New BASIS discussion

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also, inexperienced teachers benefit greatly from having a majority of experienced teachers around to show them the ropes.

It's not obvious that this is the case at Basis.

Ads I've seen for private schools require at least 3 years of experience.

You obviously don't know much about BASIS. You might be able to make those kinds of comments about a school starting up from nothing in a cold, empty vacuum, but that is not the case with BASIS. They already have over a half dozen well-established schools with an excellent track record, schools which are filled with plenty of experienced teachers. Some of the staff at BASIS DC have come from those established, experienced schools, and the new hires spent time over the summer in Arizona with the experienced BASIS teachers and staff at those established schools and have a broad base of expertise to draw upon as mentors. The folks running BASIS are not at all new to this game, and already know quite a bit about running a school - the model they are following in DC is the same model they used to start up their other schools, it's a model that's already been tried and tested.

[Anonymous]

Transportation is becoming a real issue. We probably never considered it enough b/c we were glad to have an option as we were not admitted to any privates. Now, wondering how we will get out DD to the school from upper NW. Having a lot of second thoughts. Not sure about this decision.

[Anonymous]

There are a number of bus stops to Carter Barron and The Palisades etc. These must be somewhat close. Possible stop headed to Tenleytown if sufficient demand.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, inexperienced teachers benefit greatly from having a majority of experienced teachers around to show them the ropes.

It's not obvious that this is the case at Basis.

Ads I've seen for private schools require at least 3 years of experience.

You obviously don't know much about BASIS. You might be able to make those kinds of comments about a school starting up from nothing in a cold, empty vacuum, but that is not the case with BASIS. They already have over a half dozen well-established schools with an excellent track record, schools which are filled with plenty of experienced teachers. Some of the staff at BASIS DC have come from those established, experienced schools, and the new hires spent time over the summer in Arizona with the experienced BASIS teachers and staff at those established schools and have a broad base of expertise to draw upon as mentors. The folks running BASIS are not at all new to this game, and already know quite a bit about running a school - the model they are following in DC is the same model they used to start up their other schools, it's a model that's already been tried and tested.

I'm not questioning their "model." I am talking about BASIS DC and that it seems they are downplaying the inexperience of their teachers HERE.

I would like to see BASIS succeed in DC. I have legitimate concerns about any school, regardless of its model, serving students well with mainly inexperienced teachers.

Is having a majority of inexperienced teachers part of the successful model of BASIS? If so, let s see the evidence.

I don't mean evidence that BASIS students do well; I mean evidence that, while using a majority of inexperienced teachers, BASIS students have done better than or equally as well as other academically demanding schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, inexperienced teachers benefit greatly from having a majority of experienced teachers around to show them the ropes.

It's not obvious that this is the case at Basis.

Ads I've seen for private schools require at least 3 years of experience.

You obviously don't know much about BASIS. You might be able to make those kinds of comments about a school starting up from nothing in a cold, empty vacuum, but that is not the case with BASIS. They already have over a half dozen well-established schools with an excellent track record, schools which are filled with plenty of experienced teachers. Some of the staff at BASIS DC have come from those established, experienced schools, and the new hires spent time over the summer in Arizona with the experienced BASIS teachers and staff at those established schools and have a broad base of expertise to draw upon as mentors. The folks running BASIS are not at all new to this game, and already know quite a bit about running a school - the model they are following in DC is the same model they used to start up their other schools, it's a model that's already been tried and tested.

I'm not questioning their "model." I am talking about BASIS DC and that it seems they are downplaying the inexperience of their teachers HERE.

I would like to see BASIS succeed in DC. I have legitimate concerns about any school, regardless of its model, serving students well with mainly inexperienced teachers.

Is having a majority of inexperienced teachers part of the successful model of BASIS? If so, let s see the evidence.

I don't mean evidence that BASIS students do well; I mean evidence that, while using a majority of inexperienced teachers, BASIS students have done better than or equally as well as other academically demanding schools.

Whoah. Lots of false premises there, let's pull it back a bit and start with the first piece before even launching into the rest.

If you want to talk about evidence, then were is the evidence that BASIS teachers have no experience? And along the same vein, no evidence has been presented relative to the experience of teachers at any other school in the District. This whole discussion is based purely on assumptions, and you launched right into a whole set of new assumptions about student performance without even validating the initial assumptions of whether or not they are in fact inexperienced.

And, it seems to me that they aren't "downplaying" anything - what they put out there regarding their faculty's background is as much or more than most schools in the District do.

[Anonymous]

Yes pp, transportation issues are nerve-wracking for us too. Seemed like a good idea at the time, but also having second thoughts.

[Anonymous]

Wait. Isn't Basis located on top of two metro lines in the center of the city? Aren't they running free buses around town as well as the city buses that must pass right nearby? Car pools? People aroumd the world bust their butts to get where a good free education is being offered. Let's get creative here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Whoah. Lots of false premises there, let's pull it back a bit and start with the first piece before even launching into the rest.

If you want to talk about evidence, then were is the evidence that BASIS teachers have no experience? And along the same vein, no evidence has been presented relative to the experience of teachers at any other school in the District. This whole discussion is based purely on assumptions, and you launched right into a whole set of new assumptions about student performance without even validating the initial assumptions of whether or not they are in fact inexperienced.

And, it seems to me that they aren't "downplaying" anything - what they put out there regarding their faculty's background is as much or more than most schools in the District do.

There is evidence that some BASIS teachers have experience, because their years of experience is listed on the website and is presumably accurate and checkable. However, some of the teachers have no mention of teaching experience and some teachers have mention of teaching, but no mention of how many years, suggesting that it was short term, part-time or perhaps student teaching.

While many schools have posted much less information about their teachers, it seems that BASIS is making a point of publicizing the quality of its teaching staff -- except when it comes to their actual teaching experience. It looks like they are playing up teachers' academic background while playing down their teaching experience. Why not provide consistent information for each faculty member?

As mentioned earlier, any parent who wanted to ask a direct question about this could (or should) get a direct answer about how much teaching experience each teacher has.

[Anonymous]

BASIS doesn't have a policy that prefers professional educators OR subject matter experts in hiring.

I wonder what their commitment is to quality teaching and how they will support teachers in the quest to fulfill BASIS's promises.

Go ahead, Booster. I'm talking to you. Spell it out.

[Anonymous]

About transportation , yes , people do go to great lengths to commute to good schools. But I think something is definitely lost when children must do this. Exercise, community cohesion, fresh air, communion with nature, and free time. These things are so important to our health and well-being. Just too bad that we can't count on all of our neighborhood schools and that these very difficult (for some of us) trade-offs need to be weighed. Charters provide choice and alternatives, but location does matter. It's not always clear-cut and can add significant stress to busy families with younger children. So, just acknowledging pp's angst.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:BASIS doesn't have a policy that prefers professional educators OR subject matter experts in hiring.

I wonder what their commitment is to quality teaching and how they will support teachers in the quest to fulfill BASIS's promises.

Go ahead, Booster. I'm talking to you. Spell it out.

Firstly, mere fact of having a teaching license is not necessarily the same thing as being a "professional educator". There's a matter of definition there.

Secondly, quite a few of the BASIS teaching staff ARE subject matter experts - whereas DCPS and most other schools do NOT have subject matter experts teaching middle school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wait. Isn't Basis located on top of two metro lines in the center of the city? Aren't they running free buses around town as well as the city buses that must pass right nearby? Car pools? People aroumd the world bust their butts to get where a good free education is being offered. Let's get creative here.

Yep, no problem for us, it's practically right at the Archives Metro stop. A lot easier logistically than Latin and a lot of the other schools around the District.

[Anonymous]

I decided against Basis, but transportation was NOT an issue. I have to say that the planners made every effort for it to be accessible...except by car

[Anonymous]

Right, it seems to be people who live in DC but think they live in the suburbs who are struggling. " commune with nature? ". Maybe in your big back yard.

[Anonymous]

Why the need for sarcasm? Go commune with nature a bit and relax!