BASIS student, have they left the school?

[Anonymous]

But again, 21:33, they don't have a track record in DC.

I'm not sure why you have such a hard time acknowledging this very simple fact.

DC BASIS is still an experiment here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:But again, 21:33, they don't have a track record in DC.

I'm not sure why you have such a hard time acknowledging this very simple fact.

DC BASIS is still an experiment here.

So in essence, you are saying that the children of DC, of whom a great many are low SS AA, will not be able to make it at Basis and therefore Basis will fail. Honestly, this is an outrageous assumption.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:But again, 21:33, they don't have a track record in DC.

I'm not sure why you have such a hard time acknowledging this very simple fact.

DC BASIS is still an experiment here.

It's your right to be skeptical, but one wonders what your baseline and suppositions for skepticism are.

If you are so skeptical of BASIS given even the demonstrated track record that they DO have elsewhere, then you should be FAR MORE skeptical of every other school in DC, which haven't even remotely managed to accomplish some of the national-level successes that BASIS has achieved.

[Anonymous]

That's fascinating and certainly a great thing they did. Interestingly, the 2 kids I know directly who are really struggling have been going to the tutoring/homework hour most every day after school all year. They both come from (2 separate) DCPS's, have extremely supportive home lives with parents there to help with homework (both moms work part-time to facilitate this), and are bright and hard working. Not brilliant or gifted, but not bad students at all. They both have report cards full of F's. In the case of 1 of them, there was certainly no call down to student support services and the mother has combed through the CJ for any indication that there was this kind of academic crisis going on. No indication of missed homework or failed quizzes/tests. No notes, no phone calls, no e-mails. Definitely was a tough start-up for that particular child as the expectations were ramped up, but this is a hard working kid and has been doing what they thought was an adequate if not above-adequate job (not failing or even close). I am hearing other similar stories that people have shared with the mother as she has expressed her upset, though I don't know the people directly so I have no way of confirming those situations.

I want to believe in BASIS and would like an academic program like it to be available. I have no problem with the idea that some kids won't be able to hang in there. However, once a child is in the school, every effort needs to be made for EVERY kid to make sure that they make it through the year successfully. To leave a kid looking for a school in December, interestingly after the funding count has been done, is really hard on a family. When a kid is sitting there every day after school doing homework and available to be helped (also did the STARS program), why would that kid be failing? I'm glad they went the extra mile for your kid, I really am, just wondering why they didn't for my friend's kid.

I know this wonderful kid and mom and am not at all impressed with how BASIS has handled this one. Back to DCPS for them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Question for all the PP who know struggling students at BASIS...do you know whether these kids are studying, keeping up with homework (finishing all 30 math homework problems, for example), meeting regularly with teachers during their office hours, etc?

I ask because my DS was struggling in a couple of his classes during the first grading period. As soon as he got a low grade for the mid-term grading period he was called down to student support services and talked through his problems with them. In addition to giving him advice on how to get on top of things, student support wrote in his CJ the specific times he was expected to go meet with his teachers for extra help. The teachers had to sign the CJ as proof that he went in and then he had follow up with student support. To me, this sort of fast, specific kind of support was far and away better than he ever had at his old school. At his old school he never really knew exactly what the expectations were or how he was doing. I'm happy to report that DS is absolutely on the right track now and he is doing really well. He is learning how to study and how to take notes. He now goes and meets with his teachers after school or during AERO on his own when he feels he needs extra help.

One thing that I was nervous about going in to this year was that BASIS would be too cold or too heartless of a school. That has not been our experience at all. We have found that the teachers and administration are interesting, kind and caring, and they go above and beyond to help students (or my kid, at least). You can call me an unabashed BASIS booster because we are very happy.

That's fascinating and certainly a great thing they did. Interestingly, the 2 kids I know directly who are really struggling have been going to the tutoring/homework hour most every day after school all year. They both come from (2 separate) DCPS's, have extremely supportive home lives with parents there to help with homework (both moms work part-time to facilitate this), and are bright and hard working. Not brilliant or gifted, but not bad students at all. They both have report cards full of F's. In the case of 1 of them, there was certainly no call down to student support services and the mother has combed through the CJ for any indication that there was this kind of academic crisis going on. No indication of missed homework or failed quizzes/tests. No notes, no phone calls, no e-mails. Definitely was a tough start-up for that particular child as the expectations were ramped up, but this is a hard working kid and has been doing what they thought was an adequate if not above-adequate job (not failing or even close). I am hearing other similar stories that people have shared with the mother as she has expressed her upset, though I don't know the people directly so I have no way of confirming those situations.

I want to believe in BASIS and would like an academic program like it to be available. I have no problem with the idea that some kids won't be able to hang in there. However, once a child is in the school, every effort needs to be made for EVERY kid to make sure that they make it through the year successfully. To leave a kid looking for a school in December, interestingly after the funding count has been done, is really hard on a family. When a kid is sitting there every day after school doing homework and available to be helped (also did the STARS program), why would that kid be failing? I'm glad they went the extra mile for your kid, I really am, just wondering why they didn't for my friend's kid.

BASIS parent here again.

With all due respect, I find it surprising that your friend looked through the CJ and she didn't find any evidence of her child's struggle with school. Again, I only speak from our own personal experience, but I want to write down specifics about what we have experienced at BASIS because I think all too often on these boards there are just wild speculations about the school.

Kids at BASIS -- no, scratch that -- I'll say 5th graders at BASIS (because I know the routine for my 5th grader's class and I won't speak for the rest of the grades) take tests and quizzes all the time. Every single Wednesday there is a math quiz. Every Friday there is an Intro to Science quiz. The other classes have projects, quizzes and tests throughout the grading period, but I believe they are taken on a less regular basis. Every time a quiz or test or project is graded, the teacher will either write or put a sticker in the student's Communications Journal (CJ) indicating how the student did on the test. A parent is supposed to put their signature in the CJ right next to the test grade. There have been no surprises on my DS report card because he and I have both seen the grades for the tests throughout.

A note about the CJ for non-BASIS folks -- it is a spiral bound calendar notebook that kids need to take to every class. Kids must write down homework or indicate that there is no homework for every class in the CJ every single day. If a parent has a note or a comment for the teacher, they can write it in the CJ. My kid had a lunchtime detention from a teacher one day he forgot his CJ at home and he has not left it behind again.

At BASIS there are not designated parent-teacher conference days. Rather, every teacher has an hour or two set aside every week to meet with parents. Generally, the office hours are before school. Parents can just call or email the school to set up an appointment.

The PP mentioned that her friend's child stayed after school to do homework, it sounds like maybe the child was staying for the "Late Bird" program and not actually getting one-on-one help from teachers. I hope that someone will elaborate on Late Bird, because my child does not participate in this so I don't know much about it. What I do know is that the Late Bird program is sort of a paid after-care program until 6 pm. The kids are supervised after school and it is my understanding that they are supposed to do homework. The Late Bird program is different and separate from the after school teacher hours I wrote about before. If a teacher has after school help hours, any student can simply go to the teacher's classroom for help -- they are not part of Late Bird and you certainly don't have to pay for that time.

Of course, I don't know why the PP's friend's child is struggling so much and it is distressing to hear that this person feels like the school is not making an effort to educate their child. In our personal experience, data point of one, that has not been the case for us. I've written so much about this because there has been so much hearsay on these boards about what BASIS does and doesn't do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

That's fascinating and certainly a great thing they did. Interestingly, the 2 kids I know directly who are really struggling have been going to the tutoring/homework hour most every day after school all year. They both come from (2 separate) DCPS's, have extremely supportive home lives with parents there to help with homework (both moms work part-time to facilitate this), and are bright and hard working. Not brilliant or gifted, but not bad students at all. They both have report cards full of F's. In the case of 1 of them, there was certainly no call down to student support services and the mother has combed through the CJ for any indication that there was this kind of academic crisis going on. No indication of missed homework or failed quizzes/tests. No notes, no phone calls, no e-mails. Definitely was a tough start-up for that particular child as the expectations were ramped up, but this is a hard working kid and has been doing what they thought was an adequate if not above-adequate job (not failing or even close). I am hearing other similar stories that people have shared with the mother as she has expressed her upset, though I don't know the people directly so I have no way of confirming those situations.

I want to believe in BASIS and would like an academic program like it to be available. I have no problem with the idea that some kids won't be able to hang in there. However, once a child is in the school, every effort needs to be made for EVERY kid to make sure that they make it through the year successfully. To leave a kid looking for a school in December, interestingly after the funding count has been done, is really hard on a family. When a kid is sitting there every day after school doing homework and available to be helped (also did the STARS program), why would that kid be failing? I'm glad they went the extra mile for your kid, I really am, just wondering why they didn't for my friend's kid.

I know this wonderful kid and mom and am not at all impressed with how BASIS has handled this one. Back to DCPS for them.


This is at least a second hand report and there not reliable. Our experience has been that quiz and test scores have been recorded in the CJ as well as mid-grading period grades. Plus, there are 5 grading periods which each have mid-grade grades. Therefore, parents get feedback on overall grades 10 times a year as well as individual quiz and test scores so there is really no excuse that a parent does not know how their student is doing at Basis. In regards to missed homework assignments, again, a parent can easily prevent this by reviewing and checking homework each night. All homework assignments are clearly noted in the CJ.

As to efforts to help every student, I think Basis has gone above board by providing Stars program for 6 months prior to school start, tutoring throughout the year, student support program, teacher hours, etc.

[Anonymous]

^ +1

The quiz grades and other info is in the CJ - which should be regularly reviewed by parents with signoffs. We had several instances where DC was out of school, and had no problem being able to track down teachers and get caught up on missed assignments, and our experience has been that teachers are very accessible to students and parents alike, and are going above and beyond to help. The only thing we're missing and would like is for the homework buddy packet for missed days to also include the handouts - and I think they are trying to work on that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Question for all the PP who know struggling students at BASIS...do you know whether these kids are studying, keeping up with homework (finishing all 30 math homework problems, for example), meeting regularly with teachers during their office hours, etc?

I ask because my DS was struggling in a couple of his classes during the first grading period. As soon as he got a low grade for the mid-term grading period he was called down to student support services and talked through his problems with them. In addition to giving him advice on how to get on top of things, student support wrote in his CJ the specific times he was expected to go meet with his teachers for extra help. The teachers had to sign the CJ as proof that he went in and then he had follow up with student support. To me, this sort of fast, specific kind of support was far and away better than he ever had at his old school. At his old school he never really knew exactly what the expectations were or how he was doing. I'm happy to report that DS is absolutely on the right track now and he is doing really well. He is learning how to study and how to take notes. He now goes and meets with his teachers after school or during AERO on his own when he feels he needs extra help.

One thing that I was nervous about going in to this year was that BASIS would be too cold or too heartless of a school. That has not been our experience at all. We have found that the teachers and administration are interesting, kind and caring, and they go above and beyond to help students (or my kid, at least). You can call me an unabashed BASIS booster because we are very happy.

That's fascinating and certainly a great thing they did. Interestingly, the 2 kids I know directly who are really struggling have been going to the tutoring/homework hour most every day after school all year. They both come from (2 separate) DCPS's, have extremely supportive home lives with parents there to help with homework (both moms work part-time to facilitate this), and are bright and hard working. Not brilliant or gifted, but not bad students at all. They both have report cards full of F's. In the case of 1 of them, there was certainly no call down to student support services and the mother has combed through the CJ for any indication that there was this kind of academic crisis going on. No indication of missed homework or failed quizzes/tests. No notes, no phone calls, no e-mails. Definitely was a tough start-up for that particular child as the expectations were ramped up, but this is a hard working kid and has been doing what they thought was an adequate if not above-adequate job (not failing or even close). I am hearing other similar stories that people have shared with the mother as she has expressed her upset, though I don't know the people directly so I have no way of confirming those situations.

I want to believe in BASIS and would like an academic program like it to be available. I have no problem with the idea that some kids won't be able to hang in there. However, once a child is in the school, every effort needs to be made for EVERY kid to make sure that they make it through the year successfully. To leave a kid looking for a school in December, interestingly after the funding count has been done, is really hard on a family. When a kid is sitting there every day after school doing homework and available to be helped (also did the STARS program), why would that kid be failing? I'm glad they went the extra mile for your kid, I really am, just wondering why they didn't for my friend's kid.

BASIS parent here again.

With all due respect, I find it surprising that your friend looked through the CJ and she didn't find any evidence of her child's struggle with school. Again, I only speak from our own personal experience, but I want to write down specifics about what we have experienced at BASIS because I think all too often on these boards there are just wild speculations about the school.

Kids at BASIS -- no, scratch that -- I'll say 5th graders at BASIS (because I know the routine for my 5th grader's class and I won't speak for the rest of the grades) take tests and quizzes all the time. Every single Wednesday there is a math quiz. Every Friday there is an Intro to Science quiz. The other classes have projects, quizzes and tests throughout the grading period, but I believe they are taken on a less regular basis. Every time a quiz or test or project is graded, the teacher will either write or put a sticker in the student's Communications Journal (CJ) indicating how the student did on the test. A parent is supposed to put their signature in the CJ right next to the test grade. There have been no surprises on my DS report card because he and I have both seen the grades for the tests throughout.

A note about the CJ for non-BASIS folks -- it is a spiral bound calendar notebook that kids need to take to every class. Kids must write down homework or indicate that there is no homework for every class in the CJ every single day. If a parent has a note or a comment for the teacher, they can write it in the CJ. My kid had a lunchtime detention from a teacher one day he forgot his CJ at home and he has not left it behind again.

At BASIS there are not designated parent-teacher conference days. Rather, every teacher has an hour or two set aside every week to meet with parents. Generally, the office hours are before school. Parents can just call or email the school to set up an appointment.

The PP mentioned that her friend's child stayed after school to do homework, it sounds like maybe the child was staying for the "Late Bird" program and not actually getting one-on-one help from teachers. I hope that someone will elaborate on Late Bird, because my child does not participate in this so I don't know much about it. What I do know is that the Late Bird program is sort of a paid after-care program until 6 pm. The kids are supervised after school and it is my understanding that they are supposed to do homework. The Late Bird program is different and separate from the after school teacher hours I wrote about before. If a teacher has after school help hours, any student can simply go to the teacher's classroom for help -- they are not part of Late Bird and you certainly don't have to pay for that time.

Of course, I don't know why the PP's friend's child is struggling so much and it is distressing to hear that this person feels like the school is not making an effort to educate their child. In our personal experience, data point of one, that has not been the case for us. I've written so much about this because there has been so much hearsay on these boards about what BASIS does and doesn't do.

I don't want to give details away to avoid causing more pain, but this parent is no slacker or flake, and neither is the kid. Let's just say that this lovely person isn't exactly brimming with spare cash or time. Couldn't the school at least email or call the parent before handing out Fs to a hard-working and well-behaved 12 year old? I was worried about this sort of thing at BASIS. Surely not the last case. Seems they're de facto turfing out kids even before comps.

[Anonymous]

We get the homework and the quiz grades in the CJ on a daily basis like clockwork and have to sign the quiz grades. If the quiz grades are not in the CJ (at least once, twice and usually more times a week), it may be that the child is not writing them down in the CJ, thus avoiding having to show the parent. I could see one of my kids doing the same sort of thing. Its just his nature. There may be more to this story.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We get the homework and the quiz grades in the CJ on a daily basis like clockwork and have to sign the quiz grades. If the quiz grades are not in the CJ (at least once, twice and usually more times a week), it may be that the child is not writing them down in the CJ, thus avoiding having to show the parent. I could see one of my kids doing the same sort of thing. Its just his nature. There may be more to this story.

I also look through my DCs file folders every night which also helps in the case of a student not recording grades since returned quizzes and tests should be in the file folders. Again, I find it hard to believe that a parent could not know that their child is not doing well. I would also make time to review homework, file folders/ binders/ and CJ daily as a parent which only takes about 15 minutes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
But again, 21:33, they don't have a track record in DC.

I'm not sure why you have such a hard time acknowledging this very simple fact.

DC BASIS is still an experiment here.


So in essence, you are saying that the children of DC, of whom a great many are low SS AA, will not be able to make it at Basis and therefore Basis will fail. Honestly, this is an outrageous assumption.

Um, no, I didn't say that. Not in essence and not in fact. In fact, I didn't mention the children of DC at all in that three line post. I didn't talk about SES or AA students either. I didn't even talk about BASIS students. I made no assumptions, outrageous or otherwise.

I stated a FACT.

BASIS doesn't have a track record in DC. That's all I said.

Their reputation in Arizona is well earned, but this is the first year BASIS has been open and it doesn't have a track record in DC. In a few years, there will be some data that shows whether the BASIS model works in DC the way it works in AZ.

I can't figure out why such a simple fact makes some boosters go crazy with the accusations about what was never said.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
But again, 21:33, they don't have a track record in DC.

I'm not sure why you have such a hard time acknowledging this very simple fact.

DC BASIS is still an experiment here.


So in essence, you are saying that the children of DC, of whom a great many are low SS AA, will not be able to make it at Basis and therefore Basis will fail. Honestly, this is an outrageous assumption.

Um, no, I didn't say that. Not in essence and not in fact. In fact, I didn't mention the children of DC at all in that three line post. I didn't talk about SES or AA students either. I didn't even talk about BASIS students. I made no assumptions, outrageous or otherwise.

I stated a FACT.

BASIS doesn't have a track record in DC. That's all I said.

Their reputation in Arizona is well earned, but this is the first year BASIS has been open and it doesn't have a track record in DC. In a few years, there will be some data that shows whether the BASIS model works in DC the way it works in AZ.

I can't figure out why such a simple fact makes some boosters go crazy with the accusations about what was never said.

I'm not the previous poster but have been in similar threads on this before - The question has been asked repeatedly of why, given their established track record in Arizona, there is this deep skepticism repeatedly expressed by posters that they can't replicate the same kind of success here. What is it that makes DC so special? Maybe you personally didn't suggest it, but other anti-Basis cynics have repeatedly suggested that DC is very different, primarily because of its large number of low-SES AA students (which basically suggests low-SES AA students are fundamentally incapable of more solid academics - something I don't necessarily agree with). But certainly this is your opportunity to explain what is driving your own cynicism and reservations, rather than just saying "no, no, no" to everything - which doesn't really say anything useful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
But again, 21:33, they don't have a track record in DC.

I'm not sure why you have such a hard time acknowledging this very simple fact.

DC BASIS is still an experiment here.


So in essence, you are saying that the children of DC, of whom a great many are low SS AA, will not be able to make it at Basis and therefore Basis will fail. Honestly, this is an outrageous assumption.


Um, no, I didn't say that. Not in essence and not in fact. In fact, I didn't mention the children of DC at all in that three line post. I didn't talk about SES or AA students either. I didn't even talk about BASIS students. I made no assumptions, outrageous or otherwise.

I stated a FACT.

BASIS doesn't have a track record in DC. That's all I said.

Their reputation in Arizona is well earned, but this is the first year BASIS has been open and it doesn't have a track record in DC. In a few years, there will be some data that shows whether the BASIS model works in DC the way it works in AZ.

I can't figure out why such a simple fact makes some boosters go crazy with the accusations about what was never said.



I'm not the previous poster but have been in similar threads on this before - The question has been asked repeatedly of why, given their established track record in Arizona, there is this deep skepticism repeatedly expressed by posters that they can't replicate the same kind of success here. What is it that makes DC so special? Maybe you personally didn't suggest it, but other anti-Basis cynics have repeatedly suggested that DC is very different, primarily because of its large number of low-SES AA students (which basically suggests low-SES AA students are fundamentally incapable of more solid academics - something I don't necessarily agree with). But certainly this is your opportunity to explain what is driving your own cynicism and reservations, rather than just saying "no, no, no" to everything - which doesn't really say anything useful.

OK, I'll try to answer this. But first, I'm not a poster saying "no, no, no, to everything." Really, besides asserting, correctly, that BASIS has no track record here, I have not gone into any detail about my reservations. (I think it is fair that you call them skepticisms, but I think it's unfair to call them cynicisms.)

So, to your question, in response, I have a question. Why do you think that their track record in Arizona means anything here? Why are you assuming that anyone with doubts, or are skeptics, to use your words, is out of line? Why are we, who recognize that this school is brand new, the odd ones? Why would you (maybe not you personally, but the BASIS boosters, for sure) simply assume success with no proof whatsoever?

You're illogical when you ask what is unusual about DC that makes replication of Arizona success questionable. The better question is why would you assume success in one place would automatically translate to success somewhere else?

Frankly, the people who assume that BASIS is an awesome school because it is successful somewhere else worry me. Our kids need us to be vigilant. Our kids need us to be advocates. Our kids need us to be educated. Our kids need us to refuse to rest until we have found the best educational opportunities for them. Maybe BASIS is that. But we don't know. And if we buy into the booster press that BASIS is already one of the best schools in DC, then we are lazy parents. We need to wait and expect BASIS to prove itself. It hasn't proved itself. We may hope it does, but it hasn't yet.

Honestly, I don't know if you are the same poster who keeps trying to link anyone with reservations about BASIS with implying that low SES AA students can't succeed, but if you are, you need to drop that sack right now. I can't find any post (and I challenge you to find one) that explicitly states that low SES AA students can't succeed at a school with BASIS's profile in any thread here.

I get it. I get wanting to link people with doubts about BASIS to some backwards, racist notion about achievement. It sure would make the boostering easier. But that isn't the situation with my posts (that I have easily owned up to). I have simply stated that BASIS has no track record for a pretty simple reason: I want to do best by my child. I want BASIS to be accountable and to show me that they are as great as I want them to be. I want all parents to reserve judgment so we keep BASIS on notice that they need to prove themselves to us, DC parents. The PR machine isn't enough to convince me. I can be patient. I can wait for a track record. But I require a track record. My DD deserves one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
But again, 21:33, they don't have a track record in DC.

I'm not sure why you have such a hard time acknowledging this very simple fact.

DC BASIS is still an experiment here.


So in essence, you are saying that the children of DC, of whom a great many are low SS AA, will not be able to make it at Basis and therefore Basis will fail. Honestly, this is an outrageous assumption.


Um, no, I didn't say that. Not in essence and not in fact. In fact, I didn't mention the children of DC at all in that three line post. I didn't talk about SES or AA students either. I didn't even talk about BASIS students. I made no assumptions, outrageous or otherwise.

I stated a FACT.

BASIS doesn't have a track record in DC. That's all I said.

Their reputation in Arizona is well earned, but this is the first year BASIS has been open and it doesn't have a track record in DC. In a few years, there will be some data that shows whether the BASIS model works in DC the way it works in AZ.

I can't figure out why such a simple fact makes some boosters go crazy with the accusations about what was never said.



I'm not the previous poster but have been in similar threads on this before - The question has been asked repeatedly of why, given their established track record in Arizona, there is this deep skepticism repeatedly expressed by posters that they can't replicate the same kind of success here. What is it that makes DC so special? Maybe you personally didn't suggest it, but other anti-Basis cynics have repeatedly suggested that DC is very different, primarily because of its large number of low-SES AA students (which basically suggests low-SES AA students are fundamentally incapable of more solid academics - something I don't necessarily agree with). But certainly this is your opportunity to explain what is driving your own cynicism and reservations, rather than just saying "no, no, no" to everything - which doesn't really say anything useful.

OK, I'll try to answer this. But first, I'm not a poster saying "no, no, no, to everything." Really, besides asserting, correctly, that BASIS has no track record here, I have not gone into any detail about my reservations. (I think it is fair that you call them skepticisms, but I think it's unfair to call them cynicisms.)

So, to your question, in response, I have a question. Why do you think that their track record in Arizona means anything here? Why are you assuming that anyone with doubts, or are skeptics, to use your words, is out of line? Why are we, who recognize that this school is brand new, the odd ones? Why would you (maybe not you personally, but the BASIS boosters, for sure) simply assume success with no proof whatsoever?

You're illogical when you ask what is unusual about DC that makes replication of Arizona success questionable. The better question is why would you assume success in one place would automatically translate to success somewhere else?

Frankly, the people who assume that BASIS is an awesome school because it is successful somewhere else worry me. Our kids need us to be vigilant. Our kids need us to be advocates. Our kids need us to be educated. Our kids need us to refuse to rest until we have found the best educational opportunities for them. Maybe BASIS is that. But we don't know. And if we buy into the booster press that BASIS is already one of the best schools in DC, then we are lazy parents. We need to wait and expect BASIS to prove itself. It hasn't proved itself. We may hope it does, but it hasn't yet.

Honestly, I don't know if you are the same poster who keeps trying to link anyone with reservations about BASIS with implying that low SES AA students can't succeed, but if you are, you need to drop that sack right now. I can't find any post (and I challenge you to find one) that explicitly states that low SES AA students can't succeed at a school with BASIS's profile in any thread here.

I get it. I get wanting to link people with doubts about BASIS to some backwards, racist notion about achievement. It sure would make the boostering easier. But that isn't the situation with my posts (that I have easily owned up to). I have simply stated that BASIS has no track record for a pretty simple reason: I want to do best by my child. I want BASIS to be accountable and to show me that they are as great as I want them to be. I want all parents to reserve judgment so we keep BASIS on notice that they need to prove themselves to us, DC parents. The PR machine isn't enough to convince me. I can be patient. I can wait for a track record. But I require a track record. My DD deserves one.

First of all, sadly the posts about "Basis won't make it in DC because there are too many low-SES AA students here" are indeed there, browse for example the "Hows Basis doing so far" thread, pages 5,6 30-34... Just a few seconds of searching for it turned up quite a few discussions along those lines. http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/259188.page

Second, which DCPS or PCS middle school is currently on your radar while you bide your time and wait for a Basis track record? What is your fall-back school with a track record?

Third, why is it you think success elsewhere means absolutely nothing? They aren't a franchise, they aren't a copy or one-off, they aren't just working off of a piece of paper with a plan on it. Basis DC is run and managed by the exact same people, and they brought several AZ staff to DC to run it. It's not as though they are starting from scratch, they already have seasoned people with experience in making it a success, as they did in AZ. Every time a new Whole Foods opens up, do you sit back skeptically scratching your chin, saying "gee, I'm not convinced they are actually going to sell organic produce?" Doesn't make much sense, but that's what you're doing here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:But again, 21:33, they don't have a track record in DC.

I'm not sure why you have such a hard time acknowledging this very simple fact.

DC BASIS is still an experiment here.

So in essence, you are saying that the children of DC, of whom a great many are low SS AA, will not be able to make it at Basis and therefore Basis will fail. Honestly, this is an outrageous assumption.

No.

I'm not the PP, but "in essence" I understood her to be saying that this is DC. Results in Tucson are promising, but not promises.

Do you ski? Are you familiar with the fact that weather forecasts in one locality - despite being at the same longitude and latitude as another - cannot be reliably transferred? Did you know that 3 feet of snow in Vermont is nothing like 3 feet of powder on the Western Slope?

If WATER can't be easily compared from one side of the Rockies/Mississippi, (and water consists of two things: Hydrogen and Oxygen molecules) don't you get your arrogance in assuming you can transfer the expected performances and reactions of actual human beings?

It's like you don't understand they are individuals with a history and context. They aren't lego blox.