Time for PE

[Anonymous]

Why don't we ditch the PARCC for PE? Take all that money and invest in gym teachers and take back all the wasted class time. Cheh has good intentions but no common sense and Grosso is profoundly out to lunch.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why don't we ditch the PARCC for PE? Take all that money and invest in gym teachers and take back all the wasted class time. Cheh has good intentions but no common sense and Grosso is profoundly out to lunch.

Because feds require students be tested. If it isn't PARCC then DC has to develop its own test.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:BASIS is all about the end result-- excellent test scores, huge numbers of AP classes with 4s or 5s, and college acceptances.

That's the mission, the goal and the kids are schooled from day one to focus on that. All else is secondary. The only reason to join a club is to put it on the college resume. The only reason to take a language is because colleges like to see languages.

From that standpoint of course PE is an utter waste of time.

Many former BASIS teachers strongly believe that test results are heavily controlled and that there are certain students receiving 5's would not have scored more than a 3 on the same AP exam, had they taken the test elsewhere.

BASIS DC is chummy chummy with CollegeBoard resulting to alright SAT results. ACT is given by a different company, that's why BASIS students do not take it.
This said, if the mover and shaker parents wanted PE, the school will have PE for all students who want to take it every year.

When 2 years ago, it was announced that PE was exempt, almost all the students and most teachers rejoiced and clapped.
So Very Strange

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:BASIS is all about the end result-- excellent test scores, huge numbers of AP classes with 4s or 5s, and college acceptances.

That's the mission, the goal and the kids are schooled from day one to focus on that. All else is secondary. The only reason to join a club is to put it on the college resume. The only reason to take a language is because colleges like to see languages.

From that standpoint of course PE is an utter waste of time.

Many former BASIS teachers strongly believe that test results are heavily controlled and that there are certain students receiving 5's would not have scored more than a 3 on the same AP exam, had they taken the test elsewhere.

BASIS DC is chummy chummy with CollegeBoard resulting to alright SAT results. ACT is given by a different company, that's why BASIS students do not take it.
This said, if the mover and shaker parents wanted PE, the school will have PE for all students who want to take it every year.

When 2 years ago, it was announced that PE was exempt, almost all the students and most teachers rejoiced and clapped.
So Very Strange

This is crazy. There are significant AP exam security protocols -- and there is no way that the College Board is going to risk its international reputation by boosting teh scores for a couple hundred students from one charter school network.

Also, if you looking at Naviance, BASIS students nationally score higher on the ACT than the SAT.

The city of DC (DCPS and charters) pays for students to take SAT, not the ACT. That's why the ACT isn't given at any DC school.

FWIW ACT for the first time this year is giving a Pre-ACT (its version of the PSAT). BASIS students will be taking it this year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:BASIS is all about the end result-- excellent test scores, huge numbers of AP classes with 4s or 5s, and college acceptances.

That's the mission, the goal and the kids are schooled from day one to focus on that. All else is secondary. The only reason to join a club is to put it on the college resume. The only reason to take a language is because colleges like to see languages.

From that standpoint of course PE is an utter waste of time.

Many former BASIS teachers strongly believe that test results are heavily controlled and that there are certain students receiving 5's would not have scored more than a 3 on the same AP exam, had they taken the test elsewhere.

BASIS DC is chummy chummy with CollegeBoard resulting to alright SAT results. ACT is given by a different company, that's why BASIS students do not take it.
This said, if the mover and shaker parents wanted PE, the school will have PE for all students who want to take it every year.

When 2 years ago, it was announced that PE was exempt, almost all the students and most teachers rejoiced and clapped.
So Very Strange

This is crazy. There are significant AP exam security protocols -- and there is no way that the College Board is going to risk its international reputation by boosting teh scores for a couple hundred students from one charter school network.

Also, if you looking at Naviance, BASIS students nationally score higher on the ACT than the SAT.

The city of DC (DCPS and charters) pays for students to take SAT, not the ACT. That's why the ACT isn't given at any DC school.

FWIW ACT for the first time this year is giving a Pre-ACT (its version of the PSAT). BASIS students will be taking it this year.

Why can't some people accept that teenagers are capable of learning at a higher level than what is generally accepted by DCPS? These former teachers either did a better job than they thought OR they weren't teaching AP level classes. There is no reason for the College Board to cheat on behalf of BASIS, since they are such a small percentage of the population of students that take the tests nationwide.

[Anonymous]

My BASIS kid (now 10th) has taken 3 AP exams so far. Got 5s on 2 tests, and a 2 on 1 test.

The scores basically reflect the grades DC got in class, the practice exams taken at school and independently, and the subjects DC likes most.

No one is 'controlling' the scores - the proctors for each exam have never taught the class before, and students must seal their exam booklets and answer sheets (as at every other AP exam site).

And none of this has anything to do with PE, at BASIS or otherwise.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My BASIS kid (now 10th) has taken 3 AP exams so far. Got 5s on 2 tests, and a 2 on 1 test.

The scores basically reflect the grades DC got in class, the practice exams taken at school and independently, and the subjects DC likes most.

No one is 'controlling' the scores - the proctors for each exam have never taught the class before, and students must seal their exam booklets and answer sheets (as at every other AP exam site).

And none of this has anything to do with PE, at BASIS or otherwise.

Out of curiosity, what subjects did they take ap exams in and which one was the 2? i am a Basis DC parent, so knowing what needs possibly more attention study-wise is helpful.

[Anonymous]

^^ That would definitely 'out' my kid.

Suffice to say the class DC received a 2 in was one that DC didn't put as much effort into.

The 3 AP teachers been strong and very available to students who need extra help and make the effort to get it. My DC didn't until late in the year - and now knows better. I'm almost glad DC didn't pull a better grade out of hat bc they have now learned a valuable lesson.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^^ That would definitely 'out' my kid.

Suffice to say the class DC received a 2 in was one that DC didn't put as much effort into.

The 3 AP teachers been strong and very available to students who need extra help and make the effort to get it. My DC didn't until late in the year - and now knows better. I'm almost glad DC didn't pull a better grade out of hat bc they have now learned a valuable lesson.

can you at least say which exam she got a 2 in, I assume there were a lot of kids who took that particular one so that would not be "outing" her I would imagine!

[Anonymous]

Sorry.

But check out this link. It shows the distributions of scores by AP exam for 2016 -- e.g. how many kids who took AP US History got 5s, 4s, 3s and so

on.https://apscore.collegeboard.org/scores/about-ap-scores/score-distributions

Some tests are known to be harder than others. I would guess the BASIS results track this to a large extent. You can also see the past free response questions and the grading matrices.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does recess count toward the requirement? My ES has PE twice a week for 45 minutes, so still doesn't come close

No. Recess for elementary students is a separate HSA requirement from PE instruction.

Healthy schools act put a lot of requirements on schools but provided no resources to implement them.

It's the Way of the Cheh.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:BASIS is all about the end result-- excellent test scores, huge numbers of AP classes with 4s or 5s, and college acceptances.

That's the mission, the goal and the kids are schooled from day one to focus on that. All else is secondary. The only reason to join a club is to put it on the college resume. The only reason to take a language is because colleges like to see languages.

From that standpoint of course PE is an utter waste of time.

Many former BASIS teachers strongly believe that test results are heavily controlled and that there are certain students receiving 5's would not have scored more than a 3 on the same AP exam, had they taken the test elsewhere.

BASIS DC is chummy chummy with CollegeBoard resulting to alright SAT results. ACT is given by a different company, that's why BASIS students do not take it.
This said, if the mover and shaker parents wanted PE, the school will have PE for all students who want to take it every year.

When 2 years ago, it was announced that PE was exempt, almost all the students and most teachers rejoiced and clapped.
So Very Strange

Why am I having trouble believing all this?

[Anonymous]

^^ Because you have common sense.

[Anonymous]

Update re BASIS.

They are hiring an additional PE teacher. Yesterday the school emailed parents of 7th graders whose child had selected PE as their 1st choice elective and were shut out to tell them they would be offering another section and that students could switch if they wanted to.

[Anonymous]

Will DCPS hire additional PE teachers now, too?