Does anyone know the status of the Proposed BASIS Expansion

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:McKinley, give us a break. Lame AP and SAT results, not diverse, heavy on social promotion. Not a complete bust but close.

McKinley gets kids into MIT and JHU. I know a Dartmouth grad from there. Can't be that "lame".

Only 22% of McKinley students have passed a single AP exam but sure they are sending lots of kids to MIT….

[Anonymous]

Get a life. You can move out if you don't care for the people here.

Forest for the trees PP isn't wrong in thinking that that we shouldn't be left with a choice between unpleasant, narrowly focused BASIS (with lottery luck) and unappealing DCPS neighborhood programs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:McKinley, give us a break. Lame AP and SAT results, not diverse, heavy on social promotion. Not a complete bust but close.

McKinley gets kids into MIT and JHU. I know a Dartmouth grad from there. Can't be that "lame".

Only 22% of McKinley students have passed a single AP exam but sure they are sending lots of kids to MIT….

Yes, and passing or 3 is not great. Better to get a 4 or 5.

What is the bigger issue is that these outliers 1 or 2 kids are not going to be equipped for the higher level playing field at competitve colleges. I suspect the McKinley kids are going to struggle in this environment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:McKinley, give us a break. Lame AP and SAT results, not diverse, heavy on social promotion. Not a complete bust but close.

McKinley gets kids into MIT and JHU. I know a Dartmouth grad from there. Can't be that "lame".

Only 22% of McKinley students have passed a single AP exam but sure they are sending lots of kids to MIT….

Yes, and passing or 3 is not great. Better to get a 4 or 5.

What is the bigger issue is that these outliers 1 or 2 kids are not going to be equipped for the higher level playing field at competitve colleges. I suspect the McKinley kids are going to struggle in this environment.

Let’s be clear—this isn’t some blanket endorsement of McKinley Tech as an institution. But the idea that the few students who do get into top-tier colleges are destined to flounder is narrow-minded and illogical. Competitive admissions teams aren’t in the business of setting students up to fail; they admit kids because they’ve seen the potential for success. Yes, the transition might be challenging, but these schools don’t admit students as charity cases—they admit them because they believe they’ll ultimately thrive.

Frankly, implying otherwise comes off as more condescending toward those students than insightful about their actual prospects.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:McKinley, give us a break. Lame AP and SAT results, not diverse, heavy on social promotion. Not a complete bust but close.

McKinley gets kids into MIT and JHU. I know a Dartmouth grad from there. Can't be that "lame".

Only 22% of McKinley students have passed a single AP exam but sure they are sending lots of kids to MIT….

Yes, and passing or 3 is not great. Better to get a 4 or 5.

What is the bigger issue is that these outliers 1 or 2 kids are not going to be equipped for the higher level playing field at competitve colleges. I suspect the McKinley kids are going to struggle in this environment.

Let’s be clear—this isn’t some blanket endorsement of McKinley Tech as an institution. But the idea that the few students who do get into top-tier colleges are destined to flounder is narrow-minded and illogical. Competitive admissions teams aren’t in the business of setting students up to fail; they admit kids because they’ve seen the potential for success. Yes, the transition might be challenging, but these schools don’t admit students as charity cases—they admit them because they believe they’ll ultimately thrive.

Frankly, implying otherwise comes off as more condescending toward those students than insightful about their actual prospects.

You come across as willfully ignorant.

The fact that a couple of McK grads over the years went to a top school doesn’t mean that the school is good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:McKinley, give us a break. Lame AP and SAT results, not diverse, heavy on social promotion. Not a complete bust but close.

McKinley gets kids into MIT and JHU. I know a Dartmouth grad from there. Can't be that "lame".

Only 22% of McKinley students have passed a single AP exam but sure they are sending lots of kids to MIT….

Yes, and passing or 3 is not great. Better to get a 4 or 5.

What is the bigger issue is that these outliers 1 or 2 kids are not going to be equipped for the higher level playing field at competitve colleges. I suspect the McKinley kids are going to struggle in this environment.

Let’s be clear—this isn’t some blanket endorsement of McKinley Tech as an institution. But the idea that the few students who do get into top-tier colleges are destined to flounder is narrow-minded and illogical. Competitive admissions teams aren’t in the business of setting students up to fail; they admit kids because they’ve seen the potential for success. Yes, the transition might be challenging, but these schools don’t admit students as charity cases—they admit them because they believe they’ll ultimately thrive.

Frankly, implying otherwise comes off as more condescending toward those students than insightful about their actual prospects.

You come across as willfully ignorant.

The fact that a couple of McK grads over the years went to a top school doesn’t mean that the school is good.

Definitely condescending. But what else can you expect from Basis people?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:McKinley, give us a break. Lame AP and SAT results, not diverse, heavy on social promotion. Not a complete bust but close.

McKinley gets kids into MIT and JHU. I know a Dartmouth grad from there. Can't be that "lame".

Only 22% of McKinley students have passed a single AP exam but sure they are sending lots of kids to MIT….

Yes, and passing or 3 is not great. Better to get a 4 or 5.

What is the bigger issue is that these outliers 1 or 2 kids are not going to be equipped for the higher level playing field at competitve colleges. I suspect the McKinley kids are going to struggle in this environment.

Let’s be clear—this isn’t some blanket endorsement of McKinley Tech as an institution. But the idea that the few students who do get into top-tier colleges are destined to flounder is narrow-minded and illogical. Competitive admissions teams aren’t in the business of setting students up to fail; they admit kids because they’ve seen the potential for success. Yes, the transition might be challenging, but these schools don’t admit students as charity cases—they admit them because they believe they’ll ultimately thrive.

Frankly, implying otherwise comes off as more condescending toward those students than insightful about their actual prospects.

You come across as willfully ignorant.

The fact that a couple of McK grads over the years went to a top school doesn’t mean that the school is good.

Learn to read.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:McKinley, give us a break. Lame AP and SAT results, not diverse, heavy on social promotion. Not a complete bust but close.

McKinley gets kids into MIT and JHU. I know a Dartmouth grad from there. Can't be that "lame".

Only 22% of McKinley students have passed a single AP exam but sure they are sending lots of kids to MIT….

Yes, and passing or 3 is not great. Better to get a 4 or 5.

What is the bigger issue is that these outliers 1 or 2 kids are not going to be equipped for the higher level playing field at competitve colleges. I suspect the McKinley kids are going to struggle in this environment.

Let’s be clear—this isn’t some blanket endorsement of McKinley Tech as an institution. But the idea that the few students who do get into top-tier colleges are destined to flounder is narrow-minded and illogical. Competitive admissions teams aren’t in the business of setting students up to fail; they admit kids because they’ve seen the potential for success. Yes, the transition might be challenging, but these schools don’t admit students as charity cases—they admit them because they believe they’ll ultimately thrive.

Frankly, implying otherwise comes off as more condescending toward those students than insightful about their actual prospects.

You come across as willfully ignorant.

The fact that a couple of McK grads over the years went to a top school doesn’t mean that the school is good.

Definitely condescending. But what else can you expect from Basis people?

Be careful now. I’m the PP and a Basis parent who found the comment about McK grads just plain stupid. Yes if you go to McK and get into CMU, odds are you’ll be just fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:McKinley, give us a break. Lame AP and SAT results, not diverse, heavy on social promotion. Not a complete bust but close.

McKinley gets kids into MIT and JHU. I know a Dartmouth grad from there. Can't be that "lame".

Only 22% of McKinley students have passed a single AP exam but sure they are sending lots of kids to MIT….

Yes, and passing or 3 is not great. Better to get a 4 or 5.

What is the bigger issue is that these outliers 1 or 2 kids are not going to be equipped for the higher level playing field at competitve colleges. I suspect the McKinley kids are going to struggle in this environment.

Let’s be clear—this isn’t some blanket endorsement of McKinley Tech as an institution. But the idea that the few students who do get into top-tier colleges are destined to flounder is narrow-minded and illogical. Competitive admissions teams aren’t in the business of setting students up to fail; they admit kids because they’ve seen the potential for success. Yes, the transition might be challenging, but these schools don’t admit students as charity cases—they admit them because they believe they’ll ultimately thrive.

Frankly, implying otherwise comes off as more condescending toward those students than insightful about their actual prospects.

You come across as willfully ignorant.

The fact that a couple of McK grads over the years went to a top school doesn’t mean that the school is good.

Definitely condescending. But what else can you expect from Basis people?

Definitely ignorant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:McKinley, give us a break. Lame AP and SAT results, not diverse, heavy on social promotion. Not a complete bust but close.

McKinley gets kids into MIT and JHU. I know a Dartmouth grad from there. Can't be that "lame".

Only 22% of McKinley students have passed a single AP exam but sure they are sending lots of kids to MIT….

So you are saying that McKinley is a school that supports their prepared students to pass AP exams. 20% of the school body is enough for a cohort of students and not just 1 or 2 extremely motivated kids teaching themselves despite the school. I don’t think you need a place where everyone is passing AP exams to be an acceptable place for a smart kid to do well. That 20% number tells me that McKinley has teachers skilled enough to meet the needs of the subset of higher performing students embedded within a more diverse student body.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:McKinley, give us a break. Lame AP and SAT results, not diverse, heavy on social promotion. Not a complete bust but close.

McKinley gets kids into MIT and JHU. I know a Dartmouth grad from there. Can't be that "lame".

Only 22% of McKinley students have passed a single AP exam but sure they are sending lots of kids to MIT….

So you are saying that McKinley is a school that supports their prepared students to pass AP exams. 20% of the school body is enough for a cohort of students and not just 1 or 2 extremely motivated kids teaching themselves despite the school. I don’t think you need a place where everyone is passing AP exams to be an acceptable place for a smart kid to do well. That 20% number tells me that McKinley has teachers skilled enough to meet the needs of the subset of higher performing students embedded within a more diverse student body.

People have occasionally posted here in the past that McKinley is interested in working with, for instance, kids who are coming in needing to take pre-calculus in 9th grade--that they want to meet the needs of those kids. I'm not sure how that works in practice with their curriculum. But I do think it's worth talking to them rather than assuming it won't work out for your kid, especially if your alternative is private school/moving.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:McKinley, give us a break. Lame AP and SAT results, not diverse, heavy on social promotion. Not a complete bust but close.

McKinley gets kids into MIT and JHU. I know a Dartmouth grad from there. Can't be that "lame".

Only 22% of McKinley students have passed a single AP exam but sure they are sending lots of kids to MIT….

So you are saying that McKinley is a school that supports their prepared students to pass AP exams. 20% of the school body is enough for a cohort of students and not just 1 or 2 extremely motivated kids teaching themselves despite the school. I don’t think you need a place where everyone is passing AP exams to be an acceptable place for a smart kid to do well. That 20% number tells me that McKinley has teachers skilled enough to meet the needs of the subset of higher performing students embedded within a more diverse student body.

I agree. And also, FWIW, for practical purposes the cohort of students passing AP exams at McKinley is more like 35% of the student body, not 20%.

The PPs are using 22% because the most recent DCPS data show 44% of all students enrolled at McKinley taking an AP, and 50% of the students who take at least one AP passing at least one AP. But (as at most high schools) very few freshmen take any APs. Thus 22% is accurate but misleading. Take the freshman class out of the denominator and the numbers become more indicative of the size of the higher-performing cohort within the student body.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:McKinley, give us a break. Lame AP and SAT results, not diverse, heavy on social promotion. Not a complete bust but close.

McKinley gets kids into MIT and JHU. I know a Dartmouth grad from there. Can't be that "lame".

Only 22% of McKinley students have passed a single AP exam but sure they are sending lots of kids to MIT….

So you are saying that McKinley is a school that supports their prepared students to pass AP exams. 20% of the school body is enough for a cohort of students and not just 1 or 2 extremely motivated kids teaching themselves despite the school. I don’t think you need a place where everyone is passing AP exams to be an acceptable place for a smart kid to do well. That 20% number tells me that McKinley has teachers skilled enough to meet the needs of the subset of higher performing students embedded within a more diverse student body.

I agree. And also, FWIW, for practical purposes the cohort of students passing AP exams at McKinley is more like 35% of the student body, not 20%.

The PPs are using 22% because the most recent DCPS data show 44% of all students enrolled at McKinley taking an AP, and 50% of the students who take at least one AP passing at least one AP. But (as at most high schools) very few freshmen take any APs. Thus 22% is accurate but misleading. Take the freshman class out of the denominator and the numbers become more indicative of the size of the higher-performing cohort within the student body.

I'm a BASIS parent and I think it's wonderful that McKinley is another good STEM option and that it seems to be on more and more peoples radars.

Aren't more options a good thing? It's not like one school will have room for all the college bound kids in the city. We need lots of good options. We should be rooting for McKinley.