BASIS attrition after middle school- why?
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Anonymous
Thank you! We are inclined to try it for 5th grade. My son is organized, likes to be pushed, is a strong STEM students and enjoys tests, so I think it is worth a try. Now I'm trying to find happy BASIS families in real life to talk to before we sign all the papers... |
Anonymous
What school are you currently at? |
Anonymous
At a Cardozo feeder, and Basis is certainly a much much better option than that! But we loved our neighborhood school and he thrived there, and it left us with a slight DCPS bias. Dream school is probably something like Hardy, but would be happy at SWWFS, too. I like a lot of things about BASIS, but I am really worried about the teachers -- the high turnover and inexperience. |
Anonymous
From what I understand DPCS schools have less turnover on average than charters do. We came to Basis from another charter school so my comfort level with some amount of turnover and inexperience might be different from yours having dealt with it for years already. But for what it's worth, my 5th grader has only 1 new teacher this year. I don't know for certain how that compares to the other grades at Basis. |
Anonymous
That's great to hear! I really want to like it. |
Anonymous
| My son was in Basis the first year, and all 3 newbie sciences teachers were amazing despite lack of teaching experience. Yes, they left after a year, but what a year for my kid! |
Anonymous
| DS is #34 on the waitlist for Basis, which was his #1 choice. We are zoned for Hardy - is that a better option? |
Anonymous
Definitely choose Hardy. Not even close. |
Anonymous
If your child truly wants to go to Basis and you get in, try it out. Since Hardy is your in-bound school, you always have that option and it starts in 6th grade anyway. |
Anonymous
+1 |
Anonymous
I personally would choose Hardy, but there is not much downside to trying Basis for a year if you are in bounds. You can always come back and that way you will know what you are losing and have no regrets! |
Anonymous
| I know people are absolutely entitled to leave BASIS after 5th grade and return to their highly regarded in-bound middle school. But it makes me sad to think of the many kids who would love BASIS and do well there and don’t have any in-bound option or really any other option at all who miss getting a seat at BASIS because someone goes for a year. That seat that becomes empty in 5th is never replaced… |
Anonymous
Not sure why you think that there is high turnover at BASIS. Teacher retention is a problem nationwide. For example, 26% of public teachers in DC left their school between SY22-23 and 23-24. In contrast, fewer than 5 teachers left BASIS DC during this time period, which is way below the average (fewer than 8% of the teachers). It is a myth that turnover is higher at BASIS DC than other schools in DC. That said, it is a good thing if teachers aren't very good and get replaced. One problem with DCPS is that bad teachers sometimes get hired, become embedded, and just phone it in. That is simply not possible at BASIS. I would add that some of my kids' best teachers at BASIS didn't have a lot of teaching experience. Sometimes experience can be overrated. True, not every teacher is great at BASIS, but the teaching quality if generally high and there are numerous checks in the system to ensure that teachers cover the required material as well as incentives and rewards for teachers whose students do particularly well. In fact, just a few months ago, one of the BASIS teachers received a national educational award: https://osse.dc.gov/release/basis-public-charter-school-educator-receives-25000-milken-educator-award-helping-students. Good luck with your choice. |
Anonymous
BASIS by a big margin. And your kid can always drop down to Hardy later if your kid doesn't like it. https://www.usnews.com/education/k12/middle-schools/district-of-columbia |
Anonymous
There’s a lot more to school than the US news rankings. What sort of culture do you want? |