Deal or Basis for DCs? Advice Needed.

[Anonymous]

FARMS covers everything but Robotics but I would never discourage going straight to the source and like I said I do qualify for FARMS so I do know!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: The lack of tracking at Deal, combined with social promotion, concerns me greatly, as do relatively thin sounding extra-curriculars and cramped facilities at a cash-strapped charter.

New poster. We're in exactly the same boat, PP, taking a hard look at Deal (in-bounds), BASIS and MoCo schools for AY 2013-2014 or 2014-2015.

We share your concern about the lack of tracking, other than for math, not just at Deal but at Basis! Our kid has done Johns Hopkins CTY camps for humanities after 2nd and 3rd grades, and will go after 4th, yet both schools would toss her into science, English and social studies classes with kids who can't test proficient in reading on the DC-CAS, let alone advanced. Galling. We've learned that MoCo middle schools almost always track for math and English, and usually do for other academic subjects. We're leaning toward MoCo and it sounds like you will be as well. Best of luck.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: Other subjects at Deal are not tracked,but were appropriately challenging (but not over the top); many Deal students go on to take at least one AP in 10th grade and 3, 4 or 5 APs each year in 11th and 12th grades at Wilson.

OP again, grateful that my house doesn't look like one on Stanton Is. or the NJ Shore. Thank you, pp, for confirming that Deal is not in fact tracking outside math classes. Math instruction sounds very strong at both schools and, hence, appropriate for my kids.

I just checked the 2012 DC-CAS scores for reading by school and it seems that nearly 20% of Deal students did not test proficient or advanced. With no humanities tracking, that means that around 1 kid in 5 in every class other than math must lack basic skills, correct? How could classes indeed be appropriately challenging then when a sizeable minority of students in each is working below grade level? Teachers surely need to focus on ensuring that low-performing kids will test proficient in the future, rather than pushing high-performing kids to work harder and achieve more. Are most high-SES parents OK with the near universal tracking deficit? Do parents expect tracking outside math to enter the picture in the forseeable future? I ask in all seriousness, being new to the DC public schools middle school scene. My kids have scored advanced in both reading and math on every DC-CAS they've taken thus far.

Last week, there was an interesting 40-post thread entitled "TAG testing and differentiation in DCPS" on which pps made the case for middle school tracking. The lack of tracking at Deal, combined with social promotion, concerns me greatly, as do relatively thin sounding extra-curriculars and cramped facilities at a cash-strapped charter. Gosh, $300 for robotics? So poor kids can't participate? Can't a franchise with roots on the opposite side of the country raise money to include all interested kids in every elective/club?

Thanks for advancing this somewhat sobering research project at any rate.

OP, I'll give you my perspective as the parent of an academically advanced 7th grader at Deal. Overall, my child's experience thus far has been overwhelmingly positive and fairly intellectually stimulating. What we have found at Deal is a school that supports our child in getting out of her education what she puts into it. Generally excellent teachers and a strong peer group meet her at her intellectual level. I have not found that there's an over-emphasis on struggling learners at the expense of other students. I imagine there are schools out there that would be more challenging for my child in a strictly academic sense, but we also value the personal growth that our child is gaining at Deal beyond academics. However, if you have a singular focus on academic acceleration and tracking in multiple subjects, you're not going to find it at Deal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: Other subjects at Deal are not tracked,but were appropriately challenging (but not over the top); many Deal students go on to take at least one AP in 10th grade and 3, 4 or 5 APs each year in 11th and 12th grades at Wilson.

OP again, grateful that my house doesn't look like one on Stanton Is. or the NJ Shore. Thank you, pp, for confirming that Deal is not in fact tracking outside math classes. Math instruction sounds very strong at both schools and, hence, appropriate for my kids.

I just checked the 2012 DC-CAS scores for reading by school and it seems that nearly 20% of Deal students did not test proficient or advanced. With no humanities tracking, that means that around 1 kid in 5 in every class other than math must lack basic skills, correct? How could classes indeed be appropriately challenging then when a sizeable minority of students in each is working below grade level? Teachers surely need to focus on ensuring that low-performing kids will test proficient in the future, rather than pushing high-performing kids to work harder and achieve more. Are most high-SES parents OK with the near universal tracking deficit? Do parents expect tracking outside math to enter the picture in the forseeable future? I ask in all seriousness, being new to the DC public schools middle school scene. My kids have scored advanced in both reading and math on every DC-CAS they've taken thus far.

Last week, there was an interesting 40-post thread entitled "TAG testing and differentiation in DCPS" on which pps made the case for middle school tracking. The lack of tracking at Deal, combined with social promotion, concerns me greatly, as do relatively thin sounding extra-curriculars and cramped facilities at a cash-strapped charter. Gosh, $300 for robotics? So poor kids can't participate? Can't a franchise with roots on the opposite side of the country raise money to include all interested kids in every elective/club?

Thanks for advancing this somewhat sobering research project at any rate.

OP, I'll give you my perspective as the parent of an academically advanced 7th grader at Deal. Overall, my child's experience thus far has been overwhelmingly positive and fairly intellectually stimulating. What we have found at Deal is a school that supports our child in getting out of her education what she puts into it. Generally excellent teachers and a strong peer group meet her at her intellectual level. I have not found that there's an over-emphasis on struggling learners at the expense of other students. I imagine there are schools out there that would be more challenging for my child in a strictly academic sense, but we also value the personal growth that our child is gaining at Deal beyond academics. However, if you have a singular focus on academic acceleration and tracking in multiple subjects, you're not going to find it at Deal.

I'm also a Deal parent with an advanced 7th grader and 100% agree with the poster above. My daughter has been pushed by teachers to excel and I always feel like teachers know my child. OP it sounds like from your posts that you are focused mostly on wanting tracking in all classes. I don't personally agree with that approach. Deal offers a more well-rounded experience. My advice for you would be to go private.

[Anonymous]

17:52 poster about math at Deal here. I agree with the posters above that the teachers at Deal do a very good job with differentiated instruction and the the range of students in the class did not stop the classes from being challenging and preparing the students for AP classes in high school. We, too, were very happy with the well-rounded approach at Deal which offered strong academics with lots of extracurriculars. There will be plenty of tracking through honors classes and AP classes once the students get to high school. What I saw at Deal were students who were engaged in learning and working together who were well prepared for high schools (at Wilson and elsewhere).

Deal open houses are coming up. This is a great time to go and sit in a classroom for a full period if you like and see the dynamics in the classroom for yourself whether this is the right match for your children.

http://alicedeal.org/schedule-of-visits/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: My advice for you would be to go private.

Fellow Deal parent who doesn't like your advice. The OP is prudent to be concerned about the lack of tracking, given the diversity at the school. Some of the low-SES kids would clearly benefit from more attention in "regular" classes while most of the high-SES kids and especially bright and disciplined kids would benefit from from being placed in honors classes and/or test-in magnet programs. Nobody advises you to "go private" in MoCo of Fairfax if you think your kid is a good fit for middle school honors classes. Jeez!

I thought Basis was tracking for English, or about to start. Anybody know?

[Anonymous]

We don't need more tracking and segregation. If that floats your boat, go private. And FWIW I don't care about what people in MoCo or Fairfax are doing.

[Anonymous]

to 9:05 pp

BASIS has started tracking in Math.

I believe it will start tracking in English soon as they just hired a remedial English teacher.

Having wasted 2 years in our former charter, my ESL son is really struggling in English class. I have a meeting next week and hopefully will start remedial English classes immediately.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We don't need more tracking and segregation. If that floats your boat, go private. And FWIW I don't care about what people in MoCo or Fairfax are doing.

But you will care when college applications time rolls around. I'd bet money on it. You're already getting the segregation without the tracking, Cretan, just less so at Deal and Basis than in other city middle schools. You'd get less segregation overall with more tracking, if it's done thoughtfully, and more bang for your education buck. As a graduate of Hunter public middle school in NYC (half minority, test-in acceptance rate 7%) I can attest to this simple truth.
,

[Anonymous]

who would call somebody a Cretan?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Gosh, $300 for robotics? So poor kids can't participate? Can't a franchise with roots on the opposite side of the country raise money to include all interested kids in every elective/club?

Poor kids are taking Robotics.

[Anonymous]

Basis parent here. As far as different levels of challenge in coursework, i.e. tracking, I would add that in 8th grade there is an option for advanced science "tracking" into physics, biology or chemistry. You can check it out on the curriculum published on the Basis Dc website. Also, most of the science classes are challenging in 6th 7th grade i.e. 9 classes of science (10 for 5th grade).

[Anonymous]

I can't fathom how any math teacher could ever differentiate effectively enough to deal with remedial basic math facts and algebra in the same classroom. I don't think a school like Deal that is limited to that approach could ever be as effective with advanced learners.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:who would call somebody a Cretan?

Yes, rather call them cretin.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: The lack of tracking at Deal, combined with social promotion, concerns me greatly, as do relatively thin sounding extra-curriculars and cramped facilities at a cash-strapped charter.

New poster. We're in exactly the same boat, PP, taking a hard look at Deal (in-bounds), BASIS and MoCo schools for AY 2013-2014 or 2014-2015.

We share your concern about the lack of tracking, other than for math, not just at Deal but at Basis! Our kid has done Johns Hopkins CTY camps for humanities after 2nd and 3rd grades, and will go after 4th, yet both schools would toss her into science, English and social studies classes with kids who can't test proficient in reading on the DC-CAS, let alone advanced. Galling. We've learned that MoCo middle schools almost always track for math and English, and usually do for other academic subjects. We're leaning toward MoCo and it sounds like you will be as well. Best of luck.

Please go to MoCo. I am a mother of a 6th grader at Deal who doesn't test proficiently. You would never know it though. Not by talking to him nor talking to us. We are white, live IB and have an HHI of over $500k. Both of us attended ivy league schools for undergrad and advanced degrees. We look like you -- but thankfully don't act like you. We are active in the HSA, kids play soccer, baseball and even do after school clubs like chess, robotics, etc.-- I have probably sat next to you at a game and we laughed at life in general. My child has a learning disability. It is harder for him to learn than your child. Since pre-k we have not only had an IEP for him but also have tutors, additional therapies to help him with his learning. We have worked on a cocktail of medications which will help him focus, we push him to do his best and we have spent countless hours worrying about his future. We also spend endless hours on his homework, pushing him to work to HIS potential and cringe when we log onto edline and see his grades. We spend endless numbers of hours making sure the doesn't feel different and live in fear of the day when he doesn't like going to school any longer. We know when that day comes (and it will) we will have faced our hardest challenge yet.

We aren't against tracking and happily accept it in math and english. What you don't realize is that your child is just as important as mine.....and does does just fine in his non-tracked academic subjects. He isn't dragging your child down. His work isn't modified in those classes. His teacher doesn't teach down to the slowest student (which is my son by the way, my beautiful, kind, engaging, bright and very social son). Yes, he probably works harder than your child does to get those grades. But that is what I love about him. It doesn't come easy to him and he still does well. While you may be impressed by your child's ability -- I am impressed with my child's abilities too.

Now you? Not so impressed by you. I really hope that you spend extra time making sure your child doesn't hear what you have to say about "those" children.