New Charters - more competition for Basis

[Anonymous]

It looks like the PCSB is voting on new charter applications at Monday's meeting. The most promising on the list looks like "One World" MS which may be something like Sidwell's response to Cathedral Schools/Latin. (For those who didn't know, Martha Cutts who is the head of school at Washington Latin formerly was head of school at NCS.) They plan to open on 16th St. NW, about a block south of Latin's current upper school campus.

Their demographic analysis looks a little incomplete from this vantage point:

"The feeder elementary schools will be: Latin American Montessori Bilingual, Potomac Lighthouse PCS, Two Rivers PCS, Inspired Teaching PCS, Yu Ling, and Washington Latin. Based on the Demographic Analysis Form included in Appendix C, the 16th Street NW corridor has only one middle school performing at the Tier One level –Washington Latin PCS, which is in high demand."

On the one hand they imagine Washington Latin to be a feeder school, but then turn around and state that Latin is the only high quality MS in their target neighborhood. Also, LAMB and Yu Ying seem highly unlikely as feeder schools, since they're opening their own MS/HS offering the IB Diploma. However, they're probably correct that Two Rivers and Inspired Teaching will fill a number of their spots. Creative Minds and Bridges might flow in well, after they grow up to 5th. Also, they haven't accounted for the students on the Hill with no decent MS in their feeder pattern, so that will supply some students, as will some of the Ward 2/Ward 3 DCPSs that do not feed Deal.

It's encouraging to see that they're apparently serious about both high standards and high ethics, which is something of a problem area for Basis (enough so to have the PCSB reject their application to expand).

http://dcpubliccharter.com/data/files/2013_Applications/One-World-PCS-Application_342013.pdf

[jsteele]

There are a few anomalies with One World, which I admit to be sort of excited about regardless of these points. First, they plan to locate right in my neighborhood. However, they have not started even basic outreach in the area. Even nearly immediate neighbors of the location were surprised when I mentioned One World on our neighborhood mailing list and our ANC rep. said that was also the first she had heard of it. So, they may run into unexpected community opposition if they don't get their act together.

Also, regarding Latin being the only good middle school, it is moving to a location that is probably considered outside the 16th Street corridor.

Finally, as was discussed here previously, the application promised endorsements from a number of individuals that are not planning to send letters of support. So, hopefully, that has been straightened out.

[Anonymous]

More charter school options with high academic standards are definitely welcome additions to the city, the demand appears to exceed the capacity of BASIS and Latin. Our main issue with Latin was the distance - they are all the way across town, 45 minutes minimum by metro and bus, that's a big chunk of time out of the day for a student.

But the same questions come up - how can they actually expect to uphold high academic standards, when they will be faced with the same floodgate of incoming applicants hurling themselves at the lotteries - many of which will be DCPS refugees who are many grade levels behind and who've already become accustomed to low academic expectations and social promotion? At least BASIS holds the expectations high with requirements for advancement, i.e. comprehensive exams. Latin and the other schools on the other hand continue to suffer without any meaningful way to keep academic expectations high.

[Anonymous]

If a charter middle school like One World located itself on Capitol Hill is would be full in an instant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If a charter middle school like One World located itself on Capitol Hill is would be full in an instant.

There is no way that a charter school not supported by a national infrastructure like Basis could afford the rents of a building large enough to hold a middle school on the Hill. Keep dreaming.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:More charter school options with high academic standards are definitely welcome additions to the city, the demand appears to exceed the capacity of BASIS and Latin. Our main issue with Latin was the distance - they are all the way across town, 45 minutes minimum by metro and bus, that's a big chunk of time out of the day for a student.

But the same questions come up - how can they actually expect to uphold high academic standards, when they will be faced with the same floodgate of incoming applicants hurling themselves at the lotteries - many of which will be DCPS refugees who are many grade levels behind and who've already become accustomed to low academic expectations and social promotion? At least BASIS holds the expectations high with requirements for advancement, i.e. comprehensive exams. Latin and the other schools on the other hand continue to suffer without any meaningful way to keep academic expectations high.

No, Latin & Deal are not continuing to suffer. Latin is on, what, its second graduating class and already has kids going into Ivies. They're doing it without flushing 2/3 of the students who enter, which is to their credit. Basis looks more and more like an enrichment scheme for its owners, and not an education institution that merits tax dollars. Apparently you can have high standards, and still find an alternate path for students who are not in the top 10%. I'm looking forward to the PCSB re-tooling Basis, which is what needs to happen if they're going to continue to receive public money for public education.

[Anonymous]

PCSB created this problem by not allowing preferences. Basis is a G&T whose model is based on attrition by those who cannot keep up with the curriculum - not gifted. Since DCPS and charters don't allow test-in for G&T, the only way to offer such a program is to accept all comers and hope that the ones who don't "fit", leave.

Lots of creative ways being used to keep out the vast majority of students needing remedial help from DCPS. DCI will be taking 3 and 4 yr olds all the way til they are ready for college.

Charters are suppose to provide for niches not served by DCPS but have no means to choose the students who will be best served by their education model/philosophy so we have attrition and keeping kids from preschool through high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PCSB created this problem by not allowing preferences. Basis is a G&T whose model is based on attrition by those who cannot keep up with the curriculum - not gifted. Since DCPS and charters don't allow test-in for G&T, the only way to offer such a program is to accept all comers and hope that the ones who don't "fit", leave.

Lots of creative ways being used to keep out the vast majority of students needing remedial help from DCPS. DCI will be taking 3 and 4 yr olds all the way til they are ready for college.

Charters are suppose to provide for niches not served by DCPS but have no means to choose the students who will be best served by their education model/philosophy so we have attrition and keeping kids from preschool through high school.

The amount of homework is not sustainable for us and I want to change BASIS as I do not want my child awake at 1 am in the morning trying to finish all the work (sometimes several tests and several homeworks for one day). On the positive side, there is minimal bullying. Maybe because they are really tired. And students in general like the school and the teachers.
BASIS is a good fit for the GT population. They should either advertise as such or have tracks, a fast one for the GT kids who have no problem zooming through math chapters and several sciences day after day and a regularly paced one for the rest of the hardworking kids who want to have a solid education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:More charter school options with high academic standards are definitely welcome additions to the city, the demand appears to exceed the capacity of BASIS and Latin. Our main issue with Latin was the distance - they are all the way across town, 45 minutes minimum by metro and bus, that's a big chunk of time out of the day for a student.

But the same questions come up - how can they actually expect to uphold high academic standards, when they will be faced with the same floodgate of incoming applicants hurling themselves at the lotteries - many of which will be DCPS refugees who are many grade levels behind and who've already become accustomed to low academic expectations and social promotion? At least BASIS holds the expectations high with requirements for advancement, i.e. comprehensive exams. Latin and the other schools on the other hand continue to suffer without any meaningful way to keep academic expectations high.

No, Latin & Deal are not continuing to suffer. Latin is on, what, its second graduating class and already has kids going into Ivies. They're doing it without flushing 2/3 of the students who enter, which is to their credit. Basis looks more and more like an enrichment scheme for its owners, and not an education institution that merits tax dollars. Apparently you can have high standards, and still find an alternate path for students who are not in the top 10%. I'm looking forward to the PCSB re-tooling Basis, which is what needs to happen if they're going to continue to receive public money for public education.

All DC charters, whether BASIS, Latin or whoever, receive the SAME funding per student. And the education that BASIS is providing their students is excellent, rivaling the best anywhere in the district. BASIS schools are placing a substantial number of students in the top universities in the nation, they are winning scholarships and are achieving many great things, and that exact same model, curriculum and culture is in place in DC. BASIS has a history going back to the 1990s for achieving results. To suggest it's just an "enrichment scheme" would need to include with it some evidence that they are somehow gaming the system, i.e. not providing the education or achieving results, and evidence for that simply does not exist. Meanwhile, consider that there are many other charters that do not have such a stellar record for achievement or college placement. What are those schools doing for the money they receive? And even worse yet, DCPS is on average spending more than twice as much per student as BASIS and other charters receive - where's all THAT money going? There is absolutely nothing whatsoever inherently wrong with how BASIS is incorporated or organized in and of itself; consider also that even public schools and non-profit charters can have exorbitant salaries and boondoggle contracts amounting to being "personal enrichment schemes" (and there are plenty examples of this kind of thing happening). Whether they meet with your own personal opinion of what a charter should or should not be, the bottom line is that BASIS is in compliance with charter school law and has delivered on everything the charter school board requires of it, and as such, there's absolutely nothing that "needs" to happen.

[Anonymous]

jsteele wrote:There are a few anomalies with One World, which I admit to be sort of excited about regardless of these points. First, they plan to locate right in my neighborhood. However, they have not started even basic outreach in the area. Even nearly immediate neighbors of the location were surprised when I mentioned One World on our neighborhood mailing list and our ANC rep. said that was also the first she had heard of it. So, they may run into unexpected community opposition if they don't get their act together.

Also, regarding Latin being the only good middle school, it is moving to a location that is probably considered outside the 16th Street corridor.

Finally, as was discussed here previously, the application promised endorsements from a number of individuals that are not planning to send letters of support. So, hopefully, that has been straightened out.

BASIS did no outreach in my neighborhood and they seem to do just fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
No, Latin & Deal are not continuing to suffer. Latin is on, what, its second graduating class and already has kids going into Ivies. They're doing it without flushing 2/3 of the students who enter, which is to their credit. Basis looks more and more like an enrichment scheme for its owners, and not an education institution that merits tax dollars. Apparently you can have high standards, and still find an alternate path for students who are not in the top 10%. I'm looking forward to the PCSB re-tooling Basis, which is what needs to happen if they're going to continue to receive public money for public education.

Where are you getting your 2/3 number, PP?

Also, PP, have you considered what the Latin re-enrollment rates imply?

The Latin middle school has a re-enrollment rate of 90.3%. The Latin upper school has a re-enrollment rate of 92.1%. These numbers come from PCSB reports: http://www.dcpubliccharter.com/data/files/2013_Applications/DC-PCSB-PMF_Mar18-web.pdf

So, if we start with a cohort of 100 Latin 5th graders, about 90.3 of those re-enroll for 6th grade, about 81.5 re-enroll for 7th grade, and about 73.6 re-enroll for 8th grade, and about 66.5 re-enroll for 9. Then about , about 61.2 re-enroll for 10th, about 56.4 re-enroll for 11th, and about 51.9 re-enroll for 12th.

I note that no one complains that Latin "counsels out" 1/2 of its entering 5th graders by 12th grade.

Of course, it's possible that the re-enrollment rate for long-time students is higher than for recently-admitted students, but it is not possible to derive the re-enrollment rate for long-time students this from the PCSB data. Furthermore, since Latin stops admitting kids after 9th grade, if long-time student re-enroll at significantly higher rates, we would expect the upper school re-enrollment rate to be significantly higher than the middle school rate, but it is less that 2% higher.

Now let's consider your 2/3 number. What would the re-enrollment rate of a school have to be for it to lose 2/3 of it 5th graders by 12th grade? Well, it turns out that a re-enrollment rate of 85.4% results in 2/3 of a cohort of entering 5th grades to be gone by 12th grade. If 100 enter 5th, about 85.4 will re-enroll for 6th, about 72.9 for 7th, about 62.3 for 8th, about 53.2 for 9th, about 45.4 for 10th, about 38.8 for 11th and finally about 33.1% will re-enroll for 12th.

What's interesting is that a re-enrollment rate of 85.4% is actually pretty darn good for a DC charter school.

t

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:

jsteele wrote:There are a few anomalies with One World, which I admit to be sort of excited about regardless of these points. First, they plan to locate right in my neighborhood. However, they have not started even basic outreach in the area. Even nearly immediate neighbors of the location were surprised when I mentioned One World on our neighborhood mailing list and our ANC rep. said that was also the first she had heard of it. So, they may run into unexpected community opposition if they don't get their act together.

Also, regarding Latin being the only good middle school, it is moving to a location that is probably considered outside the 16th Street corridor.

Finally, as was discussed here previously, the application promised endorsements from a number of individuals that are not planning to send letters of support. So, hopefully, that has been straightened out.

BASIS did no outreach in my neighborhood and they seem to do just fine.

I think you misunderstood my point. In order to open in its preferred location, One World will have to go to the ANC whose opinion will have "great weight". If the ANC rep hasn't even heard of the plans and the immediate neighbors are opposed (don't know that they are, but first reactions weren't good), this will be difficult. Our neighborhood is not in the league of some when it comes to NIMBYism, but it's no slouch either.

[Anonymous]

Charter schools don't have to go before the ANC. As public
schools they can open as a matter of right. Check the coverage of the Appletree location fight on Cap Hill. Of course they should go to the ANC but this is not a development, it's a school. Different rules apply.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:Charter schools don't have to go before the ANC. As public
schools they can open as a matter of right. Check the coverage of the Appletree location fight on Cap Hill. Of course they should go to the ANC but this is not a development, it's a school. Different rules apply.

Be that as it may, the location they've identified is a church. From what one of the neighbors told me, the church already has strained relations with the immediate neighbors. If they are upset enough, I'm sure that the neighbors will find some way to throw a wrench in the gears. I watched how Latin handled the process and it was much different. They made themselves very welcome. Obviously, this is not the biggest obstacle to the school, but its not something they should ignore.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If a charter middle school like One World located itself on Capitol Hill is would be full in an instant.

Also, if you're looking for a charter middle school in Capitol Hill, then Two Rivers has one. What makes you think another one would do any better?