How's basis going so far?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OMG, "tangled web of bureaucratic experts standardizing everything at every campus..." Aren't you describing DCPS? What I see being standardized at BASIS (with my child attending) is consistency between teachers so a kid can form good work habits rather than scramble in sheer frustration to discern each teacher's idiosyncratic procedures as was the case at Latin where every teacher had to reinvent the wheel and blaze their own trail for paperwork management, how assignments are relayed to kids, what to do if kid out sick, labeling pages, show work or not, point systems for discipline, acceptance of late work, contacting parents, on and on and on. I am grateful for Basis thinking it through and freeing the teachers and students to focus on the stuff that actually matters.

Agree! Basis is like a breath of fresh air, compared to all the disjoints and discontinuities of so many other schools we've seen....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Indeed! Lets all get a grip here folks. Go to basis if it works for your kid/family, and don't if its not a good fit. Lets just remember that kids can handle many situations even if they're not ideal. There's a threshold though so try not to let it go too far away from being a peaceful solution for your family. We can't predict the future (fully at least) so make the eat choice you can based on what you know today. Then try and relax - that's probably the best thing you can do for your child!

Kids tend to have a harder time with transitions than they do with the actual situation. If they start out earlier, and with more gradual ramping up, they will likely be fine, as opposed to making a night-and-day transition. Students coming into a school like BASIS later in life, or coming from schools with low expectations and poor results will likely have a far worse time than students coming in as 5th graders and from better elementary schools - and all the more reason there should be a focus on the entire educational lifecycles, for better elementary schools and better high schools as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:10/14/2012 13:47 - You're incorrect. Count day for BASIS is October 22nd. They still have time to gain more students and get paid for it.

10/18/2012 11:59 - I believe that you are incorrect. I work at a charter school. Only those students who were on the official count day roster on October 5 are counted by auditor when BASIS has it's enrollment audit on October 22. October 5 is the official "count day" in DC. The later dates are the dates that the enrollment auditors come out and verify files, residency and students who were on the count day roster.

I worked in a school that didn't understand this, and the principal kept enrolling past the October 5 count day. They didn't get paid for those students. Unless BASIS has a different rule, it's odd that they were still advertising spots after count day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I worked in a school that didn't understand this, and the principal kept enrolling past the October 5 count day. They didn't get paid for those students. Unless BASIS has a different rule, it's odd that they were still advertising spots after count day.

Doesn't seem odd to me for this particular charter: Basis probably planned (and got private funding) for a certain number of students. They may have fallen short of that enrollment target in the upper grade population. I'm guessing DC's paltry per-student payments arent't the only enrollment driver for Basis.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I worked in a school that didn't understand this, and the principal kept enrolling past the October 5 count day. They didn't get paid for those students. Unless BASIS has a different rule, it's odd that they were still advertising spots after count day.

Doesn't seem odd to me for this particular charter: Basis probably planned (and got private funding) for a certain number of students. They may have fallen short of that enrollment target in the upper grade population. I'm guessing DC's paltry per-student payments arent't the only enrollment driver for Basis.

I was wondering whether kids had left in the last couple of weeks (or were expected to leave) so BASIS needed to additional kids to make up numbers. I've heard from my DS that he knows of some children who have stopped coming to school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I worked in a school that didn't understand this, and the principal kept enrolling past the October 5 count day. They didn't get paid for those students. Unless BASIS has a different rule, it's odd that they were still advertising spots after count day.

Doesn't seem odd to me for this particular charter: Basis probably planned (and got private funding) for a certain number of students. They may have fallen short of that enrollment target in the upper grade population. I'm guessing DC's paltry per-student payments arent't the only enrollment driver for Basis.

I was wondering whether kids had left in the last couple of weeks (or were expected to leave) so BASIS needed to additional kids to make up numbers. I've heard from my DS that he knows of some children who have stopped coming to school.

It's possible that some kids have left already, PP. However, BASIS is not accepting students merely to make up for their departure.

BASIS divides each grade up into groups of twenty-something (don't know the exact number) kids per per section, which BASIS calls "elements". The spots they are making available are to fill the elements that already exist. They are willing to take kids after count day, even though they won't be paid for them, because it doesn't cost that much more to add kids to existing elements. They are already paying for the teachers, classrooms, desks, etc. The marginal cost of few more kids per section is not very much, e.g., textbooks, extra office hours, etc.

Furthermore, those kids who join now might well remain for the next six years, during which time BASIS will be paid for them. It might be harder recruit the same kids after they're a year behind rather than just a month.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OMG, "tangled web of bureaucratic experts standardizing everything at every campus..." Aren't you describing DCPS? What I see being standardized at BASIS (with my child attending) is consistency between teachers so a kid can form good work habits rather than scramble in sheer frustration to discern each teacher's idiosyncratic procedures as was the case at Latin where every teacher had to reinvent the wheel and blaze their own trail for paperwork management, how assignments are relayed to kids, what to do if kid out sick, labeling pages, show work or not, point systems for discipline, acceptance of late work, contacting parents, on and on and on. I am grateful for Basis thinking it through and freeing the teachers and students to focus on the stuff that actually matters.

^ THIS. That is what I find attractive about BASIS as well. Well planned, coordinated and executed, from class to class, and from grade to grade. A far better approach than what one usually sees in schools.

[Anonymous]

^Some measure of coordination and planning, great, but the Cult of Olga sounds disturbingly industrial. A high order form of the NCLB conveyer belt? I've got a PhD and wouldn't teach anywhere I had to spell out lesson plans for anybody but my students. BASIS evokes an image of Mussolini making the trains run on time, with the Italians cheering for a time.

What works well in public high schools in this city anyway when more than a handful of low-SES kids are in the mix? Most of you seem to be commenting on a 5th grade experience. Did anyone else find Latin's 2012 DC-CAS scores troubling when broken down by race? It seems that at BASIS' main competitor, nearly 1/3 of the MS kids don't test proficient (yet the school only tracks for algebra) and nearly half the HS kids (in 10th grade). Even so, parents rave about Latin on DCUM as though it's the Harvard of public schools.

I'm taking all this boosting with a grain of salt, waiting for BASIS' scores next summer, broken down by race and class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^Some measure of coordination and planning, great, but the Cult of Olga sounds disturbingly industrial. A high order form of the NCLB conveyer belt? I've got a PhD and wouldn't teach anywhere I had to spell out lesson plans for anybody but my students. BASIS evokes an image of Mussolini making the trains run on time, with the Italians cheering for a time.

What works well in public high schools in this city anyway when more than a handful of low-SES kids are in the mix? Most of you seem to be commenting on a 5th grade experience. Did anyone else find Latin's 2012 DC-CAS scores troubling when broken down by race? It seems that at BASIS' main competitor, nearly 1/3 of the MS kids don't test proficient (yet the school only tracks for algebra) and nearly half the HS kids (in 10th grade). Even so, parents rave about Latin on DCUM as though it's the Harvard of public schools.

I'm taking all this boosting with a grain of salt, waiting for BASIS' scores next summer, broken down by race and class.

All else aside, until you've been teaching in the same venue, problem -free for a few years
I know one highly educated teacher at an elementary school whose class spent an inordinate amount of time playing card games

[Anonymous]

pp here, you need to submit lesson plans and be observed in class, imo
I think this is one of Basis' better moves, to ensure material is covered and at the expected pace

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What works well in public high schools in this city anyway when more than a handful of low-SES kids are in the mix? Most of you seem to be commenting on a 5th grade experience.

7th Grade

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^Some measure of coordination and planning, great, but the Cult of Olga sounds disturbingly industrial. A high order form of the NCLB conveyer belt? I've got a PhD and wouldn't teach anywhere I had to spell out lesson plans for anybody but my students. BASIS evokes an image of Mussolini making the trains run on time, with the Italians cheering for a time.

What works well in public high schools in this city anyway when more than a handful of low-SES kids are in the mix? Most of you seem to be commenting on a 5th grade experience. Did anyone else find Latin's 2012 DC-CAS scores troubling when broken down by race? It seems that at BASIS' main competitor, nearly 1/3 of the MS kids don't test proficient (yet the school only tracks for algebra) and nearly half the HS kids (in 10th grade). Even so, parents rave about Latin on DCUM as though it's the Harvard of public schools.

I'm taking all this boosting with a grain of salt, waiting for BASIS' scores next summer, broken down by race and class.

What's your PhD in, PP?

[Anonymous]

What difference does it make, 13:10.

(I'm not the PP you reference but I wonder what your point is.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What difference does it make, 13:10.

(I'm not the PP you reference but I wonder what your point is.)

Because there are some subjects for which the material that must be covered in a given course at a given grade is not open to debate. Others are more "flexible." A PhD in Theatre and Drama and a PhD in Biology are very different.

The poster used the PhD to establish authority without providing the obvious information. I also have a PhD (in computer science). In my dozens of posts on these BASIS threads, I have never mentioned that fact (until now).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^Some measure of coordination and planning, great, but the Cult of Olga sounds disturbingly industrial. A high order form of the NCLB conveyer belt? I've got a PhD and wouldn't teach anywhere I had to spell out lesson plans for anybody but my students. BASIS evokes an image of Mussolini making the trains run on time, with the Italians cheering for a time.

What works well in public high schools in this city anyway when more than a handful of low-SES kids are in the mix? Most of you seem to be commenting on a 5th grade experience. Did anyone else find Latin's 2012 DC-CAS scores troubling when broken down by race? It seems that at BASIS' main competitor, nearly 1/3 of the MS kids don't test proficient (yet the school only tracks for algebra) and nearly half the HS kids (in 10th grade). Even so, parents rave about Latin on DCUM as though it's the Harvard of public schools.

I'm taking all this boosting with a grain of salt, waiting for BASIS' scores next summer, broken down by race and class.

I guess you don't know what those people happy with Latin are comparing it to. Middle School in DC public schools is a wasteland. If people have no choice but to go public ( like our family ) Latin is the only reason we can stay in DC and has been great for our kid.