Grade your school's distance learning approach

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Basis/5th/D-

Interesting. What are the issues? BASIS' DL approach is reputed to be kick ass.

I can see how it will (someday) be great. But 10 year olds who know no one, who are in classes of 45 kids, who have to navigate 9 subjects through teams with no consistency of organization at all with no help as to how to do it are not being set up to succeed.

Sorry, this arrangement sounds like a recipe for burnout and rebellion eventually, other than for a truly diligent kid.

Yes. And it's hard to know if your kid is even diligent without them being able to actually access the materials and the classes. I'm fascinated that parents from the upper grades seem very happy. That's great! But it also means they must do better with the 5th graders or they are going to wind up 1/2 the class leaving by 6th.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Basis/5th/D-

Basis/5/A

Only a few bumps for us, but last week was great. whats been your issue? Maybe its element specific?

Basis 5th/A for us as well. (I’m on the google 5th grade listserve initiated by a parent and know some kids are struggling to figure out assignments and expectations, and are generally overwhelmed by Teams and the workload. But my kid seems extremely happy, is learning and is self-sufficient. Yes, there have been — and continue to be — some bumps. But overall an A.)

Have you actually looked too see what your kid has turned in?

Yes, I’ve looked at my kid’s work, to the extent I can access it after she hits submit Overall she seems to be doing a solid job, though I’ll obviously know more when we start to receive grades.

Given the emails from other parents expressing deep unhappiness and ongoing challenges, I periodically check in with my child asking how it’s going — including this morning when I was told once again all was good. The only thing I need to help with during the day is printing of the math homework PDF, which then needs to be scanned back and uploaded. So I currently spend a few minutes on most days assisting with that.

What I appreciate about the Basis curriculum is that it’s substantive and rigorous.

What is truly painful is listening through my DCPS elementary child’s curriculum, which is 90% a waste of time, full of nonsense social-emotional and community-building activities (eg., morning greetings that last 40 minutes), time-killers, and garbage political indoctrination disguised as “social studies.” The highlight of our DCPS year this far has been the iready test!

You know, you make a good point, PP. There's just not a lot in the way of content in DCPS social studies, at least at the elementary school levels. I marvel at how the kids aren't required to learn dates, key figures, periods, relevant geography, even when studying the CRM during Black History Month, which they seem to do every year.

We've been teaching social studies ourselves for years, with a focus on the colonial period, and ancient civilizations. Hint: a membership to Mt. Vernon ($150) helps. They're still open.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:LAMB. K. Solid C.

LAMB, 1st. Solid B. Might get to an A but just getting rolling, so hard to say if it will get better or worse over time.

LAMB, PK3. C. It's PK3, I'm not sure it really gets any better than a C....

Teachers are doing their very best in a tough situation. A+ to the teachers right now!

My grading is mainly based on whether my kids are into it or not, which I think is the main predictor of learning and of how well this can go long term.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Basis/5th/D-

Interesting. What are the issues? BASIS' DL approach is reputed to be kick ass.

I can see how it will (someday) be great. But 10 year olds who know no one, who are in classes of 45 kids, who have to navigate 9 subjects through teams with no consistency of organization at all with no help as to how to do it are not being set up to succeed.

Sorry, this arrangement sounds like a recipe for burnout and rebellion eventually, other than for a truly diligent kid.

Yes. And it's hard to know if your kid is even diligent without them being able to actually access the materials and the classes. I'm fascinated that parents from the upper grades seem very happy. That's great! But it also means they must do better with the 5th graders or they are going to wind up 1/2 the class leaving by 6th.

What else are the parents going to tell you? That they mind that the heads aren't much more than grad students, with few heads lasting even two years? That they care that at least a quarter of the teachers quit each spring, and most arrive with little experience. That it's fine by them that there's no library, gym or outdoor space? That they're concerned about chronically weak administrative capacity? That advanced work is really just done in math and science - STEM subjects is as stretch (not much in the way of T or E). That you can forget about advanced foreign languages or literature at BASIS.

No, most will defend BASIS to the hilt because the curriculum does offer far and away more rigor than DCPS, and BASIS is their best option to stay in their Capitol Hill row houses. Hint: they can't afford private school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Basis/5th/D-

Interesting. What are the issues? BASIS' DL approach is reputed to be kick ass.

I can see how it will (someday) be great. But 10 year olds who know no one, who are in classes of 45 kids, who have to navigate 9 subjects through teams with no consistency of organization at all with no help as to how to do it are not being set up to succeed.

Sorry, this arrangement sounds like a recipe for burnout and rebellion eventually, other than for a truly diligent kid.

Yes. And it's hard to know if your kid is even diligent without them being able to actually access the materials and the classes. I'm fascinated that parents from the upper grades seem very happy. That's great! But it also means they must do better with the 5th graders or they are going to wind up 1/2 the class leaving by 6th.

What else are the parents going to tell you? That they mind that the heads aren't much more than grad students, with few heads lasting even two years? That they care that at least a quarter of the teachers quit each spring, and most arrive with little experience. That it's fine by them that there's no library, gym or outdoor space? That they're concerned about chronically weak administrative capacity? That advanced work is really just done in math and science - STEM subjects is as stretch (not much in the way of T or E). That you can forget about advanced foreign languages or literature at BASIS.

No, most will defend BASIS to the hilt because the curriculum does offer far and away more rigor than DCPS, and BASIS is their best option to stay in their Capitol Hill row houses. Hint: they can't afford private school.

Is it necessary for them to say that? You’re here to remind everyone in each thread.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:LAMB. K. Solid C.

Same

[Anonymous]

LAMB / Rather not say / D-

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:LAMB / Rather not say / D-

If you're not going to say, you could at least say which cohort, Primary, Lower, or Upper...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:LAMB / Rather not say / D-

Oh, that's depressing.

[Anonymous]

I'm not buying the A scores boosters are posting. Come off it, DC schools are just too screwed up.

The honest parents are mostly those new to schools. They're left feeling confused by rave reviews up the chain.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Basis/5th/D-

Interesting. What are the issues? BASIS' DL approach is reputed to be kick ass.

I can see how it will (someday) be great. But 10 year olds who know no one, who are in classes of 45 kids, who have to navigate 9 subjects through teams with no consistency of organization at all with no help as to how to do it are not being set up to succeed.

Sorry, this arrangement sounds like a recipe for burnout and rebellion eventually, other than for a truly diligent kid.

Yes. And it's hard to know if your kid is even diligent without them being able to actually access the materials and the classes. I'm fascinated that parents from the upper grades seem very happy. That's great! But it also means they must do better with the 5th graders or they are going to wind up 1/2 the class leaving by 6th.

What else are the parents going to tell you? That they mind that the heads aren't much more than grad students, with few heads lasting even two years? That they care that at least a quarter of the teachers quit each spring, and most arrive with little experience. That it's fine by them that there's no library, gym or outdoor space? That they're concerned about chronically weak administrative capacity? That advanced work is really just done in math and science - STEM subjects is as stretch (not much in the way of T or E). That you can forget about advanced foreign languages or literature at BASIS.

No, most will defend BASIS to the hilt because the curriculum does offer far and away more rigor than DCPS, and BASIS is their best option to stay in their Capitol Hill row houses. Hint: they can't afford private school.

Is it necessary for them to say that? You’re here to remind everyone in each thread.

Whatever, the poster is reminding everyone of the rigor at BASIS. As a 6th grade parent, the rest doesn't strike me as inaccurate.

Basis/6/B.

[Anonymous]

Lee / 2nd / B+

It's really hard to translate Montessori to distance learning, but I appreciate the hard work the school has put into trying to make it work. My 7 year old is not online for an unreasonable amount of time. And they're getting legit small group lessons and follow up assignments (so actually learning something, unlike in the spring).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm not buying the A scores boosters are posting. Come off it, DC schools are just too screwed up.

The honest parents are mostly those new to schools. They're left feeling confused by rave reviews up the chain.

Not really a booster, and I've been pretty happy with my school's DL. All DC schools aren't exactly the same. Also, different grades are going to have different experiences. ECE is really hard for DL, and MS might be harder as kids are trying to navigate multiple teachers and classes. Mid-ES kids have fewer teachers and are a little better able to learn from DL. And HS kids might be better able to manage multiple classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm not buying the A scores boosters are posting. Come off it, DC schools are just too screwed up.

The honest parents are mostly those new to schools. They're left feeling confused by rave reviews up the chain.

We need people to love DL. So they keep their kids home when things open back up.

[Anonymous]

Ludlow-Taylor / PK3 / B: Schedule says 2 hours, but have only made it to 1 hour-1 hour 15 at most. (Fine by me.) Classes are split in 2 and the afternoon session only has 6 kids show up normally, so they can all stay unmuted and participate. Teacher is great. We don't do the specials except on Wednesday (when there is no normal class).

Ludlow-Taylor / K / B: Teacher is very skillful at keeping the class mostly engaged for 3+ hours. The content is ridiculously easy; not just non-differentiated, but actually below the level of maybe every kid in the class. They're doing testing right now, so I am hopeful things will improve once that's finished. If it does, we could get to an A; if it doesn't, we'll settle into a C for the year. At least my kid doesn't seem to mind school.