BASIS board meeting minutes: I Street elementary Location meets obstacles

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You call it “gaming the system” but making sure a student gets a 3 on one AP exam by senior year should be the minimum goal of all schools. This is not a high bar. It’s sad that most schools don’t make “college readiness” more of a priority.

You’re not understanding what they’re doing. They’re literally preventing anyone who cannot score a 3 on an AP test to advance to 12th grade. US News looks at the number of seniors who have taken and passed (with a 3) an AP test. There is no way for a kid to make it to 12th at BASIS if they haven’t done that.

Other schools have to keep the kids who are not academically inclined enough to get a 3 on an AP test.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You call it “gaming the system” but making sure a student gets a 3 on one AP exam by senior year should be the minimum goal of all schools. This is not a high bar. It’s sad that most schools don’t make “college readiness” more of a priority.

You’re not understanding what they’re doing. They’re literally preventing anyone who cannot score a 3 on an AP test to advance to 12th grade. US News looks at the number of seniors who have taken and passed (with a 3) an AP test. There is no way for a kid to make it to 12th at BASIS if they haven’t done that.

Other schools have to keep the kids who are not academically inclined enough to get a 3 on an AP test.

I’m a happy basis parent who understands the problems of the school. Please get it right, there aren’t 9th graders who can’t get a 3 on an AP. Most basis eighth graders have at least one. By twelfth they are done.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You call it “gaming the system” but making sure a student gets a 3 on one AP exam by senior year should be the minimum goal of all schools. This is not a high bar. It’s sad that most schools don’t make “college readiness” more of a priority.

You’re not understanding what they’re doing. They’re literally preventing anyone who cannot score a 3 on an AP test to advance to 12th grade. US News looks at the number of seniors who have taken and passed (with a 3) an AP test. There is no way for a kid to make it to 12th at BASIS if they haven’t done that.

Other schools have to keep the kids who are not academically inclined enough to get a 3 on an AP test.

I’m a happy basis parent who understands the problems of the school. Please get it right, there aren’t 9th graders who can’t get a 3 on an AP. Most basis eighth graders have at least one. By twelfth they are done.

??

Preventing the kids you won’t even try to educate from reaching 9th grade is an extremely reliable way of preventing them from reaching 12th grade, especially if you don’t admit after 5th grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You call it “gaming the system” but making sure a student gets a 3 on one AP exam by senior year should be the minimum goal of all schools. This is not a high bar. It’s sad that most schools don’t make “college readiness” more of a priority.

You’re not understanding what they’re doing. They’re literally preventing anyone who cannot score a 3 on an AP test to advance to 12th grade. US News looks at the number of seniors who have taken and passed (with a 3) an AP test. There is no way for a kid to make it to 12th at BASIS if they haven’t done that.

Other schools have to keep the kids who are not academically inclined enough to get a 3 on an AP test.

I’m a happy basis parent who understands the problems of the school. Please get it right, there aren’t 9th graders who can’t get a 3 on an AP. Most basis eighth graders have at least one. By twelfth they are done.

??

Preventing the kids you won’t even try to educate from reaching 9th grade is an extremely reliable way of preventing them from reaching 12th grade, especially if you don’t admit after 5th grade.

So you are a believer that every school should be able to teach every student perfectly? DC is probably the wrong place for you as that isn’t how it is set up. You need a large suburban system. Have you considered Fairfax or Montgomery County? It might give you more of what you are looking for, as you need large numbers to make that work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You call it “gaming the system” but making sure a student gets a 3 on one AP exam by senior year should be the minimum goal of all schools. This is not a high bar. It’s sad that most schools don’t make “college readiness” more of a priority.

If Basis earned its CRI scores by teaching every student to that standard, you might be right. But they get those scores the easy way, by kicking kids out before senior year. They’re not increasing the numerator (college-ready students), they’re shrinking the denominator (high school seniors). Any school could do the same thing, without improving the quality of its instruction one whit.

They don’t kick anyone out. They require you to repeat the grade if you don’t pass. If you choose to leave, that’s on you, but you should know that there are students who choose to stay and repeat grades until they pass.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You call it “gaming the system” but making sure a student gets a 3 on one AP exam by senior year should be the minimum goal of all schools. This is not a high bar. It’s sad that most schools don’t make “college readiness” more of a priority.

If Basis earned its CRI scores by teaching every student to that standard, you might be right. But they get those scores the easy way, by kicking kids out before senior year. They’re not increasing the numerator (college-ready students), they’re shrinking the denominator (high school seniors). Any school could do the same thing, without improving the quality of its instruction one whit.

They don’t kick anyone out. They require you to repeat the grade if you don’t pass. If you choose to leave, that’s on you, but you should know that there are students who choose to stay and repeat grades until they pass.

They may not kick kids out of the school, but they sure as heck prevent them from becoming seniors until they have passed an AP. And that’s all they need to do to ensure that the denominator (seniors) is always equal to the numerator (students who have passed an AP) so that the CRI at every Basis school is always 100.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You call it “gaming the system” but making sure a student gets a 3 on one AP exam by senior year should be the minimum goal of all schools. This is not a high bar. It’s sad that most schools don’t make “college readiness” more of a priority.

If Basis earned its CRI scores by teaching every student to that standard, you might be right. But they get those scores the easy way, by kicking kids out before senior year. They’re not increasing the numerator (college-ready students), they’re shrinking the denominator (high school seniors). Any school could do the same thing, without improving the quality of its instruction one whit.

They don’t kick anyone out. They require you to repeat the grade if you don’t pass. If you choose to leave, that’s on you, but you should know that there are students who choose to stay and repeat grades until they pass.

They may not kick kids out of the school, but they sure as heck prevent them from becoming seniors until they have passed an AP. And that’s all they need to do to ensure that the denominator (seniors) is always equal to the numerator (students who have passed an AP) so that the CRI at every Basis school is always 100.

Sure, but looking at it this way fully ignores the high school education. If your kid won’t be able to get a single 3 on an AP by senior year, why wouldn’t you put your kid in a more appropriate school instead of torturing them, given that all their peers would have achieved this before 9th grade. That is the culture, and I feel horrible for any student whose parents put them through it if it isn’t a good fit. Know your kid.

[Anonymous]

One of the things to remember is that Basis is based on a partly European model, with universal exams that must be taken to be promoted or graduate. Think of France's baccalauréat or the GCSEs and then the A-Levels in the UK.

Basis uses its own comp system and then the AP system as its yardstick.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You call it “gaming the system” but making sure a student gets a 3 on one AP exam by senior year should be the minimum goal of all schools. This is not a high bar. It’s sad that most schools don’t make “college readiness” more of a priority.

+1. Basis is ”gaming the system” by having high standards? That is a stupid argument.

DCPS doesn’t even require one AP class to graduate. You can take an auto mechanics class instead. No wonder most DCPS schools fail at preparing kids for college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You call it “gaming the system” but making sure a student gets a 3 on one AP exam by senior year should be the minimum goal of all schools. This is not a high bar. It’s sad that most schools don’t make “college readiness” more of a priority.

You’re not understanding what they’re doing. They’re literally preventing anyone who cannot score a 3 on an AP test to advance to 12th grade. US News looks at the number of seniors who have taken and passed (with a 3) an AP test. There is no way for a kid to make it to 12th at BASIS if they haven’t done that.

Other schools have to keep the kids who are not academically inclined enough to get a 3 on an AP test.

I’m a happy basis parent who understands the problems of the school. Please get it right, there aren’t 9th graders who can’t get a 3 on an AP. Most basis eighth graders have at least one. By twelfth they are done.

??

Preventing the kids you won’t even try to educate from reaching 9th grade is an extremely reliable way of preventing them from reaching 12th grade, especially if you don’t admit after 5th grade.

So you are a believer that every school should be able to teach every student perfectly? DC is probably the wrong place for you as that isn’t how it is set up. You need a large suburban system. Have you considered Fairfax or Montgomery County? It might give you more of what you are looking for, as you need large numbers to make that work.

NP and a BASIS parent. I don't think every school should be able to teach every student perfectly. But I do think that BASIS's "college readiness" score is total hogwash, given that they weed out the kids who would drag that number down. And I think their high rank in US News is not reflective of the quality of teaching at BASIS, which I have found to be spotty, at best.

[Anonymous]

“Happy” pp here. It is absolutely not a reflection of the teaching. Certainly not of the horrid administration either. Mr. Rose has to go.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You call it “gaming the system” but making sure a student gets a 3 on one AP exam by senior year should be the minimum goal of all schools. This is not a high bar. It’s sad that most schools don’t make “college readiness” more of a priority.

You’re not understanding what they’re doing. They’re literally preventing anyone who cannot score a 3 on an AP test to advance to 12th grade. US News looks at the number of seniors who have taken and passed (with a 3) an AP test. There is no way for a kid to make it to 12th at BASIS if they haven’t done that.

Other schools have to keep the kids who are not academically inclined enough to get a 3 on an AP test.

I’m a happy basis parent who understands the problems of the school. Please get it right, there aren’t 9th graders who can’t get a 3 on an AP. Most basis eighth graders have at least one. By twelfth they are done.

??

Preventing the kids you won’t even try to educate from reaching 9th grade is an extremely reliable way of preventing them from reaching 12th grade, especially if you don’t admit after 5th grade.

So you are a believer that every school should be able to teach every student perfectly? DC is probably the wrong place for you as that isn’t how it is set up. You need a large suburban system. Have you considered Fairfax or Montgomery County? It might give you more of what you are looking for, as you need large numbers to make that work.

NP and a BASIS parent. I don't think every school should be able to teach every student perfectly. But I do think that BASIS's "college readiness" score is total hogwash, given that they weed out the kids who would drag that number down. And I think their high rank in US News is not reflective of the quality of teaching at BASIS, which I have found to be spotty, at best.

I basically agree with everyone: Basis does (on average) an excellent job teaching to a high level. But one of the reasons that they can do that is by having a class of students who are prepared and willing to do the work to get to that level, and that preparation often stems from having educated parents. The DCPS selective high schools do the same thing, just explicitly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You call it “gaming the system” but making sure a student gets a 3 on one AP exam by senior year should be the minimum goal of all schools. This is not a high bar. It’s sad that most schools don’t make “college readiness” more of a priority.

+1. Basis is ”gaming the system” by having high standards? That is a stupid argument.

DCPS doesn’t even require one AP class to graduate. You can take an auto mechanics class instead. No wonder most DCPS schools fail at preparing kids for college.

+2. While DCPS doesn’t require an AP class, Walls effectively requires 2 AP classes (Basis requires 6 AP classes). I guess that Walls is “gaming the system” too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You call it “gaming the system” but making sure a student gets a 3 on one AP exam by senior year should be the minimum goal of all schools. This is not a high bar. It’s sad that most schools don’t make “college readiness” more of a priority.

+1. Basis is ”gaming the system” by having high standards? That is a stupid argument.

DCPS doesn’t even require one AP class to graduate. You can take an auto mechanics class instead. No wonder most DCPS schools fail at preparing kids for college.

+2. While DCPS doesn’t require an AP class, Walls effectively requires 2 AP classes (Basis requires 6 AP classes). I guess that Walls is “gaming the system” too.

No, because Walls is open about being a selective school and BASIS loves to claim that it isn't selective. And because Walls doesn't make people repeat grades.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You call it “gaming the system” but making sure a student gets a 3 on one AP exam by senior year should be the minimum goal of all schools. This is not a high bar. It’s sad that most schools don’t make “college readiness” more of a priority.

You’re not understanding what they’re doing. They’re literally preventing anyone who cannot score a 3 on an AP test to advance to 12th grade. US News looks at the number of seniors who have taken and passed (with a 3) an AP test. There is no way for a kid to make it to 12th at BASIS if they haven’t done that.

Other schools have to keep the kids who are not academically inclined enough to get a 3 on an AP test.

I’m a happy basis parent who understands the problems of the school. Please get it right, there aren’t 9th graders who can’t get a 3 on an AP. Most basis eighth graders have at least one. By twelfth they are done.

??

Preventing the kids you won’t even try to educate from reaching 9th grade is an extremely reliable way of preventing them from reaching 12th grade, especially if you don’t admit after 5th grade.

So you are a believer that every school should be able to teach every student perfectly? DC is probably the wrong place for you as that isn’t how it is set up. You need a large suburban system. Have you considered Fairfax or Montgomery County? It might give you more of what you are looking for, as you need large numbers to make that work.

NP and a BASIS parent. I don't think every school should be able to teach every student perfectly. But I do think that BASIS's "college readiness" score is total hogwash, given that they weed out the kids who would drag that number down. And I think their high rank in US News is not reflective of the quality of teaching at BASIS, which I have found to be spotty, at best.

You don’t understand college readiness or USN&WR rankings. Maybe sit this one out.

And feel free to transfer to a different school.