BASIS DC to open in 2012-2013

[Anonymous]

PP: Having an alternative focus (like Ellington) does not exempt a school from meeting the needs of all children. Any child who elects and gets in to a school, deserves for their teachers, administrators, and specialists to provide the appropriate interventions to make that school work for them. Sure, different students learn better in different ways (some through art, some through Expeditionary Learning, etc.); however that does not exempt the school from trying their best to serve the children in their building.

Additionally- Ellington is a high school where students audition to be accepted based on the merit of their artistic ability. This is allowed in DC High Schools- BASIS is not this way and therefor should not accept students that they do not have the intention of serving fully.

If we make the excuse that "specialized" schools only need to meet the needs of the students that fit into that niche upon entrance, we are opening a can of excuses that we will never see the end of.

I am a teacher at a "specialized" charter and work every day to make sure all of my students are receiving a rich, rigorous, and meaningful education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP: Having an alternative focus (like Ellington) does not exempt a school from meeting the needs of all children. Any child who elects and gets in to a school, deserves for their teachers, administrators, and specialists to provide the appropriate interventions to make that school work for them. Sure, different students learn better in different ways (some through art, some through Expeditionary Learning, etc.); however that does not exempt the school from trying their best to serve the children in their building.

Additionally- Ellington is a high school where students audition to be accepted based on the merit of their artistic ability. This is allowed in DC High Schools- BASIS is not this way and therefor should not accept students that they do not have the intention of serving fully.

If we make the excuse that "specialized" schools only need to meet the needs of the students that fit into that niche upon entrance, we are opening a can of excuses that we will never see the end of.

I am a teacher at a "specialized" charter and work every day to make sure all of my students are receiving a rich, rigorous, and meaningful education.

PP: I am not a basis booster, but I have seen no evidence that Basis does not do exactly what you describe in your first paragraph.I.e. do everything in its power to support, provide interventions , and fully educate each student enrolled in the school. In fact, what I have seen is evidence that Basis does all of the above to a high degree.

You seem intelligent enough to understand that the attrition at the school is from children who are offered all the support but do not want to do what it takes to keep up with the rigorous curriculum that was never a secret. To me, it is like kids leaving Ellingtom because it turns out that they really aren't that into.the arts program and don't want to put in the hours of rehearsals and practice.

Public money goes to the schools even though all children may not be a perfect fit for that school.

What is your evidence that Basis teachers and administration are not doing EXACTLY what you are doing at your "specialized" charter but it is a bigger stretch than some students WANT to make. Seems to me that the lack of social promotion at basis is an insurance policy to MAKE SURE that the school is meeting the needs of every child in the building. Teacher and student will keep at it until they get it right.

[Anonymous]

PP: I have worked in a number of charter schools, both start-up charters, established charters, highly-regarded schools and not so highly-regarded schools. I have never seen or heard of (and I keep fairly abreast with DC Education News) that level of mid-year attrition. It does make me wonder why so many students are leaving?

I would argue that any student/family that signed up for BASIS was well aware of what they were getting themselves into. It is clear to anyone who does even the slightest bit of research that they do not socially promote students, are seeking to offer a "gifted" option for DC students, etc. If they weren't willing to do the work why would they enroll?

I can't say with certainty that they are not meeting the needs of all of their students because I am not there every day seeing the work of their teachers. However, I do know when they decided to open a charter school in DC that they committed to doing so. Hopefully they are actively seeking out information as to why students are leaving and working to mend those problems. I would love to see DC add another high quality school to the mix- I just don't think that high quality school should be reserved for only a select group of students.

[Anonymous]

From what I have seen, BASIS goes above and beyond, where it comes to meeting the needs of kids. They offered STARS tutoring, they are offering extra reading and math labs, they are bending over backwards to bring kids up to speed. I believe they also have specialists for special needs, a behavioral specialist, and a psychologist.

While they offer an accelerated "leap" track, I would not characterize them as "gifted".

As for attrition, I think there were some who didn't take BASIS seriously, didn't investigate, and who didn't expect the curriculum to be as challenging as it is. A lot of students coming from other DCPS schools just coasted through without ever having to work hard. From talking to some parents, they say their kids got easy 'A's at their prior DCPS schools without even trying - at BASIS they found they had to work a lot harder for those 'A's.

Many parents I know express shock and surprise at the basic knowledge deficit from DCPS schooling that they didn't realize their kids had prior to coming to BASIS, for example extremely weak math skills, and are amazed at how much more their kids are learning at BASIS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP: I have worked in a number of charter schools, both start-up charters, established charters, highly-regarded schools and not so highly-regarded schools. I have never seen or heard of (and I keep fairly abreast with DC Education News) that level of mid-year attrition. It does make me wonder why so many students are leaving?

I would argue that any student/family that signed up for BASIS was well aware of what they were getting themselves into. It is clear to anyone who does even the slightest bit of research that they do not socially promote students, are seeking to offer a "gifted" option for DC students, etc. If they weren't willing to do the work why would they enroll?

I can't say with certainty that they are not meeting the needs of all of their students because I am not there every day seeing the work of their teachers. However, I do know when they decided to open a charter school in DC that they committed to doing so. Hopefully they are actively seeking out information as to why students are leaving and working to mend those problems. I would love to see DC add another high quality school to the mix- I just don't think that high quality school should be reserved for only a select group of students.

On the contrary. Basis seems to be a high quality school that is OPEN to everyone who cares to sign up and do the work. This.is completely opposed to other high quality schools in the city where the barriers are enormous a) must own expensive real estate b) must pay tuition c) must test in or d) must be extremely lucky in a lottery. At the moment Basis is a wide open, free, high quality education available to all kids in this city. I believe there are still slots available for 5th grade next year. In my mind, as a parent of kids in schools other than basis, basis is a huge asset to our city. Especially to lower income families for whom private school or moving would be a stretch and they live in a neighborhood with a disastrous public school. It is a godsend to many motivated families and students.

[Anonymous]

No one mentions that signing up for Basis is done by the parent, the child may not be up for all the work. So it's not like anyone missed the memo about the demands of Basis curriculum, more like the parents hoped the kid would step up but kid doesn't step up. It's lucky for such families that there is a public school available to them to switch into.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:From what I have seen, BASIS goes above and beyond, where it comes to meeting the needs of kids. They offered STARS tutoring, they are offering extra reading and math labs, they are bending over backwards to bring kids up to speed. I believe they also have specialists for special needs, a behavioral specialist, and a psychologist.

Let's remember the PCSB unanimously rejected BASIS for expansion and for reasons like not meeting the needs of all kids. How can an entire board miss the "fact" that BASIS goes above and beyond ...and bends over backwards? Unless of course the school is really not doing that, which they are not.

BASIS had a lot of support Day 1 and even before. I can't remember a school generating so much enthusiasm as BASIS did in DC. But they really weren't what they appeared to be....and we're all now realizing this. They're at most a mediocre school who's been clever enough to cherry pick students to maintain their stats. In some respects they're amongst the worst in DC or else the board would not have granted expansion requests to so many other schools. I give BASIS DC a (D-). I would not recommend this school to anyone.

[Anonymous]

Let's remember the PCSB unanimously rejected BASIS for expansion and for reasons like not meeting the needs of all kids. How can an entire board miss the "fact" that BASIS goes above and beyond ...and bends over backwards? Unless of course the school is really not doing that, which they are not.

BASIS had a lot of support Day 1 and even before. I can't remember a school generating so much enthusiasm as BASIS did in DC. But they really weren't what they appeared to be....and we're all now realizing this. They're at most a mediocre school who's been clever enough to cherry pick students to maintain their stats. In some respects they're amongst the worst in DC or else the board would not have granted expansion requests to so many other schools. I give BASIS DC a (D-). I would not recommend this school to anyone.

I totally agree. BASIS is a test prep school selling itself as a "broad liberal arts" curriculum. There is nothing wrong with a charter being a test prep school- Many in DC are doing quite well (KIPP, Achievement Prep, etc.). However, my issue is with BASIS selling itself as having a broad liberal arts curriculum when in fact they are spending a significant amount of time prepping students for DC-CAS- a very weak measure of mastery in a "broad liberal arts" curriculum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:From what I have seen, BASIS goes above and beyond, where it comes to meeting the needs of kids. They offered STARS tutoring, they are offering extra reading and math labs, they are bending over backwards to bring kids up to speed. I believe they also have specialists for special needs, a behavioral specialist, and a psychologist.

Let's remember the PCSB unanimously rejected BASIS for expansion and for reasons like not meeting the needs of all kids. How can an entire board miss the "fact" that BASIS goes above and beyond ...and bends over backwards? Unless of course the school is really not doing that, which they are not.

BASIS had a lot of support Day 1 and even before. I can't remember a school generating so much enthusiasm as BASIS did in DC. But they really weren't what they appeared to be....and we're all now realizing this. They're at most a mediocre school who's been clever enough to cherry pick students to maintain their stats. In some respects they're amongst the worst in DC or else the board would not have granted expansion requests to so many other schools. I give BASIS DC a (D-). I would not recommend this school to anyone.

Based on the logic and reasoning exhibited by the charter board, it seems that now EVERY charter should be restricted and constrained on this manufactured and concocted premise of "not meeting needs". And likewise, DCPS should not be allowed to expand either.

As far as the rest of your post goes "give them a D-" and "worst in DC" and "not what they appeared to be", that's nothing but pure vitriol with no sound grounding in reality. You clearly revving up a political agenda here which undermines any legitimacy or credibility.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Let's remember the PCSB unanimously rejected BASIS for expansion and for reasons like not meeting the needs of all kids. How can an entire board miss the "fact" that BASIS goes above and beyond ...and bends over backwards? Unless of course the school is really not doing that, which they are not.

BASIS had a lot of support Day 1 and even before. I can't remember a school generating so much enthusiasm as BASIS did in DC. But they really weren't what they appeared to be....and we're all now realizing this. They're at most a mediocre school who's been clever enough to cherry pick students to maintain their stats. In some respects they're amongst the worst in DC or else the board would not have granted expansion requests to so many other schools. I give BASIS DC a (D-). I would not recommend this school to anyone.

I totally agree. BASIS is a test prep school selling itself as a "broad liberal arts" curriculum. There is nothing wrong with a charter being a test prep school- Many in DC are doing quite well (KIPP, Achievement Prep, etc.). However, my issue is with BASIS selling itself as having a broad liberal arts curriculum when in fact they are spending a significant amount of time prepping students for DC-CAS- a very weak measure of mastery in a "broad liberal arts" curriculum.

First, the charter board routinely turns down expansion requests for new schools, and a lot about the decision is being grossly overstated and mischaracterized here. THey also turned down Creative Minds, they cited the newness of the schools as the reasons why.

Secondly, the PP is obviously not at all familiar with BASIS or what BASIS is doing relative to the CAS. They've only been working on the CAS for the last couple of weeks, and it's just been a few minutes each day that they've gone over CAS materials - probably far less time and energy than many other DC schools are spending on it.

[Anonymous]

PP- I am very familiar with what they are doing. I know many kids who have shadowed on multiple days and said that multiple periods were spent almost entirely on preparing for DC-CAS. Additionally, I know students in the school that have echoed the same thing- reading consists of reading passages and answering questions- very UN- liberal artsy...I am not saying that other schools don't do the same or that test prep is necessarily a bad thing- ideologically I don't believe it is best, but I can see the other side of the argument. However, touting yourself as a school that presents a broad liberal arts curriculum and then spending time doing test prep does not sit well with me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP- I am very familiar with what they are doing. I know many kids who have shadowed on multiple days and said that multiple periods were spent almost entirely on preparing for DC-CAS. Additionally, I know students in the school that have echoed the same thing- reading consists of reading passages and answering questions- very UN- liberal artsy...I am not saying that other schools don't do the same or that test prep is necessarily a bad thing- ideologically I don't believe it is best, but I can see the other side of the argument. However, touting yourself as a school that presents a broad liberal arts curriculum and then spending time doing test prep does not sit well with me.

That means you know squat. I am actual parent who has a kid there full time, not just shadowing, and DC refutes what you say.

[Anonymous]

My kid has shadowed recently at Basis and they were not doing any DC CAS prep that day. It wasn't even a topic of conversation. At her DCPS they spend practically the entire year prepping for it. So, PP at 20:13, I think you may be overstating your familiarity with basis and its kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP- I am very familiar with what they are doing. I know many kids who have shadowed on multiple days and said that multiple periods were spent almost entirely on preparing for DC-CAS. Additionally, I know students in the school that have echoed the same thing- reading consists of reading passages and answering questions- very UN- liberal artsy...I am not saying that other schools don't do the same or that test prep is necessarily a bad thing- ideologically I don't believe it is best, but I can see the other side of the argument. However, touting yourself as a school that presents a broad liberal arts curriculum and then spending time doing test prep does not sit well with me.

There is a lot of misinformation out about BASIS. However, saying they are a test prep school focused on the DCCAS is really incorrect. I have an actual child attending BASIS everyday and the DCCAS prep is a lot less as BASIS than what they had at their previous JKLM elementary school last year.

I am posting not to change the mind of the uninformed person who commented but to try to influence anyone that might believe the made up post and others like it. If you are interested in BASIS please get info first hand from students, parents and faculty at the school. If you shadow a school on fire drill day, that doesn't mean they have a fire drill everyday.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Let's remember the PCSB unanimously rejected BASIS for expansion and for reasons like not meeting the needs of all kids. How can an entire board miss the "fact" that BASIS goes above and beyond ...and bends over backwards? Unless of course the school is really not doing that, which they are not.

BASIS had a lot of support Day 1 and even before. I can't remember a school generating so much enthusiasm as BASIS did in DC. But they really weren't what they appeared to be....and we're all now realizing this. They're at most a mediocre school who's been clever enough to cherry pick students to maintain their stats. In some respects they're amongst the worst in DC or else the board would not have granted expansion requests to so many other schools. I give BASIS DC a (D-). I would not recommend this school to anyone.

I totally agree. BASIS is a test prep school selling itself as a "broad liberal arts" curriculum. There is nothing wrong with a charter being a test prep school- Many in DC are doing quite well (KIPP, Achievement Prep, etc.). However, my issue is with BASIS selling itself as having a broad liberal arts curriculum when in fact they are spending a significant amount of time prepping students for DC-CAS- a very weak measure of mastery in a "broad liberal arts" curriculum.

So - you know because you have a kid in the school? I thought not. I do and I can tell you my kid is learning even on DC CAS prep days, which, by the way EVERY PCS, every PS in this city is doing right now.

'Teaching to the test' a few weeks out of every school year is not a horrible thing, it solidifies skills. But too many people have been drinking the union kool-aid.