Basis fills a gap that shouldn’t exist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:141 5th graders to 58 11th graders?

For a public school?

Wow.

I mean - they only have room in the building for 600. If/when more 5th graders stay through high school, that will inevitably mean smaller entering/5th grade classes. That would make a different subset (those that only want BASIS for a middle school option) very unhappy . . . can't please everyone!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:141 5th graders to 58 11th graders?

For a public school?

Wow.

Give me a break. Ballou loses two thirds of its students between 9th and 12th grade. Roosevelt High School's senior class is 60 percent smaller than its freshman class. Dunbar loses more than half its students. And 60 percent of ALL high school students in DC are chronically absent. Y'all just looking for reasons to complain about BASIS.

Above is not a similar comparison at all.

Basis students come from UMC educated families. The similar comparison is Latin and DCI, not Ballou.

Basis has a very high attrition rate. Data doesn’t lie and it’s all the factors that are discussed in this thread.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:141 5th graders to 58 11th graders?

For a public school?

Wow.

I mean - they only have room in the building for 600. If/when more 5th graders stay through high school, that will inevitably mean smaller entering/5th grade classes. That would make a different subset (those that only want BASIS for a middle school option) very unhappy . . . can't please everyone!

Sure if more kids stay but the underlying issues are not going to change to do that (facilities, narrow curriculum, EC, sports).

What might force more kids to stay is getting shut out of other middle schools, private schools, and parochial if families don’t want to move.

Same with high school is getting shut out of application schools, privates, etc..

That is what is happening

[Anonymous]

What is the underlying principle that makes the Basis model, including is rate of attrition vs “peer” schools, illegitimate for a public school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:141 5th graders to 58 11th graders?

For a public school?

Wow.

60% attention rate.

Range is going to be anywhere between 40-60%.

DCI 4-5%

Latin - I would guess also similar under 5%.

Huge contrast

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is the underlying principle that makes the Basis model, including is rate of attrition vs “peer” schools, illegitimate for a public school?

No one is saying it is illegitimate.

The discussion here is that the reality is that lots of kids leave Basis, even the highest performing kids due to factors discussed.

It is tiring when the boosters always take the stance that it is just the kids who are not “academically inclined”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is the underlying principle that makes the Basis model, including is rate of attrition vs “peer” schools, illegitimate for a public school?

No one is saying it is illegitimate.

The discussion here is that the reality is that lots of kids leave Basis, even the highest performing kids due to factors discussed.

It is tiring when the boosters always take the stance that it is just the kids who are not “academically inclined”

Yes - folks are definitely intuiting that it’s illegitimate “for a public school” to have such elevated attrition rates, perhaps rightly so.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:141 5th graders to 58 11th graders?

For a public school?

Wow.

I mean - they only have room in the building for 600. If/when more 5th graders stay through high school, that will inevitably mean smaller entering/5th grade classes. That would make a different subset (those that only want BASIS for a middle school option) very unhappy . . . can't please everyone!

Sure if more kids stay but the underlying issues are not going to change to do that (facilities, narrow curriculum, EC, sports).

What might force more kids to stay is getting shut out of other middle schools, private schools, and parochial if families don’t want to move.

Same with high school is getting shut out of application schools, privates, etc..

That is what is happening

The only legitimate thing on this list of facilities.

They have plenty of ECs and Sports (and add more every year).

Curriculum -- in middle school it's actually much broader than DCPS. As in the kids learn a lot more history, science, math and literature. More.

In high school it's a smaller curriculum, which is why some students choose to leave.

The building sucks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:141 5th graders to 58 11th graders?

For a public school?

Wow.

I mean - they only have room in the building for 600. If/when more 5th graders stay through high school, that will inevitably mean smaller entering/5th grade classes. That would make a different subset (those that only want BASIS for a middle school option) very unhappy . . . can't please everyone!

Sure if more kids stay but the underlying issues are not going to change to do that (facilities, narrow curriculum, EC, sports).

What might force more kids to stay is getting shut out of other middle schools, private schools, and parochial if families don’t want to move.

Same with high school is getting shut out of application schools, privates, etc..

That is what is happening

The only legitimate thing on this list of facilities.

They have plenty of ECs and Sports (and add more every year).

Curriculum -- in middle school it's actually much broader than DCPS. As in the kids learn a lot more history, science, math and literature. More.

In high school it's a smaller curriculum, which is why some students choose to leave.

The building sucks.

Luckily, most of DCUM lives in spacious homes with copious outdoor, green space. Otherwise, Basis would be intolerable.

[Anonymous]

a lot of the Deal 6th graders end up graduating from JR. SH to Eastern is not such a good comparison because most SH families do not plan to continue on to Eastern and there is therefore one very well defined exit year in that feeder pattern.

[Anonymous]

It's not fair to blame Basis for attrition between 8th and 9th grade. Kids who were well served by Basis in middle school and were reasonably happy there leave for all kinds of reasons. Many entered Basis in the first place with the intention of using it just for middle school and then doing an application school, private, or a regular large public for high school.

Almost any high school has AP, honors and/or IB classes, so the gap between the rigor at Basis and the rigor available at nearly any other high school is much smaller than it was for middle school. Every tiny school is going to suffer from limited course offerings, limited sports, limited ECs, and a very limited social scene.

Among my kid's super high achieving friend group, everyone was reasonably happy at Basis. Around half enrolled in high school. One left for sports. One left for an EC that wasn't offered at Basis. One left because most of their closest friends left. One left because they wanted a bigger social scene. Leaving does not mean that the kid was poorly served by Basis or that the kid couldn't hack it academically. It just means that the kid weighed all of the options and preferred one of them over Basis.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's not fair to blame Basis for attrition between 8th and 9th grade. Kids who were well served by Basis in middle school and were reasonably happy there leave for all kinds of reasons. Many entered Basis in the first place with the intention of using it just for middle school and then doing an application school, private, or a regular large public for high school.

Almost any high school has AP, honors and/or IB classes, so the gap between the rigor at Basis and the rigor available at nearly any other high school is much smaller than it was for middle school. Every tiny school is going to suffer from limited course offerings, limited sports, limited ECs, and a very limited social scene.

Among my kid's super high achieving friend group, everyone was reasonably happy at Basis. Around half enrolled in high school. One left for sports. One left for an EC that wasn't offered at Basis. One left because most of their closest friends left. One left because they wanted a bigger social scene. Leaving does not mean that the kid was poorly served by Basis or that the kid couldn't hack it academically. It just means that the kid weighed all of the options and preferred one of them over Basis.

I think this gets it right. Basis has a real comparative advantage in terms of content and rigor in middle school, less so in HS. And, in my experience, departure from Basis doesn’t so much signal dissatisfaction with the experience so much as a desire for a more wholistic experience going forward. That’s fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:141 5th graders to 58 11th graders?

For a public school?

Wow.

60% attention rate.

Range is going to be anywhere between 40-60%.

DCI 4-5%

Latin - I would guess also similar under 5%.

Huge contrast

These numbers seem more reasonable for a public charter school. Do DCI and Latin take new students in HS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:141 5th graders to 58 11th graders?

For a public school?

Wow.

60% attention rate.

Range is going to be anywhere between 40-60%.

DCI 4-5%

Latin - I would guess also similar under 5%.

Huge contrast

Attention rate? lol. Pay attention:

DCI and Latin socially promote, have lower test scores, and worse college outcomes. Some kids don’t go to college.

BASIS DC is ranked the #139th best public school in the United States.

No social promotion, no backfilling, great test scores, and top-notch college outcomes.

The model works great for academically motivated kids. Sign me up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:141 5th graders to 58 11th graders?

For a public school?

Wow.

60% attention rate.

Range is going to be anywhere between 40-60%.

DCI 4-5%

Latin - I would guess also similar under 5%.

Huge contrast

Attention rate? lol. Pay attention:

DCI and Latin socially promote, have lower test scores, and worse college outcomes. Some kids don’t go to college.

BASIS DC is ranked the #139th best public school in the United States.

No social promotion, no backfilling, great test scores, and top-notch college outcomes.

The model works great for academically motivated kids. Sign me up.

+1 million.

Apparently, a lot of people don’t understand how the model works in DC given PCSB and the Basis charter.