BASIS DC to open in 2012-2013
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Anonymous
| So, I'm still back to my question: Where's all this money coming from??? |
Anonymous
| When did you stop beating your wife? |
Anonymous
I guess BASIS has money behind it, just as center city is backed by the catholic church, and Kipp is part of a big network...so there's seed $$$ |
Anonymous
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www.ibtimes.com/art/services/print.php?articleid=223527
Sunday, October 2, 2011 11:04 PM EDT 10 Best Math and Science High Schools in America By Laura Matthews At a time when America has made it a priority list to build students' science, technology, engineering and math skills, which schools are doing best in these areas? U.S. News & World Report for the first time released a list ranking math- and science-specific high schools. It looked at nearly 600 schools that qualified for the Gold, Silver, and Honorable Mention lists of the U.S. News Best High Schools. Then the schools' students' participation rates and performances on AP exams in math and science were evaluated. Here are the top 10, according to the list. 1. High Technology High School, Lincroft, N.J.: This school was founded in 1991 and has a pre-engineering academy and science classes with college-level labs. Almost 99 percent of its seniors take AP exams and they all score a 3 out of 5 or higher. 2. BASIS Tucson, Tucson, Arizona: This school was founded in 1998. Students take a minimum of eight AP courses and about six AP exams between ninth and 12th grades. 3. Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, Alexandria, Va.: At this school students can learn organic chemistry, marine biology and DNA science and must take an introductory computer science class. One hundred percent of seniors take AP exams and 100 percent pass with a 3 or higher. 4. Oxford Academy, Cypress, Calif.: This public school opened in 1998. Its students must take an entrance exam to walk through its doors and maintain a set GPA. It has honors and AP classes as well computer education, digital animation and industrial technology courses. One hundred percent of its seniors take AP exams and almost 100 percent pass with a 3 or higher. 5. The School of Science and Engineering Magnet, Dallas, Texas: This school was founded in 1982 and is often called the best in the nation. It is the most diverse school in the top 10. It offers AP math and science classes as well as college-level science labs and computer science courses. All its seniors take AP exams and almost 100 percent score a 3 or higher. 6. The School for the Talented and Gifted, Dallas, Texas.: Also founded in 1982, this school educates about 209 students with more than half its student comprising minority races. About a quarter of its students are from low-income families. Its students are required to take 11 AP courses and enroll in advanced research and technology classes. It always makes it as a top-ranked high school in the U.S. 7. Pacific Collegiate School, Santa Cruz, Calif.: Founded in 1999, this school regularly makes it to the top national "best high school" lists. Students are admitted by a lottery and are required to take a six-year sequence of math and science. They must also pass AP physics, chemistry and biology to graduate. One hundred percent of its seniors take AP exams, and 100 percent earn a 3 or higher. 8. International Community School, Kirkland, Wa.: It was founded in 1997 and educates 381 students admitted on lottery basis. Nearly 94 percent of its seniors take AP exams, and 87.8 percent of 12th graders earn a 3 or higher. 9. Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy, Aurora, Ill.: This school opened in 1986 and educates 637 10th- through 12th-graders. All the courses at this school are taught at the honors level. It is best known math curriculum. Eighty-two percent of its students take AP exams, and 75.2 percent of 12th graders earn a 3 or higher. 10. Mission San Jose High School, Fremont, Calif.: It is the only open enrollment school in the top 10. Mission San Jose was founded in 1963 and educates nearly 2,000 students. The school offers studies in biotechnology and forensic science. Some 92.1 percent of seniors take AP exams with 82.7 earning a 3 or higher. |
Anonymous
sounds personal |
Anonymous
The geographic center of DC is located at 4th and L St NW in Mount Vernon Triangle, so Basis DC will be pretty close to it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_Washington,_D.C. |
Anonymous
| Any update on how things are looking for Basis in 2012-2013? Are they close to capacity in enrollment yet? |
Anonymous
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A school like Basis, or Latin, for that matter, would surely flourish as an academic magnet, like those in NYC. With luck as the only criterion for admission, the middle school will surely muddle through, but the high school can only be mediocre when compared to suburban magnets (look at Latin, where the the middle school is 41% white and the high school just 11%, with white as a proxy for upper-middle-class and nothing more). Great teaching, great leadership, great planning, great facilities won't change this in DC.
As you probably know, in NYC, kids test into talented and gifted elementary and middle schools, which feed into some of the nation's best public high schools, Bronx Science, Hunter, Stuyvesant, Bronx Tech, Bard etc. If a student scores poorly on the SSAT, NYC's magent admissions exam given in 8th grade, they can't attend one of the elite high schools. But rigorous test prep is given freely to middle school kids from low-income families at various city centers. Why is the concept of what some cities call "exam schools" (Boston Latin was the first) still anathama in DC when such schools are now found all over the country? I note that the great majority of the high schools on the US News and World Report "Gold" list are magnets, not charters where the state law mandates one open lottery per school as the only route to admission. Why is luck the best criterion for admission when, as a society, we don't hesitate to exclude kids without the requisite talent and drive from competing in elite youth sports, music, chess or whatever. Genius springs up in odd places - why not focus on finding some of the brightest and most disciplined kids in the District and drawing them to Basis? That's what Takoma Park MS does with its math/science/computer magenet (admitting 16% of students) and the spectacular results are plain to see - kids, even poor ones, winning INTEL prizes etc. a few years hence. I don't get it, why not in DC. Why is this impossible in our city but not in others with large minority populations, like Chicago and Atlanta? Enlighten me. My own children aren't even of school age yet, but I ask this in all seriousness. In the DC burbs, academic magnet programs serve to keep upper-middle-class parents from voting with their feet in droves after elementary - what's so horrible about that? Surely poor kids benefit from keeping the affluent engaged in K-12 public education in large numbers. I interview seniors in DCPS and charters applying to my Ivy alma mater as an alum volunteer every fall. They don't fare at all well as a group, and not for lack of brains or industry. While Stuyveswant will get 30-40 into any particular Ivy every year, Wilson, SWW, Banneker, and now Latin, are lucky to get a handful. Ivies work well for the poor because they're practically a free college education as much as anything else. |
Anonymous
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Re last post, stating the obvious invariably leads to accusations of racism in DC. Upper Middle class voters with children are not a big enough slice of the pie yet for rigorous academic magnets (not counting the several HS magnets the city already has because affirmative action admissions rule in them) t o emerge.
The magnets idea has been bandied about in DCPS - some of Rhee's 2008 press conferences touched on the subject. Magnets will come as more middle class families arrive, maybe in a decade, when the best HS charters won't haven't measured up. I, too, doubt that Basis will succeed for HS, it it gets one, without an admissions test. What does "passing" an AP exam mean anyway - they're scored on a scale of 1-5, and Basis can se the "pass" rate anywhere it likes. The obvious losers in this equation are kids who aspire to Ivies, and for good reason, without parents in a position to vote with their feet. Other than perhaps Wilson students. |
Anonymous
PP is clearly thinking a little logically for DCPS & DC Charter! Yes, public resources will be squandered trying to turn eager, but academically average or below average, kids escaping weak/middling neighborhood Mschools into academic superstars in high school. Basis would be far better off screening for aptitude, and working with available talent, no matter who’s in charge, than relying on an open lottery. “Must Test Advanced on 4th Grade DC-CAS” to apply would hardly be an unreasonable policy. FARMs kids who test advanced should have an automatic in, as long as their schools aren’t under investigation for cheating. The CS Board should work with the DC City Council to amend the law, which has been amended before (twice). NYC MS magnets work that way –a kid gets a certain combined score on the 4th and 5th grade NYC standardized tests or can’t go. Remembering that this is not one of the several lowest-performing urban school districts in the country for nothing helps you get your head around why DC charters can’t select students who are a good fit, like the independents do. Yu Ying doesn’t even have a lottery for Chinese-speaking kids, helping explain why they’re only a handful in the school, and the kids almost always speak English when not addressing a teacher. And YY is the paragon, right?! |
Anonymous
NYC has a population roughly 11 times that of DC. Of course their magnet schools perform at a higher level--they're drawing from a huge applicant pool. |
Anonymous
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Reading the writing on the wall, the day when DC charters will be able to select students who are a good fit may not in fact be far off. Latin and Basis would perhaps benefit most, particularly for HS. Charter leaders, PTAs and PAs have started to politely agitate for this change. YY, for one, knows that it has a problem with too many parents and kids not having much of a connection to Chinese language and culture, and too many AA kids getting bumped off the immersion track. The real issue is that, with the academic baseline still so low, excellence and Ivy League aspirations aren't the focus yet.
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Anonymous
Oh look! The Yu Ying troll is now posting on the Basis thread! |
Anonymous
| The way to raise the performance for charters is the way it's happening now. You develop a school that has such high expectations that it will encourage families to self select and discourage those who are struggling academically. That is what is happening with the likes of Latin, BASIS and now Sela. |
Anonymous
In effect, creating private schools using public money. |