Basis fills a gap that shouldn’t exist.
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Anonymous
You know that 10% of the kids are not leaving every year because they failed the comps. The kids can retake it and they do and stay. It’s people like you who refuse to acknowledge lots of kids leave for other reasons and why Basis is the school people say have lots of boosters. |
Anonymous
Sure. But how much of that is driven by the school vs the students? And what matters more (school pedagogy vs student body) in perceived success of a school? I think rational people will land at different points along that spectrum. BASIS has the lowest at-risk percentage for any middle or high school in the city. BASIS: 6% SWW: 10% Deal: 11% Latin MS: 12% Hardy: 13% Latin HS: 14% DCI: 18% Latin Cooper MS: 19% Banneker: 23% Jackson-Reed: 26% Stuart-Hobson: 27% Duke Ellington: 30% McKinley HS: 32% Also O-A: 7%, ITDS: 21%,CHML: 24%, John-Francis: 27%, but these are not really comparable as the values also include PK-5 students. |
Anonymous
Not only does Basis have the lowest at risk percentages, look at the SPED and ELL, basically negligible. Also it really is not a fair comparison because one could argue it is a “test in” school from 6th on. Take out the at risk, SPED, ELL, and be a test in school, then you will see comparable stats at Latin, DCI, Deal. I mean just look at DCI, 3 times more at risk vs Basis. that is 300% more people. It is not rocket science. And that is why when Basis boosters say their school has the highest scores, it it not a fair comparison. I would also add that Basis is known to cook their math scores because the kids don’t take the math test of the actual math subjects they are taking. |
Anonymous
You just cannot talk about BASIS's attrition numbers without talking about their lack of social promotion. That's what that means -- kids cannot continue if they are failing, so they leave. Of course that policy has a relationship to attrition numbers. It's the only public school in DC that does that. I know a handful of successful kids who left for privates or moved, and yes there is a wave of successful kids who leave at 8th. But you cannot leave out this policy when "raising eyebrows" about their attrition. |
Anonymous
Kids only need a score of 60% on the comps to pass the grade. The comps are not particularly hard, and the bar to pass is pretty low. Rather than being upset with Basis for making the kids feel awful, parents should be upset with the DCPS K-4 education that gave the kids such poor foundational skills. Or parents should be upset with themselves for grossly overestimating their kid's ability. |
Anonymous
I mean, the scores are the scores. They tell you how the students at the school are performing. If you send your child to BASIS, almost all of their classmates will be on or above grade-level. That's valuable in itself. But due to the differences in student demographics I don't think it tells you all that much about the comparative quality of the teaching/educational approach at BASIS. |
Anonymous
In 6th, 7th, and 8th grade at BASIS, students take an end-of-year Comp in each of their non-elective classes. As another poster explained, "failing the Comps" means getting less than 60% on at least one Comp. The Comps are not "gotcha" tests -- they test the most fundamental information taught in each class, the material that teachers have gone over time and again. If a student paid a reasonable amount of attention in class and did the homework, it would be difficult to fail the Comp for that class. It is not a high bar. And then, if anyone fails a Comp, they can study for it again, retake it, and pass. The point of the Comps is not to "weed out" students -- it's to make sure that they understand the most basic material that they were supposed to learn in each class before moving on to more complex material. Last year, from time to time I heard my child complain that two students were disruptive in class. At the end of the year, those two students happened to be the only two students my child knew of who had failed the Comps. I think it was because they weren't paying attention and weren't trying (and not because they somehow weren't capable of learning the material). |
Anonymous
Eh. This seems like an entirely theoretical construct that we don't use in any other context. No one says "well it's hard to say whether Harvard and Stanford are good schools because all their students were born on third base so we don't really know what value those universities added." Also, aside from the usual demographic stuff, student achievement is correlated with kids being in classes filled with other kids who are trying really hard to do well. BASIS offers that in spades. |
Anonymous
I have a kid that fits the math profile above. We looked at Basis and declined. Did not even list Basis in the lottery. We also knew a family that did list Basis and got in. They decided to turn down the offer after some thought because did not think it would be a good fit. We knew our kid could handle Basis but that doesn’t mean kid will be happy. There is much more to school than being a high performer. It is not a race but a marathon and you need to look at the long haul. You need to know your kid. Luckily, kid needed up somewhere where he could be challenged and having a more happier, well rounded experience. If middle school did not work out, we would have moved to the burbs. |
Anonymous
typo ended |
Anonymous
How do you know BASIS is "filled with kids trying really hard"? How do you know students in other schools are not "trying really hard"? Most public discourse I hear about Harvard is about legacy admits and networking, not teaching quality. Frankly I wouldn't want my child to go to Harvard, either. But I understand why some people do. It's fine to value student demographics highly in decisionmaking. I don't understand why BASIS families are so hesitant to acknowledge that that's primarily what they're doing. |
Anonymous
If that option is available to you, go for it. We had the option between BASIS and our neighborhood middle school and I was seriously debating both. But then a teacher from the DCPS middle school (not Deal or Hardy) told me for a child with that profile, if he has a BASIS offer, he has to take it. |
Anonymous
How do you know BASIS is "filled with kids trying really hard"? How do you know students in other schools are not "trying really hard"? I'm a Basis parent who is well aware of the many drawbacks and limitations of the school, but I think it's pretty clear that Basis, on average, requires more work than most DC schools. The school day is longer, and there is more homework than at most other schools. That doesn't mean that kids at other school aren't trying hard, but the average Basis student is putting in more hours focused on academics. |
Anonymous
But how do you know that your kid wouldn't have been challenged, happy, and well rounded at Basis, given that your kid didn't attend? One of the reasons the Basis threads are so toxic is that so many people like you have strong opinions about Basis without any firsthand experience. |
Anonymous
So what? Basis is 100% lottery. Anyone is free to apply. |