Basis PCS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Huh? DCPS high schools have trouble with the credibility of BASIS grades? Is this the same DCPS that has failed to meet the needs of the majority of students in the District for decades?

You have no idea. I spoke with a DCPS Central Office employee who informed me the College Board doesn't allow 8th graders to take AP Courses.

Well the DCPS person is wrong. My BASIS student took an AP exam last year as an 8th grader, got a 5 and now has a profile with the College Board. They are well aware of his age as are the college admissions offices which are now sending him recruiting junk mail.

Now for that AP score to be reported to colleges we will have to petition the College Board to make an exception. Typically they only keep test records 'active' for 4 years (because most students do not take then in 8th grade) but they can go into their archives, if you will, upon request.

This process has been done by BASIS on behalf of its students in other states for several years - and they will help us with it when the time comes. Perhaps that is what is causing the DCPS Central Office person to think that only high school students can take the exams. But it's possible, done, and we have the paper from the College Board with his results to prove it.

15:22 again. Also, the College Board is very familiar with Basis' program. See this link for a College Board blog article written after spending two days at an Arizona BASIS school. https://www.collegeboard.org/membership/all-access/counseling-academic/six-lessons-we-learned-spending-two-days-basis-students

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It appears as though there are 2 sets of rules, one for kids from DCPS MS and one for kids from Charter MS. BASIS kids, [b]unlike kids from other charters are singled out and made to take proficiency exams[/b] to be exempt from Algebra I, Algebra II and or geometry.

Why? Because high schools schools have a problem with the credibility of BASIS DC grades.
There are students who totally deserve their grades.
There are also other students whose grades are being manipulated at the middle school and the high school levels. Some students have the tests in advance, others have their grades inflated or deflated after being submitted by the teachers.

Once the current junior class (including the protégé of the data administrator), things might change.

You are totally nuts. My kid is in his 4th year at BASIS and he has busted his chops for his good grades. I know of no instances where grades were being manipulated at all especially since there are tons of objectives measures and rubrics used for the overwhelming majority of a student's grade unlike other schools where just being in class is a big part of your grade. Oh, and my kid when he has failed to do an assignment has gotten the expected F as outlined in the syllabus. It is all very clearly spelled out in each syllabus.

+100 That is our experience too. They don't play favorites. Even our kid who's been in the 90s club has felt the hammer of bad grades come down when assignments were missed or poorly done, or the bad hair day on a quiz or exam. The good thing is they do offer help and opportunities to get things back together via math mastery et cetera. All the kids we know who are doing well are working their tails off and putting a ton of homework time in for those grades. And as PP said, it's all spelled out in the syllabus and they are pretty good about communicating grades and info via the CJ so there are no surprises.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Huh? DCPS high schools have trouble with the credibility of BASIS grades? Is this the same DCPS that has failed to meet the needs of the majority of students in the District for decades?

You have no idea. I spoke with a DCPS Central Office employee who informed me the College Board doesn't allow 8th graders to take AP Courses.

DCPS is really backward and out of whack on all of this. I doubt the DCPS employee you spoke to even knew and was probably just making that up.

[Anonymous]

AP tests in 8th grade is permitted. At BASIS it is allowed, not required, for those students who are prepared and who want to.

"The College Board recognizes that there are some occasions in which students may be prepared to take an
AP Exam prior to 9th grade. Because students are not required to take an AP course before taking the AP
Exam, schools may choose to administer AP Exams to students of any grade level, so long as the
restriction against use of the AP label on courses and transcripts prior to 9th grade is observed."

http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/repository/Appropriate-Grade-Levels-for-AP-Courses.pdf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Huh? DCPS high schools have trouble with the credibility of BASIS grades? Is this the same DCPS that has failed to meet the needs of the majority of students in the District for decades?

You have no idea. I spoke with a DCPS Central Office employee who informed me the College Board doesn't allow 8th graders to take AP Courses.

One google proves the DCPS person wrong. The real question is: Why would you trust a DCPS person?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:AP tests in 8th grade is permitted. At BASIS it is allowed, not required, for those students who are prepared and who want to.

"The College Board recognizes that there are some occasions in which students may be prepared to take an
AP Exam prior to 9th grade. Because students are not required to take an AP course before taking the AP
Exam, schools may choose to administer AP Exams to students of any grade level, so long as the
restriction against use of the AP label on courses and transcripts prior to 9th grade is observed."

http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/repository/Appropriate-Grade-Levels-for-AP-Courses.pdf

That simply cannot be the case since some anonymous hater spoke with some other unnamed DCPS employee from the central office.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It appears as though there are 2 sets of rules, one for kids from DCPS MS and one for kids from Charter MS. BASIS kids, [b]unlike kids from other charters are singled out and made to take proficiency exams[/b] to be exempt from Algebra I, Algebra II and or geometry.

Why? Because high schools schools have a problem with the credibility of BASIS DC grades.
There are students who totally deserve their grades.
There are also other students whose grades are being manipulated at the middle school and the high school levels. Some students have the tests in advance, others have their grades inflated or deflated after being submitted by the teachers.

Once the current junior class (including the protégé of the data administrator), things might change.

How would you know any of this for sure? All you've stated are rumors and conjecture, and your only evidence is flat-out wrong.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It appears as though there are 2 sets of rules, one for kids from DCPS MS and one for kids from Charter MS. BASIS kids, unlike kids from other charters are singled out and made to take proficiency exams to be exempt from Algebra I, Algebra II and or geometry.

I'm pretty sure kids from other schools not administered by DCPS have to do the same; even if they are transferring from St. Albans.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
It is an antiquated DCPS policy that only allows 2 credits to be transferred from middle school, one in a world language and one in Algebra I.

this is not true. My DC had credits for Spanish, went into spanish 4, and into Algebra 2...so maybe 4 credits or 3.5 going into Wilson from Deal

Your child may have gone into Spanish 4, but they were only able to TRANSFER in 1 credit of Spanish, not the 3 credits that they have actually taken.

Deal parents were told that Wilson is accepting 2 language credits and 2 math credits from Deal (assuming the top level courses are taken and passed, of course).

that's what I heard also

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It appears as though there are 2 sets of rules, one for kids from DCPS MS and one for kids from Charter MS. BASIS kids, unlike kids from other charters are singled out and made to take proficiency exams to be exempt from Algebra I, Algebra II and or geometry.

I'm pretty sure kids from other schools not administered by DCPS have to do the same; even if they are transferring from St. Albans.

I'm sorry, but we were told something even more ridiculous by Wilson. No placement test. Geometry is a requirement for graduation from Wilson

Now our plan was always to transfer from BASIS to Wilson in 10th grade because 9th graders at Wilson are not allowed to take APs and our 9th graders are knocking off 3 or 4 (mostly the former LEAP kids who are on track to take the AP Calc AB, the required AP Government & Politics, to their credit are getting there by 7:45 to take AP Chem or AP CS and mostly taking AP Environmental Science in the last period.)

When we talked to Wilson about how advanced our child was mathematically they did not care. Child got a 4 on the AP Calculus AB exam and is probably going to get a 5 on the AP Calculus BC exam this year. They do not care. No placement test was offered. When child comes into Wilson in 10th grade (always our plan) child will be required to take Geometry. Got A's in Algebra II with Geometry if that matters, doesn't seem to matter to Wilson which will not even administer a placement test. I guess it will make for an interesting explanation about the high school transcript on the college application, but seems absolutely ridiculous.

For those of you who can attend the coffee with Eyerman, raise it early and frequently. He probably has no clue. And since the rate of attrition between 8th and 9th and even 9th and 10th are so high, if he sticks around, make him fight.

[Anonymous]

Why? It isn't really Eyerman's fight. It's yours. It won't kill your child to take Geometry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why? It isn't really Eyerman's fight. It's yours. It won't kill your child to take Geometry.

You think a kid who has already done college level work in math and done s well on 2 calculus exams should take coursework they mastered in 7th or 8th grade? That makes no sense...

[Anonymous]

+100, no sense. BASIS upper grades MS parents obviously need to organize to raise these curricular mismatch issues with the new 30-member DCPS-DCPC Cross-Sector Task Force that's coming together this fall, with parent representatives from each DC ward being appointed. As you may know, the task force is being set up to improve collaboration/cooperation between DCPS and the charter sector on various levels.

No doubt it's difficult to organize when your school has a booster club, rather than a bona fide parent organization, but find a way.

It's not just ridiculous to require HS geometry of kids who took this subject, and aced it, in MS, it's bad for everybody involved. Raise your voices and get this problem fixed. Don't rely on BASIS and Wilson admins to sort it out; take the matter up with the admins AND the Cross-Sector Task Force leadership. That's what they're there for.

[Anonymous]

21:29. I don't disagree it's a silly policy - but I agree it's a cross sector issue. it's bigger than BASIS and will take way more political juice than BASIS, with or without a parent organization, could possibly have to get the DCPS policy changed.

But since they are the only charter who is accommodating kids who want to accelerate to the degree PP described I think it's likely to be an uphill battle.

[Anonymous]

I would not waste my time with some cross sector educational group. I would take up the issue with DC council members, the mayor's office, OSSE, and Kaya Henderson's office. Next stop would be the Washington Post. Full stop.