BASIS DC to open in 2012-2013

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ahh....so we've now exposed the Yu Ying secret. Will Sela adopt the same policy - a different track for the non Hebrew speakers? Okaaay then.

I am a parent at Yu Ying. The non immersion track is not "all black". Get your facts straight.

You must thrilled that there is now one child who is not African-American on the alternative track.

[Anonymous]

No, no and triple no. The PP implied that only Black students were placed in the non-immersion spots at Yu Ying. That is factually incorrect. There were white students who were also failing and thus placed in the non-immersion track. Their parents chose to pull them out of the school altogether. Some of the Black parents made the same choice. The students who remained happened to all be Black, but Blacks were not the only ones placed in the second track. If PP wanted to talk about the lengths charters extend to keep children who struggle in the school, there was absolutely no need, no need at all to bring race into the topic.

In your view. At present, black kids are the only ones on the second track, it's public knowledge, it's relevant, and it's shameful. As one YY parent put it on his blog, "I'd rather see the city council vote pay for every kid on the non-immersion track to attend summer school in China, and to host a Chinese au pair, than to continue to justify this apartheid." Splitting hairs on the issue won't help. The real issue is class. Language immersion (and the taking of 6-10 AP classes) tends to work best in families with the resources to provide instruction/inputs at home (e.g. trips to China, Chinese-speaking parents, Direct TV from Beijing, Chinese-speaking babysitters). In DC, the great majoriy of such families happen to be white - stating the obvious and racism are somewhat different. Canadian academic studies have proven that, overall, low, and even moderate-income kids, don't do nearly as well in either language immersion or elite HS programs as their well-heeled classmates without all sorts of extra help (e.g. generally provided at government expense in civilized Canada). As a practical matter, did YY provide the extra help from the get go? Will BASIS provide it? Of course not, much too expensive in cash-strapped DC. Some of the poor kids will still do well against the odds, giving BASIS and YY cause to move forward. Consider letting PPs politely raise issues they see as relevant without playing the PC cop.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here's a question: It like a lot of high achieving students at Latin leave before High School. We aren't at Latin so I don't know why. Is it because families want an even more academically rigorous high school for their child? One of the complaints about BASIS in this thread is that the attrition rate is so high. Could the students leaving Latin transfer to BASIS and succeed?

Undoubtedly, it's just that they have no reason to. Why would you leave a proven high-quality middle school for an unproven promising middle school? It's not as if Basis has any high school alternative to offer, much less a reliably desirable one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:help me understand this: is there any prohibition on BASIS pulling in students from outside the DC area, who would PAY tuition? I had heard that other charters accepted out-of-staters with tuition...that might make up the numbers as attrition hits the upper grades

I don't think that new kids join BASIS after 6th grade. Beginning in 6th grade, BASIS students must pass comprehensive exams to advance to the next grade.

I suspect that the school will not admit kids into the 7th grade or higher unless they can demonstrate mastery of the material covered in the prior grade by passing the same comprehensive exams, and kids who are not able to pass the comprehensive exams are offered spots in the lower grades. Of course, by the 7th or 8th grade, due to the rigorous curriculum, the likelihood that a student transferring into BASIS can pass those exams approaches 0.The enrollment data presented in the following article support my hypothesis:

http://www.schoolsmatter.info/2011/03/blog-post.html

While enrollment occasionally increases from 5th to 6th grade, enrollment only decreases from that point on. In particular, enrollment decreases significantly from 8th to 9th grade, presumably due to large numbers of students choosing neighborhood high schools over BASIS.

I don't get the impression that BASIS cares much about keeping numbers up. They seem to be focused on the quality of the students they graduate, not the quantity.

In any case, they can keep enrollment up in the face of high attrition simply by admitting many more students in the lower grades. That is, if they want to maintain enrollment at about 500 students for a 8-year program, rather than admit 60 student in the 5th grade, they would admit about 100.

It appears that this the approach they've taken.

Sorry, I don't follow why, after 7th or 8th grade, due to the rigorous curriculum, the likelihood that a student transferring into BASIS could pass their end-of-year exams would approach 0 when DC has a good many independents, where some parents struggle to afford tuition, offering equally tough academics. It also has suburbs where parents often move/live primarily because they aren't satisfied with public MS and HS offerings in the District, coupled with lack of funds for independents, but would prefer to live downtown. So you think that a student could only transfer into BASIS from a DCPS school, or another charter, not simply by virtue of being a DC resident capable of passing a comprehensive end-of-year exam? It doesn't seem out of the question that dozens of parents outside DCPS and DC Charter with very bright and well prepared kids would look to BASIS for a comparable, tax-supported education if permitted, particularly if they'd been shut out of 5th or 6th grade lottery admissions and the school was prospering. If residency in the District would be all that was required for a kid of the right age to take, and pass, an end-of-year exam at BASIS in the hopes of being admitted, I'm having a hard time imagining a shortage of qualified takers. A backdoor route to selective admissions would emerge. But then many, if not most, of the incoming kids would be middle-class and white, which wouldn't work politically, at least not for some years. These are awkward public conversations and questions, but perhaps they should be had when taxpayer money is behind BASIS DC.




A lot of the questions you raise are legitimate. But the question about admitting students to BASIS in later grades is not simply about students wanting entry who are bright and well prepared and willing to work hard. It is about the specialized curriculum that they offer and the unique way it is organized.

For example, I believe basis begins teaching chemistry, biology and physics (?) Simultaneously beginning in middle school to preprepare over multiple years for the ap exam in those subjects in maybe 10th grade. So a student wanting to enter in 8 or 9th grade would normally not already have a grounding in chemistry or physics.

This is no different from kids wanting to enter Yu Ying in a later grade. The vast majority do not have the Mandarin skills to keep up. Those who do, aren't allowed to test in because it's against the charter law to be selective. Basis isn't going to be allowed to cherry-pick any more than Yu Ying is. Attrition? Yes. Selective admission? No.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ahh....so we've now exposed the Yu Ying secret. Will Sela adopt the same policy - a different track for the non Hebrew speakers? Okaaay then.

I am a parent at Yu Ying. The non immersion track is not "all black". Get your facts straight.

You must thrilled that there is now one child who is not African-American on the alternative track.

No, I'm not thrilled. I'm factual. As others pointed out, two white families transferred out. One is in the class. I'm not uncomfortable with facts--I think Yu Ying has many lessons for Basis, but rather discuss reality than non factual statements.

[Anonymous]

1819, can you discuss how many of the children in the separate track are on a free-reduced price lunch? I think that would be illuminating and wonderful "factual" information.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:1819, can you discuss how many of the children in the separate track are on a free-reduced price lunch? I think that would be illuminating and wonderful "factual" information.

I'm an AA parent seriously concerned about the alternative track at YY. I'm hopeful that - as a parent - I will get more info about the track after having a year of implementation. BUT that is not why I'm reading this thread. Can we please get back to the topic? It's good

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ahh....so we've now exposed the Yu Ying secret. Will Sela adopt the same policy - a different track for the non Hebrew speakers? Okaaay then.

I am a parent at Yu Ying. The non immersion track is not "all black". Get your facts straight.

You must thrilled that there is now one child who is not African-American on the alternative track.

Why are you assuming that there is discrimination here???

If you moved Yu Ying to my former city that was mostly white, then the non immersion track would be mostly white.

Also, when I was in middle school way back then, I was tracked into the lower track for a couple of years and all of the kids in the lower track were white

This has nothing to do with discrimination. It has to do with meeting the needs of kids who are having a more difficult time with their curricula.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1819, can you discuss how many of the children in the separate track are on a free-reduced price lunch? I think that would be illuminating and wonderful "factual" information.

I'm an AA parent seriously concerned about the alternative track at YY. I'm hopeful that - as a parent - I will get more info about the track after having a year of implementation. BUT that is not why I'm reading this thread. Can we please get back to the topic? It's good

What is wrong with tracking?? Does anyone honestly believe that a teacher can "differentiate" enough to meet the needs of all students???

Or do you believe that a teacher should make the curricula much less demanding to only focus on struggling learners? That is inherently unfair to students who are not struggling.

I see nothing wrong with tracking in order to meet the needs of all students as long as students are given support and advanced to higher tracks when the student advances.

[Anonymous]

Does anyone know how many Yu Ying 4th graders are leaving for Basis?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here's a question: It like a lot of high achieving students at Latin leave before High School. We aren't at Latin so I don't know why. Is it because families want an even more academically rigorous high school for their child? One of the complaints about BASIS in this thread is that the attrition rate is so high. Could the students leaving Latin transfer to BASIS and succeed?

I think it is more about families seeking a more traditional high school experience. I.e. many kids, lots of extracurriculars and elective classes, prom, homecoming etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No, no and triple no. The PP implied that only Black students were placed in the non-immersion spots at Yu Ying. That is factually incorrect. There were white students who were also failing and thus placed in the non-immersion track. Their parents chose to pull them out of the school altogether. Some of the Black parents made the same choice. The students who remained happened to all be Black, but Blacks were not the only ones placed in the second track. If PP wanted to talk about the lengths charters extend to keep children who struggle in the school, there was absolutely no need, no need at all to bring race into the topic.

In your view. At present, black kids are the only ones on the second track, it's public knowledge, it's relevant, and it's shameful. As one YY parent put it on his blog, "I'd rather see the city council vote pay for every kid on the non-immersion track to attend summer school in China, and to host a Chinese au pair, than to continue to justify this apartheid." Splitting hairs on the issue won't help. The real issue is class. Language immersion (and the taking of 6-10 AP classes) tends to work best in families with the resources to provide instruction/inputs at home (e.g. trips to China, Chinese-speaking parents, Direct TV from Beijing, Chinese-speaking babysitters). In DC, the great majoriy of such families happen to be white - stating the obvious and racism are somewhat different. Canadian academic studies have proven that, overall, low, and even moderate-income kids, don't do nearly as well in either language immersion or elite HS programs as their well-heeled classmates without all sorts of extra help (e.g. generally provided at government expense in civilized Canada). As a practical matter, did YY provide the extra help from the get go? Will BASIS provide it? Of course not, much too expensive in cash-strapped DC. Some of the poor kids will still do well against the odds, giving BASIS and YY cause to move forward. Consider letting PPs politely raise issues they see as relevant without playing the PC cop.

BUT does this mean well heeled kids and families aren't ALLOWED to have programs in language immersion or advanced academics because not every kid can succeed in them? What does this say about our public schools? Lowest common denominator anyone?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's a question: It like a lot of high achieving students at Latin leave before High School. We aren't at Latin so I don't know why. Is it because families want an even more academically rigorous high school for their child? One of the complaints about BASIS in this thread is that the attrition rate is so high. Could the students leaving Latin transfer to BASIS and succeed?

Undoubtedly, it's just that they have no reason to. Why would you leave a proven high-quality middle school for an unproven promising middle school? It's not as if Basis has any high school alternative to offer, much less a reliably desirable one.

Many are making the jump from Latin to basis already. One big reason: location!

[Anonymous]

22:37 Define many. Didn't Basis miss enrollment target by a bit? Does Latin no longer have waitlist?

[Anonymous]

What is wrong with tracking?? Does anyone honestly believe that a teacher can "differentiate" enough to meet the needs of all students???

Tracking and differentiation are two very different things.