social promotion because it's a way of getting rid of them. Yes, most of the kids do sit for the PARCC, the cherry picking happens before that.

I'm not at all jealous, my kids are doing great, thanks.

That's not "cherry picking" scores. Again, you don't understand what the term means. Everyone there takes the test and the published scores are for all kids. The kids who repeat also take the PARCC test and their scores count ,too.

A world gone mad where you speak about "intentionally refusing social promotion" like that's something to be embarrassed about.

If you are so happy and not at all jealous, why are you more interested and invested in what is happening at BASIS than most BASIS families? The lady doth protest too much, methinks.

Because I think it's selfish and poor citizenship to operate a school that shirks the harder work of educating the students of DC. It's in really poor taste to talk about how great your school is, how happy you are with it, when it comes at this kind of cost to others. I don't believe for a second that BASIS is actually against social promotion for principled reasons. I think they know perfectly well it's a way of getting rid of the kids who struggle.

Try to put yourself in the shoes of a parent of a child who struggled academically. Would you want them to repeat and repeat and repeat, growing older and more embarrassed and friendless? Or would you want them to have services and an age-appropriate setting? If BASIS didn't work out, would you want them to be shut out of other schools because it's 5th grade or never?

Try to think about the functioning of the school system as a whole, including for kids who aren't academically gifted or who don't speak good English yet. Try to think beyond your own family.

DCPS is hostile to the idea of providing an appropriate education to kids who are above grade level. There are many schools where if you are not academically gifted, you will have a peer group and a level of instruction which are appropriate for you. For advanced kids, it's bleak outside of a few schools where you have to be lucky or rich to get to attend. Having one charter that's committed to this group is a good thing. It would be better if they could test kids as part of the admissions process and suggest that the school won't be a good fit. But obviously they're not allowed to do that.

Is that why JR, Hardy, Deal, and other schools have various actual honors classes, despite their "honors for all" BS?

LOL. You named the NW rich DCPS schools as evidence of "one system"???!!!! People who can't afford to live IB for those schools don't have access to those things. Performative nonsense, as usual.

I'm not sure how you could say DCPS is hostile to it when they are currently doing it at some schools. I know it mostly sucks EOTP, but it's more complicated.

If BASIS had a great track record with at-risk kids your arguments would be stronger, but it doesn't. Pretty much a high income school.

So you are saying the view from the Deal/JR catchment is that things are good, while acknowledging that "it mostly sucks EOTP". And here you sit typing away with confidence that you don't see a need for BASIS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I view ITS’s policy of not adding kids after Count Day much differently than any school that simply does not allow new students after initial grades. I agree both are bad in a public school— and charters ARE publics, even though they sometimes like to pretend they aren’t. But this ITS policy isn’t nearly as egregious to me. I get the rationale (it really can be tough on classrooms to add new students after the kids have finally settled in, as I know well as a DCPS parent). It’s a reality of school, but it’s tough on everyone.

But schools like BASIS or Latin refusing to backfill in subsequent years is really craven. Even private schools take kids mid-MS or mid-HS! A good school would not struggle to incorporate them. It really looks like an obvious grab for higher test scores. It’s gross. The ITS thing is annoying but doesn’t offend me in the same way.

We have been through this before, people. BASIS is unique in DC because it does not do social promotion. Kids don't have to leave, but they will be required to repeat a grade if they do not pass the comprehensive exam. No exceptions. BASIS wanted to accept kids after 5th. They do at other BASIS schools. But DCPCSB won't allow them to administer a test to put the kids in the proper grade level (without regard to age). It would make no sense to have a school that tells kids that are not meeting the standard they have to repeat a grade but let new kids enter into that higher grade even if they can't show mastery of the material.

You can disagree with whether BASIS should socially promote. But that's the argument/policy disagreement. "Backfilling" is a red herring to avoid talking about BASIS's social promotion policy.

Neighborhood schools have to take kids who are below grade. Even those who speak literally no English at all. They have to suck it up and deal with it as best they can. But wah, BASIS couldn't possibly cope without an entrance test. Even though other schools have to.

The idea with backfilling is that we don't want to create a system where if your 5th grade lottery number is bad, you have no hope for getting into a good school. What would the school system be like if every school allowed itself to do what BASIS is doing? Do we want to live like that? BASIS is free-riding on other schools' willingness to handle the tougher kids and do the hardest educational work. But feel free to pat yourself on the back for those great test scores!

Your response is all over the map and internally inconsistent. At one point you ask, what would it be like if every school stopped social promotion and required kids to actual master material before moving to the next grade - PERISH THE THOUGHT and clutching my pearls. You aren't even making the case you think you are. If BASIS was allowed to administer the test and put kids in appropriate grades they'd take backfills and then there would be hope of getting in after 5th - problem solved! Neighborhood schools have to take kids who enroll and are forced by DC policies to put them in their grade level by age, regardless of whet they actually know. And then DC makes it impossible to hold a kid back so they get moved along and graduate with a useless degree.

BASIS has higher standards than all other schools. I'm ok with that .

Because people don't want over-age kids in their classes! Do you want your 5th grader to be with 15 and 16 year olds who aren't doing well? Come on. Think about what you are saying. And because repeating grades doesn't actually solve anything. If the kid was going to learn the material in a regular classroom setting, they would have learned it the first time.

"Higher standards" my foot, they're just running off the kids who are harder to educate.

And because in a system without social promotion kids would simply drop out. They would grow up into uneducated adults. See, this is a school *system*. The goal isn't just to operate one school and pat yourself on the back for great test scores without any caring for the kids who start but don't finish. The idea is to educate the residents of the jurisdiction, thinking of *all of them* including those who drop out. And all schools should be good citizens of the school system and take a fair share of the more difficult educational work. If BASIS's attitude towards its strugging students is basically "f*ck'em", then yes, people are not going to think well of your school despite its cherry-picked test scores.

Two things:

1. The test scores aren't "cherry picked". We just have a ton of highly qualified kids who take the test. You seem not to understand what "cherry picked" means.
2. The vast majority of BASIS families don't care what you think. Too busy helping our kids with advanced work to worry about your jealousy.

The cherry picking is in creating a school that's poorly suited to serve any struggling student, and intentionally refusing social promotion because it's a way of getting rid of them. Yes, most of the kids do sit for the PARCC, the cherry picking happens before that.

I'm not at all jealous, my kids are doing great, thanks.

That's not "cherry picking" scores. Again, you don't understand what the term means. Everyone there takes the test and the published scores are for all kids. The kids who repeat also take the PARCC test and their scores count ,too.

A world gone mad where you speak about "intentionally refusing social promotion" like that's something to be embarrassed about.

If you are so happy and not at all jealous, why are you more interested and invested in what is happening at BASIS than most BASIS families? The lady doth protest too much, methinks.

Because I think it's selfish and poor citizenship to operate a school that shirks the harder work of educating the students of DC. It's in really poor taste to talk about how great your school is, how happy you are with it, when it comes at this kind of cost to others. I don't believe for a second that BASIS is actually against social promotion for principled reasons. I think they know perfectly well it's a way of getting rid of the kids who struggle.

Try to put yourself in the shoes of a parent of a child who struggled academically. Would you want them to repeat and repeat and repeat, growing older and more embarrassed and friendless? Or would you want them to have services and an age-appropriate setting? If BASIS didn't work out, would you want them to be shut out of other schools because it's 5th grade or never?

Try to think about the functioning of the school system as a whole, including for kids who aren't academically gifted or who don't speak good English yet. Try to think beyond your own family.

DCPS is hostile to the idea of providing an appropriate education to kids who are above grade level. There are many schools where if you are not academically gifted, you will have a peer group and a level of instruction which are appropriate for you. For advanced kids, it's bleak outside of a few schools where you have to be lucky or rich to get to attend. Having one charter that's committed to this group is a good thing. It would be better if they could test kids as part of the admissions process and suggest that the school won't be a good fit. But obviously they're not allowed to do that.

Is that why JR, Hardy, Deal, and other schools have various actual honors classes, despite their "honors for all" BS?

LOL. You named the NW rich DCPS schools as evidence of "one system"???!!!! People who can't afford to live IB for those schools don't have access to those things. Performative nonsense, as usual.

I'm not sure how you could say DCPS is hostile to it when they are currently doing it at some schools. I know it mostly sucks EOTP, but it's more complicated.

If BASIS had a great track record with at-risk kids your arguments would be stronger, but it doesn't. Pretty much a high income school.

High income in DC doesn't mean you can afford to live in boundary for Deal or Hardy. Basis is providing an option for a lot of kids DC has zero interest in providing an appropriate education for in their neighborhood schools. And that they currently cannot kill tracking everywhere does not mean they're not hostile to it. Honors for all and the movement away from even the minimal use of test scores for selective admissions high schools shows that. The direction DCPS is moving is toward less differentiation, not more.

+1. Honors for all is basically de-tracking. Subjective and non-transparent admissions selections to test in schools and the dissolution of any objective academic knowledge criteria such as test scores supports de-tracking due to watering down the academic preparedness/abilities of the cohort.

Both strategies above will continue to siphon off the high performing kids the most as families go charter, private, move, etc…. It’s inevitable for families with options when stakes are so high in MS and HS. The overall academic peer group performance in DCPS will decline more than it has in the past as above measures increases the rate of families leaving.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I view ITS’s policy of not adding kids after Count Day much differently than any school that simply does not allow new students after initial grades. I agree both are bad in a public school— and charters ARE publics, even though they sometimes like to pretend they aren’t. But this ITS policy isn’t nearly as egregious to me. I get the rationale (it really can be tough on classrooms to add new students after the kids have finally settled in, as I know well as a DCPS parent). It’s a reality of school, but it’s tough on everyone.

But schools like BASIS or Latin refusing to backfill in subsequent years is really craven. Even private schools take kids mid-MS or mid-HS! A good school would not struggle to incorporate them. It really looks like an obvious grab for higher test scores. It’s gross. The ITS thing is annoying but doesn’t offend me in the same way.

We have been through this before, people. BASIS is unique in DC because it does not do social promotion. Kids don't have to leave, but they will be required to repeat a grade if they do not pass the comprehensive exam. No exceptions. BASIS wanted to accept kids after 5th. They do at other BASIS schools. But DCPCSB won't allow them to administer a test to put the kids in the proper grade level (without regard to age). It would make no sense to have a school that tells kids that are not meeting the standard they have to repeat a grade but let new kids enter into that higher grade even if they can't show mastery of the material.

You can disagree with whether BASIS should socially promote. But that's the argument/policy disagreement. "Backfilling" is a red herring to avoid talking about BASIS's social promotion policy.

Neighborhood schools have to take kids who are below grade. Even those who speak literally no English at all. They have to suck it up and deal with it as best they can. But wah, BASIS couldn't possibly cope without an entrance test. Even though other schools have to.

The idea with backfilling is that we don't want to create a system where if your 5th grade lottery number is bad, you have no hope for getting into a good school. What would the school system be like if every school allowed itself to do what BASIS is doing? Do we want to live like that? BASIS is free-riding on other schools' willingness to handle the tougher kids and do the hardest educational work. But feel free to pat yourself on the back for those great test scores!

Your response is all over the map and internally inconsistent. At one point you ask, what would it be like if every school stopped social promotion and required kids to actual master material before moving to the next grade - PERISH THE THOUGHT and clutching my pearls. You aren't even making the case you think you are. If BASIS was allowed to administer the test and put kids in appropriate grades they'd take backfills and then there would be hope of getting in after 5th - problem solved! Neighborhood schools have to take kids who enroll and are forced by DC policies to put them in their grade level by age, regardless of whet they actually know. And then DC makes it impossible to hold a kid back so they get moved along and graduate with a useless degree.

BASIS has higher standards than all other schools. I'm ok with that .

Because people don't want over-age kids in their classes! Do you want your 5th grader to be with 15 and 16 year olds who aren't doing well? Come on. Think about what you are saying. And because repeating grades doesn't actually solve anything. If the kid was going to learn the material in a regular classroom setting, they would have learned it the first time.

"Higher standards" my foot, they're just running off the kids who are harder to educate.

And because in a system without social promotion kids would simply drop out. They would grow up into uneducated adults. See, this is a school *system*. The goal isn't just to operate one school and pat yourself on the back for great test scores without any caring for the kids who start but don't finish. The idea is to educate the residents of the jurisdiction, thinking of *all of them* including those who drop out. And all schools should be good citizens of the school system and take a fair share of the more difficult educational work. If BASIS's attitude towards its strugging students is basically "f*ck'em", then yes, people are not going to think well of your school despite its cherry-picked test scores.

Two things:

1. The test scores aren't "cherry picked". We just have a ton of highly qualified kids who take the test. You seem not to understand what "cherry picked" means.
2. The vast majority of BASIS families don't care what you think. Too busy helping our kids with advanced work to worry about your jealousy.

The cherry picking is in creating a school that's poorly suited to serve any struggling student, and intentionally refusing social promotion because it's a way of getting rid of them. Yes, most of the kids do sit for the PARCC, the cherry picking happens before that.

I'm not at all jealous, my kids are doing great, thanks.

That's not "cherry picking" scores. Again, you don't understand what the term means. Everyone there takes the test and the published scores are for all kids. The kids who repeat also take the PARCC test and their scores count ,too.

A world gone mad where you speak about "intentionally refusing social promotion" like that's something to be embarrassed about.

If you are so happy and not at all jealous, why are you more interested and invested in what is happening at BASIS than most BASIS families? The lady doth protest too much, methinks.

Because I think it's selfish and poor citizenship to operate a school that shirks the harder work of educating the students of DC. It's in really poor taste to talk about how great your school is, how happy you are with it, when it comes at this kind of cost to others. I don't believe for a second that BASIS is actually against social promotion for principled reasons. I think they know perfectly well it's a way of getting rid of the kids who struggle.

Try to put yourself in the shoes of a parent of a child who struggled academically. Would you want them to repeat and repeat and repeat, growing older and more embarrassed and friendless? Or would you want them to have services and an age-appropriate setting? If BASIS didn't work out, would you want them to be shut out of other schools because it's 5th grade or never?

Try to think about the functioning of the school system as a whole, including for kids who aren't academically gifted or who don't speak good English yet. Try to think beyond your own family.

DCPS is hostile to the idea of providing an appropriate education to kids who are above grade level. There are many schools where if you are not academically gifted, you will have a peer group and a level of instruction which are appropriate for you. For advanced kids, it's bleak outside of a few schools where you have to be lucky or rich to get to attend. Having one charter that's committed to this group is a good thing. It would be better if they could test kids as part of the admissions process and suggest that the school won't be a good fit. But obviously they're not allowed to do that.

Is that why JR, Hardy, Deal, and other schools have various actual honors classes, despite their "honors for all" BS?

LOL. You named the NW rich DCPS schools as evidence of "one system"???!!!! People who can't afford to live IB for those schools don't have access to those things. Performative nonsense, as usual.

I'm not sure how you could say DCPS is hostile to it when they are currently doing it at some schools. I know it mostly sucks EOTP, but it's more complicated.

If BASIS had a great track record with at-risk kids your arguments would be stronger, but it doesn't. Pretty much a high income school.

High income in DC doesn't mean you can afford to live in boundary for Deal or Hardy. Basis is providing an option for a lot of kids DC has zero interest in providing an appropriate education for in their neighborhood schools. And that they currently cannot kill tracking everywhere does not mean they're not hostile to it. Honors for all and the movement away from even the minimal use of test scores for selective admissions high schools shows that. The direction DCPS is moving is toward less differentiation, not more.

This is the impression I am getting too and a big reason why we left DCPS for our charter. Our inbound MS offers honors for all and I've never understood how that works. On a hike and in a classroom, can only go as fast as the slowest person.

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Anonymous wrote:I view ITS’s policy of not adding kids after Count Day much differently than any school that simply does not allow new students after initial grades. I agree both are bad in a public school— and charters ARE publics, even though they sometimes like to pretend they aren’t. But this ITS policy isn’t nearly as egregious to me. I get the rationale (it really can be tough on classrooms to add new students after the kids have finally settled in, as I know well as a DCPS parent). It’s a reality of school, but it’s tough on everyone.

But schools like BASIS or Latin refusing to backfill in subsequent years is really craven. Even private schools take kids mid-MS or mid-HS! A good school would not struggle to incorporate them. It really looks like an obvious grab for higher test scores. It’s gross. The ITS thing is annoying but doesn’t offend me in the same way.

We have been through this before, people. BASIS is unique in DC because it does not do social promotion. Kids don't have to leave, but they will be required to repeat a grade if they do not pass the comprehensive exam. No exceptions. BASIS wanted to accept kids after 5th. They do at other BASIS schools. But DCPCSB won't allow them to administer a test to put the kids in the proper grade level (without regard to age). It would make no sense to have a school that tells kids that are not meeting the standard they have to repeat a grade but let new kids enter into that higher grade even if they can't show mastery of the material.

You can disagree with whether BASIS should socially promote. But that's the argument/policy disagreement. "Backfilling" is a red herring to avoid talking about BASIS's social promotion policy.

Neighborhood schools have to take kids who are below grade. Even those who speak literally no English at all. They have to suck it up and deal with it as best they can. But wah, BASIS couldn't possibly cope without an entrance test. Even though other schools have to.

The idea with backfilling is that we don't want to create a system where if your 5th grade lottery number is bad, you have no hope for getting into a good school. What would the school system be like if every school allowed itself to do what BASIS is doing? Do we want to live like that? BASIS is free-riding on other schools' willingness to handle the tougher kids and do the hardest educational work. But feel free to pat yourself on the back for those great test scores!

Your response is all over the map and internally inconsistent. At one point you ask, what would it be like if every school stopped social promotion and required kids to actual master material before moving to the next grade - PERISH THE THOUGHT and clutching my pearls. You aren't even making the case you think you are. If BASIS was allowed to administer the test and put kids in appropriate grades they'd take backfills and then there would be hope of getting in after 5th - problem solved! Neighborhood schools have to take kids who enroll and are forced by DC policies to put them in their grade level by age, regardless of whet they actually know. And then DC makes it impossible to hold a kid back so they get moved along and graduate with a useless degree.

BASIS has higher standards than all other schools. I'm ok with that .

Because people don't want over-age kids in their classes! Do you want your 5th grader to be with 15 and 16 year olds who aren't doing well? Come on. Think about what you are saying. And because repeating grades doesn't actually solve anything. If the kid was going to learn the material in a regular classroom setting, they would have learned it the first time.

"Higher standards" my foot, they're just running off the kids who are harder to educate.

And because in a system without social promotion kids would simply drop out. They would grow up into uneducated adults. See, this is a school *system*. The goal isn't just to operate one school and pat yourself on the back for great test scores without any caring for the kids who start but don't finish. The idea is to educate the residents of the jurisdiction, thinking of *all of them* including those who drop out. And all schools should be good citizens of the school system and take a fair share of the more difficult educational work. If BASIS's attitude towards its strugging students is basically "f*ck'em", then yes, people are not going to think well of your school despite its cherry-picked test scores.

Two things:

1. The test scores aren't "cherry picked". We just have a ton of highly qualified kids who take the test. You seem not to understand what "cherry picked" means.
2. The vast majority of BASIS families don't care what you think. Too busy helping our kids with advanced work to worry about your jealousy.

The cherry picking is in creating a school that's poorly suited to serve any struggling student, and intentionally refusing social promotion because it's a way of getting rid of them. Yes, most of the kids do sit for the PARCC, the cherry picking happens before that.

I'm not at all jealous, my kids are doing great, thanks.

That's not "cherry picking" scores. Again, you don't understand what the term means. Everyone there takes the test and the published scores are for all kids. The kids who repeat also take the PARCC test and their scores count ,too.

A world gone mad where you speak about "intentionally refusing social promotion" like that's something to be embarrassed about.

If you are so happy and not at all jealous, why are you more interested and invested in what is happening at BASIS than most BASIS families? The lady doth protest too much, methinks.

Because I think it's selfish and poor citizenship to operate a school that shirks the harder work of educating the students of DC. It's in really poor taste to talk about how great your school is, how happy you are with it, when it comes at this kind of cost to others. I don't believe for a second that BASIS is actually against social promotion for principled reasons. I think they know perfectly well it's a way of getting rid of the kids who struggle.

Try to put yourself in the shoes of a parent of a child who struggled academically. Would you want them to repeat and repeat and repeat, growing older and more embarrassed and friendless? Or would you want them to have services and an age-appropriate setting? If BASIS didn't work out, would you want them to be shut out of other schools because it's 5th grade or never?

Try to think about the functioning of the school system as a whole, including for kids who aren't academically gifted or who don't speak good English yet. Try to think beyond your own family.

DCPS is hostile to the idea of providing an appropriate education to kids who are above grade level. There are many schools where if you are not academically gifted, you will have a peer group and a level of instruction which are appropriate for you. For advanced kids, it's bleak outside of a few schools where you have to be lucky or rich to get to attend. Having one charter that's committed to this group is a good thing. It would be better if they could test kids as part of the admissions process and suggest that the school won't be a good fit. But obviously they're not allowed to do that.

Is that why JR, Hardy, Deal, and other schools have various actual honors classes, despite their "honors for all" BS?

LOL. You named the NW rich DCPS schools as evidence of "one system"???!!!! People who can't afford to live IB for those schools don't have access to those things. Performative nonsense, as usual.

I'm not sure how you could say DCPS is hostile to it when they are currently doing it at some schools. I know it mostly sucks EOTP, but it's more complicated.

If BASIS had a great track record with at-risk kids your arguments would be stronger, but it doesn't. Pretty much a high income school.

High income in DC doesn't mean you can afford to live in boundary for Deal or Hardy. Basis is providing an option for a lot of kids DC has zero interest in providing an appropriate education for in their neighborhood schools. And that they currently cannot kill tracking everywhere does not mean they're not hostile to it. Honors for all and the movement away from even the minimal use of test scores for selective admissions high schools shows that. The direction DCPS is moving is toward less differentiation, not more.

+1. Honors for all is basically de-tracking. Subjective and non-transparent admissions selections to test in schools and the dissolution of any objective academic knowledge criteria such as test scores supports de-tracking due to watering down the academic preparedness/abilities of the cohort.

Both strategies above will continue to siphon off the high performing kids the most as families go charter, private, move, etc…. It’s inevitable for families with options when stakes are so high in MS and HS. The overall academic peer group performance in DCPS will decline more than it has in the past as above measures increases the rate of families leaving.

The voracious anti-BASIS posters who are offended by the idea of a school that won't socially promote might want to consider what it says about the state of DCPS and demand for academic excellence that there are @600 kids who are willing to endure a small building with no fields or other amenities in order to get that rigor. Those posters (who live IB for Deal/JR) and have friends and neighbors who can afford to pay for elite private schools like to look down their noses at families trying to get the best possible education for their kids. Their general tenor seems to be, "If you aren't rich enough to pay $50k/yr for private or live IB for Deal/JR then you need to send your kids to schools where 3/4 of kids are at least a year behind grade level because...?"